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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing,

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Speaker 1: My chance to talk with artists, policymakers, and performers, to

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Speaker 1: hear their stories. What inspires their creations, what decisions change

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Speaker 1: their careers, what relationships influenced their work. I'm obsessed with

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Speaker 1: my mom. I love my mom. Are you the complicated one? Oh?

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Speaker 1: I think so. My guests today are women whose ambition

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Speaker 1: and uninhibited talent have disrupted and reimagined what it means

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Speaker 1: to be a female performer for their respective generations. Lena

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Speaker 1: Dunham is the creator and star of the HBO series Girls,

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Speaker 1: which explores the painful struggles of a group of twenty

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Speaker 1: something women with an often uncomfortable honesty. Except for the

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Speaker 1: fact that I haven't had sex, I'm like totally not

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Speaker 1: even a virgin. I think the least VIRGINI virgin over.

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Speaker 1: Dunham has helped define male strength in part with her

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Speaker 1: own blend of fearlessness and vulnerability. I just want someone

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Speaker 1: who wants to hang out all the time and thinks

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Speaker 1: I'm the best person in the world and wants to

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Speaker 1: have sex with only me. Women of Elaine Stritchest generation

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Speaker 1: were expected to behave like the weaker sex. But that

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Speaker 1: changed when Stritch stepped on stage with unapologetic confidence, and

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Speaker 1: she's been doing so ever since. Show Why Not, Lena

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Speaker 1: Dunham's my first guest this hour. I should have dressed

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Speaker 1: up more for you. It's radio, so don't care. I'll

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Speaker 1: get good. Perfect and three years ago, Dunham shot a

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Speaker 1: little budget movie in her parents Manhattan apartment. In tiny furniture,

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Speaker 1: she played a version of herself, a recent college graduate

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Speaker 1: moving back into her childhood bedroom while making plans for

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Speaker 1: her future. I'm going to be staying in her house.

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Speaker 1: Last I checked. It's my house too. I have a

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Speaker 1: whole bedroom. You used to have a whole bedroom. It's

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Speaker 1: my special space now. Dunham was proclaimed a fresh, original voice,

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Speaker 1: a director with a bright future. Writer director Judd Apataw

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Speaker 1: was one of those who took notice, and today he

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Speaker 1: and Dunham executive produced Girls, which she stars in as

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Speaker 1: Hannah Horvath. Once again, she didn't have to travel far

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Speaker 1: to find inspiration for her character. I think that Hannah

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Speaker 1: is someone who I'm very capable of being, who's wounded,

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Speaker 1: ambitious but doesn't know where to place it. Hannah sort

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Speaker 1: of the version of myself if I'd had less understanding

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Speaker 1: parents and sort of less drive to get things done.

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Speaker 1: And I think who I am as a person who

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Speaker 1: was always sort of if I had to describe the

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Speaker 1: war within myself that exists currently, it's sort of the

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Speaker 1: challenge of trying to reconcile the part of me that

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Speaker 1: that always thought I would be, like, you know, a

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Speaker 1: weird gender and women studies teacher who occasionally showed movies

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Speaker 1: at film festivals and hung out in my strange apartment

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Speaker 1: that was stacked high with books. Trying to reconcile that

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Speaker 1: with the part of me that has to like figure

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Speaker 1: out a cover of Rolling Stone magazine exactly was to

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Speaker 1: shoot the rolling cover of Rolling Stone magazine, was to

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Speaker 1: figure out a dress to where that for an event

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Speaker 1: that everyone seems to be worried about whether or not

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Speaker 1: the dresses in stores, because it has to be my

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Speaker 1: own dress. And so I'm dealing with all these sort

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Speaker 1: of this strange ecosystem and all these weird politics that

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Speaker 1: I kind of never imagined would happen to me in

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Speaker 1: my lifetime. You never imagined, No, you really never imagined it.

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Speaker 1: I think I my dream situation was that I would

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Speaker 1: be someone who people thought, oh, she's doing important work

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Speaker 1: in her own little corner, like a ros Chast cartoon character,

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Speaker 1: exactly like a ros Chast cartoon character. Or like I

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Speaker 1: think because I went to pretendious private school, the biggest

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Speaker 1: dream you would have as you'd be like, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to be Joan Didion. That was kind of where your

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Speaker 1: brain was allowed to want maybe Norah from maybe you'll

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Speaker 1: make films, but you're not going to be in film exactly,

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Speaker 1: And I don't think I never was able to. I

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Speaker 1: think I had a twofold thing about it. One is

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Speaker 1: that I came from a family of artists, and so

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Speaker 1: the idea was sort of like you made your work

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Speaker 1: and then got out of the way of it. Like

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Speaker 1: part of what was I think I in ernalized the

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Speaker 1: idea that your work was supposed to speak for you.

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Speaker 1: You were not supposed to speak for your work. And

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Speaker 1: so I think I was self conscious about the idea

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Speaker 1: of being any self self promoting and although that's not

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Speaker 1: what acting is, it's it's become that. And then I

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Speaker 1: also think that I thought, well, there's people who are

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Speaker 1: professionals who can do this better than me, So I'm

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Speaker 1: just going to act until I have access to the

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Speaker 1: people who should be acting. And sometimes I still feel

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Speaker 1: that way. Sometimes I think, like, you know, I'll do

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Speaker 1: this a little longer and then Michelle Williams can play

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Speaker 1: me every day until I die. Something that's really nice

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Speaker 1: about making the show that isn't that is a comedy

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Speaker 1: that isn't stuck in any sort of I mean, thirty

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Speaker 1: Rock was able to bust out of a lot of

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Speaker 1: network sitcom tropes. But I think one of the biggest

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Speaker 1: things that networks prevent, besides curse words and showing your

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Speaker 1: breasts is development. I think that when you play, I

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Speaker 1: think so many sitcom characters end up playing the same

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Speaker 1: version of themselves in various scenarios. This is the thing

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Speaker 1: as God is my judge. This is the thing that

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Speaker 1: we talked about in the meeting to prep this thing

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Speaker 1: with you, which was shows I've seen where the protagonist,

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Speaker 1: male or female, they're going through the same set of

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Speaker 1: problems in season six that they were in season one.

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Speaker 1: It's just different lines in different coasters. And with you,

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Speaker 1: I'm wondering, do you have a Bible on the show?

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Speaker 1: Do you have an arc in your mind? Not even

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Speaker 1: on paper, not even approved with your other because you

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Speaker 1: do this with Judd, correct. I do it with Judd

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Speaker 1: and a woman named Jenny Connor, who's the other executive producer.

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Speaker 1: And we have a great little writer's room. But our

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Speaker 1: writer's room doesn't really work like. It's not like we

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Speaker 1: write a script and then all sit together punching it up.

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Speaker 1: It's much more we sit together at the beginning of

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Speaker 1: the season and really talk through It's like a giant

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Speaker 1: therapy session where we work out the emotional arc and

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Speaker 1: then we go to it. And when you work out

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Speaker 1: that emotional arc, do you think to yourself, are the

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Speaker 1: things that she's going through? Now? Your character and the

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Speaker 1: other characters where you're saying to yourself, and let's make

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Speaker 1: sure they're not going through this. There is a growth

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Speaker 1: a season from now or by the end of the

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Speaker 1: season completely. And that's why I feel like it's okay

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Speaker 1: for me to cut my hair, or it's okay for

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Speaker 1: me to start spinning, or it's okay for me you

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Speaker 1: know whatever I whatever to change to change, because I

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Speaker 1: feel as though so much of what this show is

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Speaker 1: about is about seeing these girls off into their adulthood.

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Speaker 1: Like in my Bible, the ideal finale to the show

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Speaker 1: would be a feeling like, you know, they don't have

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Speaker 1: to have kids, they don't have to have husbands, but

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Speaker 1: you look at them and you kind of go there

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Speaker 1: on their way. They're more okay than they were when

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Speaker 1: they started, or they're less okay, but we have an

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Speaker 1: understanding what kind of adult we think they're going to be.

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Speaker 1: So described to me how that works? Because because the

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Speaker 1: theme here is control and you are, like other brilliant

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Speaker 1: comedy writing chicks I've known over the years, you have

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Speaker 1: this is your show, this is your thing. So how

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Speaker 1: does it start? How does Whose idea was Girls? Was

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Speaker 1: it yours? It was mine? Because I made this movie

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Speaker 1: Tiny Furniture, and I made it, you know, my mom

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Speaker 1: and sister starred. We shot it in my mom's house,

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Speaker 1: my mom and dad's house. We um it was totally

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Speaker 1: populated with friends, some of whom have made their way

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Speaker 1: to Girls with me. And what motivated you don't want

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Speaker 1: to do Tiny Furniture on a practical, real life level.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about that moment between college and

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Speaker 1: adulthood that felt so floundering, and so every day I

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Speaker 1: felt like I was walking through the strangest, most surreal soup,

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Speaker 1: and so I sort of also wanted to capture this

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Speaker 1: moment where I was, I knew that I wouldn't live

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Speaker 1: at home forever, that my little sister wouldn't be sort

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Speaker 1: of seventeen and ambitious but also stuck in her bedroom forever,

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Speaker 1: that my mom was sort of looking in this beautiful

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Speaker 1: moment where she kind of was I mean, shilled murder

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Speaker 1: me for saying this, but she looked that kind of

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Speaker 1: beautiful way where it's like you're not quite old yet

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Speaker 1: and you just look kind of she just looked kind

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Speaker 1: of perfect to me, and I just like a great car. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I just not my mother, so I could say exactly,

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Speaker 1: and I just thought, I want to capture all of this.

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Speaker 1: So you really love your mom. I'm obsessed with my mom.

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Speaker 1: I love my mom. And then but I'm saying, that's

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Speaker 1: interesting that you have that feeling and that's what makes

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Speaker 1: you survey what's around you. Wouldn't want to capture that

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Speaker 1: because I find typically people who are not happy, they

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Speaker 1: gotta wait a while until they can negotiate the pain

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Speaker 1: to go back and talk about that. It's one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest things that inspires me to make work is

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Speaker 1: this feeling of looking around and going, even if you're

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Speaker 1: not perfect, you're also perfect right now, Let's let's capture

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Speaker 1: this and then you know, I'd love the feeling. I

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Speaker 1: was just watching like Panic in Needle Park last week,

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Speaker 1: that movie, which is you know, Kitty Win Katie Gosh,

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Speaker 1: she's so good. Where did Kitty Win go? Yeah, let

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Speaker 1: me get that violin out for Kitty Win. She's incredible.

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Speaker 1: But so I was watching that and I was just

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Speaker 1: thinking about how exciting it was to be able to

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Speaker 1: watch sort of like al Pacino at that first moment

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Speaker 1: when he was sort of like he still almost looked

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Speaker 1: a little adolescent and he was still and he was

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Speaker 1: learning his craft and just behaving on film. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: I just love capturing that. And that's something that I've

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Speaker 1: tried to do with girls too, is sort of grab

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Speaker 1: people and go, let's just let's just see you as

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Speaker 1: you are right now now. So the film did well,

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Speaker 1: So then how does girl has happened? So then I

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Speaker 1: went to l A and kind of did that. I

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Speaker 1: went like, Okay, I guess what you do next is

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Speaker 1: get an agent, And I guess what you do next

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Speaker 1: is trying to figure out what I mean you're on

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Speaker 1: the runway. Now, Yes, I was. I was on the runway,

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Speaker 1: and I was going around l A doing the sort

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Speaker 1: of what I call the couch and water bottle tour

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Speaker 1: of l A, where you meet everybody and have those

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Speaker 1: kind of general meetings where and remember so funny because

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Speaker 1: at first I didn't understand that everybody says to you

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Speaker 1: at the end of the general meeting, oh, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to find a way to work with you. And so

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Speaker 1: I would call my agent afterwards and go, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: it was amazing, and he said he wants to find

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Speaker 1: a way to work with me, and many wants you

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Speaker 1: to come clean his pool. Yeah, basically. And my agent,

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Speaker 1: who I feel like, you're not supposed to say you

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Speaker 1: love your agent because it makes you sound really Hollywood.

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Speaker 1: And of everyone, I love everyone. And also I have

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Speaker 1: the best agent. He's like really been at it for

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Speaker 1: a long time. He's like a cigar smoking you know,

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Speaker 1: he's what I imagined in Nation. His name is Peter Bennedeck,

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Speaker 1: Peter Bennedictine now Peter Benedeck, and he smoked cigars. He's

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Speaker 1: old school. He's old exactly, and he belongs to a

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Speaker 1: cigar club. Which one does he want? I think it

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Speaker 1: says it has a Cuban flares. I think it is.

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Speaker 1: I'm on the board of Grand Event, are you. I

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Speaker 1: know Peter and I probably have seen him at Grand Eva. Wow.

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Speaker 1: He always probably hung out there and smokes gods with him.

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Speaker 1: When you were still a gleam in your parents you

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Speaker 1: weren't even around no no no. So so he's your

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Speaker 1: agent and you love him. I love him. And he

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Speaker 1: said to me that I should go for a meeting

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Speaker 1: all my girlfriends, like sort of like Tiny Furniture, but

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Speaker 1: there's more of us and we don't live with our

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Speaker 1: parents anymore, but it's still about that. It's like it

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Speaker 1: was pitched so weekly, like a year after my movie,

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Speaker 1: but there's more of us and it's a TV show.

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Speaker 1: So the conversation wasn't coming out of Tiny Furniture in

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Speaker 1: the indie and in the festival world had a very

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Speaker 1: good buzz. There was no conversation but us going right

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Speaker 1: into films and making more films. Normally they're gonna want

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Speaker 1: to steer some especially your age was very young. They're

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Speaker 1: gonna go, let's just keep making movies. Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: there was a conversation. But I think I picked up

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Speaker 1: Water Bottle tour that the kind of stories that I

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Speaker 1: larger scale. And film Tina says that sometimes the Tina

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Speaker 1: I will just finish work that that that it's it's

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Speaker 1: it seems like it's more difficult to a to have

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Speaker 1: the control you want in the film business and be

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Speaker 1: to say what you want to say it is. And

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Speaker 1: the fact is I could have kept saying what I

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Speaker 1: wanted to say, you know, making movies, but I wanted

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Speaker 1: It's weird. The reason that I like having some budget

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Speaker 1: is not because you know, I want to stage car

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Speaker 1: crashes or I want to have you know, ten makeup

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Speaker 1: artists on set, although those things but will would be lovely.

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Speaker 1: But but it's more because of the fact that I

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Speaker 1: do so many jobs. So it was so exciting to

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Speaker 1: not have to worry anymore about answering the doorbell, about

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Speaker 1: returning the equipment, about making sure that people had the pizza. Also,

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Speaker 1: that's going to happen in TV and has money, and

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Speaker 1: HBO has an HBO is time warnering, but they have money,

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Speaker 1: but they use it in this amazing model, which is

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Speaker 1: that they don't have to answer to advertisers in the

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Speaker 1: same way. So HBO can sort of fulfill its odd

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Speaker 1: little interests. And that's what I started out as, and

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Speaker 1: I what I didn't predict was how much I would

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Speaker 1: love the opportunity to develop characters in this way and

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Speaker 1: the kind of the fiber of TV itself now, So

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Speaker 1: the template of four women and obviously HBO is no

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Speaker 1: stranger to the template of four women talking about but

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Speaker 1: obviously those women were older. And you've been a fan

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Speaker 1: of that show, Yes, I think that I can't find

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Speaker 1: one girl who isn't at least secretly a fan of

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Speaker 1: Sex in the City. Who's my age. You know, Sex

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Speaker 1: one City is a specter that hangs over in a

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Speaker 1: I mean in a positive way, everything female centric. And

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Speaker 1: you know, there were so many episodes of Sex City

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Speaker 1: and they tackled every area of sexual function and dysfunction

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Speaker 1: that there's almost nothing you can pitch that they haven't done.

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Speaker 1: But I found that the women on Sex in the

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Speaker 1: City that those women would have things happen, and they

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Speaker 1: tended to brush off the consequences pretty quickly, whereas the

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Speaker 1: girls on your show, the tone seems very different. Everybody

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Speaker 1: seems to almost be doubting what they're doing, or they

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Speaker 1: have a kind of a sense of fear or anxiety

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Speaker 1: about it while they're doing it. It It seems more real.

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Speaker 1: Was that is that? Was that deliberate in your partner? Well?

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Speaker 1: Something I feel about being in your twenties, which is

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Speaker 1: different than you know. Sex and the City was a

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Speaker 1: show about women in their thirties who had successful careers prerecession,

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Speaker 1: the best, most supportive friends. They didn't have. I mean,

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Speaker 1: they had little friend TIFFs. But the characters on our

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Speaker 1: show are tortured. It's like, if you ask a in

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Speaker 1: her twenties, are you a happy person? I think she

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Speaker 1: can say I have happy moments, But I don't think

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Speaker 1: it's possible. Maybe I'm maybe people radically disagree with me,

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Speaker 1: but I don't really think it's possible to be sort

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Speaker 1: of an at peace human when you are between twenty

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Speaker 1: two and thirty, and so I think there's still I

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Speaker 1: don't because that's a problem that I mean, for me,

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Speaker 1: that's something I've noticed because I'm much older than you.

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Speaker 1: And one thing that I I noticed when I went

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Speaker 1: to college, which is a long time ago, an interesting

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Speaker 1: numb of people. They really knew what they wanted to be,

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Speaker 1: they weren't quite sure how to get there. That they

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Speaker 1: had a dream. I want to become a lawyer. I

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Speaker 1: want to become a doctor. I want to go into politics.

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Speaker 1: I want to go into and now people today, it

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Speaker 1: seems like younger people, they really they think they have

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Speaker 1: more time to figure it out, returning twenty five, and

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Speaker 1: they really don't have that picture and focus. Do you agree?

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Speaker 1: I do agree, And I think a big part of

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Speaker 1: it is being I think the world the Internet has

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Speaker 1: cracked things open in a way that's both beautiful and

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Speaker 1: that it helps you find. There's so many things that

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Speaker 1: I never would have even known about, things that have

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Speaker 1: been huge for me that have existed because of the Internet.

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Speaker 1: And I think that I've been able to partially, you know,

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Speaker 1: connect with people who would be fans of the show

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Speaker 1: because of the Internet. I think, you know, it's always

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Speaker 1: exciting when like there's this website called Rookie mag dot

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Speaker 1: com that's run by this girl Toavy Jevinson and it's

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Speaker 1: a like a smart team magazine that exists only on

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Speaker 1: the Internet. And I just think if when I was

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Speaker 1: a teenager there had been that place and that message board,

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Speaker 1: I would have felt like the world was my oyster

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Speaker 1: like just meeting other weirdo girls who had the same

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Speaker 1: who like, you know whatever. At the time, I just

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Speaker 1: wanted to talk to someone about Connor Oberst or something

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Speaker 1: on the Internet, and that would have been possible. But

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Speaker 1: I think now the fact that like the Internet has

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Speaker 1: created so many strange specialized jobs and so many things

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Speaker 1: where it's like, you know, I'm a brand consultant, slash

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Speaker 1: blog enhancer or whatever people are like suddenly the world

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Speaker 1: feels wide open, but there are less jobs available, and

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Speaker 1: so it's a really confusing moment to make any decisive

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Speaker 1: choice about what you want to do. It's interesting you

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Speaker 1: say that the Internet is responsible for that and the

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Speaker 1: idea of having too many choices then you need wind.

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Speaker 1: That could also be a metaphor for like men in

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Speaker 1: their twenties dating. I feel like men in their twenties,

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Speaker 1: like I once had dated a guy who told me

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Speaker 1: that he didn't feel like he could be serious about

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Speaker 1: anyone in New York because it would be like eating

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Speaker 1: at the same restaurant every night in New York. In

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Speaker 1: a minute, I'll talk with Lena Dunham about setting limits.

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Speaker 1: I don't ever want to like have a makeover scenario

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Speaker 1: where someone's doing better after they've put on a great

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Speaker 1: dress and you know, straight ironed their hair, like I

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Speaker 1: just I'm Alec Baldwin. And here's the thing. Take a

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Speaker 1: listen to our archive more in depth conversations with artists, policymakers,

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Speaker 1: and performers, people like Fred Armis and Billy Joel and

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Speaker 1: producer Judd Apatow, who talks about Lena Dunham. It's pretty

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Speaker 1: amazing to be around someone who is so in their

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Speaker 1: moment and has so much they want to express. So

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Speaker 1: I find it kind of reinvigorates my own writing and

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Speaker 1: my own tapping into my thoughts. Take a listen to

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Speaker 1: more of Apatow's thoughts. And here's the Thing. Dot Org.

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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing.

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Speaker 1: Lena Dunham, creator and star of the HBO series Girls,

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Speaker 1: is smart and funny. Her character on the show, Hannah

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Speaker 1: horn Bath, is a mix of intelligence, raising confidence and

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Speaker 1: crippling self doubt, and while Dunham's comedy is painfully incisive,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't come from someplace mean. First thing, my dad

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Speaker 1: is like a Manner's Nazi. So I think that I

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Speaker 1: grew up feeling like the worst thing you could do

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Speaker 1: was offend someone. Could you sit up straight in that chair?

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Speaker 1: And your dad told me to say that way? Oh

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Speaker 1: my god, my dad still tells me to sit up

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Speaker 1: straight constantly. I'm going to call it and then And

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Speaker 1: it's funny because both my my dad is an artist

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Speaker 1: and he paints these sort of outlandish intense I mean,

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Speaker 1: he paints things that are pretty pretty sexual images, pretty

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Speaker 1: aggressive images, you know, a man with I mean, they're funny,

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Speaker 1: but they're intense. It's like two men with penises for

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Speaker 1: noses in a war with guns and knives with three women.

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Speaker 1: Grew up around and I grew up around it. But

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Speaker 1: it was what was interesting was that my dad was

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Speaker 1: sort of like you can do. Dad had penises on

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Speaker 1: on the stage on his face, on everyone's face, But

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Speaker 1: you know, you I grew up around it. But I

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Speaker 1: think that my ad always really showed me that there

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Speaker 1: was a difference between you know, what your work was

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Speaker 1: and who you are, and he's so My parents are

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Speaker 1: so polite and so sort of they just I think

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Speaker 1: so much of this. Again, I've never had kids. I've

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Speaker 1: you know, I forget what I'm saying. But I'm glad

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Speaker 1: you don't think. I mean, I get too guilty if

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Speaker 1: I ever make a mean joke. Appreciate what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: I do, well, I'm terrified. It's one of the reasons

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Speaker 1: I don't I don't really feel like a comedy writer

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Speaker 1: because there's sort of like a quickness and a harshness,

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Speaker 1: and you need to have those people in your bullpen there.

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Speaker 1: Do you have some more really traditional edgier we do have.

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Speaker 1: I have a couple of writers on the staff, but

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Speaker 1: no one on our staff has that particular kind of darkness.

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Speaker 1: I've been around a lot of those comedy writers, and

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Speaker 1: you know, there's that feeling of like, even when they're

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Speaker 1: saying something nice to you, they're kind of trying to

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Speaker 1: murder you with their eyeballs, and it's it's it becomes

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Speaker 1: too much salt to the soup exactly. It's impressive to

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Speaker 1: me in small doses, but terrifying. My thing is also

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Speaker 1: I only really make jokes about people I like. Like

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Speaker 1: when there's a joke that references a celebrity on the show,

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Speaker 1: it's usually a joke that I making because I have

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Speaker 1: really taken note of their work and him fascinated by

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Speaker 1: you slept with them, and you want to get even No,

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Speaker 1: I don't have that that instinct. Now you're going to

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Speaker 1: do how many seasons of the show are you signed

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Speaker 1: on to do? Well? You know, it's not clear. I

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Speaker 1: mean HBO contractually has me, I think as an actor

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Speaker 1: for six years, but as a writer, and I wish

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Speaker 1: I should pay more attention to my deals, but I'm

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Speaker 1: just so excited to have my job. I just go, okay,

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Speaker 1: whatever you say. The question becomes how you can maybe

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Speaker 1: you know, do that TV show? And the schedule is

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Speaker 1: how many? How many episodes we've been doing ten? I think, uh,

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Speaker 1: between you, me and McGee, I think we might do

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Speaker 1: twelve next year. But I would love that. I think

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Speaker 1: that a little more would be just a little more storytelling,

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Speaker 1: real estate and it would be amazing. But you know,

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Speaker 1: so I shoot four and a half months out of

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Speaker 1: the year. Then I'm editing, than I'm doing pressed, then

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Speaker 1: I'm writing, then I'm back so so not four half months,

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Speaker 1: So it's not it's it's actually more like twelve months.

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Speaker 1: And so did you make a movie during the breakfast now?

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Speaker 1: Because there was just no time. I finished shooting in August,

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Speaker 1: I was editing. Why don't you make a deal with

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Speaker 1: HBO with will finance your films. You're working for them

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Speaker 1: and it's all in house. It's very smart. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I really want to make a movie. I have two

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Speaker 1: features scripts that I've been working on that I just

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Speaker 1: I want to make another before I make like a big,

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Speaker 1: massive ambitious movie. I mean, I want to make a

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Speaker 1: creatively ambitious movie, but I want to make another small

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Speaker 1: movie I have. I have small movie ideas. Do you

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Speaker 1: have a massive ambitious movie inside you? I do, But

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Speaker 1: it's so weird. The four year old psychotherapist. There's there's

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Speaker 1: a fifty four year old somebody and I mean, I'll

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00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,199
Speaker 1: talk to you later in traffic control. Working with you

429
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,920
Speaker 1: is one of my long standing dreams. But I um,

430
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,480
Speaker 1: and I'm also I'm writing a book, So that's something

431
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,680
Speaker 1: that was really wired about that. It's something that was

432
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: really important to me to start doing at this point

433
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:54,400
Speaker 1: in my start. And you write and produce your own

434
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:58,600
Speaker 1: TV show and you're writing a book. Does that remind me?

435
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,320
Speaker 1: What're you gonna write a book about? I'm writing book. Well,

436
00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,400
Speaker 1: I guess it's about me, although it's a little less

437
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: about me because it also has advice an advice component,

438
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 1: but it's like personal essays. So was it like Paula

439
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,320
Speaker 1: Pell's Hey Young Girls? Oh my god, I love Hey

440
00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,840
Speaker 1: Young Girls. Makes me so happy. Paula Pell is funny.

441
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,719
Speaker 1: Paula Pell is someone who is funny and not mean.

442
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: She's just a dreamy person. But you know, the thing

443
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,200
Speaker 1: that's been so great about writing the book cause I've

444
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,280
Speaker 1: always loved writing pros and I wanted to make it

445
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 1: a part of my career sooner rather than later, because

446
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:31,679
Speaker 1: I didn't want it to be like when I decided

447
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 1: to write a book in ten years, it was like,

448
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 1: oh look, here's a celebrity memoir number fifty seven. I

449
00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 1: wanted it to really feel like I'm a person who

450
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,440
Speaker 1: writes pros and that it's a part of my life

451
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,399
Speaker 1: and career for a long time. But unlike other people

452
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 1: that are writing books, they don't have TV shows that

453
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 1: they're starring in and writing. When you're done doing now,

454
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,720
Speaker 1: not just ten but twelve episodes. What do you have

455
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,760
Speaker 1: left to go into the book. There's stuff that's just

456
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,440
Speaker 1: for the book. There's an example. Well, I write a

457
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 1: lot about my childhood in the book. I write a

458
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 1: lot about my parents. I read a lot about um

459
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,000
Speaker 1: college and sort of like that. I read a lot

460
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:03,520
Speaker 1: about that period. I read a lot about sort of

461
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,800
Speaker 1: the beginning of being sexual person. I read about relationships.

462
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: I'm writing a lot about sort of female role want

463
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,000
Speaker 1: to say about sexuality. It's interesting. I've had to become

464
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,280
Speaker 1: more conscious about what I say and what I promote,

465
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:18,920
Speaker 1: not in a way that stifles me, but just in

466
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,440
Speaker 1: a way where I realized now that there are seventeen

467
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,359
Speaker 1: year old girls who come up to me and tell

468
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,320
Speaker 1: me that the show means a lot to them. And

469
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 1: this one of your audience is influenced. This is what

470
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,920
Speaker 1: I learned from of your is genuinely and in any

471
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 1: way influenced by what you do and say. That's still

472
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people. It's amazing. It's a platform

473
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 1: that you have to take seriously, which is why sometimes

474
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,639
Speaker 1: it's like I used to be really into Rihanna, that

475
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,200
Speaker 1: pop star, and then it was like again, I don't

476
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,920
Speaker 1: want to ever, you know, throw stones from my glass house.

477
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,400
Speaker 1: But I follow her on Instagram and I just think

478
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,679
Speaker 1: about how many little girls, beyond what I could even comprehend,

479
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,960
Speaker 1: are obsessed with Rihanna, Like, you know, she left Barbados,

480
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,119
Speaker 1: She's had this amazing career, she's you know, one Grammy,

481
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 1: she's talented. And then she gets back together with Chris

482
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,399
Speaker 1: Brown and post a million pictures them smoking marijuana together

483
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,360
Speaker 1: on a bed, and it cracks my heart in half

484
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 1: in a way that makes me feel like because she

485
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 1: got back together, it's going, oh, yeah, you you made

486
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:18,720
Speaker 1: a really good joke. And I got two emotional and

487
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,399
Speaker 1: in my response because I want to be it's terrible.

488
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 1: It's terrible, But so you are as a role model.

489
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,199
Speaker 1: What won't Hannah or the other girls in the quartet do?

490
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 1: Jenny and I talked about this a lot. We won't

491
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 1: fuck someone because they have a nice apartment. There's not

492
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,919
Speaker 1: going to be any version of sort of like proceuding yourself.

493
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: There's not gonna be any version of dating somebody because

494
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,160
Speaker 1: he can take you out to nice dinner. Wait, wait,

495
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,080
Speaker 1: you're putting down my whole playbook. This is all I

496
00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:45,639
Speaker 1: have left for my wait a second, that is so

497
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 1: wrong of you. Come on, it's interesting. I have so

498
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 1: many friends who are so sort of tortured by their

499
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,960
Speaker 1: romantic relationships, and I think such a big part of

500
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,239
Speaker 1: it is that the desires of young men and young

501
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,480
Speaker 1: women are not caught up with each other. So you

502
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:02,800
Speaker 1: say they won't monetize sex, they won't monetize sex, And

503
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 1: it's like even more subtle than that, Like, I don't

504
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: like a storyline that's like unless it's really saying something

505
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 1: about where characters are. I don't like a storyline that's like,

506
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: you know, he bought me an entire trousseau of dresses

507
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: and so I'm his forever. Like that's just not the

508
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 1: way that I want to idealize anything. I think that

509
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,399
Speaker 1: the characters, the characters can make mistakes, but they have

510
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 1: to be emotionally responsible for the things that they've done.

511
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 1: I don't ever want to like have a makeover scenario

512
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,440
Speaker 1: where someone's doing better after they've put on a great

513
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: dress and you know, straight ironed their hair, Like I

514
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:37,920
Speaker 1: just there's it's a really instinctual thing. Now, two things

515
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 1: that I think are kind of connected, which is how

516
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,200
Speaker 1: do men present themselves? You have a boyfriend. I don't.

517
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: I don't want to pry to your personal life, but

518
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,119
Speaker 1: you how do men present themselves to you differently? You

519
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,200
Speaker 1: said that Hannah was this and that and a chubby

520
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 1: girl who now the name Lena Dunham means something else

521
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,120
Speaker 1: to people. How do men present themselves to you now

522
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 1: different from the way they used to? It's interesting. I mean,

523
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,679
Speaker 1: I'm so bad at knowing if any he's hitting on me,

524
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,360
Speaker 1: like someone literally has to beat me on the head

525
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,120
Speaker 1: with a drumstick and dragged me back to their cave

526
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 1: for me to understand that it's going on. And then

527
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 1: you would press charges again, and then I would, and

528
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 1: then they and then and then I hired Gloria Alread

529
00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:16,240
Speaker 1: is my attorney. Yeah, exactly. But you know, the thing

530
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:20,440
Speaker 1: is is that sleazy people are attracted to and sleazy

531
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 1: people and not sleazy people are attracted to any sense

532
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 1: of gravity toss that someone might have. So so I

533
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 1: definitely had felt less ignored by the opposite sex. But

534
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 1: I'm also so bad at perceiving any of it, and

535
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,920
Speaker 1: so sort of did you know your boyfriend liked to Well,

536
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:38,320
Speaker 1: we got set up on a blind date, so I

537
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 1: knew he liked well, I didn't know he liked me,

538
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,399
Speaker 1: but he was pretty disposed. He was predisposed to like

539
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,120
Speaker 1: me because what we were going on was a date.

540
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,479
Speaker 1: And then that was a special situation because I went, oh,

541
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 1: I think he likes me and I like him. And

542
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 1: now you don't have to tell me if you don't

543
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 1: want answer this question. But I just find it charming.

544
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: Where did you go on your first date with your boyfriend?

545
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,119
Speaker 1: We went to Blue Ribbon Bakery in the West Village.

546
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 1: And the reason I was happy is because I find

547
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 1: picking a restaurant so anxiety producing, because I feel like

548
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 1: area because as it really is started that and also,

549
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,040
Speaker 1: what if I choose the wrong restaurant and you have

550
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 1: a bad association with it or you think I'm freez Exactly,

551
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 1: it's just the worst. And like what if we go

552
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:18,399
Speaker 1: there and you don't like muffin? Exactly? It's stressful. So

553
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 1: he said, before I even had say anything, he said,

554
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 1: if it's stressful for you, I can pick the restaurant.

555
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: And I felt like, okay, I'm going to be in

556
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 1: great hands. Where did you pick? And then he picked

557
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: Blue and Maker and then I had a cheese and

558
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,199
Speaker 1: then I ordered a Hamburger and he said, I think

559
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 1: you should get cheese on it. It's not nice and went,

560
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: oh my god. Yeah that season I was so glad

561
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 1: you Like, did my mom call you for this date?

562
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: And let you know I like Yarlsberg Burgery you've been

563
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: dating for a while. Yeah, Like, he's a very very

564
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: great person to meet you and tell me if I'm

565
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,919
Speaker 1: onto something here. You seem like someone that regardless of

566
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: what you look like or didn't look like, or what

567
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 1: you had or didn't have, whoever you were, you have

568
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,879
Speaker 1: a very very healthy and kind of guileless sense of

569
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: who you are, and you presented yourself to people your

570
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: entire life, going this is who I am and if

571
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,679
Speaker 1: you like me, great, and if you don't, there's another

572
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: six point five billion people out there, so go for it,

573
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 1: am I Right? That's the most stress That's the most

574
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 1: lovely way of putting it. I mean, I think I

575
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,479
Speaker 1: think I always had a feeling like if you just

576
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,680
Speaker 1: stick around and continue to be yourself, the correct people

577
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 1: will find you. And that's something that's been so wonderful

578
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: about the show is that it kind of confirmed that

579
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,399
Speaker 1: for me, which is not everyone watches it, but the

580
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 1: people who watch it understand it and that feeling I'm

581
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 1: sure you've had this before of uniting with your appropriate

582
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:37,679
Speaker 1: audience and sort of uniting with your people is like

583
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: about as comforting as feelings get. Lena Dunham's desire to

584
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,439
Speaker 1: connect with her audience is one my next guest understands completely.

585
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:55,719
Speaker 1: She's been doing it for decades. For nearly seventy years,

586
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: Elaine Stretch has been bringing her characters to life with

587
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: a playful ferocity that naturally leads to scenes stealing performances.

588
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 1: She's built an enviable career in film and television. Baby,

589
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: but Stritch is a self professed Broadway baby. A big

590
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 1: break came in nineteen fifty when she was hired to

591
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,399
Speaker 1: understudy for ethel Merman in Irving Berlin's musical Call Me Madam.

592
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 1: She Scared me to Death's when I got to the

593
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: end of Call Me Madam, it was mine. It is

594
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 1: not so surprising that you feel very strange. But Elaine

595
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 1: Stritch remained on stage for much of the fifties and sixties,

596
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 1: playing such iconic roles as Martha and Who's Afraid of

597
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 1: Virginia Wolf and Amanda in Private Lives by Noel Coward.

598
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: In nine seventies, she originated what is arguably the role

599
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: of her career, the acerbic Joanne and Stephen Sondheim's Company.

600
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: And Here's to the Girl Who Just Watch. In a

601
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: TV documentary about the cast recording of that production, we

602
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 1: meet Elaine's toughest critic, herself. Here she is listening to

603
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:16,400
Speaker 1: a take of that song she made famous, Ladies who Lunch.

604
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: Just to be clear, that's Elaine yelling at the sound

605
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 1: of her own voice. That was over forty years ago.

606
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,280
Speaker 1: But Elaine Stritch has continued to hold herself to impossibly

607
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,600
Speaker 1: high standards, and her dedication to the craft she loves

608
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 1: is clear, at least until recently. Earlier this year, Elaine

609
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: Stritch announced that she was leaving New York for her

610
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: home state of Michigan. There's nothing to time me here.

611
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 1: Doesn't give me any satisfaction. I don't go home and

612
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: say I guess I told them. In April, at the

613
00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 1: fitting age of eight, she performed her last cabaret show

614
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 1: at the Carlisle Hotel. As long as I've got arms

615
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: to clean, it's you all be clinging to. I shouldn't

616
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: live in New York anymore. It's not for me anymore.

617
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 1: It's too fast for me. Or no, it's not too fast.

618
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: And I changed my mind about that. It's not this,

619
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 1: It's not that. It's just not for me. This is

620
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 1: a this is New York taxi low, and it's dinner

621
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 1: and tonight and tomorrow and and I can't handle it

622
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 1: anymore because I'm not interested in handling it. You just

623
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 1: don't want You could do it. You just don't want

624
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 1: to do it. I said the other night. When is

625
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: pretend going to end? Slowly but surely? Alex Is? I'm

626
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 1: starting to say, I don't want to pretend anymore. I

627
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 1: want to get up in the morning and I want

628
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: it to be real. You know what talent is? Why

629
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: have you lasted all this time? Because you're talented? Certainly,

630
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,480
Speaker 1: isn't because people think you're an easy time of it?

631
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: Because I have to accomplish something in that department Almost

632
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 1: every day of my life I have to. You've never

633
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: stopped trying to prove yourself. That's the key, isn't it. No,

634
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 1: I gotta go and do that part in that soap,

635
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: in that smoke. I don't care what it is, or

636
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,680
Speaker 1: I'm with no old coward on the west End, or

637
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: I'm with how Prince on Broadway, I'm with all the big, big,

638
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 1: big big shots, and they're directing me well and guiding

639
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 1: me well. And I'm I'm you would approve you belong

640
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: there with them, yes, And I'm being directed in the

641
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: way of the big shots, and I'm doing fine. I'm

642
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,720
Speaker 1: doing fine. I'm I'm, I'm doing fine. But you but

643
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,760
Speaker 1: there's a point, I'm assuming when did you feel that

644
00:31:58,800 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: you're in the room and all of a sudden it's like,

645
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 1: I don't need anybody's advice. I know what I want

646
00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 1: to do. Here's what I do. Was there a time,

647
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: remember in your life when that changed? I got self

648
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:15,960
Speaker 1: satisfied about the parts that I played? For example, Well,

649
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: like I was the I was the funny, kind of

650
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:25,960
Speaker 1: offbeat girl. I wasn't. I was never the romantic lead.

651
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: I wasn't good that kind of looking girl in the movies.

652
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,120
Speaker 1: I couldn't be that kind of looking girl. I was. Well,

653
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: you could, you could have been look spise, but you

654
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: just don't want to play it because those we're dull parts.

655
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 1: Well yeah, parts, but I ye, you're a sassier woman

656
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: and you played those parts. But I didn't want to

657
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,720
Speaker 1: be eve Ardon. I really didn't. Okay, okay, that's a

658
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: good point. Why what did you sprinkle on top of

659
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,120
Speaker 1: that to make sure that it wasn't eve Harton? What

660
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 1: do you do that eve Harton didn't do I get

661
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 1: dramatic or frightened or real about something or pain. Yeah,

662
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:12,240
Speaker 1: there's a pain. It's not any Bard's work. Something dramatic

663
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 1: happens to me in the course of a comedy, right,

664
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: I don't know. But what was I always what a

665
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,680
Speaker 1: way complicating things with the pain of your existence? There's

666
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 1: this thing you tap into. Did you do when you

667
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: were very young? I think so? I think I did.

668
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 1: Were you the complicated one? Oh? I think so. I

669
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: mean there's very often I would hear around our house

670
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:44,040
Speaker 1: where is he lane? And then my mother was and

671
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,400
Speaker 1: they say oh, and I'd say, I'm right here. They

672
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 1: were worried about you. Yeah, everybody was worried about me,

673
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 1: because when I wasn't accountable, I was. I scared him.

674
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: When did performing begin? For he was a were performer

675
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:03,719
Speaker 1: As a child, I was laughing, I was born laughing.

676
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 1: Oh God, I was funny. I really was funny, and

677
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 1: I made everybody laugh. And I wasn't conscious of it.

678
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 1: I want to tell you something. I'd love to tell

679
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 1: you a line from my life to see if you

680
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 1: get this. My mother and dad, as a present to

681
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:32,480
Speaker 1: me when I was six years old, took me to

682
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 1: Niagara Falls, which was very close to Birmingham, Michigan. And

683
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 1: I kept hearing about this. And I was going to

684
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 1: wear my new pink coat and hat, and I was

685
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: going to Niagara Falls. And I kept hearing it, and

686
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:53,960
Speaker 1: you know, Christmas morning, Christmas morning, whatever it was, and

687
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 1: and I never said a word. I just sat in

688
00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:01,760
Speaker 1: the backseat and I just waited. The pulled up Alec

689
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 1: to the parking lot in Niagara Falls. And here we are.

690
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 1: We're here, Landy, We're here, Come on, get out. And

691
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:13,360
Speaker 1: it was just me, mom and dad. So the two sisters,

692
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:20,960
Speaker 1: the older sisters, you know, the hell with them. And

693
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 1: I got very teary eyed and pulled my mother back

694
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: from the car and said, Mama, what what We're going

695
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 1: to go see Niagara Fall? And I asked her if

696
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:43,840
Speaker 1: Niagara Falls had a baby. And to me and to

697
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,279
Speaker 1: my mother and my father, it was one of the

698
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 1: most extraordinary dramatic lines of all time. All I was

699
00:35:52,480 --> 00:36:00,080
Speaker 1: interested in is Did this woman Niagara Falls have a baby?

700
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 1: Because then I could play with it? And it was

701
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: I think an absolute proof of how lonely and sad

702
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: I was as a kid. I didn't know what the

703
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,360
Speaker 1: hell artistic was all about. I really didn't. I knew

704
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,840
Speaker 1: I had to express myself. I knew I had to

705
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 1: express myself, and that's all there was to it. So

706
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: when you left Michigan, when you left home, you lived

707
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 1: at home in Michigan. Your family lived in Michigan until

708
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 1: you left home. Did you go to college? No, I

709
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 1: didn't go to college, which I graduated from high school?

710
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 1: Where Sacred Heart Convent? You went to a convent. I

711
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:42,880
Speaker 1: went to a convent, the Soccerquer, highly educational, big scholastic,

712
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 1: scooby doo. You went there for what twelve years? That

713
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 1: was your high school? When you left there, where'd you

714
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:54,399
Speaker 1: go to Deshen Residence? Which was also the soccer Quer

715
00:36:54,920 --> 00:37:00,040
Speaker 1: but it was a residence finishing school for what it

716
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:04,879
Speaker 1: was like um after school stuff, you know, Like I'm

717
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 1: trying to think of one of the courses that we

718
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 1: took current events, isn't that? I guess how long were

719
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,759
Speaker 1: you there? Uh? Two years? Two years after and I

720
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,600
Speaker 1: went out and majored in dramatics at the New School

721
00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 1: in Greenwich Village. The Finishing school was in the city

722
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,799
Speaker 1: when you were back in Michigan, Greenwich Village. I'm in

723
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:27,880
Speaker 1: New York and you went to Finishing School in New

724
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: York absolutely on ninety one and Fifth Avenue. Oh my god. Yeah,

725
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 1: and I uh, I took these three courses at the school,

726
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 1: which is fine. I had a roommate from Chicago who

727
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: was majoring in journalism, and we were all very sophisticated broads.

728
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,839
Speaker 1: You went to New School for drama. That was your

729
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: first acting exposure. What do you think about it when

730
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,320
Speaker 1: you first I loved it. I sat next to Marlon Brando.

731
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: That wasn't hurt at all. You through class. Yeah, Walter

732
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 1: Mattha was on the other side of me at the

733
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 1: New School. Yeah, we had a very stellar cast. I

734
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: was getting along fine and having the most fun I've

735
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: ever had in my whole Life's the first job. Well,

736
00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:19,799
Speaker 1: first of all, I was at the studio theater at

737
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: the New School, and we had our own theater, and

738
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:29,360
Speaker 1: Piscata directed and Stella Hadler directed, and we had all

739
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:35,440
Speaker 1: those Stanislavski people. We had more fun Alex. You couldn't

740
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,840
Speaker 1: believe it was Stella like as a director, heaven she

741
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:47,040
Speaker 1: was what made her so die insight, all this kind

742
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 1: of dramatics, you know, Lane and Malin and wolves and

743
00:38:55,560 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 1: you do it. She screamed her head off us. She

744
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: was crazy woman. But I just had the most wonderful

745
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 1: time in dramatic school. And then what about your first child, Douglas.

746
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: I did my first play with Kirk Douglas Craig's um,

747
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 1: wait a minute, wait a minute. I'll tell you in

748
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: a minute. You and Kirk Douglas, you're on a stage

749
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:29,800
Speaker 1: in New York. And also, where is my black bag? Alec? Hunter?

750
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: I need I need orange juice? Hunter, come in plays?

751
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,320
Speaker 1: Can we send Hunter on here? Plays with the provisions? Hunter?

752
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:42,239
Speaker 1: Ryan Herdlica, who accompanied Elaine to the studio, came through

753
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:46,280
Speaker 1: the door juice in hand. I need some orange juice.

754
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:51,080
Speaker 1: My diabete Beties is kicking up. I need my good

755
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:55,160
Speaker 1: man Hunters here, now, Hunters here all right with the world.

756
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 1: You know that I'm diabetic, Yes, of course, I mean

757
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 1: the world knows by the world. Okay, you know what

758
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,000
Speaker 1: I quoted the other day, the line of my father's

759
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,760
Speaker 1: that It really is so naughty and just so much fun.

760
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:16,720
Speaker 1: Here's looking up your old address. Isn't it a great line?

761
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: And he said it with no he used that was it?

762
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:23,719
Speaker 1: That's right? All right, I'm going to drink this the

763
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:28,840
Speaker 1: orangice now so we don't have some event here. That's cool, okay, alright,

764
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 1: So now that you've had your orange juice and your

765
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,880
Speaker 1: brain freezes over, Kirk Douglas, what was the show? Do

766
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:40,960
Speaker 1: you remember now? Woman bites Dog? That orange juice. It's

767
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,239
Speaker 1: a miracle of lick, sir, I wanted to be a

768
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 1: case of that orange juice dog, Woman bites Dog. What

769
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,719
Speaker 1: do you play in that? If you playing his girlfriend

770
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:54,480
Speaker 1: who he lived with? I didn't even know what that

771
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:58,640
Speaker 1: phrase meant. You were a floozy? Well no, I wasn't.

772
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,800
Speaker 1: I just but I live with him and I wasn't

773
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,520
Speaker 1: married to him. I didn't know what that meant. What

774
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 1: do you remember about Kirk Douglas? Oh my god, I

775
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 1: loved him, Oh God, I loved him. And what an

776
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 1: actor I loved. And he's one of the few men

777
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: who was as great an actor as he was a star. Oh,

778
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:20,720
Speaker 1: he was a great actor. He was a great actor.

779
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:22,839
Speaker 1: He was a great actor. I loved him and he

780
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 1: loved me. He flipped over me, and he took me

781
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 1: halfway away for the weekend, and then I discovered that

782
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 1: I shouldn't go. He took you half way away to

783
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 1: Palm Springs, and then I said, I shouldn't be going.

784
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:42,440
Speaker 1: So what did you hit? Like? What? He said? I

785
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:46,880
Speaker 1: don't know. We were halfway to Palm Beach, Palm Springs things.

786
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 1: So you're driving east and we were driving for the

787
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: weekend and you decide you didn't want to. Well, I said,

788
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,200
Speaker 1: I'm getting nervous because what do you want me to

789
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: do when we get up here? Kirked us. Oh, Elaine,

790
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 1: he knew I was a virgin, so he was dealing

791
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:08,360
Speaker 1: with that. Here are you? Isn't amazing you with this

792
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,600
Speaker 1: virginal You went to suck or cur and you went

793
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 1: to finishing school and I played as soon as you're out.

794
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:18,279
Speaker 1: God is just tempting you. He's taking Marlon Brando on

795
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 1: one side of you, and Kirk Douglas is reving up

796
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,400
Speaker 1: the cons able to take you to Palm Springs, and

797
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,920
Speaker 1: you're the fluzi here and you're the piece on the side,

798
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,480
Speaker 1: the busty femtwel But what I was really doing is

799
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 1: learning my lines to the play or to the television

800
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 1: or to the I was really loving acting. I loved it.

801
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:49,040
Speaker 1: I loved pretending. I just loved It's so hard and

802
00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 1: it's such hard work, but it's so gratifying. What's the

803
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 1: hardest thing about it? For you? What's been the hardest thing?

804
00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 1: Do you find it hard just to have the fear

805
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: of what that you won't be able to perform, the

806
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 1: fear that I'm just gonna forget and I'm gonna not

807
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 1: not so much forget, But it's the fear, it's the fear.

808
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:12,480
Speaker 1: Have you ever done a show. I'm sure you've done

809
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 1: countless shows. You ever done a show where you're sitting

810
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,800
Speaker 1: backstage thinking what am I doing here? How did I

811
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 1: get myself into this? Or? Were you always engaged by

812
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: what you were doing? I was always engaged always. You

813
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 1: never took I was leading up to it or coming down,

814
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:31,240
Speaker 1: you know, I I was trying to get it behind.

815
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:36,920
Speaker 1: You never regretted doing anything? Never? No, Wow, that's incredible. No,

816
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 1: I never never regretted doing anything on the stage. You

817
00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:46,240
Speaker 1: never How was that possible? Because I just one every

818
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 1: time I walked out there. You know that old expression

819
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:59,560
Speaker 1: about I own the stage after all. Over the course

820
00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 1: of her career rear, Elaine Stritch worked with some of

821
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,760
Speaker 1: the best, like Stephen Sundheim. I don't think he knew

822
00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,840
Speaker 1: anything about how successful he was. He wasn't conscious of that.

823
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,960
Speaker 1: He was too busy doing it. In a minute, our

824
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:18,920
Speaker 1: interview continues, and blood sugars are measured. Oh, there we go.

825
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:22,439
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing.

826
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:34,879
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the thing.

827
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 1: In the past twenty years, TV and film have introduced

828
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,440
Speaker 1: Elaine Stretch to a new audience. She garnered Emmy's for

829
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 1: her performances in Law and Order and in Thirty Rock,

830
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:51,759
Speaker 1: where she played my character's mother, the irascible Colleen Donahey. Well, wow, whoa, whoa, whoa,

831
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:59,279
Speaker 1: This must be the one she welcome. No, no, no, mother, mother,

832
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:04,120
Speaker 1: this is not this is not Phoebe. Well, why the

833
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:08,320
Speaker 1: hell not? I ended up liking Tina Fey an awful

834
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:13,760
Speaker 1: lot and very quietly all by myself. Did you enjoy

835
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,800
Speaker 1: doing the show? No, you didn't know why. I didn't

836
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 1: have any fun with with comedy. I did with you

837
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: for a while, but then it got a little bit

838
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 1: too routine for me. And I wasn't challenged. I didn't

839
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:32,439
Speaker 1: have a challenge with it. But I mean I was fine.

840
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:37,919
Speaker 1: But um oh, I don't know, Alexi, just it wasn't

841
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: Would you think TV is not your No? I think

842
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:46,960
Speaker 1: TV is fine with me. There's nothing, nothing's wrong with it.

843
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:51,799
Speaker 1: I love TV. I love comedy. I loved working with you.

844
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:57,919
Speaker 1: It was almost like we need it was okay, yeah,

845
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:00,200
Speaker 1: I think so. Um, did you ever want to do

846
00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 1: a drama in your later years? I mean in the

847
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:10,719
Speaker 1: last years, I was just cut out for it, cut

848
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 1: out for it. You were what's the last drama you

849
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:24,560
Speaker 1: did on stage? Edward All be Um Lady from Dubuq, No, No, No,

850
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:28,799
Speaker 1: Three twelve Women. No. I was asked to do that.

851
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:35,880
Speaker 1: I didn't do it. It's too much to learn. A

852
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:40,880
Speaker 1: delicate ballad one of the best players ever written in

853
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,680
Speaker 1: the whole world, and also a play for me. What

854
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:46,239
Speaker 1: did you like about the part? What did you like

855
00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:55,840
Speaker 1: about it? Was very quiet and very subtle, subtle, like

856
00:46:56,120 --> 00:47:01,280
Speaker 1: forget about it and just and I just went about

857
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:03,840
Speaker 1: my business on that stage, and I did everything. I

858
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:09,160
Speaker 1: drank too much, I talked too much. I did exactly

859
00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:12,200
Speaker 1: as I pleased. I went upstairs when I wanted to

860
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:16,120
Speaker 1: go upstairs. I was absolutely all over the place and

861
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:20,680
Speaker 1: not promising anything to anybody. It was unbelievable. Who directed

862
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:28,520
Speaker 1: Jerry Gutierres, who is the best director with aside from

863
00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:32,799
Speaker 1: George Wolfe. The two of them were what does it? No? No, no,

864
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:35,880
Speaker 1: help illuminate this for people, because this, to me is

865
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:38,680
Speaker 1: a very important question for you, and that is, you're

866
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:43,440
Speaker 1: so self directed. You know you've got the talent, you've

867
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:46,319
Speaker 1: got to feel good. But baby, you got so many

868
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:48,960
Speaker 1: bullets in your chamber, it's not funny. And you come

869
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:51,480
Speaker 1: out there you're loaded. And what does the director do

870
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:56,160
Speaker 1: for you? How does the director help you? Oh, he

871
00:47:56,320 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 1: makes me feel comfortable about myself. He gives you. For instance,

872
00:48:01,040 --> 00:48:04,480
Speaker 1: George Wolfe when he did My One Woman Show, he

873
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:07,440
Speaker 1: has a way of laughing that he had. When he laughs,

874
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 1: he falls on the floor, he throws himself on the

875
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:13,800
Speaker 1: floor because he's got to do that. He's got to

876
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:17,759
Speaker 1: go ha. He goes crazy when he laughs and he's

877
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 1: laughing and he's and that will make me listen to

878
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:26,120
Speaker 1: a director that will that will tune me in. Isn't

879
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 1: a nice when a director gives you confidence? Oh my god,

880
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:31,560
Speaker 1: I've worked with so many of them. Were not that

881
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:33,760
Speaker 1: they undermined you, but they certainly didn't give you any comment.

882
00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:38,200
Speaker 1: They almost resented the implication that they do that. They

883
00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:39,600
Speaker 1: kind of looked at you like, well, you're getting paid

884
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:41,040
Speaker 1: all this money, you just get up there and do it.

885
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:43,719
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not here to help you know. They

886
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:47,080
Speaker 1: don't help you at all. There's no mentoring or care.

887
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:50,400
Speaker 1: It's very, very strange. I want a little more orange juice,

888
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 1: Gang Hunter. That beeping sound we've been hearing periodic? Is

889
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:58,320
Speaker 1: that a glucose meter? What's that? What's that thing that

890
00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:02,319
Speaker 1: went off? Where's mine? It's ducks come. It's telling us

891
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:08,360
Speaker 1: to enter the blood sugars. Oh my god, I forgot

892
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: all about them. When we're done with this, will enter him.

893
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:15,480
Speaker 1: Oh are we okay? Do you want to take a

894
00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:19,200
Speaker 1: break into it now? How long will it take a minute?

895
00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:22,399
Speaker 1: Go right? A hell? Please do it now? We wait.

896
00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:24,319
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want it in the post that you were

897
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:28,360
Speaker 1: hospitalized on my account because Alec Baldwin refused to allow

898
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:33,960
Speaker 1: me to administer my diabetes treatment. Oh boy, okay, this

899
00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:37,480
Speaker 1: is right away. I'm going to do it now. Okay,

900
00:49:38,040 --> 00:49:44,239
Speaker 1: there we go. I don't have my ladies and gentlemen, okay,

901
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:51,360
Speaker 1: Elaine stretch and Hunter, the ever trusty Hunter or squeezing

902
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:53,719
Speaker 1: droplets of her blood onto a device. So I gotta

903
00:49:53,760 --> 00:50:00,680
Speaker 1: tell us that we've nearly killed her here she okay, yeah,

904
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 1: you're okay. And then it's done. And then and you

905
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,480
Speaker 1: want to keep it at what number? It's not a

906
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:13,120
Speaker 1: matter of keeping, it's just entering them. What what they are? Now?

907
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:17,319
Speaker 1: That are two hours after. I'd love to do mine too.

908
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:20,120
Speaker 1: While we're at it, Let's have a let's have a

909
00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:23,359
Speaker 1: prick our finger and squeeze it on the glucose meter. Party,

910
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:29,680
Speaker 1: stop that, Alex, Listen, there's another BB. This is why

911
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:32,120
Speaker 1: you're so glad we're not doing this on television because

912
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:36,359
Speaker 1: to see this happening, it's really unsettling. And we've done

913
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:39,880
Speaker 1: both of them now, both of them. Yea. And what

914
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 1: number you have anywhere do you want to be doesn't

915
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:47,840
Speaker 1: have to be that's fine, that's good, it's cool. Okay,

916
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:51,600
Speaker 1: she's cool. Oh oh, I know what I wanted to

917
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 1: tell you. I want to tell him something that I

918
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:57,960
Speaker 1: that I got the nerve to tell John to tourists.

919
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,560
Speaker 1: Now when you told John to touro, when you wanted

920
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:03,560
Speaker 1: to tell him, because it's something that meant a lot

921
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:05,040
Speaker 1: to you, Because we will edit that you called him

922
00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:09,320
Speaker 1: to tourists. A lot of people have. Alex Baldwin called

923
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 1: John to tourists? What did you want to tell? Trying

924
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:17,880
Speaker 1: to tell somebody something about me and acting that sort

925
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:22,279
Speaker 1: of I thought kind of represented something about me that

926
00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:28,160
Speaker 1: I had had courage to tell. And the thing was that, I, oh,

927
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:30,920
Speaker 1: how can I tell you this? Will you tell me

928
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,040
Speaker 1: that your secret and I'll tell you mine? All right?

929
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:37,920
Speaker 1: My secret is is that how can I put it

930
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:45,640
Speaker 1: to you? My secret is in Virginia Wolf. When I

931
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:52,360
Speaker 1: was playing Virginia Wolf, I am sometimes I get fuzzy

932
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: when I'm telling a story. Now and it's we have

933
00:51:56,840 --> 00:52:01,200
Speaker 1: in comment, go ahead. I wanted to tell something intimate

934
00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:05,000
Speaker 1: about myself to John about when he was interviewing me.

935
00:52:05,719 --> 00:52:10,280
Speaker 1: I told him that when I was doing Virginia Wolf,

936
00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:15,680
Speaker 1: and when George and Martha had their scene together and

937
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:21,640
Speaker 1: George said, our son is dead, you know, big scene?

938
00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:26,680
Speaker 1: Our son? He yells in my faith is dead and

939
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:36,120
Speaker 1: I went no. At the height of my force, I

940
00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:40,719
Speaker 1: said no to him, and I had an orgasm for

941
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,080
Speaker 1: the first time in my life. Yes, really so so

942
00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:51,200
Speaker 1: this is this is how important that moment was on

943
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:53,680
Speaker 1: stage to me. Ill be very particular about who he

944
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:57,480
Speaker 1: casts very Did you have a good relationship with him?

945
00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:01,840
Speaker 1: You're close, He's very tough. Who we put he's very

946
00:53:02,239 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 1: but he's and he's very fond of me. I got

947
00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:09,840
Speaker 1: to last questions for you, and I want you to

948
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:13,319
Speaker 1: give me a simple answer to this first question. I've

949
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:15,719
Speaker 1: met a lot of people in this business, and I've

950
00:53:15,719 --> 00:53:18,160
Speaker 1: worked with a lot of people who were powerful. Julie

951
00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:21,080
Speaker 1: Harris played my mother on a TV series, and I

952
00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:23,920
Speaker 1: work with I work with some great people, you know,

953
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:26,279
Speaker 1: great great people. Some I'm not so great, but some

954
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:28,080
Speaker 1: great ones. And you're one of the great ones I

955
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:32,680
Speaker 1: worked with. But just give me a yes or no

956
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:36,200
Speaker 1: if you're capable. And that is, do you realize what

957
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:38,320
Speaker 1: you mean to other people who were in this business,

958
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,240
Speaker 1: how much they love you and how much they admire

959
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:44,759
Speaker 1: Do you know I'm beginning to do you into the

960
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:48,000
Speaker 1: mic place. Don't talk to you. I'm beginning to because

961
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:51,359
Speaker 1: in this business as you know, especially for people who

962
00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:55,320
Speaker 1: themselves are very talented and or successful other talented people,

963
00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:58,840
Speaker 1: that's like um an aphrodisiact to them. Talent is the

964
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:03,359
Speaker 1: greatest aphrodisiac. And everyone basically says, there's no one more

965
00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:09,000
Speaker 1: talented than you. You're an immensely, immensely incalculably talented woman

966
00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:12,040
Speaker 1: and people, and you're a gigantic pain in the ass.

967
00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:16,160
Speaker 1: Sometimes you're a legendary pain in the ass. You're a

968
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:21,000
Speaker 1: gigantic pain in the ass. But people don't, you know,

969
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:23,600
Speaker 1: they joke about that because they love you. And why

970
00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 1: do they love you? Because you're so talented, you're so funny,

971
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:31,080
Speaker 1: you're soever, your timing is impeccable. Now, what are you

972
00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:36,920
Speaker 1: gonna miss about New York? The personality of human beings

973
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:45,720
Speaker 1: in New York They are so opened and second, they're

974
00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:49,759
Speaker 1: not watching what they're doing. They're not you know, they're

975
00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:54,040
Speaker 1: they're not watching their language, they're not watching anything. They're

976
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:59,160
Speaker 1: just going through life's saying what yeah, all right? You know,

977
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:05,840
Speaker 1: and everybody they're engaged. Every day is an event in

978
00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:10,759
Speaker 1: New York. Elaine Stritch says she's going to miss New

979
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:13,279
Speaker 1: Yorker's and I can tell you that we will miss

980
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:16,440
Speaker 1: her too. She says the move back to Michigan hasn't

981
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:20,480
Speaker 1: been easy, but she's already found herself on stage in Detroit.

982
00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:24,120
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwhen you can hear more of our

983
00:55:24,239 --> 00:55:28,120
Speaker 1: conversations from Debbie Reynolds to Michael Douglas in our archive,

984
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:32,200
Speaker 1: Elvis used to tease him and put snakes down his pants,

985
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:36,279
Speaker 1: and that was the beginning for you. And I thought, no,

986
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:38,439
Speaker 1: I always knew I was going to be with people

987
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:41,839
Speaker 1: like this. Take a listen at Here's the Thing dot Org.

988
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:45,160
Speaker 1: Here's the Thing is produced by Emily Bottine and Kathy

989
00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:49,680
Speaker 1: Russo with Chris Bannon, Jim Briggs, ed Herbstman, Melanie Hoops,

990
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:54,920
Speaker 1: Monica Hopkins, Trey k Sharon Mashehe, and Lou Okawski. Thanks

991
00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:59,720
Speaker 1: to Larry Josephson and the Radio Foundation, This is Alec Baldwin.

992
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:03,080
Speaker 1: Then you're listening to Here's the Thing o