Speaker 1: I am all in, Kiss you, I am all in
Speaker 1: with Scott Patterson and I Heart Radio podcast Everybody, Scott Patterson,
Speaker 1: I am all in podcast one eleven productions, I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: We are going to be talking with William, the laundry
Speaker 1: guy portrayed by Peter Klausner. Uh, let me tell you
Speaker 1: a little bit about Peter. He portrayed William for two
Speaker 1: episodes uh season four episode five, The Fundamental Things Apply,
Speaker 1: and the last episode was season four episode eleven, So
Speaker 1: Short but Sweet, Tenure at Gilmore and the Clamor and
Speaker 1: the Clanger. His bio was born in Los Angeles, California.
Speaker 1: As an actor and a writer known for Gilmore Girls, Amigo,
Speaker 1: Undead in Six Degrees of Everything in two haus in fifteen,
Speaker 1: and now he is an attorney dealing with class action
Speaker 1: lawsuits against Big Pharma and Little Farma. Peter, welcome, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on. Take us back to two thousand and
Speaker 1: four and tell us how you got the role of William. Sure,
Speaker 1: so it actually goes back to two thousand and three. Um,
Speaker 1: I had just graduated from college. I was twenty one,
Speaker 1: and I didn't even have an agent at that time.
Speaker 1: I had been a theater student at USC but I
Speaker 1: had a manager and UM. Towards the end of the summer,
Speaker 1: she let me know I had an audition or the
Speaker 1: show The Gilmore Girls, which up to that point I
Speaker 1: had never seen. UM. So I started asking around with friends.
Speaker 1: I said, what what kind of show is this? UM?
Speaker 1: Is it any good? And I was told, well, the
Speaker 1: writing is really good and they talk really fast on
Speaker 1: the show, so when you go to the audition, show
Speaker 1: them that you can talk fast. And so I I
Speaker 1: looked into it. UM. I saw that Edward Herman was
Speaker 1: on the show, who I loved, and UM went in
Speaker 1: for the audition and it was interesting because UM as I,
Speaker 1: as I later found out, I think somebody showed me
Speaker 1: an article and it was right while this was going on.
Speaker 1: But you know, this was the season that I was
Speaker 1: auditioning for was Rory's first year at Yale, and there
Speaker 1: was some article that had been written and I think
Speaker 1: Amy had been quoted saying, well, now that she's left
Speaker 1: behind these two guys uh in stars Hollow, we are
Speaker 1: going to parade you know, every young man in town
Speaker 1: in front of her. And I guess I was. I
Speaker 1: was one of those young men because when I went
Speaker 1: to the audition. Um, you know, these auditions are always
Speaker 1: staggered and scheduling wise for forever reason, everybody showed up
Speaker 1: at the same time, and it was just an entire
Speaker 1: lobby filled with with people. It was like you know,
Speaker 1: looking into a mirror, but but or multiplicity. With Michael Keaton.
Speaker 1: There was thirty of us, um and every everybody insecure,
Speaker 1: everybody uh, you know, staring each other down. And I
Speaker 1: went in for the audition and I just immediately clicked
Speaker 1: with the casting directors and they brought me back to
Speaker 1: to read for Amy and I think some of the
Speaker 1: other producers, and then I I got the gig and
Speaker 1: they told me to show up, and I think I
Speaker 1: was still twenty one at this point. Showed up to
Speaker 1: the to the sound stage in Burbank and and that's
Speaker 1: where the real kind of adventure began. What do you
Speaker 1: remember about being on set? I mean I was I
Speaker 1: was terrified. I mean, you know, my this was this
Speaker 1: was not I mean, this was this was my first
Speaker 1: professional audition, much less gig and um there you know,
Speaker 1: there there were people there that were established now celebrities,
Speaker 1: and I had never worked on a sound stage like
Speaker 1: that before. They were just all. You know, there were
Speaker 1: bells and literally bells going off and I didn't know
Speaker 1: what they meant. They sounded like fire alarms. Fine that
Speaker 1: you know, that just means they're filming. Um. Then you've
Speaker 1: got those those big hot lights, these big alien cameras
Speaker 1: staring at you and um and that's before you Then
Speaker 1: you get to the fact that that that you then
Speaker 1: have to perform, and you're performing within again and established
Speaker 1: famous actress um and and you know, the people on
Speaker 1: set really did everything they could to make me feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: UM and and and by the way, and the when
Speaker 1: I went in for the costume fitting, I don't know
Speaker 1: what a couple of days earlier. UM, they liked the
Speaker 1: jeans I was wearing and my Chuck Taylor Converse shoes,
Speaker 1: so they just had me wear those um for the shooting.
Speaker 1: I think that that made me feel comfortable. You know,
Speaker 1: I was in my comfortable warning jeans and shoes. UM.
Speaker 1: And the director whose name I can't recall at the moment,
Speaker 1: although it's knowable, she was great and she really tried
Speaker 1: to put me at ease. Uh. And you know it
Speaker 1: was it was a couple couple hours. You know, we
Speaker 1: filmed the scene from as you do, from multiple angles,
Speaker 1: and I was just trying to relax and be chatty
Speaker 1: with Alexis bladell getting nowhere with that, um you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I I was there for one scene in
Speaker 1: the first episode. I was in that scene in the
Speaker 1: laundry room. So it was just a very very quick scene.
Speaker 1: She had a whole day ahead of her and just
Speaker 1: just was not I wouldn't I wouldn't take it personally.
Speaker 1: She was just probably trying to conserve, conserve her because
Speaker 1: those are those are tough long days to get through. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I could even sense that. Um, I think she
Speaker 1: and other cast members, I could just tell we're just exhausted,
Speaker 1: you know, from from that from that grind, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's easy for anybody. And uh um, but you know,
Speaker 1: I'm always trying to lighten the mood and always getting
Speaker 1: nowhere over that. So um yeah, it was. It was
Speaker 1: a couple of hours and of just you know that
Speaker 1: that one scene and uh, you know, I left the
Speaker 1: set and of course it did what I called my
Speaker 1: mom right away, like like she demanded I do, uh,
Speaker 1: and you know, told her all about it, and so
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun. So she got the scoop,
Speaker 1: all right, okay, yeah, yeah. Now the second episode I
Speaker 1: was in, it was a little bit different because I
Speaker 1: had multiple scenes and I wasn't cast on the fly,
Speaker 1: so I actually got to go to the table read
Speaker 1: for that one. I sat next to Lauren Graham, um,
Speaker 1: and got to meet some of the other cast members
Speaker 1: as well and some of the other people that worked
Speaker 1: on the show and go through that whole table read experience.
Speaker 1: And that wasn't much that that that was also filmed
Speaker 1: in one day. I think it was four scenes filmed
Speaker 1: over the course of one day, But that was a
Speaker 1: much longer day than the first time, so I actually
Speaker 1: started to feel pretty beat by the end of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do you remember what you had for lunch? I don't
Speaker 1: know that I had lunch, but I think I think
Speaker 1: I knew if I ate anything, I would just get tired.
Speaker 1: But but in the in the scene that uh that
Speaker 1: in in I think there's a scene in the second
Speaker 1: episode where Rory and I are in a in a
Speaker 1: classroom having a discussion at some sort of debating Middle
Speaker 1: East politics or something like that, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: there were there were snacks in the room. Um. On
Speaker 1: the set that were there as as essentially props. But
Speaker 1: I think they said something to the effect that if
Speaker 1: you want, you know, you can grab some of that
Speaker 1: and bring it to the table, because everybody's supposed to
Speaker 1: be kind of munching in this scene. And so I
Speaker 1: saw a bunch of bagels there and just there's a
Speaker 1: little nod to my Jewish roots. Um took a bagel,
Speaker 1: took a big bite out of it to demonstate so
Speaker 1: that it would look like I had been in the
Speaker 1: process of eating it, and put it on the table
Speaker 1: in front of me. But that bite of the bagel
Speaker 1: might have been the only thing I actually ate that day.
Speaker 1: I think I was just otherwise too nervous to get
Speaker 1: So your scenes with Alexis, and we have people writing
Speaker 1: in questions. This is from Amanda and uh Knoxville, Tennessee
Speaker 1: your scenes with Alexis in episode eleven, from the argument
Speaker 1: in the International Relations Club and the confrontation of the
Speaker 1: dining hall were so good? Were there a lot of
Speaker 1: takes with the pencil twirling. She wants to know that
Speaker 1: is a good question, that's very obscure. I was. I was, no,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a great question, because I was obviously
Speaker 1: very very conscious of the pencil twirling at the time. Um,
Speaker 1: by the way, for what it's worth, I don't think
Speaker 1: I ever understood what I was saying in that scene.
Speaker 1: And I think I've even gone back and and listened
Speaker 1: to the dialogue more carefully, and I still don't even
Speaker 1: know if I know what it was I was really
Speaker 1: ultimately saying. But as far as the pencil goes, no,
Speaker 1: I don't recall there being a number. I don't think
Speaker 1: there were many takes. I think I was such a
Speaker 1: good pencil twirler at that point already that it was natural,
Speaker 1: that was second nature. Well, there was a this is
Speaker 1: from Mary Beth from Seattle. Uh, the tension between you two,
Speaker 1: you could feel we could we feel we could have
Speaker 1: taken it further and maybe a love interest. Was there
Speaker 1: a discussion with the writers for that at all? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that. I think going back to what I
Speaker 1: said earlier about having a bunch of young men parade
Speaker 1: in front of her over the course of her freshman year. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think they just after a number after
Speaker 1: she had had a number of encounters and a number
Speaker 1: of episodes have been filmed. I think they they made
Speaker 1: a decision to just take stock and see who the
Speaker 1: best candidates were from potential love interests. So certainly, I
Speaker 1: think when those scenes were being filmed, it was understood
Speaker 1: that there was a potential love interest angle there that
Speaker 1: was in the works, just depending on with which actor
Speaker 1: she she had the most chemistry. And uh, I guess,
Speaker 1: I guess I wasn't that actor. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: I I don't know about that. There's all kinds of
Speaker 1: reasons people get parts and uh don't get parts and
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with with their acting, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. There's all kinds of stuff. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think that I think that maybe they were looking
Speaker 1: to see who had like a natural rapport with her
Speaker 1: winning character and that sort of thing, you know. As
Speaker 1: I said that, that show is very specific about the
Speaker 1: writing and the characters and how things play out, and
Speaker 1: I think they really just, you know, they just wanted
Speaker 1: to take stock and see who the best candidate was,
Speaker 1: just in terms of that rapport with Rory or Alexis.
Speaker 1: Did you, uh, did you watch the episode when it
Speaker 1: came out and did you watch it before you came
Speaker 1: on here today? Um? So yes and no, um, And
Speaker 1: I certainly considered watching again in preparation for this so
Speaker 1: I definitely watched it when it came out. I watched,
Speaker 1: I watched with my family. You know, my mom was
Speaker 1: my biggest fan. I think acting and me being an
Speaker 1: actor was really her dream for me more than it
Speaker 1: really was mine. Um And, and she actually passed away
Speaker 1: shortly after I filmed these episodes. Um but and I
Speaker 1: I was just always very very thankful that that she
Speaker 1: got to have that experience of seeing her boy on TV,
Speaker 1: which I think was a bigger thrill for her than
Speaker 1: it was for me. Um So that was awesome. And
Speaker 1: I and I and I watched with them with my
Speaker 1: with my parents, and I think some other family was there.
Speaker 1: Um But as for watching in preparation for this podcast,
Speaker 1: you know, I really wanted to. But I I I'm
Speaker 1: one of those actors. I have a really difficult time
Speaker 1: watching myself after the fact. Uh it is. I find
Speaker 1: it to be a thoroughly painful experience, and I think
Speaker 1: and interestingly, as more time goes on, I find it
Speaker 1: even more difficult. And at some point, I guess I'll
Speaker 1: have to show this stuff. I have two little girls.
Speaker 1: I'll have to show them. You know, these episodes from
Speaker 1: that time Daddy was on TV. But I I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't watch the Gilmore Girls episode. I can't watch
Speaker 1: any of the other shows that I did. So that's
Speaker 1: a that's a common theme with many many of my
Speaker 1: actor friends. UM. I share that with you as well. UM,
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to watch these episodes. I have
Speaker 1: to do the podcast, and I'm twenty two years removed
Speaker 1: from it, so it's a little easier. But I know
Speaker 1: how you feel. UM. Uh do people remember you from
Speaker 1: the show? People come up to you on the street
Speaker 1: and said, Hey, you're William the laundry guy. So that's
Speaker 1: that's a good question. So for for so long, there
Speaker 1: no UM. And for a while there now UM and
Speaker 1: and uh. But UM as the years went on, and
Speaker 1: that whole um, the whole binge watching experience exploded and
Speaker 1: and and people started streaming and all that UM and
Speaker 1: it and it had been in uh circulation for a
Speaker 1: while or extumeing syndication. UM. Once in a while, I
Speaker 1: would get noticed. I got I got noticed and I
Speaker 1: got noticed by a by a flight attendant when I
Speaker 1: was flying to Las Vegas from my bachelor party. And
Speaker 1: I remember and she recognized me and was fawning over me.
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, well, why didn't this happen before
Speaker 1: I was going to a bachelor party and then and
Speaker 1: then and then and then and then, um when a
Speaker 1: when a makeup artist actually came to our when I
Speaker 1: was getting married. Um, a makeup artist came to my
Speaker 1: apartment to do a trial run with my wife to
Speaker 1: make sure they were getting everything right for the wedding.
Speaker 1: And I was only there for a minute. I left
Speaker 1: the apartment, and apparently after I left, she said, So,
Speaker 1: this is so random, but was your husband on the
Speaker 1: Gilmore Girls? And um and so um so so again
Speaker 1: and so odd that all these things keep happening in
Speaker 1: the context of my my wedding. But yeah, and so
Speaker 1: it's happened a couple other times since then, but but
Speaker 1: only once people started bingering, I think, once they had
Speaker 1: seen these episodes three or four times and become experts
Speaker 1: on them. So, um, so you haven't acted in a while.
Speaker 1: What are you up to now? So I'm actually a
Speaker 1: um uh an attorney and I do um consumer work,
Speaker 1: um sort of class action mass towards stuff on the
Speaker 1: on the planiff side and so um and so uh
Speaker 1: I've been heavily involved in some of those opioids cases
Speaker 1: that you're reading about, um uh in the news. I
Speaker 1: was just in New Mexico for a two month opioids
Speaker 1: trial against pharmacies. UM. I've taken on to other pharmaceutical
Speaker 1: companies Bristol Myers, squib sanit Fee for the pharmaceutical drug Clavits.
Speaker 1: I've represented um classes of plaintiffs against banks, mortgage servicers,
Speaker 1: medical device manufacturers, that sort of thing. And you know,
Speaker 1: by the way, and I hate to I hate to
Speaker 1: sort of skip around a derail, but I actually remember
Speaker 1: in the in the table read for the for I
Speaker 1: guess it was episode eleven of that season. UM, I
Speaker 1: think you had a scene involving a shovel that you
Speaker 1: had loaned somebody. Am I getting this right? Or does
Speaker 1: this even ring a bell? No? Keep talking about maybe
Speaker 1: it'll bring it back, but go ahead. Well, I think
Speaker 1: it was something like you were you were shoveling a
Speaker 1: walkway with her shop with with UM with Laurel I
Speaker 1: shovel and as you walked away with it, she said
Speaker 1: you guys had a fight, and she saithing like you
Speaker 1: better bring that back, and you said something like I
Speaker 1: lent this to you six years ago, and I remember
Speaker 1: actually laughing out loud uh in the read. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that sounds from anyway. Getting getting back to
Speaker 1: your question, I've basically been an attorney for the last
Speaker 1: twelve years. I got after acting, I got um politically
Speaker 1: involved in some campaigns, and that was when I really
Speaker 1: realized that, you know, I think this acting thing was
Speaker 1: really my my mom's dream for me and not my own.
Speaker 1: I didn't have. I always enjoyed it. I always loved
Speaker 1: television movies. I shouldn't have a passion for it, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think that when I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: you get one chance at life, and and let people
Speaker 1: always say you find that thing that you love, you
Speaker 1: will never work a day in your life. And that
Speaker 1: just was not acting for me. Too many nerves, um
Speaker 1: and no real passion. So got into law and I
Speaker 1: really never looked back. Well, good for you. Your sounds
Speaker 1: like you're really helping out humanity, trying to you know,
Speaker 1: clawback some of those dollars in exchange for Well, that's
Speaker 1: just a wonderful wonderfulness. You're ready to play rapid fire, Okay,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna I'm gonna fire question that you gotta
Speaker 1: it's gonna be Gilmore esque in its speed. How many
Speaker 1: comes to coffee? Do you have a day? Oh? God?
Speaker 1: Three to four? Are your team Logan, Team Jeser, Team Dean?
Speaker 1: How could it don't make me a fine team? Uh?
Speaker 1: You just? What's your favorite Gilmore Girls character? I would
Speaker 1: probably have to go with William the guy in the laundry.
Speaker 1: There you go short of that, listen, I come on,
Speaker 1: that's it's such so many great characters, so many great actors.
Speaker 1: But because I grew up in the eighties and was
Speaker 1: a big Lost Boys fan, I I just I always
Speaker 1: loved Edward Herman. But but it's just so many great characters. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm not being wrapping. No, no, no, no, that's okay,
Speaker 1: that's okay. What would you order at Luke's Diner? Oh? Man? Uh?
Speaker 1: You know my diets changed so much since those days.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't really eat. I get reflux with
Speaker 1: so many You really are a lawyer, aren't you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You really are? You take the floor, man. I would
Speaker 1: just say I would just get a coffee and just
Speaker 1: sim to all the clever conversations people were having. Would
Speaker 1: you would you rather go on road trip with Taylor
Speaker 1: or Michelle? Would it break hearts if I said I
Speaker 1: didn't really know who does know? It would not uh
Speaker 1: finish the no, No, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 1: Finish the lyric. And where you lead, I will follow
Speaker 1: dot dot dot. I don't know, but my mom would
Speaker 1: know anywhere that right, Um, Jackson's Vegetables or Suki's baked goods.
Speaker 1: You don't even know what that means to know, but
Speaker 1: I but I remember Sukiya Suki's bake goods. Would you
Speaker 1: rather listen to Drella's harp or the Troubadours cover songs?
Speaker 1: The harp? Because I just need to put my mind
Speaker 1: at easy these days. Chiltern Prepper stars hollow high, come on,
Speaker 1: of course stars hollow alright, So I'm gonna wrap this up,
Speaker 1: but stay with me because we'll do the intro to
Speaker 1: all right. Peter, Thank you, Peter Klausner. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on board and sharing your experiences with us.
Speaker 1: Uh fascinating, insightful and surprising, and thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Be well, my friend, and hopefully we'll talk to you
Speaker 1: soon if you do. But that's it, you don't, that's it.
Speaker 1: Two episodes. You're out right. That's right, that's it, all right.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, my pleasure. It's always fun to go
Speaker 1: back and run. You got it, buddy, all right, take
Speaker 1: care now, have a good one, hey everybody, and don't
Speaker 1: forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In
Speaker 1: podcast and email us at Gilmore at I heart radio
Speaker 1: dot com. Oh you, Gilmore fans. If you're looking for
Speaker 1: the best cup of coffee in the world, go to
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