Speaker 1: I don't know umber. I'm calling a lof meeting folks today.
Speaker 1: I am joined by a very very special guest. Brenda
Speaker 1: Song's career is longer than my.
Speaker 2: Dario.
Speaker 1: I've dated quite quite the number anyway, Like literally, she's
Speaker 1: been doing TV for like thirty years something like that.
Speaker 2: I was like three four. Oh my, I know, I'm psychotic.
Speaker 2: There's something wrong with me.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's ship out to sum She's London Tipton,
Speaker 1: the Hotel heiress from the Sweet Life of Zach and Cody.
Speaker 2: Are you reading my IMDb or are you reading like
Speaker 2: a bio?
Speaker 1: I'm bringing by all. We wrote by we wrote this,
Speaker 1: we wrote this out the social network, and a lot
Speaker 1: of you folks if you're if you're listening to this podcast,
Speaker 1: you know her as Daisy from New Girl. Please welcome
Speaker 1: Brenda Song to the show.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: What were you when I saw you in Serrano? What
Speaker 1: were you promoting?
Speaker 3: I was promoting a movie that's going to come out
Speaker 3: in January called The Last Show Girl with Pamela Anderson, Jamielee, Curtis,
Speaker 3: Dave Batista.
Speaker 2: Here in a shipka Billy Lord I am.
Speaker 3: I literally just I'm in the background holding lights like
Speaker 3: I am so just to be a part of this project.
Speaker 2: It was wonderful. It was so I hadn't seen you
Speaker 2: in so long. It was so nice to see. It
Speaker 2: was such a lovely surprise.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yes, that was a fun That was
Speaker 1: a fun little gathering that we had there. And we're
Speaker 1: gonna at the Toronto Focast. Well, that was my first
Speaker 1: time being there. I never yeah, I mean I've been
Speaker 1: I go to often, but that was my first time
Speaker 1: at the at the festival.
Speaker 2: And you were promoting the Saturday Night Life movie.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, it's out now. So for all those
Speaker 1: folks who haven't seen it, you are a fucking asshole.
Speaker 1: But oh you haven't seen it yourself. You should have
Speaker 1: made it up. Yeah, you know how the story is.
Speaker 2: When do you have time? When do you have time?
Speaker 1: To be real? That's true, that's true. I put me
Speaker 1: and my daughter, we have our date nights here, so
Speaker 1: her and I just watch pretty much the same movies
Speaker 1: over and over and over again Saturday. Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: let her watch what I do exactly.
Speaker 2: Imagine.
Speaker 3: Oh, your kids are only allowed to watch the things
Speaker 3: you're in listen you know.
Speaker 1: What I mean. I run a tight ship. They got
Speaker 1: to know with education, get to know your parents. I
Speaker 1: only do educational work. So let's dive in you. What
Speaker 1: is what is your New Girl origin story? Like? How
Speaker 1: did like how did this like? What had you seen
Speaker 1: the show before or you start watching it or have
Speaker 1: you watched it? You know?
Speaker 2: Uh? What is what is New Girl? What is the
Speaker 2: World's the world? Here's the thing. I'm sure you guys
Speaker 2: get this a lot, but the.
Speaker 3: Truth is this was the first and the only show
Speaker 3: that I was a huge fan of, watched the entire
Speaker 3: first season, was obsessed with. It was my favorite show.
Speaker 3: And when I got the call, They're like, oh, there's
Speaker 3: this part that I think would be great for you,
Speaker 3: but it like literally starts shooting next week. And I
Speaker 3: was like, I don't care what it is. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 3: Before I even like knew what it was, I was like.
Speaker 2: Yes, a thousand percent.
Speaker 3: And then I read it and it was such a cooler,
Speaker 3: was such a fun episode, and I was like, this
Speaker 3: is the dream. I get to beet in the loft,
Speaker 3: I get to meet everybody, and this sort of story
Speaker 3: and this like such a such a different character for me,
Speaker 3: because obviously I forgot that this show is like we
Speaker 3: shot this ten years ago, a little over ten years ago,
Speaker 3: and I remember the time. I was like kind of
Speaker 3: just coming out out of finishing up like the sweet
Speaker 3: Life stuff, and it was like very much.
Speaker 2: I feel like.
Speaker 3: Life imitates art, art imitates life, like this is sort
Speaker 3: of was where I was in my life. And so
Speaker 3: when that came to me, I was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: this is my favorite show. I don't care what I'm doing. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 3: And it was the best it was. I had, like
Speaker 3: I was so nervous. I remember that first day on said,
Speaker 3: I was so nervous because I'm like, I am such
Speaker 3: a geek. I love all of you guys so much.
Speaker 3: I was like such a creepo fanatic, like I could
Speaker 3: not wait, and it was so much fun.
Speaker 2: I had like such a blast.
Speaker 1: I know what it was. I know what made you
Speaker 1: nervous because you realized in that moment once you saw
Speaker 1: the scripts that you're going to be working with an
Speaker 1: Emmy winner, and uh, that freaked you out.
Speaker 3: I couldn't I couldn't handle it. Couldn't handle it. They
Speaker 3: literally said, future Emmy Winner laure and Morris you ready
Speaker 3: for it and I wasn't.
Speaker 1: So when our character is me you you Winston feels
Speaker 1: okay to go and talk to Daisy because you're wearing
Speaker 1: an engagement ring. And you know, yes, I've.
Speaker 2: Used that trick before. I've used that trick before.
Speaker 1: So you've used this trick before, would you? So? Did
Speaker 1: you find it useful on the dating scene before you
Speaker 1: met your husband?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: Or did did you use that on your husband's not?
Speaker 3: We're a hippa, We're a hipA. You know, we're a
Speaker 3: hip couple. We're you know, we've got two kids.
Speaker 2: I just here's the thing.
Speaker 1: We've got to guys are living in Sin. Oh you're
Speaker 1: living in Sin? I see, we are?
Speaker 2: We are, we are living in.
Speaker 1: My grandma used to say, oh, y'all shacking up, y'all
Speaker 1: living in sin How dare you?
Speaker 2: But you know what it was?
Speaker 3: It actually happened by accident the very first time it happened.
Speaker 3: We I'm you know me, I don't really go out
Speaker 3: very much anyway. I usually just go to dinner with
Speaker 3: my girlfriends.
Speaker 1: We like.
Speaker 2: That's that's my idea of going out.
Speaker 3: And when I was younger, I remember I went out
Speaker 3: with my girlfriend and her ring was too big and
Speaker 3: she was like, can you where you have you have?
Speaker 3: We have the same sized fingers and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, let me try it on and she's
Speaker 3: like can you.
Speaker 2: I don't want to lose it, so I was like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I'll wear your ring.
Speaker 3: And I remember this group came over and all this stuff,
Speaker 3: and I was like, oh wow, I've gotten like no
Speaker 3: one's interested. Fine, but it was like this weird and
Speaker 3: all of them like, oh, how long have you been engaged?
Speaker 2: And I was like, get.
Speaker 3: Wait a second, and and then it kind of like
Speaker 3: my girlfriends and I were talking about and I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna lie. There are times where I have a fake
Speaker 3: like engagement rief. We just want to go out and
Speaker 3: like don't even want to, Like it's the best excuse
Speaker 3: and it's terrible, but like it's like, sorry, I'm engaged,
Speaker 3: don't even want because that's not what we're going out
Speaker 3: there for.
Speaker 2: I know it's terrible, and it's.
Speaker 1: Not that it's terrible. I'm just saying you're setting yourself
Speaker 1: up with danger because there is an entire group out there.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I'm in one of these like group
Speaker 1: chats or anything like that. But there's a tire uh
Speaker 1: uh brigade of men that only want to date women
Speaker 1: that are in relationships.
Speaker 2: Wait what why?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I don't have to you don't like, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna stick around, You're gonna you go. You gotta
Speaker 1: be like I gotta go to but I gotta go
Speaker 1: home to my husband.
Speaker 3: It's one of the things that I remember when I
Speaker 3: when I read The Nerd for the first time and
Speaker 3: like our kind of like breakup. I remember reading it
Speaker 3: and like laughing because Daisy was so unabashedly like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm seeing a guy.
Speaker 2: And I respect that because the thing about what is
Speaker 2: the point of you?
Speaker 3: Come on, if you want to, like, if you want
Speaker 3: to go and mess around, don't be in a relationship
Speaker 3: if you don't want, you know.
Speaker 1: Hold on. It wasn't Daisy. Wasn't Daisy wasn't that upfront
Speaker 1: about it when she was trying to lie.
Speaker 3: She was trying to lie. I mean those did those
Speaker 3: not look like my shoes a little more? And I
Speaker 3: feel like I could they were.
Speaker 1: We used to always call you big feet, Brenda. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, okay when we.
Speaker 3: Were rehearsing that we pulled out this shoe and it
Speaker 3: was so comically like gigantic and also ridiculous.
Speaker 2: It was it's it was very fun.
Speaker 1: But you know it's funny because of that, because I'll
Speaker 1: tell you because of that, there have been maybe a
Speaker 1: couple occasions in my life where if I just start
Speaker 1: dating someone and like I'm talking like maybe this is
Speaker 1: our first time, my first time going to her apartment
Speaker 1: or home or whatever, and I'll see a pair of
Speaker 1: shoes that clearly are not hers, and it's none of
Speaker 1: my business. I just got there for the first time,
Speaker 1: and I have I have flashbacks of that episode of
Speaker 1: That's Us filming that scene.
Speaker 2: That's funny, you know, the gift that keeps on giving Lamar.
Speaker 1: But like you said, you know, she cheats, she gaslights,
Speaker 1: she lies. Is there any defen what's your real defense
Speaker 1: for Daisy Spain?
Speaker 3: My real defense is we were not in a committed relationship.
Speaker 3: I feel like being in your twenties, you're figuring stuff out.
Speaker 3: You you're offering to like babysit my cat, Which is
Speaker 3: really funny because when we filmed that, I was not
Speaker 3: a cat person, never had a cat, And now I
Speaker 3: have three, like I'm full baby, and I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, she's just kind of like, why she's not
Speaker 3: putting all.
Speaker 2: Her eggs in one basket? You know, I feel it,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: You were things weren't clear, so therefore you know, she's
Speaker 3: just having a good time until things were clear, because
Speaker 3: she did say, well, no, I guess we lied because
Speaker 3: she was seeing someone until we're exclusive.
Speaker 1: But that.
Speaker 2: I think I recall she was like, no, actually I did's.
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean, that's why I just stay single so
Speaker 1: I don't have to deal with all this this tomfoolery.
Speaker 1: So I'm did I hear this correctly? You were on
Speaker 1: Disney but also doing the Social Network? Was that a
Speaker 1: was that a bit of a conflict there was that?
Speaker 1: What were or was it fine to just get out
Speaker 1: and be able to go and do this movie because
Speaker 1: I hear Disney runs a pretty tight shit, Oh a
Speaker 1: thousand percent?
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 2: It was pretty crazy because I remember at the.
Speaker 3: Time, I you know, we're in a sitcom. You rehearse
Speaker 3: three days, you you shoot for two days, and we'd
Speaker 3: been like doing this for a while.
Speaker 2: Now. This was like during I.
Speaker 3: Believe the last season of the Sweet Life on deck
Speaker 3: and I got this audition and I was like, there.
Speaker 2: They never let me.
Speaker 3: They're not gonna let me out to go an audition,
Speaker 3: and I like read, I was, oh my god, I
Speaker 3: need this, Like this is you know, fight Club is
Speaker 3: one of my favorite movies and favorite books. David Fincher
Speaker 3: is one of my favorite directors of all time. So
Speaker 3: when I read this, I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: and mind you I'm getting like two pages. Everything is
Speaker 3: like blacked out, but like two lines. I have really
Speaker 3: no idea what I'm doing, but like it's a Facebook movie,
Speaker 3: and I just knew that I wanted to work with
Speaker 3: these p and it just happened that the casting practor
Speaker 3: Larray mayfield her offices in Hollywood, like not even ten
Speaker 3: minutes from where we film.
Speaker 2: We were shooting in.
Speaker 3: Hollywood at the time, and I went during my lunch
Speaker 3: break and I went, I auditioned, and then they were like,
Speaker 3: got a call back, Can you come and read with
Speaker 3: David Fincher? And I was like like, are you kidding me?
Speaker 3: The dream and I was able to go. I think
Speaker 3: it was like then either the next day or one
Speaker 3: of the days it was again during my lunch break.
Speaker 2: It just kind of.
Speaker 3: I didn't tell anybody until I booked it, and then
Speaker 3: they had to approve it, and then they didn't approve
Speaker 3: it because of, of course the intended bathroom scene. And
Speaker 3: I was, yeah, I mean, I was heartbroken. And I
Speaker 3: had to chat with the head of casting and with
Speaker 3: the head of Disney Channel at the time, and we
Speaker 3: were like because they were like, we understand this is
Speaker 3: a great thing, but you just can't do it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I'm an actor. This is the
Speaker 2: last sea. I am an actor.
Speaker 3: This is the last season of a show that I have.
Speaker 3: We've been doing for seven years. I was like, remember
Speaker 3: when you first met me? Was I was I a
Speaker 3: hotel heiress.
Speaker 2: I don't remember being an hotel heiress. I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm an actor.
Speaker 3: And I was like, and what have I ever done
Speaker 3: in my personal life to ever draw any bad attention,
Speaker 3: bad publicity to your company? Have I misrepresented you guys
Speaker 3: in any way, shape or form, because if I have,
Speaker 3: please let me know.
Speaker 1: But it's did you have a bulletproof car? Or is
Speaker 1: that that I make that up?
Speaker 2: Oh Dary, how do you remember that.
Speaker 1: Lifetime?
Speaker 2: It was a different lifetime ago. I was maybe dating
Speaker 2: a rapper.
Speaker 1: Soldier Boy.
Speaker 3: But and the thing about it is, and you know,
Speaker 3: and fortunate enough, they obviously you know, understood and allowed
Speaker 3: me to do it. They it was funny though, because
Speaker 3: they had to read the script before they approved it,
Speaker 3: and they were like, we can't give you the script,
Speaker 3: so they sent over like the scenes that I was
Speaker 3: in for them to like sort of see that it
Speaker 3: wasn't as nefarious as they thought. But thank goodness, because
Speaker 3: I would have I would have been so heartbroken because.
Speaker 1: I think they so they obviously they allowed it, yes,
Speaker 1: but would you say after we saw how great the
Speaker 1: movie was, were they like, oh, okay, awesome or was it.
Speaker 2: Like no, here's the thing.
Speaker 3: I will say this a Disney Channel and everyone there
Speaker 3: has been nothing but extremely supportive of every aspect. It
Speaker 3: was the only time that I've ever actually had to
Speaker 3: even sort of had to like speak up like I'm
Speaker 3: very very fortunate, like they.
Speaker 2: Just I mean, I wouldn't be here without them.
Speaker 3: I mean the opportunity, the experience, the work experience, the
Speaker 3: life experience. It's been absolutely incredible. Like I really don't
Speaker 3: have much to complain about. It's just the simple fact
Speaker 3: that this one job is just so heartbreaking. Because I
Speaker 3: can also understand. But at the time, I was twenty
Speaker 3: two or twenty three on the last season of.
Speaker 2: A show that you know, we we knew.
Speaker 3: We were coming to an end, and it was actually
Speaker 3: pretty crazy because I feel like we wrapped it and
Speaker 3: I had like less than a week off, and then
Speaker 3: I started rehearsals on this movie, which was the polar opposite,
Speaker 3: and it was such a shock to me my system
Speaker 3: as an actor, as a human. But it was amazing
Speaker 3: because I think it reinvigorated my passion for acting. Like
Speaker 3: just to jump from such a different project to work
Speaker 3: with people who are, you know, just so talented, so
Speaker 3: incredibly just so different from what I was doing. It
Speaker 3: just really inspired me and kind of like lit a
Speaker 3: fire under me to remind myself why I love doing
Speaker 3: what I love. Is like we get to do crazy
Speaker 3: things from day to day. Like we can be working
Speaker 3: on a sitcom and then working on a David Fincher
Speaker 3: movie a week apart.
Speaker 2: It's really crazy.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it doesn't. The happy endings don't happen for
Speaker 1: folks all the time the way it happened for you
Speaker 1: in this situation. I had a situation years ago. I
Speaker 1: was I started as an actor in Chicago. I get
Speaker 1: a job as a TV host for Beet in New York.
Speaker 1: You know, wasn't my favorite sitting at the moment, I
Speaker 1: you know, I had to move to New York, and
Speaker 1: New York was so busy that it gave me a
Speaker 1: headache every single day. But luckily for me, my show
Speaker 1: came on right after our flagship show, and I started
Speaker 1: the show with jokes and Ellen DeGeneres would watch the show,
Speaker 1: and then she would watch my show and asked me
Speaker 1: if I could come and do her show as a correspondent.
Speaker 1: And they were willing to work with my bet schedule
Speaker 1: and fly me back and forth. But b Et was like, no,
Speaker 1: you cannot go and do it. And I tell you,
Speaker 1: when I tell you, I was so hurt by that.
Speaker 1: I was like, people, Rob blow does this all the time,
Speaker 1: Rob low Rob Lowe is on shows. He's hosting shows,
Speaker 1: show seventeen shows, competing shows too.
Speaker 3: Yes, literally unrivaled, like two game shows, two different networks.
Speaker 1: Yes, And so I you know, so to hear that
Speaker 1: it worked out for you is great, you know, it
Speaker 1: just kind of especially nowadays. Lets me it, lets me
Speaker 1: know that we're in a good space with streaming and
Speaker 1: all these things that you know you can't you shouldn't
Speaker 1: really tie performers down necessarily. I understand if it's in
Speaker 1: direct competition with something, but you know, you have all
Speaker 1: this talent and all this ability. Imagine we never saw
Speaker 1: you in that movie, you know, it would be a
Speaker 1: different conversation.
Speaker 3: It's can I tell you? I mean I always say that,
Speaker 3: like for me, I can only speak of myself and
Speaker 3: my journey. But it's you know, I think it's just
Speaker 3: it's about being honest with I don't know. I don't
Speaker 3: think if I had called and had like an honest
Speaker 3: conversation with this you know, head of casting and with
Speaker 3: you know, the president of Disney and just was like
Speaker 3: really honest about it, I don't think like this would
Speaker 3: have happened. And it was like a huge lesson for
Speaker 3: me to learning how to speak up for myself because
Speaker 3: me normally would be like, oh my god, that's such
Speaker 3: a bummer, like but for me, I'm like, oh, the
Speaker 3: show is my priority.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm working on. Like I get it.
Speaker 3: But there are just times when it takes something this
Speaker 3: big or it's like career altering, life altering for me
Speaker 3: to learn how to stand up for yourself. And I
Speaker 3: think that's the biggest lesson for me, is like, even
Speaker 3: if at the end of the day they had said
Speaker 3: no I can, I can walk away happy knowing that
Speaker 3: I at least stood up for myself and tried to.
Speaker 3: Like I always just ask for my day in court,
Speaker 3: whether it's an audition or in fighting for you know,
Speaker 3: making something work, because at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: seeing actors you know in different projects only helps the
Speaker 3: projects that they're currently in, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: getting out there doing different things, and also it makes
Speaker 3: me a better human, a better actor for the projects
Speaker 3: that I'm working on. I never want to be resentful
Speaker 3: of any production that I'm doing because obviously, like I'm
Speaker 3: so incredibly grateful. How many people get to wake up
Speaker 3: every day and go to work and be like, I
Speaker 3: get to do the thing I've dreamed of doing my
Speaker 3: entire life. You know, it sounds so cheesy to be like, oh,
Speaker 3: I get to wake up and live my dream. You know,
Speaker 3: it's like it sounds so corny, but it's the truth.
Speaker 2: I mean, on my like.
Speaker 3: On days where I'm tired or stressed or whatever, it's like, Brenda,
Speaker 3: this is what you do for a living. You know,
Speaker 3: you go to work and you literally step into someone
Speaker 3: else's shoes. You get to like perform and like the
Speaker 3: artistic for your job.
Speaker 1: Chill hours. So yeah, yeah, I mean, like thirty thirty
Speaker 1: years in this business starting as a child. How how
Speaker 1: are you so well adjusted? Your outlook is so not
Speaker 1: jaded whatsoever. You're very positive about it. You know, how
Speaker 1: do you how do you look at life that way?
Speaker 1: How do you look at the business that way?
Speaker 3: First of all, I think it all comes down to family.
Speaker 3: Like I think, you know, being a child actor is
Speaker 3: a very very specific a niche and a very you know,
Speaker 3: it's not easy learning rejection at such a young age,
Speaker 3: understanding learning this business at such a young age. I
Speaker 3: was very fortunate because my family never treated us such.
Speaker 3: This was an after school activity until I was old
Speaker 3: enough to sort of take it on as my career.
Speaker 2: And I think that's the.
Speaker 3: Most important thing was that this was just a job.
Speaker 3: This was not my life for so very long. It
Speaker 3: wasn't until The Sweet Life where I got accept into college.
Speaker 3: My mom got breast cancer for the first time and
Speaker 3: I booked The Sweet Life all within like a week,
Speaker 3: and my family sort of sat me down. I was like, Okay, look,
Speaker 3: you got to the school you wanted to go to,
Speaker 3: but you go to school to figure out what.
Speaker 2: You want to do.
Speaker 3: And if acting is what you want to do, you
Speaker 3: have an incredible opportunity. But if you do, like move
Speaker 3: forward with that opportunity, it has to become a career.
Speaker 3: Like mom can't drive you to auditions anymore. You know,
Speaker 3: she's going through treatment, my dad's working, my brothers are
Speaker 3: in school. And I think that's when it sort of
Speaker 3: kind of became, oh, like this is more than just like,
Speaker 3: oh I get to like, you know, go to work
Speaker 3: every once in a while, go back to school. Like
Speaker 3: it wasn't that anymore, Okay, I it was my first
Speaker 3: like long term show.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 3: Just I think that was a turning point for me.
Speaker 3: And the truth is, it's like I think it's just
Speaker 3: a constant reminder that I get to with all the
Speaker 3: nose there's so many no's in this industry. I've just
Speaker 3: learned to celebrate all the yes is, and I've learned
Speaker 3: to just celebrate all the beautiful things that we get
Speaker 3: to do, like getting to meet wonderful people, make friends
Speaker 3: we don't see each other for a decade, and I
Speaker 3: run into you and I feel like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: the one I haven't seen you in so long.
Speaker 2: There's so much to catch up on.
Speaker 3: And I feel like that's constant for us, because we're
Speaker 3: constantly you know, we work in these little bubbles all
Speaker 3: the time. You get very very close with people very quickly,
Speaker 3: and you may never see them again. And it's a
Speaker 3: very unique kind of lifestyle. And I think for me,
Speaker 3: it's just life is too short to just see the.
Speaker 2: Negative and everything.
Speaker 3: I one thousand percent, don't get me wrong, Like I
Speaker 3: have my negative Nancy days. I'm a thirty six year
Speaker 3: old Asian American actress in Hollywood that's been doing it
Speaker 3: since I was three years old. There is you know.
Speaker 3: I mean I have like heard it all, felt at all,
Speaker 3: seen it all, like all of There have been so
Speaker 3: many more nos and so many more disappointments in you know,
Speaker 3: my career. But I always just say it's a part
Speaker 3: of my journey.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: If I focus on those, all I can do is
Speaker 3: learn from them, going Okay, that was not my journey.
Speaker 3: I have to move on. I mean, there are I've
Speaker 3: cried over projects. There have been projects where I thought
Speaker 3: this was mine, this is it. I put my heart
Speaker 3: and soul into it, and I was like nah, and
Speaker 3: you're just like what And then I realized it's just
Speaker 3: the nature of this business. And as with like any job,
Speaker 3: we're all disposable. You know, we all have our moment
Speaker 3: to time. We're all just disposable, So why not enjoy
Speaker 3: it while we get to do it?
Speaker 2: And I think that's sort.
Speaker 3: Of just my mentality that every day that I'm on
Speaker 3: set or even like auditioning putting myself on tape. My
Speaker 3: reps always think I'm crazy because I love putting myself
Speaker 3: on tape. But I always say, like, for me, well,
Speaker 3: growing up, every audition was like I didn't have a
Speaker 3: lot of them, so every single one was like a
Speaker 3: job in itself, so I found so much joy and like,
Speaker 3: you know, getting to like every audition going Okay, what
Speaker 3: can I do? Because I didn't have a lot of them.
Speaker 3: So I think for me that's just sort of the
Speaker 3: case is I think mind over matter is sort of
Speaker 3: how I live my life because I could sit here
Speaker 3: every day and be like I've slept for four hours
Speaker 3: a day because both my kids just set one decide
Speaker 3: to wake up in the middle of the night one
Speaker 3: decide to way about like five am.
Speaker 2: I haven't luck but you know what, my boys are happy, healthy.
Speaker 3: I get to like hang out and chat with someone
Speaker 3: that I haven't seen it a while. Like life is,
Speaker 3: you know, there's not much to complain about.
Speaker 2: I'm very, very, very fortunate.
Speaker 1: So it's so funny that you say, you know, you
Speaker 1: did really like the auditions weren't coming at a high volume.
Speaker 1: But is it. But apparently you haven't stopped working since
Speaker 1: you were eight. You haven't had a year, like a
Speaker 1: full year you were.
Speaker 2: Maybe even before that.
Speaker 3: I did did commercials for a very long time. I
Speaker 3: got on my first series when I was nine, and
Speaker 3: then sort of kept I've been very fortunate just this
Speaker 3: sort of kept on working the longest time that I
Speaker 3: took off not working besides the pandemic.
Speaker 2: Uh was uh?
Speaker 3: After I finished the second season of Dulphase, I went
Speaker 3: back to work right after seven and a half weeks
Speaker 3: after I gave birth to my first son. We wrapped
Speaker 3: the second season, and you know, it was a pandemic,
Speaker 3: so it was like the longest season of our lives.
Speaker 3: And six weeks after we wrapped, I found out I
Speaker 3: was pregnant again.
Speaker 1: I had to.
Speaker 2: Pregnant these in the same calendar year loan ward.
Speaker 5: It was it was insane and and yeah, and so
Speaker 5: my partner was like, you have to take some time off,
Speaker 5: and so I took that entire year off.
Speaker 3: And it was the most like for me mentally challenging year,
Speaker 3: not just because of being a new mom and my
Speaker 3: so many changes my body emotionally, mentally, everything, but also
Speaker 3: I'm just so like working. I realized it is a
Speaker 3: huge part of just you know, how I feel like.
Speaker 3: I like, it's just such a huge part of who
Speaker 3: I am. And and also it was a huge lesson
Speaker 3: that year because I realized it was also like how I.
Speaker 2: Felt like I earned my love and I earned.
Speaker 3: I was like, because we're so used to, you know,
Speaker 3: working all the time, and it was actually really nice
Speaker 3: to just not and really focus on me and my
Speaker 3: family and where I was. And I feel like coming
Speaker 3: out of that year, I changed, I like realized how
Speaker 3: much I had changed. I mean I had I mean,
Speaker 3: I think for the first time in my life, I mean,
Speaker 3: as you know, being a parent. I didn't know what
Speaker 3: real responsibility was until the moment I had my kid.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh yeah, this is responsibility.
Speaker 1: This heads up, you have to.
Speaker 3: Literally and for me, oh no, this, everything about this
Speaker 3: little thing depends on me, Like I have to literally
Speaker 3: feed this child from.
Speaker 2: My own body, Like this is crazy.
Speaker 3: And and after that year, I kind of went through
Speaker 3: this like like awakening and I left my managers of
Speaker 3: twenty six years.
Speaker 2: I loved my publicist of.
Speaker 3: Over a decade. I kind of just was like, I'm
Speaker 3: a new person. I need a new perspective on who
Speaker 3: I am, where I'm at. I feel like being a
Speaker 3: child actor for so long, I could act feelings and
Speaker 3: emulate feelings, but I didn't experience them.
Speaker 2: And I feel like for me to really.
Speaker 3: Get to a place in you know, in a scene
Speaker 3: or with a role, I have to like have to
Speaker 3: pull from something real out of myself to make it
Speaker 3: feel real, to get to that place that.
Speaker 2: I need to go, whether it's in comedy or drama.
Speaker 3: And I really feel like the last like a few
Speaker 3: years of my life, and especially since being a mom
Speaker 3: and the pandemic, really just spending time on me, I
Speaker 3: feel like I've become such a more well rounded human being,
Speaker 3: therefore making me a better person, better friend, better partner,
Speaker 3: better daughter better mother. And that was the one thing
Speaker 3: for me in this past year that, like, you know,
Speaker 3: going back to work was huge for me.
Speaker 2: And I don't know.
Speaker 3: About you, but I realize, you know, the guilt of
Speaker 3: leaving your kids to go to work is the hardest thing.
Speaker 2: And I know we're so.
Speaker 3: Lucky because we get to do in a pocket of
Speaker 3: time and we don't have a nine to five every day.
Speaker 3: And so I give it to all the moms and
Speaker 3: dads out there who have to like leave their kids
Speaker 3: every day.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you do it, because I do
Speaker 2: it for chunks of time and it's so hard. But
Speaker 2: I realized for.
Speaker 3: Me to be the best mom, I have to be
Speaker 3: the best me, and acting is a huge part of that.
Speaker 3: My job is a huge part of me being me.
Speaker 3: So finding that balance has been you know, it's been
Speaker 3: the journey this past year.
Speaker 1: I can tell you what's tough. I got some great
Speaker 1: advice from someone. I'm not going to say who it was,
Speaker 1: but famous father. Now I know.
Speaker 2: Now I want to know who it is.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell no, no,
Speaker 1: But she said to me, I told her. I ran
Speaker 1: into her two days after I after my daughter was born,
Speaker 1: and she was like. I was at a friend's birthday
Speaker 1: party and I was like, hey, I had a baby.
Speaker 1: I had a baby. I'm telling people I had a baby.
Speaker 1: And she goes, she goes, Can I give you some advice?
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, she goes. Your daughter doesn't care or
Speaker 1: won't care about any of those work related goals that
Speaker 1: you may have. You know, you might you might be
Speaker 1: chasing the next big award, or the next tour or
Speaker 1: the next thing because you're very passionate about it. But
Speaker 1: all your daughter is going to care about is time spent.
Speaker 1: You know, That's all she's gonna care about is how
Speaker 1: much time did you make for her? And so that
Speaker 1: is that's what keeps me, That's what that's my that's
Speaker 1: my filtration system, you know what I mean. When when
Speaker 1: things come in, it's like, okay, where is it shooting? Okay, great,
Speaker 1: So I'm less. I'm less concerned now about some of
Speaker 1: the other particulars that I would have been had I
Speaker 1: not had kids. Now it's more about stability. Can my
Speaker 1: daughter come or is it local where I could still
Speaker 1: you know, go to my have my daily daddy daughter
Speaker 1: routine and you know, and I've been lucky since she's
Speaker 1: been born, you know, and I co parent too, so
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's great to have a mom who's local,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and I don't have to
Speaker 1: I'm not gone for crazy amounts of time, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Because my daughter notices it. Sometimes when
Speaker 1: I'm here. I'll walk into my office to jump on
Speaker 1: a podcast or something, and she's like, is Daddy going
Speaker 1: to work now? I go, yep, And then she'll sit
Speaker 1: There's like a glass door that I have here, and
Speaker 1: she'll just sit there and like kind of look She'll
Speaker 1: be looking at and I'll just and the reason why
Speaker 1: I wanted to be glass doors so she could know
Speaker 1: that I'm still here. So I'm like, I'll just like
Speaker 1: I can wave at her and when nanny's here and
Speaker 1: I could just you know, get my work done. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think I think that's I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's what keeps you on line, you know,
Speaker 1: having having family and children's children especially, you just look
Speaker 1: at the world a little bit.
Speaker 2: Differently, oh a lot different?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah. So one of the things that
Speaker 1: Hannah talks about, you know, on on this show and
Speaker 1: about New Girl in particular, is how complex and engaging
Speaker 1: Liz Meriweather's characters are. I could imagine you had a
Speaker 1: very similar feeling when reading the Blue Eye Samurai script,
Speaker 1: right look at Yeah, let's keep you talk about your
Speaker 1: character a little bit of bad Blue Eye Samurai.
Speaker 3: And so the Blue Eye Samurai is one of my
Speaker 3: most favorite projects that I've worked on because it all
Speaker 3: happened during the pandemic. So up until then, I hadn't
Speaker 3: done a lot of voice work. I do a little
Speaker 3: bits here and there someone asked me to. But it
Speaker 3: was during the pandemic that I was on a Disney
Speaker 3: show called Amphibia, and then this audition came through, like
Speaker 3: literally right in the middle of that, like middle of
Speaker 3: the pandemic.
Speaker 2: I was like, sure, what do I have to lose?
Speaker 3: Like, I was like, the beautiful thing about animation is
Speaker 3: something that I feel like I would normally not get
Speaker 3: cast in live action. You can do it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: You get to do whatever you want an animation. So
Speaker 3: I went into a kind of just like messing around.
Speaker 3: I sent them like a couple of like different takes,
Speaker 3: and I'm I'm I always tell people I'm want one
Speaker 3: trick Pony what you hear is what you get.
Speaker 2: I can't do crazy voice. I can't. That's not me.
Speaker 2: And if I like, I've tried and it's not me.
Speaker 3: So I kind of just messed around and then didn't
Speaker 3: hear anything, and then I only and then they sent
Speaker 3: me the script before I had like my like I
Speaker 3: wouldn't call it a screen test, but like my meeting
Speaker 3: with like the showrunners and writers, and I was.
Speaker 4: Like, this is such a crazy, like like such a
Speaker 4: crazy detailed story like this. I felt like I was
Speaker 4: reading a script for a live action show, not for animation,
Speaker 4: and I was like, this is incredible, and so working
Speaker 4: on it has been amazing because I only get the
Speaker 4: scripts weekly, like I don't get them like in advance,
Speaker 4: and it's and sometimes most of the times I don't
Speaker 4: get all the scenes, so I don't know what's happening
Speaker 4: anything outside of.
Speaker 3: What I'm doing, which is so hard. But we just
Speaker 3: started season two and it's been so much fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3: I mean with the animation, you probably won't see the
Speaker 3: show for their like ten years.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I know it.
Speaker 3: But it's one of my favorite projects because it is
Speaker 3: so different and the animation is so beautiful. The cast
Speaker 3: is absolutely incredible. I feel so fortunate to be part
Speaker 3: of such a wonderful and talented cast. It's pretty crazy,
Speaker 3: like I yeah, it's it's one of my favorite projects.
Speaker 2: I have so much fun on it.
Speaker 1: Ah, very very nice. Before I let you go, I
Speaker 1: do have to ask. It's the it's a question that
Speaker 1: has been on fans mindes for probably like the last
Speaker 1: six years. Afrigat how long we've been off the air
Speaker 1: now six or seven years. But throughout the pandemic, our
Speaker 1: show has become even bigger than it was when we
Speaker 1: were airing, you know, in real time, and the fans
Speaker 1: want to know that if there were a Newgroer reunion,
Speaker 1: would you want to come back on the show?
Speaker 2: A thousand percent? Are you kidding me? A thousand percent?
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to pitch a storyline really quick. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm ready because my character is now married so he
Speaker 1: doesn't cheat, you know what I mean, stop it? And
Speaker 1: he's married, he's got kids. You come back, but also
Speaker 1: have a pet cat named ferguson you come back, or
Speaker 1: there's these sightings of you and and you know, maybe
Speaker 1: Schmid says, you know, I was on a jog and
Speaker 1: you know why. I saw it hanging outside of the loft, like,
Speaker 1: oh Daisy, like you saw Daisy, why And we can't
Speaker 1: quite figure out what you're doing hovering And it turns
Speaker 1: out you've come back for your stolen cat. I'm your
Speaker 1: I stole your cat. I stole the cat.
Speaker 2: Can I tell you?
Speaker 3: That is something that would I never understood. I was like,
Speaker 3: if someone took my cat, do you think I would
Speaker 3: just have left for the Latin like for the rest
Speaker 3: of the seasons. I never even tried to get the
Speaker 3: cat back ever, not once.
Speaker 1: Never, never.
Speaker 2: I think what it is. I think what it is is.
Speaker 3: It's actually like per reason just goes missing and then
Speaker 3: you find out Daisy had a whole like epic like
Speaker 3: break in situation to get her cat back after you know, yes,
Speaker 3: and now she wanted her cat back in the golden days.
Speaker 1: Yes. Do you have any pets? Do you have any cats?
Speaker 2: I have three cats?
Speaker 1: I know, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: We two cats and my mom, my mom.
Speaker 3: Is with us because we're my mom has a room
Speaker 3: in her house because we don't have a nanny. We're
Speaker 3: very lucky. My mom is here with us, and so
Speaker 3: she has her cat. So we have so technically have
Speaker 3: to and her cat.
Speaker 1: Oh so you.
Speaker 2: Heard rubbed off on me?
Speaker 1: No, no, you cat before. This character. Once a cat person,
Speaker 1: always a cat person. You heard it here, folks, Brenda
Speaker 1: song is a cat lady. Brenda, thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: for your time. I really appreciate you coming out chat
Speaker 1: with us. The fans will will truly appreciate this.
Speaker 3: No, this was so lovely. I just honestly, this was
Speaker 3: It was just a nice chat to you more. And
Speaker 3: it wasn't long enough when we saw each other, so
Speaker 3: it was nice to kind of chat and reminisce.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, and next time we chat, I want to
Speaker 1: hear more about this bulletproof car. Oh, actually, you know.
Speaker 2: What I will say. I really do have a bulletproof
Speaker 2: car again again.
Speaker 1: Oh come on, lamar, you stay protected. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: stay protected. Cars that listen, I so do. I I
Speaker 1: have a couple of really big cars myself. I don't
Speaker 1: have that car. I ordered it, but then I canceled
Speaker 1: the order because it didn't have full self driving. I
Speaker 1: was like, it does, now it does. I don't want
Speaker 1: to have three cars.
Speaker 2: I'll just you don't need three cars. Okay, this is conversation.
Speaker 1: Yes, much love I appreciate it. Peace y'all. We'll be
Speaker 1: back next week with another fantastic episode of The mess
Speaker 1: Around