WEBVTT - Tina Fey 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.000 Welcome to Ruthie's Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:05.160 Adami's Studios. 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:11.799 A few months ago, my good friend Lorne Michaels texted 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.520 me to say that Tina Fay was coming to London 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.720 to star in the New Barrow movie. He knew I 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.759 would love her from the first meeting. It became a 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.239 friendship formed with food. Tina arrived at our house with 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.000 a beautiful box of chocolates for me, as brought up 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.400 to do by her mother, and I brought home a 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.479 River Cafe lemon tart for her. The first dinner, I 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.560 made slow cooked tomato pasta. She ate two portions, and. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.280 Then we played cards. Dare you are dipped? 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.519 I think if baby, it was three, I'm actually, you know, 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:46.479 being polite. Tina was there for the Rogers family traditional 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:51.600 Thanksgiving Italian style with Puntarell New olive oil and cavalonero 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.400 and turkey. There was a tea time visit when four 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.360 of us ate pretty much a whole panetoni and wrote 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.680 a song for the River Cafe Christmas party. Best of 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.720 all was a dinner in the River Cafe when her family, Jeff, 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.120 Alice and Penelope came for the holidays, and we ordered 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.240 every dessert on the menu. Of course, millions of us 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.320 have shared food with Tina Fey in thirty Rock, which 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.840 he wrote and starred in, and even her name Liz Lemon, 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.720 was food related. Sandwich is never to be shared, hard 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.200 cheese eaten at midnight. Advice given to John McEnroe on 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.560 where to buy the best cupcakes in New York City. 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.559 Her obsession with hot dogs resulting in a food warning 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.880 from the street vendor on SNL. A brandy husband devouring 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:38.160 a cake while discussing Bryant's and weekend update, and who 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.320 could forget the cafeteria scene in the movie. She wrote, 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:43.840 mean girls. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.600 Okay, I'm Sean Winowen and I'm the executed chef at 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.680 the River Cafe. Today we're making tomato tellier renni with 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.880 Tina Fey. So we're going to make a tegler renni 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.800 with the slow cup tomato, sauce and butter, which is 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.880 probably one of Ruthie's secret is adding the butter to it. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:06.040 It's gonna cook the master. In boiling salted water, they 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.120 always say that you should cook past there in water. 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:09.480 That's the saltiest sea salt. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:10.960 Yeah, I was just gonna say that's true. The thing 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:12.639 that you taste like you sea. Yeah. 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:14.600 I think having the competent to see. 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:17.560 Some water that march is the men a bit bold. 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.120 I'm not afraid of spots. You know, I have low 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:21.920 blood pressure, so I can have as much stuff as 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.720 I want. You're one of the luckiest, I tell myself. 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.240 I shuld I had this giant past the boiling station 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:29.040 in my head. 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.160 Say this is what you want? 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:37.240 I mean, aha, now we know that's about a half 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:42.600 pop of butter, you know, one person portion. Oh, it's 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:48.040 not good. It's not a play Yeah, only because we 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.040 can't pour it right into my mouth here at the station. 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.040 This being an audio format is not doing this fastive justice. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:56.840 Have it in a nice high pile. 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:04.720 And yeah, gorgeously, Mike, wuld marry a non human entity. 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:06.400 I would marry this past. 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:09.680 This is like one of griefy house classics. 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.200 Yes, I had this. I had the deep privilege of 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.480 I went to Ruthie's house onceoever, and she served us 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.840 at her house. And then then somehow we figured out 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:19.799 that we could be jerks and come here in order 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:20.880 it off anywhere. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.200 Exactly all you always have it. 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:27.280 We can just have it for yeah, any days the 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.880 special occasion of you try hard and I'm thank you much, tell, 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:33.519 thank you yah. 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.800 Tina is leaving London tomorrow. Words I can hardly bear 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.880 to say. And her last day in London is here 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.200 in the River Cafe. She's made of tomatoes sauce in 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:49.640 the kitchen with Sean and the chefs, and is now 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.200 in the recording studio with me, and she's. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.320 Already told us what she wants to eat for lunch. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.840 A friendship formed of food indeed, And Lauren was right. 0:03:58.160 --> 0:03:58.880 I do love her. 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.080 Oh thank you, that's such a nice introduction. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:11.960 Good well, you've just been in the River Cafe kitchen. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:12.600 What was it like? 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.240 Oh my god, it's the most beautiful dance happening in 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.599 the kitchen, everyone working so perfectly together. And also Sean 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.679 was saying, today's the first day back after Christmas break, 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.240 and so everyone you would never know it. Things are 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.040 flowing perfectly and everything looks delicious. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:30.440 And what was it like making the pasta? What did 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:30.760 you do? 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:31.080 Well? 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.680 I did learn that one secret to the pasta because 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.680 I was wondering what was so extra about this beautiful, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:38.880 simple tomato pasta? And I think The answer is that 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:44.560 it's a buffalo milk butter, A sizeable A sizable portion 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.880 gets dropped on this pasta right at the end and 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:49.560 melt it into it, and it's very good. 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.840 That's time when people come to our house and I'm 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.039 making it, I often say would you would you like 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:56.800 to go? Because it's an open kitchen, I would like 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:01.320 to go sit down to That feels such a trader 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.400 for using butter in the pasta when everybody thinks that 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.760 tom apasta is olive oil and pasta and tomato and 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.160 that's delicious. You know, tomato pasta without butter is delicious, 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.839 But there's something about the butter which kind of holds 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:14.800 it together and makes it. 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.080 It's devery good. And I have to say I did 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.440 I think I gasped out loud when I saw she 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:22.440 showed me how much she drops on top, and I was. 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.280 Like, oh, I know, it's that money reaching it. How 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:25.719 is it? 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:26.520 It's wonderful. 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.440 Let's talk about your life in comedy for a second. 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.120 It all started in Chicago. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:32.360 What were you doing there? 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.520 I went there to study improv and comedy and worked 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.680 at a place called the Second City and another place 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.719 called the Improve Olympic, and that's where I met my husband. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.960 Where I met Jeff was the piano player for the 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.520 impro Olympic and also worked at the Second City eventually, 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.400 and that's where I met my dear friend Amy Poehler, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.200 so many of my good friends. 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.680 So in those days, would you do improvo day and 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:55.960 then say let's go and eat? 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.120 We would again. It was a diner culture. We would 0:05:58.160 --> 0:05:59.640 go to this Oh gosh, no, what was the name 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.920 of that y? There actually was an NPR piece about 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.720 this amazing waitress who worked at that diner. Oh my god, 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:06.440 what was the name of the diner. I'll have to 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:07.760 think about it and give them okay. But we would 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.000 go because we would go. It's crazy that I can't 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:11.720 mamember because we would go at least once a day, 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.159 oftentimes twice a day. We'd go, you know, have something 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.119 before the show and then go back at one am. 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.720 Do you like to eat before you perform again? 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.440 At the time, I was not treating my body like 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.599 the beautiful instrument that so yeah. 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:25.159 I would eat before. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.000 I would eat like like Boston Market before and then 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.560 and then in the middle of the show, I'm going 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.440 to get sick. The Boston Market was a god willing 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.400 now defunct chain that sold like rotisserie, chickens and turkey. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.120 I used to say, I would get I would get 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.080 food at Boston Market, and you'd start to get sick 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.440 before you left, right, So then it was like you 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:47.000 never even ate. 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:47.680 It was perfect. 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.680 But then we'd go and have usually after the shows 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.040 we'd do two shirt shows on a Friday and Saturday 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.279 and go and have like a giant breakfast of like 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:57.760 eggs and a waffle. 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:03.160 At breakfast one am to so the show fish then you, yeah, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.200 there is with friends of mine who are often in plays, 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.640 that there is a thing of we'll go out to 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:09.239 eat after. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.560 Yes, because you're adrenaline so high, it's too it's yeah. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.080 Yeah, it's a bit like in the chef world as well. 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.200 There's a whole not so much anymore now that everybody's 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.840 you know, stopped doing and all that stuff. But when 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.320 after after a performance in a way and what you 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.040 described for chalet or having an audience there the curtain 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:29.680 going up, there's a lot of I always think the 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.320 reason probably a lot of actors like to work in 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.160 restaurants is there is a similarity. You know, there's a 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.040 drama that takes place and everything else. But in the 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.280 old days, when Rose and I first started, and I 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.200 don't know what happens now, I don't think so much. 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.760 People would go out after a service. I'd go out 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.160 at ten, go clubbing or to eat something, because you know, 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:50.920 I know that adrenaline that hits. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.440 Yeah, and at the end of your theater, yes it is. 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:55.120 It's the end of your work day, so you want 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.360 to go out and have your evening, and your evening 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.000 just happens to be at one o'clock in the morning. 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:00.520 Yeah. 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:02.600 The one thing I used to love with it's Saturdaynight Live. 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.040 Saturday was the most fun day because it's the day 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.440 where it's finally all happening and you can spend a 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.440 lot of time being worried, and then Saturday you just 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.520 have to kind of go down the slide, you know. 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.000 And we would have these crew lunch dinner I guess 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.760 we'd sort of rehearse from one pm till about five 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.000 thirty pm, and you'd go down to the NBC cafeteria 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.040 and have lunch with everybody or dinner with everybody. That's 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.880 one of my favorite memories of working there. Actually on 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.280 a film set or on television. It seems there are 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.480 different attitudes. I had a conversation for with miss. 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.640 Anderson, who really his dream would be not to have 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.199 any lunch, to shoot off, just to shoot a day 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.200 and not stop because in another director said the same 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:44.920 that they just found having to stop and then go 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.880 back and then do that. But the crew it wasn't 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.080 so happy with that. You know. His idea was, he 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.720 said to try and have a soup and then everybody 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:54.360 just go back and then have a big meal at 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:56.280 the end of the day. But the crew wanted wanted 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:58.840 to They want a break. Yeah, and you need that 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.040 break and need that. When you're producing a film or 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.920 a theater, do you think about what people are going 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:05.240 to eat? 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.360 I mean I always if I'm producing something, I want 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.599 the food to be good and to be ample. And oftentimes, 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:13.720 if you want to reward the cast and crew, you 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.040 send more food. We send like food trucks, like pizza truck, 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.000 coffee truck. Yeah, the food is in my I believe 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.960 food is the only reward in life. In life good 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.520 I like that, sure money, sure food. Yeah. We still 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.719 have a wonderful lady who's no longer with us. From 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.160 an angel who was in charge of what's called craft 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.480 services on thirty Rock, which is you have your meals, 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.520 you get in like there's a truck, there's catering does 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.280 breakfast and lunch, but all the food that you just 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:42.079 eat in between that all day there would just be 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.560 a table in the hallway with food. And Angel had 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.640 so much passion about her job, and she was Italian 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:49.640 American from Staten Island and she would show up with 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.120 these things. Would be like, Angel, what is this what? 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.199 And Alec Baldwin, who loves to eat, he was in 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.760 love with her and everything about her because she would 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:02.360 just bring him these beautiful like whatever, like balls of matsarell, 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:04.640 these crazy breads. What was that like? Rolled up art 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:06.200 of choke bread and all this stuff. It was so 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.080 much more than what you would normally get, like a 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.520 bowl of apples and some candy. And this episode of 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.440 thirty Rock, there's a whole storyline about the perfect sandwich. 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.240 And there's this thing where I'm chasing a guy that 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:20.520 I love through the airport but. 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:21.400 They want. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:24.720 You don't go through, they want me to take my 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:25.920 sandwich on it take no way. 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.520 Yeah, But the first you have to describe that scene 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:30.160 I'm not going to do it because I think it 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.480 is one of the great scenes and food. 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.360 Thank you, I will say. I think as an actor, 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.080 perhaps my only specialty is on camera eating. I commit 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.400 to it. I'm looking great at it. And so this 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.280 is a scene where Liz lemon Is, she's chasing her 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.040 love interest, who is played by Jason Sadaikis, who you 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.000 all may know is Ted Lasso, and I'm chasing through 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.480 the airport and I've been also the other part of 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.280 the stories. I've been trying to get the team stirs, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.240 the union drivers to tell me where they get these 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.800 great sandwiches. So I've got my special sandwich and the 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:02.600 security guard at the airport says, you have to leave 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:04.800 the sandwich behind, you can't take it through, and I 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.800 say no, I believe women can have it all. And 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.800 I'm going to eat this sandwich in one bite before 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:13.640 I go through security. And I'm still going to catch 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.000 the man. And so it came down to Angel, this 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.160 woman who did our craft service us at Angel, this 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.040 is a special assignment for you. I need you to 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.120 make me the perfect sandwich. Normally it would have been 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.040 the props department, but I said, Angel, you're going to 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.560 make the sandwich, and I need it to be I 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:30.800 need to be able to eat it in one bite. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.200 So she went to these bakers that she knew in 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.240 Staten Island and had them custom make. I don't know 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:41.840 what was the softest bread when I tell you that sandwich. 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.520 I can remember to this day. That sandwich was so delicious. 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.920 It was an Italian sub so it had like some 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.040 salami and some what I would call gabagoul some cheese. 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.960 It wasn't a fake sandwich. And I ate it in 0:11:55.440 --> 0:12:00.200 one take. And I remember saying they were like, we 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:01.960 got it, and I was like, did we? Because if 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.560 you need me to do it again, I am will 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.839 because it was so good. But the credit goes to 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:12.600 Angel because the bread like melted in my mouth. 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:13.840 I love that scene. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.440 I just love that scene because it was like, what's 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.440 important here right now? And also you have left out 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.760 one thing about that sandwich was there was a dipping sauce. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.280 There was a dipping sauce too that I had to 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:25.960 dip it in. Yeah, to lubricate. 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:31.640 That's righting not only eat the sandwich security, but I'm 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.040 gonna dip it. Doesn't She say something about this is 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:36.120 a cliche. 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.000 Or yeah that I think it was that Johnny May. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.960 The actresses, I think I might bet she's so funny, 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.960 she's like really yeah, So eating on camera is yes, 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:45.920 Is it hard to do? 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.480 Yeah? It can be because you when you film something, 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.880 you film it a million times. And so if you 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:52.640 this is something fun you can look at. When you 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.120 watch movies now, you will notice that the actors and 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.559 dinner scenes almost never put food in their mouth because 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:00.640 if you were to do it, you would do it, 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.400 the camera would be far away, you would do it, 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.720 and then they now that you'd have to eat like 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.480 ten plates of food, and so actors are usually pretty 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.960 adept at not doing it. Not me, I get in there. 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:12.240 Yeah right the only time. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.679 Also the one on Son Now when you're eating the cake, 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.920 when you're talking about I mean it is it is 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.120 a work of art to see the way you I 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:20.680 didn't mint it. 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:20.880 Now. 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:22.480 I thought I was going to be sick. Did you 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:23.559 just do? But you did that one? 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.640 I did it well. I did it twice because we 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.920 have a dress rehearsal, and I thought to myself, you 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.640 know what, I better really do it in dress rehearsal. 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:33.480 Because it was live TV. And I was a little 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.240 worried that I would choke, and I thought, I was 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:37.720 worried you were going to choke it. I was worried 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.920 I was going to choke. And that cake, I will say, 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.000 the only disappointment with that one was that I love 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:44.920 them dearly. But that was the SNL Props apartment and 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.679 that cake was not tasty. I was trying to run 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:49.160 a scam. I was like, can you get this cake 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:53.560 from my favorite bakery and they were like no. I 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:55.800 wanted them to get it from a place called make 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.000 My Cake and Harlem that makes the best cake. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:13:59.000 What do they think? 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.360 They make all kinds of cakes, but I just get 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.560 like yellow cake, white white. 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.120 Yeah, come on, I get it. 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.319 Yeah, I know. We once we were in Mexico once. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.080 It was a friend of mine's birthday and we went 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.200 to we just couldn't find any cake. We were in 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.000 the beach and we went to that place where they 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.400 put them in the fridges and you see them. We thought, okay, 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.960 and we apologized for it, and we said this is 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:21.880 all we could get and then we you know, lit 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:23.960 the candle, blow it out and literally it was one 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:24.320 of the. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:25.240 Great great cakes. 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.520 Yeah, I should say that as a river because it 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:32.120 probably but there's something about that kind of white cake. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:41.280 Yeah, you know, yellow us day. 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:49.240 Yeah, going back to the beginning, what was food like 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:51.680 in your household when you were growing up as a kid. 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:56.440 I grew up outside Philadelphia in a very Greek neighborhood. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.560 I'm half Greek, and where I first lived, it was 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:01.920 the neighborhood was very Greek. 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.000 You my mom's Greek. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.600 Yeah, my mom's Greek, and so we had a mix 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.800 of Philly food and sort of seventies food and American 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.560 food and Greek food. But you know, I grew up 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.160 watching her make Spana coopita and we'd go every year 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.840 to like the church festival down the street was the 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:27.280 only time you could get Lucu Mathese St. Demetrius Greek Church, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.200 which when I came to live here, they're like, you're 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:31.480 staying on Saint Dioni's road. I was like, oh, that 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.400 seems right to me. You'd get Luca Matha's you know 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.320 what those are? They're Oh my gosh, they're the like 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.960 fried deep fried dough balls that get you get hot 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.720 honey and cinnamon port on them. They're like kind of 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:43.160 the best. 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:44.520 They puff up, they puff up. 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.800 Yeah, they're like puffy hot balls of dough with yeah 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:49.440 and you only they're a real pain in the butt 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:49.720 to make. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:50.680 Did your mother make them? 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:52.960 No? You only get them at like the church festival 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:54.560 once a year. And anytime I've ever gone into a 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.120 Greek restaurant in New York that sometimes there's a place 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:58.760 in New York that I won't name her, they often 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:00.760 have them on the menu and if you order them, 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.000 they're like, we don't have them tonight because they're a 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.880 real pain. I think they're pain and yeah, so we 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.320 grew up eating that kind of stuff. 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.320 Was your mother born in Greece or was she born 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:14.640 My mother was, I believe conceived in the US, born 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.480 in Greece and brought back as an infant, like I 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.280 think her mom went to be around her mother when 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.120 she delivered and then came back. 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:26.200 And did your grandmother come back too, Yes? Did she 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.120 cook more Greek food for you than perhaps your mother? 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:31.720 Well, my grandmother had passed away when I was still 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:33.720 quite small. So my brother's eight years older than me, 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:35.880 he probably remembers my grandmother. I don't have first hand 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.400 memories of any of my grandparents, but for sure certain 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.720 foods like the Avgo lemono soup, which is the Greek 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:47.680 chicken soup with lemon and with orzo instead of rice. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.240 I think it's probably similar to the way Italian food 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.320 versus sort of Italian American food, Like it's the real 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.080 stuff is lighter and fresher than that you might know. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.760 You know, it's not like some heavy, cheese laden mussakaua. 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:03.800 The other thing my mom would always make for us 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.359 on special occasions is like for our birthday or some things. 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.120 She would make bastiicio. That was our favorite. That's kind 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:13.080 of their version of lasagna. It's just like a beccamel 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.080 brown beef and tomato. We pasta with a beccamel baked 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:18.879 on top. And as a kid, you know, it's like 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:20.199 all you ever want. 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.680 I think that the image is you were saying going 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.080 back to that of food when you're in America, same 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:26.120 as you say with Italian. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:26.760 I grew up in. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.159 Upstate New York. The idea that was that, you know, 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.959 Italian food was egg plant, parmesan or meat balls and 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:34.160 spaghetti and very. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:35.000 Kind of heavy food. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:36.399 And then you go to Italy and this piece of 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.520 grilled fish with herbs and olive oil or you know, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:40.679 very light pasta. 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:41.639 I went to Greece. 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:43.639 As you can see, I don't know much about Greek food, 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.200 and I haven't spent enough time in Greece. But when 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.760 we went there, we went to Hedra, and the food 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.080 was so gorgeous. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.119 And so well. I mentioned, it's a little bit like, 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.040 I know, you love Mexico and it's sort of the 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:56.920 same thing. You're like, well, here we're by the sea, 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.280 cook what we caught today. Like that kind of life 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.560