WEBVTT - Da'Vine Joy Randolph 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.959 Hi. My name is Avine Joy Randolph, and I'm an actress. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.360 Hi everybody, how's it going. I am so glad to 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.599 have you here. You are off the beat with me, 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:28.040 your host, Brian Baumgartner. I'm so excited for my guest today, 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.720 both for you and for me, because we get to 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:42.440 learn today about drum roll please, Davine Joy Randolph. Davine, 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:47.880 she is a phenomenal actor and truly a legend being 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.279 made here right before our eyes. You know her, of 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:56.120 course from the Holdovers Only Murders in the Building. Dolomite 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.240 is my name. Empire, people of Earth, this is us 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.560 and much much more. We all need to be paying 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.840 attention because she has done, is doing, and will certainly 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:10.520 continue to do great, great things. In fact, I believe 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:15.720 she is on her way to the coveted title egot. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:20.080 You know what that is, Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony. Hear 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.320 me out. She's already got the Oscar for the Holdovers 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.920 that's in the bag at this moment. She is an 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:33.080 Emmy nominee for her Outstanding Guest Actress performance in Only 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.720 Murders in the Building. So we're gonna know about the 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.360 e here very shortly. She almost got a t a 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.520 tony back in twenty twelve when she was nominated for 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:47.720 her very first Broadway performance in Ghost the Musical, So 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.640 next time she's she'll probably win. And then this is 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.720 the clincher. She is a trained opera singer and a 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.520 musical theater major, so she could very very easily down 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.680 a track of music and steal the deal with that Grammy. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.720 I'm telling you this is gonna happen. So, ladies and 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:12.200 gentlemen of Off the Beat, for your consideration, here is 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:22.360 Davine Joy Randolph, Bubble and Squeak. I love it. 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.600 Bubble and Squeak, gonna Bubble and Squeaker cook get every 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.840 mole lift over from the night before. 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.680 What's up, Davine, Hey, how's it going? 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:45.760 How are you? 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:47.919 I'm good? How are you doing? 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.560 I'm doing fantastic. I'm so happy to be here. 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.760 Well, I'm happy that you're here as well. It's been 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.960 a hell of a year for you. 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:57.919 Thank you. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:02.000 I mean yeah, you feel good. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.440 You feel good, and I'm trying to catch up on 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:09.040 my rest. So I've been having a good summer. 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.480 It's been good resting the summer. Where do you go 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.320 to rest? 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:17.040 I'm never home, So sometimes it's just being home, to 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:21.919 be honest with you, because I'm always traveling every which away. Yeah, 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:26.160 but I'm trying to think of LA spots that feel 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.200 good for rest. Have you ever been to Tarranna and 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:30.000 Palos Verna? 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:36.680 Oh yeah, yeah, you're very fancy, very fancy. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.880 Yeah. Sometimes I remember when I used to book the 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.920 big ones for me that I was like, oh my god, 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.640 I booked it, or like write that weekend that you 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.640 got to wait to find out if you got the job. Yes, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.760 I would take myself there and to like woo song, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:57.160 try not to think about it too much, treat yourself between. So, yeah, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.600 I love Tearraning. That's my little get a. I like 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.200 it because it's it's a way, but it's not like 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:05.600 it's not a full committing of going to like oh 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:11.240 High or Springs right drive forty five minutes. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.000 Yes there, but depending on where you live, it feels 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:20.040 like another world. Yeah, sure, which is what I love. Yes. Yeah, well, 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.000 full disclosure, I moved out of LA, so I've been 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:25.440 a place like that all the time. 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.400 Now, what are you in California state? Still? 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.320 I am still in the state of California. 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:38.480 Isn't California. Amazing. Yes, there's so many areas. It's beast. 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:40.760 I'm a fan of California. I'm into it. 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:45.000 Well, yeah, and I know your East coast East coast based. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:50.440 How long have you officially been a Californian? I guess 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:51.480 that's how you'd say it. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.880 Oh, that's tricky, right, when you come here for work. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:01.240 That's tricky to right. That doesn't spot of when I would. 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:02.800 Say forty years. 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:08.520 Yeah, sure, forty years been in years. I first came 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:14.599 here for a pilot in twenty fifteen, I think. Okay, 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:20.120 But honestly, I've never I've only done two projects in LA. 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.440 So that may give you a bit of an idea 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.120 of just how much I am never in Los Angeles. Yeah, 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:28.280 I've only in the ten years that I've been doing this. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.680 I did a movie with Eddie Murphy, and then I 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.159 did a TV show last summer, The Idol, that filmed 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.279 in LA. That's it here. That's why I say like 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.200 coming back here feels like a vacation. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:41.719 I get it. You know, I worked for a long 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.800 time there, but yeah, a lot most things are gone now, 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.359 that's for sure. But I do want to talk about 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.520 your time growing up. I know that you grew up 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:57.200 in Philly, in or around Philly as a kid, and 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.520 I read you went to Interlock In. Now how old 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.039 were you when you started that? 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.279 That was my junior year of high school, the summer 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:06.599 of my junior year of high school. 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.040 Oh my gosh, I'm wondering if our stories are exactly 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:13.000 the same. So was that transformative for you? 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:18.080 Absolutely? But everyone says that went there everyone, but you know, 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.320 it was so great. It really what I loved most 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:27.200 about it. It fortified my love and like reverence and 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:31.800 commitment and devotion to being an artist. Yes, like right, 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.039 like that was I think that was the greatest. It 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.120 gave me so many gifts, but I think that would 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:41.359 be the greatest gift. That place gave me that sense 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:45.800 of like the reverence or how lucky and blessed and 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.680 special we are to be artists and like refect it 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.840 and be disciplined and do the work, and oh my god, 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:55.200 I love that place. 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.200 See what I would say to you is exactly the same. 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.080 I didn't go to Interlock and so it was Northwestern 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.039 Institute of the Arts. I think that's what it was 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:07.600 called at Northwestern University. I was a cherub. You were 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:11.040 a cherub, which is weird. That's like a chubby baby, 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.600 I think, but that's what it was like, the Cherub program. 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.960 And so for me how I always describe because I 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:19.920 started out in the theater and we'll talk about that too, 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:25.080 but I think prior to that, it was a hobby, right, 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.960 It was an activity. It was something that I did, 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:33.000 and I had fairly good instincts, and I was loud 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.080 and could like command a presence. But it was that 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:42.080 time there where I was like, oh, this is like 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:47.000 oh I get oh like creating a character and oh 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.440 like this is the hard work that you put in 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:53.640 and voice and movement and all those things. So was 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:55.680 that it for you too? Was it like, oh, I 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.880 want to do this but you were music maybe right? 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.200 Yeah. I was a major and I was coming from 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.760 the city. To be really honest, I hadn't been I 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.240 went to prep schools like in the suburbs and stuff 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.640 like that, but I had never been around that much 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:14.160 like greenery and nature. So I actually got sick that 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.560 I had like really bad sinuses and allergies issues and 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.160 I ended up losing my voice. So it was even 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.640 more deeper and like meta and introspective. And all because 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.440 I literally couldn't talk, so I'm literally like with my 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.080 thoughts all day in this beautiful manager. It was it 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:35.040 was deep. Yeah, that reverence of the arts, being of 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.319 the arts and just how special it is, and like 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.880 I would sit in on the musical theater classes or 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.160 watch the plays with the theater kids, and I remember 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.360 being like I kind of liked that too a little bit, 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.160 but I remember just being like, Wow, I feel so 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.280 lucky and we are so cool. It was like, I 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.400 don't know, I guess it's like in our world, right, 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.920 it'd be like band camp being cool, Like, wow, it's 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.560 so cool to be artists. Everyone that goes there is. 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:12.760 Like, Yeah, you go to Temple and you're studying classical vocals. 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:18.920 That's singing, right, and an opera. Now, at one point 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.200 you switched to musical theater. Now what happens there? What's 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.200 the what's the process behind that decision. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:31.880 To musical theater? Well, I graduated from Yale at that point, and. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.319 So this was after you went to Yale for acting 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.160 for yeah no, but before that, so where do you 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.600 change from like singing and an opera? 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.400 Yeah? Yeah, yeah? So no, I mean, well, of a 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.440 lack of better word. I got kicked out because I 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.600 think it was because when I don't. 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:55.560 Thank you for your honesty, I appreciate that. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:00.120 So no, I think I found that this was a 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:05.120 thing that occurs when institutions don't truly have a musical 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.880 theater department. So that time, Temple did not have a 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:11.480 musical theater department, but their theater department would do musicals 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.520 from time to time, like maybe like one a year 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.480 or whatever, so I guess what was happening, which was 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.160 actually not the case for me. A lot of times 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.760 singers and actors would flee, I guess, be changing their 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.320 major and being indecisive and going from one to the other. 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.920 So they all each department had their feelings about that, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.960 and was not the case for me. At that point. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.719 I was fully committed due to interlock in, which introduced 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.960 me to classical arts. Right like, I'm all in now, 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:41.520 I'm like, oh, I'm an opera singer. This is what 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.000 we're doing. I'm about to travel the world. This is great, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:50.120 And so we were preparing for Aida and the opera 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:54.640 and I just remember feeling like disconnected or like it 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.640 just feeling very like an old, antiquated thing you know, 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.680 I was like, well, my parents and family or friends 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:01.400 are coming see this. I wanted to be something, but 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.960 they can connect to It's like Shakespeare right, like you can. 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:07.200 I want them to know what's going on. And the 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.480 only way that they're gonna know and be able to 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.280 follow this and not just be like snoozefest opera is 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.240 if I do my job right of like understanding what 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.880 I'm saying so that that can convey. And so I 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.360 ended up working with one of the acting teachers basically 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.560 as like a coach, to work with me on the 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.480 scenes that I was singing so that it could be conveyed. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.080 And so then the music department found out. I mean 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:34.480 I wasn't trying to keep it a secret, but they 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.520 found out, and so they kicked me out. And so 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.720 it was my mom who was like, you need to 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:43.160 go across the street to the theater department because a 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.679 logically most of your credits can transfer and be you're 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.280 gonna graduate on time, so you just need to get 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.840 that diploma and we'll figure it out after there. And 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:59.120 so that is literally like literally crying, kicking, and screaming 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.920 going to the theater department. It was never something that I 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.240 wanted to do. I thought the theater kids were weird, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.360 and then yeah, and so then it just so happened 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.360 that they had a musical. I think it was Into 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.439 the Woods, so like I got that experience, and then 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:22.760 the musical later happened just because post graduating, they were like, oh, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.679 it'll be a great job that you can do. Is 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.040 like your hustle job essentially a swing right like the 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.440 understudies understudy. That's how they pitched it to me. But 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.240 then when I auditioned to this day, I don't know 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.679 if that was actually what it was because I was 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.640 nannying at the time. Loved my job, I had great kids. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:40.880 It was dream job. 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:43.160 Are you talking about ghost? Is that what you're doing? 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.160 So it ghost? Yeah, so it ghost. That was a 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.800 fluke they were saying it. I was nannying, and they 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.040 didn't really love that I was nannying, even though I 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.440 was an afternoon nanny, so you had me from you know, 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:58.000 the morning to like one thirty to audition and stuff 0:12:58.040 --> 0:12:59.960 like that. But they didn't. My team at the TI 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.040 in love that I had that job, and they wanted 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.120 me just like you know, be broke and be a 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:08.440 full artist available all day for them. They didn't like 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:12.280 those time restraints, and so they were like, oh, yeah, 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.880 this will just be like a hustle, like your side 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.640 hustle job, while we find you the job. To this day, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.040 I still don't know if that was exactly the case, 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.760 but I auditioned and ended up getting one of the 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.600 leads of it and doing it, but then doing it 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:31.360 first on the West End because the lady who was 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.400 doing it there had got hurt, and so instead of 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:39.079 them going for another one of their understudies in London, 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.240 they decided, well, let's just get it started early, and 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:43.880 so I went and did it on the West End 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.600 for several months, and then I came and did it. 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:52.199 I'm Broadwick Tony nomination for your first Pray and. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.520 I was sick voice. That was another time when I 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.760 lost my voice. I was so I had like forty 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:01.400 percent of my I could not believe that nomination because 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:07.040 I literally had forty percent vocal production and I was 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.800 literally performing on less than half of these, so that 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:11.440 blew me away. 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.400 Here's the thing. I'm always performing at less than half 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.160 of a voice when I'm singing, so I know the feelings. 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:19.520 Oh my god, very well. 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:20.320 Get it? 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.640 But but to back up half a second, you end 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.200 up at Yale School of Drama, and at that point 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.920 are you committed full on to a life in the theater. 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.560 No, No, it was just for me. It was just 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.720 like because timeline wise, right, it was only a year 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.280 that I began to branch into acting in my undergrad 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.120 and so I just knew. It was the dean of 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.240 the school that was like, you're good, I'm going to 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.560 apply you to these graduate acting programs. I didn't even 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.880 know about this stuff, so he applied me. I did 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:58.080 the interviews and the you know, auditions and whatnot, and 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.480 for me, it was just like I knew because it 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.360 was this major change of now no longer in my 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.800 mind never singing again that I was like, whoa, I 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:09.920 have to figure out what my life is because when 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.480 I was ready to be on this one track, it 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:19.240 quickly changed. And so that then was where I think 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.560 while in graduate school, I was figuring it out and like, Okay, 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:24.880 is this the life I want? Do we like? This? 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.640 Is this something that we're into? But again, I think 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.160 I did feel a bit of comfort or familiarity in 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.480 regards to like again, the devotion, the reverence, the pedigree, 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:41.600 the studying, the classical training as it were, that was 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.640 something that I was like, Oh, I can geek out 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.040 over this a little bit. And then too, I just 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.120 love people and how people take and work, and so 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:54.480 I really enjoyed like certain classes of like text analysis 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.000 and stuff like that of really getting into the like 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.840 I love getting into the psychology of my care. That's 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.880 really where I get a lot of mileage. And so yeah, 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:09.120 I think like while I was going through school in 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.520 those three years, I was kind of like not warming 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.360 up to it, but like it was a whole new world. Yeah, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:19.160 so I was like, Okay, let's see what this is about. 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.240 Ghost. So did you say you did that seven months 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:25.000 on the West End? 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:27.600 No? I think at the end of it all it 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.600 was maybe like four or five months it were. Yeah, 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:32.080 I think it was like four or five months. 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.840 Yeah, and then on in New York. So how long total? 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.280 So total, I think it would have been about a 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.800 year and a half. Oh, my year and a half. Yeah, Now, 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:44.240 how was. 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.440 That for you? So you're out of school, you haven't 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.120 worked on a character for an extended period of time. 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:56.920 I had graduated in June. I booked it in August 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.880 or no, November. It was it's November because it was Thanksgiving, 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.200 so I was I remember I booked it and I 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.800 was like, can I be home for Thanksgiving? Because it 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:07.120 was like my first job, you know what I mean, 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.960 Like I'm not used to like working on holidays, And 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.160 I was like, can I please be with my family. 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.639 I've got Eagles tickets back in Philly. I need to 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:16.600 get back home. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:22.720 Yeah, exactly, And so literally the day after Thanksgiving they 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.640 put me on a plane and then literally within days 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.679 I had to get off book And sorry to those people, 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.959 but in paid performances was my rehearsals? 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:35.840 Crazy? 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:40.800 I hope they discounted those people, because that's crazy. 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.879 Did you did you enjoy it? I loved it the 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:45.520 whole time. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.719 I loved it. The West End was my favorite. I 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.920 love it. The way that they treat theater artists is 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.480 how they treat movie stars. Yeah, and I think it's 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.760 almost interchangeable too, because right like, you can go and 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.800 see it play and you're like, yo, is that Hella Mirrin? 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:06.879 Like British movie stars who will happily or Olivia Coleman 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.600 happily pop into a play. So for them, there's no 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.960 real delineation how it is for us right for them, 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.240 it's your artists, you all one big things. I had 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:21.600 never that was my first experience of really being treated 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:24.920 so well in that way that I was like, oh, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:30.960 I never want to leave and Broadway it was just 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:35.639 it was harder, and so it was a more aggressive schedule. 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:39.080 And then there's the summer schedule. In the holiday schedule, 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:41.720 you're already doing eight shows a week, and so now 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:43.720 it's like twelve shows a week, so it's just like 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:45.480 a burnerout. And then on top of it, you're being 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.280 six So it felt more of like survival and maintenance 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:51.720 and just like get through the show. Let's get through 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.320 this show, and let's see what tomorrow brings. So it 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.560 was intense. It was really really intense. I think it's 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.280 the hardest thing I've ever done. Musicals, even more so 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:05.760 than a play. That is a real even I've done 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:10.720 movie musicals now and it's not even at the same voltage, 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:11.320 I guess is the. 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.679 Right word, because of the stamina it takes. 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:18.840 The Yeah, it's constantly moving, there's no breaks. Once the 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.719 curtain goes up, it's on for the next two and 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:24.879 a half to three hours, depending on your musical musicals 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:25.200 are long? 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.840 Yeah? When you were done, yeah, were you like? I 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:31.320 want to work in film and television. 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.480 So what was funny was we got maybe three weeks 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.600 notice that the show was closing, and I remember saying 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.920 to my team at the time, I was like, I 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:49.120 think that I want to dry out this pilot season thing. 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.639 I remember, I didn't know anything about it, right, and 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:54.040 I was like, and I would like to do a 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:58.800 play and a TV show before I leave New York. 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:00.760 I was like, I want to be able check everything 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:02.760 off the list, and I want to try that pilot thing. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.879 And they were like okay. And I remember I had 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.720 five auditions in one week and I ended up booking 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:12.879 a TV show I think it was a Good Wife. 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:19.920 And I booked Robin Williams's last movie. And I originated 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.000 a new role in a new play at the Atlantic 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:26.080 Theater Company, and that literally took me up to at 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:30.119 that time January, which right before when pilot season was 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:35.680 more formal timing in that regard. Then the play ended 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:39.760 literally January second. I ended up booking, well, not booking, 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.600 but getting auditioning or final call back or whatever you 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:44.919 want to call it for a pilot that brought me 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.679 out here. It ends up not going through, and then 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:52.200 I stayed for a little bit and then it went 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:53.280 off on the races for me. 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:15.520 I got to ask you about working with Robin on 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.240 The Angriest Man, one of his last films. So I 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.240 had the opportunity to work with him a few times 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.800 and loved every bit of it. Tell me about your 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.080 experience working with him on that, and. 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:31.800 It was perfect. It was perfect. It happened at the 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.440 perfect time in my life, and I hope that it 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:38.760 was equally enjoyable for him at that time in his life. 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.200 I had just well, yeah, you know, I've I had 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.879 just graduated, I hadn't even been a year out. That 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:47.600 was still in the summer. I remember it was hot. 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:54.200 But anyways, I remember I could not believe how much 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:58.399 time he gave me and how much he talked to me. 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.800 And in some cases the other actors would joke and 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:03.520 be like, you're talking to her more than you talk 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:06.280 to us. And I was the youngest person on the set, 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.520 and I remember we just had the most amazing conversations 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.159 in which I remember he told me, he was like, 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.560 you know, you can do this whole TV and film thing. 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:18.359 I think you should do it. You're gifted, blah blah blah. 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.360 And I remember him distinctly saying to me like, think 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.280 about San Francisco though, like I remember, he was like 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.000 it was like it was not He was like, I 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.600 don't know, He's like, you gotta hear a good person. 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:30.960 You have a good heart. I don't know about la. 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:33.520 He was like, think about San frian and he was like, 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:36.960 I love it there and it's so peaceful for me. 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.159 But we just we had a ball. That man is 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:44.760 a wonder And I don't know about you, but I 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:52.600 could almost feel his brain thinking when he was silent, 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:56.280 I could like I could almost like a sneeze about 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:57.679 to happen. Does that make sense? 0:22:58.080 --> 0:22:59.440 It does make sense that I. 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:01.280 Could feel like he's about to say something and I 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:03.080 don't even have to look at him. And I remember 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:07.119 describing it before to a friend like how the like 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.440 New York Penin station. I don't know if other train 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:13.159 stations have this, but that ticker thing, that's how it 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.320 felt to me being near him, of like his brain, 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:19.919 like I could feel like there was a buzz within 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:23.880 him that I could tell. I was like, it really 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:29.400 feels like his brain and his thoughts truly moved at 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:34.320 that rate, and it almost was like, for the lack 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:36.160 of a better word, Torett, you know what I mean, 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:41.440