Speaker 1: Hey, Fanerritos, we are back with part two of our
Speaker 1: interview with Christine Laken. We had so many topics to
Speaker 1: cover with Christine, and we all know how hard it
Speaker 1: is for Jody and me to stay on topic and
Speaker 1: avoid careening this podcast off the rails. So with that,
Speaker 1: please welcome back.
Speaker 2: Christine's the behind the scenes stuff that you that like
Speaker 2: you haven't thought about.
Speaker 3: And you know, we all grew up.
Speaker 2: I mean you were a little bit older, but you know,
Speaker 2: I was five when I when we started the show,
Speaker 2: and Andrew was like ten and eleven. I mean we
Speaker 2: were little and literally grew up together. I mean I
Speaker 2: can remember thinking, you know, yeah, getting us in trouble
Speaker 2: do it? You know, all the stupid things that you
Speaker 2: do with your friends and your in like your classmates
Speaker 2: or whatever, like now you're doing it on set.
Speaker 4: And yeah, yeah, well that's wild.
Speaker 2: What has been one of your favorite memories so far
Speaker 2: from season one that you guys have recapped on the show.
Speaker 5: I think, well, talking about the title sequence was really
Speaker 5: insane because just you know, now, just thinking about the
Speaker 5: links that they went to make that happen and the
Speaker 5: fact that they even did that was wild. And then
Speaker 5: I think also, you know, the funny thing about watching
Speaker 5: it again is, yes, it's a show, and yes it's
Speaker 5: fantasy and all of this stuff, but we really love
Speaker 5: breaking down a lot of times with the fashion of
Speaker 5: what's happening in nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 2: Oh that is our favorite. We go on tangents. Ab
Speaker 2: has had some She had a costume that looked like
Speaker 2: Missus trench Bull.
Speaker 3: Okay, let me tell oh.
Speaker 4: I am sure.
Speaker 5: And also, I mean, the lead of our show was
Speaker 5: this icon, this glamorous, right, beautiful woman and summers that
Speaker 5: everybody knew and she was that person. So it's also
Speaker 5: just really interesting to kind of see how that's that
Speaker 5: character of Carol sort of evolves and like, by the
Speaker 5: end of season one, she's a.
Speaker 4: Hairdresser, she's got six kids.
Speaker 5: She is making lunches in a full skirt suit, heels, pantyhose,
Speaker 5: waft hair at the whole frame and we just love
Speaker 5: But it's like it's a fantasy, It's like, but I
Speaker 5: love the idea, Like I can barely get out of
Speaker 5: my house in the morning to take my kids to camp.
Speaker 2: And come on right and we got bacon and eggs
Speaker 2: and everybody's dressed. The kids come down with their hair
Speaker 2: curled and styled.
Speaker 3: She just couldn't comb their own hair at that point,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, like.
Speaker 4: Who did their hair?
Speaker 5: And I love the idea of people just sitting like
Speaker 5: a scene will begin and people are just sitting on
Speaker 5: the couch, three different people reading books and magazines right
Speaker 5: right right.
Speaker 2: And also that it's the tiniest couch ever ever, Yes,
Speaker 2: in a house with like, you know, six people at least,
Speaker 2: and there's only one one couch.
Speaker 5: Let me ask you a question about your set, because
Speaker 5: I remembered this also viscerally, just thinking through the logistics
Speaker 5: of how you would do rehearsals and film and stuff. Right,
Speaker 5: we had the stairs that led to nowhere right right,
Speaker 5: because I don't lead anywhere, there's not a second, but.
Speaker 2: There was there was usually like a bad thing that
Speaker 2: you could go down the back.
Speaker 4: Oh, you could go down the back.
Speaker 3: That was I think our earlier sets had that on
Speaker 3: Full House, but Fuller I think it just it ended
Speaker 3: and then you had to come back down the same
Speaker 3: way because just the way it was set up, the
Speaker 3: craft service was behind it or whatever.
Speaker 2: But but yeah, you seem to remember on Full House
Speaker 2: there was we could go we could go back and
Speaker 2: down the bed down, but we were usually told not
Speaker 2: to because his kids, because you don't do that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: But then you're up there and you're like you stomp
Speaker 6: up the steps or whatever, and you're all like like this,
Speaker 6: and then you're all like right like.
Speaker 5: And everybody's trying to shush each other. And then we
Speaker 5: were like writing on the walls.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I got kils writing on the walls.
Speaker 5: I mean six children, yeah, six like and from teenagers
Speaker 5: all the way down to like I think Josh Burn
Speaker 5: was five or six when the thing began.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it was just it was constant, just mayhem. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but in the most fun way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true, because it was you guys have so
Speaker 3: many kids on that show.
Speaker 5: Thouands of thousands of kids.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, how old? So what was the age
Speaker 2: range when the show started?
Speaker 3: Like five to.
Speaker 5: Five to maybe sixteen, okay, fifteen or sixteen. I mean
Speaker 5: Stacy and Angela were actually almost the same age, but
Speaker 5: they played as if they were like one year apart.
Speaker 4: Ok And I think Brandon call was fourteen, maybe.
Speaker 5: I was twelve, Chris Casteele was ten, and Josh Byrne
Speaker 5: was I think five or six.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, did you guys do any schooling together?
Speaker 1: Did they group you by teenagers middle school, elementary or
Speaker 1: how did that work?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: So we had one big trailer and three different school rooms.
Speaker 5: And the two girls were together, they were both in
Speaker 5: high school, and then myself and Brandon Call were together,
Speaker 5: and then the two little boys were together. And let
Speaker 5: me tell you, Brandon did not want to do anything.
Speaker 5: He was like constantly putting, you know, his magazines and
Speaker 5: like behind Shakespeare books like he was jt. He was
Speaker 5: like on the bean bag chair, like dozing off. And
Speaker 5: I was like going to this very hard like rep
Speaker 5: like Ivy Academy in Atlanta.
Speaker 4: I'm like like trying to get into honors classes.
Speaker 6: And like reading the Iliad, and He's just like, I mean,
Speaker 6: it was it was hilarious.
Speaker 4: It was just and then our teacher would be like,
Speaker 4: I'm going to get a cup of coffee. I'll be
Speaker 4: right back, right, and then he like get up and let.
Speaker 3: You know, right, remember five minutes and you were like.
Speaker 1: Everyone's scream as loud as you can, right, I.
Speaker 4: Mean, horses in actual classroom.
Speaker 3: Is that happen? You'd be like, I'll be right back,
Speaker 3: I have to go to the office.
Speaker 2: And it was you know, the other teacher had to
Speaker 2: be made aware because all of a sudden fires were
Speaker 2: going to break out, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but it was so fun. It was just it
Speaker 4: was so fun.
Speaker 5: And we had a basketball hoop outside and we would
Speaker 5: go play you know, horse or Pig or whatever on
Speaker 5: our breaks. And then I had a Nintendo and we
Speaker 5: play like Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Yeah, and you know
Speaker 5: Sega Genesis and yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, those were all of our like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I remember all of that so vividly
Speaker 2: from being on set and like, you know, making your
Speaker 2: room your own little spot.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I remember my mom having a great time decorating every year,
Speaker 2: or not every year, but like every couple of years.
Speaker 3: You know, she would let me pick a new theme
Speaker 3: for the room.
Speaker 4: So that's cute.
Speaker 2: Mickey and Mini, I think we did did like tropical
Speaker 2: one year. I had like a like a rainforest theme.
Speaker 4: I remember that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because you would have you had your dressing rooms
Speaker 5: on the stage, right, you were like in the stage yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: You guys at Culvert were did you guys have you
Speaker 2: guys were in trailers.
Speaker 5: Know they were in the stage and moved to Warner
Speaker 5: Brothers and just like you guys, and yeah, they were
Speaker 5: in the stage. But but the school room was always
Speaker 5: for us in a trailer because we just had so
Speaker 5: many kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I guess we had We had like an
Speaker 2: extra room that was we had a couple of extra
Speaker 2: rooms that were the yeaho rooms, yeah, which then became
Speaker 2: the wardrobe room for Fuller House. Time we'd go upstairs
Speaker 2: to a wardrobe room, I'd be like, oh, like I
Speaker 2: studied forts right there, and I'm like, oh, I remember
Speaker 2: falling out of my chair right there because they kept
Speaker 2: tipping it over.
Speaker 3: I would tip it back and be told.
Speaker 4: Not to be the exact same stage for Fuller House.
Speaker 3: Yeah, stage, Yeah, it was. It's a trip.
Speaker 1: We all we upgraded to the bigger dressing rooms as
Speaker 1: the adult.
Speaker 3: We've got the adult dressing rooms. So good for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, no, okay, speaking Fuller.
Speaker 3: Were you supposed to do a role on.
Speaker 5: Fuller I was approached by Jeff in season two. I
Speaker 5: want to say, it's right when we were about to
Speaker 5: start Hollywood Darlings. Actually, I had just we had done
Speaker 5: our little pilot Sizzle.
Speaker 4: We had sold it and then I had a baby.
Speaker 5: We had my daughter. She was only maybe three months old. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and I got this call from Jeff from my manager saying,
Speaker 5: Jeff Franklin wants to meet with you and there's this
Speaker 5: role and he thinks you'd be great for it. And
Speaker 5: it's a meeting. Like it wasn't an audition, it was
Speaker 5: a meeting. So I was like all right, So I
Speaker 5: went and met with Jeff. We had a great meeting.
Speaker 5: He kind of told me what the role was, and
Speaker 5: I was like, I love this, you know.
Speaker 4: I would love to do this. And I had just
Speaker 4: had a.
Speaker 5: Baby, so I was also like, oh my god, going
Speaker 5: back to work, Like this is going to be a lot,
Speaker 5: but I can do this and like how you know,
Speaker 5: it'll be great and like nursing and the whole thing,
Speaker 5: but it's gonna be fine. And so meeting with great
Speaker 5: are like, okay, cool, We're going to send over a script.
Speaker 5: We have a table read coming up in a couple
Speaker 5: of weeks. It was for four episodes to start and
Speaker 5: then you know, possibly reoccurring from there.
Speaker 4: So I was stoked.
Speaker 5: And then about two days before the table read, I
Speaker 5: got a call from my manager saying, yeah, something happened.
Speaker 4: They're pushing the table read.
Speaker 5: I think there's some stuff with the script they want
Speaker 5: to rewrite, and it's just it's not going to happen tomorrow,
Speaker 5: just letting you know. I was like, okay, all right,
Speaker 5: just let me know, no problem. And then the next
Speaker 5: day happened and my manager calls and says, hey, I
Speaker 5: don't know how to tell you this, but you've been
Speaker 5: let go. And I was like, what do you mean
Speaker 5: and you said, yeah, they just they don't there, I
Speaker 5: can't get any details.
Speaker 4: Sounds like they're rewriting.
Speaker 5: They just said they're rewriting the character and they're not
Speaker 5: going to need you anymore. And I was like, what
Speaker 5: did I do wrong?
Speaker 4: I didn't even go to a table I didn't even
Speaker 4: get to it. You would like make sense if you
Speaker 4: went to the table read.
Speaker 5: And they were like, oh yeah, they were like yeah.
Speaker 5: It's like I wish I could, I wish I had
Speaker 5: more information, like I just don't. And it was so
Speaker 5: I mean, it was so strange. And I had a
Speaker 5: friend who was a writer on the show, and I
Speaker 5: kind of like reached.
Speaker 4: Out to her.
Speaker 5: I was like, hey, like, did I do something or
Speaker 5: did I just came get out in my head. She
Speaker 5: was like, I honestly have no idea. This is like
Speaker 5: above my pay grade. I wish I could give you
Speaker 5: more information. I'm really sad not to work with you.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: That was about it. So a couple of weeks went
Speaker 5: by and I just like couldn't shake it. And you know, also,
Speaker 5: I think that idea that I just had a baby
Speaker 5: and I was like ramping.
Speaker 2: Up to hormones were like totally cooperating too, and they
Speaker 2: were like not at all telling you that you're, you know,
Speaker 2: a piece of.
Speaker 3: Again, and I went down.
Speaker 5: Was not great, especially when you just don't know, you
Speaker 5: don't have any clarity to what it could be.
Speaker 4: I don't really know what happened, but I have.
Speaker 5: I'll just give you some facts and you can put
Speaker 5: this together. Anyone can put this together any way they want.
Speaker 4: But this is just some facts of.
Speaker 5: What I do know that I think could have contributed
Speaker 5: to me possibly not doing that role. Seven years before that,
Speaker 5: I participated in a Funnier Die video that a friend
Speaker 5: of mine made, and at the time Funnier Die had
Speaker 5: just come out and at the time her Cameron had
Speaker 5: said some public things about the LGBTQ community, and yeah,
Speaker 5: and I didn't think I thought those were dentially very
Speaker 5: damaging to the LGBTQ community. And I was asked to
Speaker 5: participate with a bunch of other former child actors in
Speaker 5: this satirical video sort of calling out these these statements.
Speaker 5: It was it was funny, listen, it's it was a
Speaker 5: sad tire, you know. And sometimes I feel like, you know,
Speaker 5: you're very vocal, Joe to. You're an activist, and I've
Speaker 5: always admired you for having such a clear vision and
Speaker 5: such a loud voice. And in my life at times,
Speaker 5: I've tried to use humor to sort of, you know,
Speaker 5: pop that bubble of of discorder or maybe call call
Speaker 5: people out in like a you know, in a satirical way.
Speaker 5: And anyway, so I participated in it, and it went viral,
Speaker 5: and a bunch of other people in it and blah
Speaker 5: blah blah, and all I can think of.
Speaker 4: Is that.
Speaker 5: It created some bad blood, and seven years later I
Speaker 5: was not my presence was not wanted.
Speaker 4: That's maybe what I think.
Speaker 2: So should we do another funny or Die video? That's
Speaker 2: my question now, is that are we writing another funnier that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, my friend, but you know, my friend, Virginia Williams,
Speaker 5: ended up doing that part and she was great, and
Speaker 5: I mean it was a bummer for me, It really was.
Speaker 4: I would have loved to have done that.
Speaker 2: Would it make you feel any better to know that
Speaker 2: you missed out on wearing an incredibly miserable, awful, uh
Speaker 2: like forty pound thing in like ninety something degree heat
Speaker 2: outside in Japan in the hottest humidist weather and just
Speaker 2: standing there in like a forty pound kimono like layers
Speaker 2: and layers that.
Speaker 3: We're yeah, we're.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I remember we were.
Speaker 2: All like holding ice packs under her like she was like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna explode.
Speaker 3: It was awful, poor things.
Speaker 4: You know what's so funny?
Speaker 5: And this is and it's hilarious because I've known Virginia
Speaker 5: for a long time and and she's such a lovely person.
Speaker 5: Our kids actually were at the same preschool for a minute.
Speaker 5: But she had and I she had no idea that
Speaker 5: I even had like a history with that, and she
Speaker 5: got it. I was like, makes sense because Virginia and
Speaker 5: I have been down to the wire several times we've
Speaker 5: gone to network together and she always gets it, which
Speaker 5: is just so funny because we're actually not that much
Speaker 5: to light. Yeah, it's all in statuesque to me, and
Speaker 5: I don't know, it's just it's hilarious to me.
Speaker 4: She's like, you guys have.
Speaker 2: Very expressive faces, big eyes, are funny, you're comedy timing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: there's well, there's always those that was you know, that
Speaker 2: was me and Beverly when we were kids.
Speaker 5: It's always yeah, exactly like Bely Mitchell Mitchell, Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's so weird like you you know, again,
Speaker 2: this business is one of those things where like you
Speaker 2: never quite know where you're going or what you know,
Speaker 2: how how it all turns out.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, I it's like, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I I'm sure it's everybody's prerogative to want or not
Speaker 5: want to work with someone I don't know. At the
Speaker 5: same time, I'm I feel like I have to stand
Speaker 5: up for people who maybe don't have a platform.
Speaker 4: Or a voice.
Speaker 5: Two or at least at least to be able to,
Speaker 5: you know, say I stand with you, and if I
Speaker 5: can do that, and what I feel is the most
Speaker 5: non threatening way. But maybe I feel like humor does
Speaker 5: does usually bind us together, but not everybody.
Speaker 4: You know, what I mean.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I am always willing to make fun
Speaker 2: of myself and others.
Speaker 4: But you know, yeah, I love that about you.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's it's a talent when you can
Speaker 2: just make fun of yourself incessantly and also other people
Speaker 2: because life is not that serious.
Speaker 3: Well it is, but it's also not. But that's awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean. Like, I mean, I know,
Speaker 2: like growing up in television and stuff, you.
Speaker 3: Sort of get this weird perspective.
Speaker 2: Of like you're under stress all the time to get
Speaker 2: this show done and it's a huge thing and there's
Speaker 2: all these people depending on it, and it's all this
Speaker 2: stuff and there's all this chaos. But like at the
Speaker 2: same time, you also kind of go like, but we're not,
Speaker 2: Like it's we're not. We're not you're in cancer, We're not.
Speaker 2: You know, it's gonna be okay, we're gonna make a show.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be we're gonna laugh. It may be better
Speaker 2: or worse than last week, and it'll be okay, you know,
Speaker 2: Like yeah, and you just sort of get used to this,
Speaker 2: like oh my god, it's all stressful, and then you're
Speaker 2: like that'll be right.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 5: And you know the other thing, it's like I just
Speaker 5: took my kids out of the country for the first
Speaker 5: time and been a long Oh man, we had so
Speaker 5: much fun. I haven't been out of the country in
Speaker 5: over ten years. COVID and kids and whatever. I used
Speaker 5: to travel all the time. We went to London and
Speaker 5: we saw some friends there, and then we traveled south
Speaker 5: and went to Paris and I took them to Lisbon
Speaker 5: and it was really cool.
Speaker 2: Did they enjoy it? Now you did? How old are
Speaker 2: Georgia and Baylor.
Speaker 4: Now five and eight?
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: So people thought I was nuts taking my kids.
Speaker 4: Like we did. I was like, everybody's got.
Speaker 5: Their own rollaway bag and just everybody get your water bottle.
Speaker 4: Yep, be responsible, let's go.
Speaker 3: Oh man, that's impressive, though, I don't Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: It was uh and they did great.
Speaker 5: I have to say, like, all in all, didn't want
Speaker 5: to kill them, so so that was positive.
Speaker 3: There's still a little there's time for that, don't worry.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: But what I did remember, and especially when you get
Speaker 5: out of your bubble, whether that's your work bubble or
Speaker 5: your LA bubble, even just your USA bubble by the way,
Speaker 5: is that the world is a big place, sure, and
Speaker 5: not everybody else is focused on the things that that
Speaker 5: are so dire in your immediate world, and the world
Speaker 5: is also like a really kind place.
Speaker 4: I think we can.
Speaker 5: Get stuck in these news cycles that feel like things
Speaker 5: are awful and chaotic and divisive and all of that,
Speaker 5: and I think what.
Speaker 3: We gravitate towards to read guys like ooh, that sounds terrible,
Speaker 3: what is that?
Speaker 4: What's that?
Speaker 5: Yes, that negativity bias, that dichotomy, But I found it
Speaker 5: was it was really humbling, and it was really hopeful
Speaker 5: just connecting with people from different countries and chatting with
Speaker 5: them and just their innate kindness. And by the way,
Speaker 5: everybody speaks English and they speak their own language and
Speaker 5: most of them speak another language.
Speaker 3: So I know that's the Yeah, where are we really
Speaker 3: do ourselves? A disservice?
Speaker 4: That really missed a lot of both.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it was amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah what was your did your kids enjoy? Did they
Speaker 2: like enjoy the walking around or was it were they like.
Speaker 3: My legs?
Speaker 4: It was a little of both.
Speaker 2: I mean, I definitely like so I'm talking out of
Speaker 2: my ass, but but I from what I hear.
Speaker 5: Yes, it is a lot of walking, you know, which
Speaker 5: I would try to plan like one thing a day,
Speaker 5: like this, We're going to go do this bike tour
Speaker 5: of Paris. And we did this really cool bike tour
Speaker 5: and went all around and they would stop and tell
Speaker 5: you things about, you know, the French Revolution and Napoleon
Speaker 5: and blah blah blah amazing, and my kids were sort
Speaker 5: of like like looking around for ice cream and whatnot,
Speaker 5: like Napoleon. Not yes, but as long as you have
Speaker 5: like an ice cream in the future. They were usually
Speaker 5: pretty good about whatever the first event was. And then
Speaker 5: we did a ton of public transportation, like yes, we
Speaker 5: walked a lot, but we were on buses. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Ways I write, I read public transit here in la
Speaker 2: sometimes I will take train places and yeah, which you know,
Speaker 2: people like you're crazy.
Speaker 3: I'm like it, we live in the city.
Speaker 2: I don't want to sit forty five minutes to go
Speaker 2: over to Hollywood Highland, you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: Like yes, no, And like everyone in Europe, you know,
Speaker 6: and I would say a lot of times the upers
Speaker 6: and taxis are just not as reliable and true.
Speaker 2: It's a yeah, it's very different, and you get a
Speaker 2: lot of like the tourist traps where they'll be like, oh,
Speaker 2: we'll take you here, and they take you the most
Speaker 2: circuit in the screwed the longest thing, and then they're like, oh.
Speaker 5: Yeah, this rickshaw, you owe me fifty bucks, right right,
Speaker 5: what right, I'm gonna get on the bus for like
Speaker 5: six So and it was great. You know, you get
Speaker 5: on these buses and you just like you see so
Speaker 5: much as you're just trying to get from like kind
Speaker 5: of one destiny for the other.
Speaker 4: So but yeah, it was it was awesome. I needed
Speaker 4: it so badly.
Speaker 5: I needed to just get out of my immediate comfort zone.
Speaker 4: And so what I.
Speaker 2: Hear you saying, though, is that our our glamping trip
Speaker 2: wasn't as good as your, and I am a little disappointed.
Speaker 3: I mean, I look branded pornhole, my friend.
Speaker 4: I know, I know, pillows with pillows.
Speaker 3: And eyes faces on it. I mean, come on, I
Speaker 3: did miss that was not in Europe.
Speaker 4: That's true.
Speaker 5: No, you're absolutely right not make that clear, because yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm sorry. I mean, I will say there were things
Speaker 5: about it. I did not have s'mores that were nearly
Speaker 5: as good, though, I will say that, yeah, a lot
Speaker 5: of gelato, not a lot.
Speaker 3: Of smores are a very American thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, you have two little ones, and
Speaker 2: it's so hard to be like, it's so hard to
Speaker 2: be working in this industry anyway and feel like a
Speaker 2: sane person that has like a life but also a career.
Speaker 3: I mean, you seem to do so well at.
Speaker 2: Balancing stuff with your kids and your hut. I mean,
Speaker 2: I love Brandon, He's so great, and I just wondered, like,
Speaker 2: do you you feel like you have a pretty good.
Speaker 3: Balance in your life? Because I was. I always like
Speaker 3: to ask that question.
Speaker 2: Of moms of my friends because I always feel like
Speaker 2: the answers always know and that we need to all
Speaker 2: just realize that there. I don't think there is a yes,
Speaker 2: that's my opinion.
Speaker 5: But I think I balanced like the time that I
Speaker 5: give to my kids and they're the school community and
Speaker 5: what I try to do to be there for them, and.
Speaker 4: I think I do okay with that and work.
Speaker 3: You're tried at volunteering at your kids' school. I just
Speaker 3: got to do the fun.
Speaker 2: I volunteered at Christine's school and did uh what was
Speaker 2: the Storytellers?
Speaker 4: It was so great. I love that program so much.
Speaker 5: As I was a mentor to one of the young
Speaker 5: writers and brought Jody in with a bunch of other
Speaker 5: fun friends. Writer Strong did it. My friend John Quertasty.
Speaker 3: Is there from from.
Speaker 5: Yeah Yeah, and it's and then they all improv basically
Speaker 5: and put on the show for the kids, and it
Speaker 5: was just I mean, it's fabulous.
Speaker 4: I do get a lot out of that.
Speaker 5: Where I don't think I balance well though, is in
Speaker 5: my personal time. I feel like I'm either working or hitting,
Speaker 5: like it's either work or kids stuff, work, mom stuff.
Speaker 5: And then I am always trying to shoehorn a little
Speaker 5: bit of date night or like you know, some kind
Speaker 5: of alone time. But I can't tell you it's so
Speaker 5: hard for me to read a book for pleasure. It is,
Speaker 5: it is. I don't often I feel like when I
Speaker 5: say things like, oh no, I have time for myself,
Speaker 5: like I went to that pilates class last Wednesday, and
Speaker 5: I'm just like, am I actually saying that?
Speaker 4: Like that?
Speaker 3: Like self Careah?
Speaker 4: Is the pilates class? That's it?
Speaker 3: Well, it's something, it's something.
Speaker 4: Something, But I'm not great at that. I'm not well.
Speaker 2: I think we usually tell ourselves that personal time is
Speaker 2: the first and most easily expendable things that we can
Speaker 2: get rid of, which is like, well I don't need
Speaker 2: that for me.
Speaker 3: I've got to do things for other people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I see you so involved with
Speaker 2: your kids like schools and all that stuff that I
Speaker 2: just always wonder.
Speaker 4: Like how does she do it?
Speaker 3: But I mean truly you're Yeah, now you're you're you're
Speaker 3: a busy woman.
Speaker 4: Oh thank you, I am. I you know, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I sometimes I feel like it was I like what
Speaker 5: came first? You know, this sort of sort of like
Speaker 5: was I so busy as a child that it just
Speaker 5: from going back and forth to Atlanta working on the show,
Speaker 5: going to going back to like a real school and
Speaker 5: trying to fit in with friends there, that that just
Speaker 5: kind of set me up for this life of constantly multitasking.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think going things it feels so normal, right.
Speaker 2: I'm definitely the same way, And I think some sometimes
Speaker 2: some of us are brains just like like I'm better
Speaker 2: when i have like five to ten things going on
Speaker 2: at once, and if I'm left like still too long.
Speaker 3: That's the struggle for me. But I've been trying to.
Speaker 2: Get better at it because I have recognized that like
Speaker 2: maybe this is a pattern that I've had my whole
Speaker 2: life that like, maybe isn't always that grazy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think I learned as child stars to
Speaker 2: like put our own needs aside, like oh I have
Speaker 2: a headache, Oh I don't feel this, or I want
Speaker 2: to do this or you know whatever, I that doesn't
Speaker 2: I have to put that over here and go and
Speaker 2: do this. And so I think that's when you learn
Speaker 2: to do that as a kid, which is you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, we all have to learn how to do it,
Speaker 2: but I think, you know, child stars, we definitely put
Speaker 2: you know, all of our stuff over here. Yes, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it can be kind of a hard pattern
Speaker 2: to undo as you get a little bit grad and
Speaker 2: be like, no, I actually deserve some time.
Speaker 4: Yes, saying no can be a superpower. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And if I'm not busy, it doesn't mean that the
Speaker 3: world's crumbling.
Speaker 5: That's totally correct. Yeah, I'm I'm right there with you. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's a struggle for me too. And when I'm not busy,
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh, no, I guess I could just sit
Speaker 5: here and have an existential crisis, or I could or
Speaker 5: you could be moving and anistential crisis.
Speaker 3: You know, there you go. You can you can do both.
Speaker 3: Don't deny yourself.
Speaker 4: You can do exactly.
Speaker 3: Do you see.
Speaker 2: Yourself staying in this business for like years to come.
Speaker 4: Whatever wherever the path we do, I do.
Speaker 5: I feel like every year that goes by, I just
Speaker 5: get It's like I just get deeper and deeper in
Speaker 5: and then I'm like, at some point going to be
Speaker 5: on the horizon of turning fifty, And what am I
Speaker 5: like really like at that point? Am I?
Speaker 4: What am I careers?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: I just I'm so I'm so deep in it now
Speaker 2: when you love doing it like there's nothing doing it?
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 5: I love it and the only thing I could see,
Speaker 5: like sometimes I have these crazy retirement fantasies of living
Speaker 5: somewhere on like a ranch or a farm.
Speaker 3: That's time too.
Speaker 5: I have like a very very hard left turn from
Speaker 5: living in Los Angeles and being busy all the time.
Speaker 2: To be that's my that's my plan is to go
Speaker 2: and and just do nothing on a porch zite nothing, Yeah.
Speaker 5: And maybe make things off lant. I don't know, you know,
Speaker 5: teach dance in a small community.
Speaker 2: So soon, I know, I know I always say that
Speaker 2: maybe it's a maybe it's a vacation.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's like, a, yeah, just need a vacation. No,
Speaker 3: I don't need to run I do.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, maybe right, but it sounds nice, But I
Speaker 5: don't know, it's a yeah, it's hard to say. I
Speaker 5: don't think I see myself living in LA the rest
Speaker 5: of my life. Probably, you know, reevaluate that once my
Speaker 5: kids are out of the house, and yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: somewhere else. But but I mean, god, you know, let's
Speaker 5: hopefully I'm still working and loving what I do. And
Speaker 5: you know, maybe that means I get to to travel
Speaker 5: here to work or wherever to and I can go
Speaker 5: live on the farm somewhere else.
Speaker 3: Well, we can have we can start building our commune.
Speaker 4: Up, let's do it. Yeah, I love that. I do.
Speaker 2: Oh I am Look, we're in We're in building. We're
Speaker 2: gonna start burying some uh you know those big like
Speaker 2: metal shipping containers and yeah, we're gonna we're just we're
Speaker 2: gonna go all out, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Should we just go back to the glamping spot and
Speaker 5: live there, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2: But it could be too many people, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. I think we might want a little distance.
Speaker 2: I think we might want a little distance so we can.
Speaker 2: It will be the former child starfound.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine? It's like the Surreal Life, but but worse.
Speaker 4: It's amazing, It's so good.
Speaker 2: It's well, that's what they do with with old child
Speaker 2: stars once they get a certain age. They literally put
Speaker 2: them out to pasture and they show them off somewhere, Yeah,
Speaker 2: to the farms.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 2: Well, Christina, if you could say one thing to your
Speaker 2: twelve year old self that just got cast on step
Speaker 2: by step, what would you tell her?
Speaker 4: Good question.
Speaker 5: I would probably say, this is going to be one
Speaker 5: of the greatest highlights of your life, and enjoy every
Speaker 5: second of it and learn as much.
Speaker 4: As you can.
Speaker 5: And I think I did all of those things. I
Speaker 5: really had such an idyllic experience. And I know that's
Speaker 5: not everyone's experience, but I did have an absolutely idyllic experience.
Speaker 5: We had amazing stars, amazing producers, amazing people, and they
Speaker 5: were generous and they they taught me a lot and
Speaker 5: and I am so grateful for it. And I think too,
Speaker 5: you know, even like the twelve year old part of
Speaker 5: me was just thrown into all of it and absorbing
Speaker 5: it and just there to have fun. Nobody it didn't
Speaker 5: it wasn't a job to me. It was just it
Speaker 5: was just this moment of you know, moving forward. I
Speaker 5: feel like the nineteen year old version of me was like,
Speaker 5: oh god, now what you know? And I feel like
Speaker 5: that's honestly where I struggled even a little more in
Speaker 5: trying to decide, like and maybe reconciling with not every
Speaker 5: job after that is going to be another one of that.
Speaker 5: Like we all have peaks and valleys. There's there's the
Speaker 5: high crests, and then there's the lows, and there's all
Speaker 5: the stuff in between, and it's all good. It doesn't
Speaker 5: mean that we have again the psychotomy of like, well,
Speaker 5: this was the biggest thing you ever did, and then
Speaker 5: you gotta be real. It's just it's this one long thing,
Speaker 5: and I think, you know, I think that for me
Speaker 5: was a little bit of a struggle in my early twenties,
Speaker 5: trying to figure out where I fit in and not
Speaker 5: really knowing where that where that was. Was I supposed
Speaker 5: to be in teen comedies? Was I supposed to be
Speaker 5: like trying to get another series, was I you know?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was hard, Yes, for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, coming off a series as a young person, I
Speaker 2: think can be I mean as anyone, because you just
Speaker 2: have been that's been what you've done for however long.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it can be hard.
Speaker 2: But I will say you have done a pretty damn
Speaker 2: good job at becoming an amazing human and being really
Speaker 2: freaking talented along the way.
Speaker 3: So thanks to its to you, Naked Laky.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: And just so that people know, we call I we
Speaker 2: I call you Naked Laky because when we were doing
Speaker 2: Hollywood Darlings, it seemed like you're you always had some
Speaker 2: ridiculous outfit and I was like, do.
Speaker 3: You have pants on?
Speaker 5: What is I mean?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean it was Jenny, Jenny, my style is amazing.
Speaker 3: I know. I wasn't said in a bad way, it
Speaker 3: was I was like, damn, okay.
Speaker 6: Jenny was constantly putting me in these tiny shorts and
Speaker 6: she'd be.
Speaker 4: Like girl, girl, yes, I mean yes, and I'd be
Speaker 4: like are you sure.
Speaker 5: She's like yeah, okay, and I would have like the
Speaker 5: smallest clothes on. But you know, we had worked on
Speaker 5: I did a lot of like hosting. That's another part
Speaker 5: of my crazy career. I did a bunch of hosting
Speaker 5: and I used to host this wrap around show for
Speaker 5: I was like the Andy Cohen of c MT for
Speaker 5: a hot minute.
Speaker 4: There was a show called Party Down South. Do you
Speaker 4: know this?
Speaker 5: It was like it was basically the Jersey Shore made
Speaker 5: by four nine to five same people, but it was
Speaker 5: like the country Bupkins version, right yep. And I was
Speaker 5: like the Andy Cohen that would do the like reunion shows.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, this was the most fun job. Can
Speaker 6: I just say I loved it. I loved watching the show.
Speaker 6: I loved knowing everything behind the scenes. I loved having
Speaker 6: the earpiece in and being like, hey, y'all, welcome to
Speaker 6: Party on South.
Speaker 5: Were you here on Christine Lake And we're going to
Speaker 5: get down to the you know whatever? And then they'd
Speaker 5: be like in my ear and I'd be like talking
Speaker 5: to them.
Speaker 3: Oh, oh my god, I love this.
Speaker 4: It was great.
Speaker 5: But that's where I met Jenny and she would put
Speaker 5: me in crazy outfits for that, so I was just,
Speaker 5: you know, love it.
Speaker 4: I was. I was in it at that point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you look fabulous.
Speaker 2: So thanks well, Christine, thank you so much for coming
Speaker 2: on the show today.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, you guys, thanks for having me. It's
Speaker 5: always good to chat with you.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I can't wait to see is there what tell
Speaker 2: us all the things you're doing where we can find you,
Speaker 2: where our guests are, our guests, our listeners can find you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and what you're up to where they can check
Speaker 3: you out next.
Speaker 5: Of course, so you can find me on Instagram at
Speaker 5: Yo lake In.
Speaker 4: That's still my name.
Speaker 5: Someone else has my actual name, so I have to.
Speaker 4: Be Yo lake In anyway.
Speaker 5: And you can find our podcast at Keenan and lake
Speaker 5: In podcast is Keenan and like can give you deja vu.
Speaker 5: We are wrapping up season one, but you can find
Speaker 5: it everywhere you get your podcast, and and we'll be
Speaker 5: starting season two like I said, in the fall. And
Speaker 5: then currently I'm wrapping up a couple of projects. I
Speaker 5: have a short that we're editing, hopefully going to film
Speaker 5: festivals next year. And got a couple of audiobooks out
Speaker 5: right now that are There's one called Just for Summer
Speaker 5: by Abby Jimenez and it is Gamebusters. So if you
Speaker 5: are on the Wilby list, you can hear me narrating this,
Speaker 5: uh this tale.
Speaker 2: So you were the newscaster on Family Guy.
Speaker 3: I just have yes because I love Family Guy.
Speaker 4: Thank you. I'm Joyce Kenny.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a fantastic experience, so fun so fun.
Speaker 2: Well, we love hearing your voice, Christine, and thank you
Speaker 2: so much for coming on the show and coming on
Speaker 2: our glamping trip.
Speaker 3: And you know there will be more. Who knows. I
Speaker 3: can't wait will be next?
Speaker 4: Put me out to pastor.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, our next advent will be on the child
Speaker 2: Star Ranch. That's perfect, and you can be the Andy
Speaker 2: Cohen of it, and we'll give you an earpiece and
Speaker 2: you you can stage fake little reunion shows and that'll
Speaker 2: be how we entertain ourselves.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the Child Actor Pasture, Ristine.
Speaker 3: We have perfect it's great.
Speaker 4: I'm here, I'm here for it.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be like a it'll be like a dude
Speaker 2: ranch or Child's Hey, dude ranch.
Speaker 3: There, and yeah, that's what it is.
Speaker 5: Okay, Well, I actually think someone might might approach you
Speaker 5: about this.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go write this idea down and trademarket right now.
Speaker 3: So yeah, and if.
Speaker 5: If there's some sort of repelling involved, we could get
Speaker 5: Beverly Mitchell to do it, because she likes the adventures.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 4: She will make her We'll make her repel to get
Speaker 4: the water or something.
Speaker 2: We can just yeah, we'll just make her repel everywhere
Speaker 2: we'll just constantly be dropping her great.
Speaker 3: All right, we love you, Christine, Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: Yes, thanks for having me guys.
Speaker 2: By bye all right, And that was part two of
Speaker 2: our interviews with Christine Laken, our dear friend and just
Speaker 2: so hilarious, so talented. I absolutely love her friend that
Speaker 2: I've had since childhood, and it's, uh, it's fun.
Speaker 3: To get to do all this stuff throughout adulthood together too.
Speaker 2: So thank you guys so much for listening. Make sure
Speaker 2: and follow us on Instagram at Howard Podcast. You can
Speaker 2: send us an email at Howard podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Make sure you're liking and subscribing to the podcast wherever
Speaker 2: you're listening to it on whatever platform, so that you
Speaker 2: can get all the newest episodes as soon as they
Speaker 2: come out, because we know that you're just waiting to
Speaker 2: listen to them. And uh, yeah, we will see you
Speaker 2: next time, you guys. Because remember the world is small,
Speaker 2: but the lakey is naked.
Speaker 3: Yes, there we go. She'll appreciate it, she'll love it,
Speaker 3: ye