0:04

I remember the first girl

0:08

I courted, I guess, when I was 12

0:10

maybe. It

0:12

was at a lake that my family used

0:14

to spend a week at. We used to rent a

0:16

cabin for a week and the girl

0:18

who was staying in the cabin next door, I

0:21

had a really big crush on. And 11-year-old

0:23

me didn't know how to make a move to the point where

0:26

when I was saying goodbye to her, my family started

0:28

teasing me about, oh, you should go over and say,

0:31

you know, goodbye. She's like expecting you to say goodbye.

0:33

And I remember knowing that I

0:35

should, but not wanting to do it in front

0:37

of my family. And so... You walked

0:39

up to her car as they were

0:41

pulling out, knocked on the window and gave her

0:44

a, here's looking

0:46

at you kid, Bogart move. Well,

0:49

it was kind of like a little salute

0:51

with my two fingers by my eyebrow, just

0:53

kind of like... Bringing around from her car

0:55

and seeing you guys and you were all

0:57

trying to contain yourselves and none of you

0:59

were doing a good job. You didn't talk

1:01

to a girl for about 10 years after

1:04

that. So mean. It worked

1:06

out. Sort of. Not really.

1:08

I'm single. Anyway,

1:10

here's the show. Life

1:13

could be a dream. Life

1:15

could be a dream. Do,

1:17

do, do, do, shaboom. You're

1:20

listening to Life is Short. I'm your host, Justin

1:23

Long. Life could be

1:25

a dream, sweetheart. Do, do,

1:27

do, do, shaboom. And

1:29

with me as always is my... Supportive.

1:32

Yeah, usually supportive. Not then. Not

1:35

then. Christian Long. Yeah. You,

1:38

I think we're just following my, not to blame it all

1:40

on my parents, but you were following their lead. Yeah. And

1:43

at that age, you're the youngest one. You're looking for reasons

1:45

to get some power and tease

1:47

me and... Sure. And it was a perfect

1:49

opportunity. And in all of your

1:51

defense, it must have

1:53

looked hilarious. Yeah. Like embarrassment

1:55

to the point of like it's almost crippling.

1:57

I remember that. It

2:00

almost prevented me from making moves. And every

2:02

move I made toward her car, I remember

2:05

feeling like it was an accomplishment. You

2:08

know when you can hear your heartbeat, and it's

2:10

the only thing you can hear, it's a-dun, a-dun,

2:12

a-dun, going up to that car and not having

2:15

a fucking clue what to do, what to say,

2:17

what to do. To do it

2:19

in front of her family, in front of

2:21

my, oh. It was so embarrassing. Speaking of

2:23

first crushes, is it fair to say that

2:25

your first movie crush

2:27

was Leah Thompson, our guest today?

2:30

Well, I think Leah Thompson was

2:32

my first real meaningful movie crush.

2:34

Like, I do remember being

2:37

physically attracted to Carrie Fisher in Return of

2:39

the Jedi. So I know that's such a

2:41

common thing. I never had a crush on

2:43

adults when I was a kid. And to

2:45

me, Leah Thompson

2:48

and Carrie Fisher, they were grownups. I

2:50

liked girls who were my

2:52

age. Did you have a crush on Annie,

2:54

as I seem to recall, or the girl

2:56

who played? Yeah, but she was my age.

2:58

She was a kid. And

3:00

third grade was the first time I liked

3:02

a girl in school. But I never, I

3:04

mean, I thought she was pretty, I'm sure.

3:07

You mean Annie? Leah Thompson. But

3:09

I never had a thing for her when I was a

3:11

kid. Because she was a

3:13

grownup. I don't wanna, this is not gonna sound creepy if I

3:16

really get into the nuts and bolts of it. Please don't really get

3:18

into it. Well, I just remember it

3:20

was such an important moment in my life.

3:23

Like, in so many ways, discovering Back to

3:25

the Future was like, I can't overstate how

3:27

important it was in my

3:29

development. That movie, like wanting to

3:31

emulate Michael J. I thought

3:33

Michael J. Fox, I still think that character,

3:36

Marnie McFly, is the coolest. He is

3:38

the coolest. That really had a huge

3:40

impact on you more than a lot

3:43

of people. To the point where-

3:45

You kinda sound like him. I still kind

3:47

of, yeah, even that, Doc, Doc, are you

3:49

telling me my mom? Yeah,

3:51

but you're so, I mean, I'm

3:53

doing it right now with my hand. I still gesture

3:57

like he does. It

4:01

was profoundly important to me, that movie. And

4:04

of course, Leah Thompson was, to me, she

4:07

was the most beautiful and it

4:09

didn't get any better. And so

4:11

it was very difficult. The challenge

4:13

I faced was in this interview

4:15

was somehow trying to separate, because

4:17

in a lot of ways, we've talked about this

4:19

a lot on the show, like we're still our

4:22

childhood selves in a lot of ways. Yeah, but

4:24

you met her for the first time a couple

4:26

of years ago, right? Or longer. No, longer. Leah,

4:29

I met when I was doing a

4:31

show called Ed. This is about 20 years ago now. I

4:34

was 20, early 20s. And the

4:37

guys who created the show also

4:39

really loved Back to the Future, fetishized

4:41

it in a way that I did. So they had as

4:44

many people from that show on as possible. They had

4:46

Thomas F. Wilson, who played Biff. They had Christopher Lloyd.

4:50

I can't wait to tell this Christopher Lloyd story when

4:52

we hopefully have Christopher Lloyd on. But,

4:55

and they had Leah. Leah was,

4:57

did several episodes and I

5:00

remember at one of the rap parties

5:03

dancing with her, we had a

5:05

really fun dance. Like an

5:07

enchantment under the sea dance. It was enchantment under

5:09

the sea adjacent, I would say. Yeah,

5:11

but it was, she

5:13

is so fun and such an easy

5:15

person to be around. And

5:18

despite my kind of inability

5:20

to hold back from like nerding out around

5:22

her. And then years after that, we worked

5:24

together on a movie that

5:27

we talked about a couple of weeks ago called Literally Right

5:29

Before Aaron. Leah played my mother in

5:31

that, which was. And I know

5:33

I said this a couple of weeks ago

5:36

in the Fran Drescher episode, but I think

5:38

it bears repeating weird casting.

5:40

Yeah, I get it. For Leah

5:42

Thompson to play your mother. The

5:44

age thing is just, I couldn't get past it. She's

5:46

just so much younger

5:48

than my mother. So,

5:51

sorry, mom. So if anyone

5:53

has not seen any of

5:55

the three back to the future movies, you

5:57

definitely need to turn this off right now and

5:59

watch. them. But she was also,

6:01

she's been in some other

6:04

iconic movies like Some Kind of Wonderful and Howard

6:06

the Duck, which I loved as a kid. Oh

6:08

my God. Yeah. She married the director of Some

6:10

Kind of Wonderful, Howard the Doitch. I've

6:13

been dying to make that joke. And

6:15

she was on the show Caroline in the City. It was the 90s, mid

6:17

90s. All the right for like

6:19

100 episodes. Iconic

6:21

movies, Red Dawn. She was

6:23

Space Camp. The list goes on.

6:26

I even loved Jaws 3 when I was a kid. I

6:28

was obsessed with those Jaws movies. We get into Jaws 3

6:30

a lot more than we should probably. To

6:33

me, she's an icon. She

6:36

will forever be somebody that

6:38

there's a part of me that will always kind of like

6:40

love. I know it sounds weird,

6:43

but she was like, yeah. She was

6:45

beyond a childhood crush. She was like

6:47

a childhood love. It's like you had

6:49

a relationship with her. To say

6:51

crush is too fickle. It's too fleeting.

6:54

Yeah. Yeah. Because I never got over

6:56

it. And every time I watch that

6:58

movie, it still holds up

7:02

more than holds up. It still has that deep

7:05

of an impact on me. I think it's

7:07

the best movie ever made. And

7:09

I think Leah is just the most lovely,

7:12

wonderful woman God

7:15

ever made. And

7:17

if you think that's gushy, just wait till

7:20

the interview. Coming up next, The

7:22

Sublime. Leah Thompson. Life

7:25

could be a dream, sweetheart.

7:27

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all states and situations. Hello,

9:03

hello again. Shaboom and the bubble meet

9:05

again. I

9:07

don't know if it's more flattering to me or

9:09

insulting to you that you played my mother. I

9:13

was thrilled

9:16

because as I'm going to talk about, I'll

9:18

try to limit myself here.

9:21

I'm just a huge fan

9:23

and an enormous fan to

9:25

the point where it's I've

9:27

been pretty, you know, I've been getting more comfortable with these

9:29

things and like talking to people and I'm

9:33

very nervous right now. But

9:36

playing your son was surreal for many reasons.

9:39

But I think the thing that I was

9:41

struck most by was how wrong the casting

9:43

was. And I was

9:45

I told you this, I know, but I

9:47

didn't want to be too creepy about it.

9:49

But first of all, I am a huge

9:52

fan of yours. You are amazing. You are

9:54

an amazing actor. We're cutting all this out.

9:56

Funny, funny, funny. No, don't cut that. You're

9:58

awesome. I was

10:00

honored to be able to be

10:03

your scene partner. You grew up

10:05

in Minnesota, in Rochester, Minnesota. What

10:09

did your parents do? What was your family, your

10:11

upbringing like? When I was growing up in Rochester,

10:13

my dad was having a hard time selling life insurance.

10:16

He wasn't very good at it because he was super

10:18

uber honest. That's

10:21

a no-no. And my mom

10:23

was an artist, like a painter

10:25

and an actress. And

10:28

she was unfulfilled. And

10:31

so it was an interesting. Their

10:33

marriage was kind of falling apart. My mom was

10:35

drinking too much and my dad was

10:37

drinking too much. And it was kind of

10:39

a disaster. But I had four

10:42

younger, older brothers and sisters that

10:44

kind of co-parented me. My

10:47

oldest sister is still my assistant, Colleen. No

10:49

kidding. Did they shelter you somewhat from

10:51

the dysfunction of your parents? I don't think

10:54

there was much sheltering. I

10:56

just went to visit the house in Rochester that I

10:58

grew up in. Two

11:00

bedrooms. What? And the rest of us

11:02

slept in the basement. And my. You

11:05

have bunk beds? Yeah, we had army

11:07

bunk beds. Oh my god. Those

11:09

metal army bunk beds. And

11:12

sheets. But

11:14

my brother's scores for

11:16

Scrabble were still etched.

11:18

Get out of here. That's so

11:20

cool. In the wall. It was really cool.

11:23

So your parents, one of them lived there, continued to live

11:25

there? No, we moved to Minneapolis. It

11:28

was easier to be poor back then. We

11:31

were very poor, but we had a beautiful

11:33

house, a block away from a

11:35

lake in Minneapolis that they bought for $13,000. So

11:39

that was kind of lovely and idyllic

11:41

and living by that lake. So

11:43

they stayed together? No, they divorced when

11:45

I was about eight. My

11:47

mom sobered up. And she died

11:49

with 50 years and AA. Oh

11:52

my god. Just kind of impressive. Wow. Wait,

11:54

Leah, I'm sorry. How were you then able to get into the two

11:56

bedroom house that you grew up in? It was just a new family

11:58

lived there and you asked if you could check. And

12:00

I was a little bit perturbed that they didn't know

12:02

that Leah Thompson lived there. Yeah, right? I went to

12:04

visit the other house in Minneapolis and they knew. There

12:07

should have been a plaque. There should have been a

12:09

plaque. Truly, I'm not exaggerating. Something, a bust. She had

12:11

no idea. At least one bust. I was like, come

12:13

on. Did she have a thick minisauro accent? Was that

12:15

an accent? Oh yeah, she had that. So,

12:18

you know, that's why they let us in. Oh,

12:20

come on. What was it like? Did it bring

12:22

up memories that, you know, that had laid dormant

12:24

for a long time? You know, really powerful. Yeah.

12:27

This recently, I went to give an

12:30

award in Minneapolis and

12:32

to raise money for this theater. That was the

12:34

first theater that I ever performed in. And

12:37

then I went, this was the first time

12:39

I went into the next house that I lived in.

12:41

From the time I was eight to the time I

12:44

was 12, which was really an amazing house. And that

12:46

lady did know that Leah Thompson lived there. Okay. All

12:49

right. She had been told. So she gave us a very...

12:51

She was like, where have you been? I know. I

12:53

know. I know. Yeah.

12:57

That was very, that was very powerful.

12:59

I really cried a lot. I bet.

13:02

Everyone's gone. You know, my mom and dad

13:04

are gone. So I'm like, oh my God. I think that's why

13:07

certain things are so... Like this is us

13:09

is so powerful. The idea of seeing a

13:11

room and different times. Oh my God.

13:14

Of course. I'm so struck by it. And

13:17

that's why Back to the Future is

13:19

such a powerful story. And that's why

13:21

it connects with people because it's about

13:23

our, you know, it's about our mortality

13:25

and facing the

13:28

cruel hands of time, right? And

13:31

what happened to you in that movie, it's interesting

13:33

that you'd say that about your mom. Was

13:36

that in any way triggering playing Lorraine at an

13:38

older age? Because in the beginning of the movie,

13:40

she does clear she's drinking and

13:42

playing it. Did you think, oh God, this is kind of

13:44

my mom? No, my mom wasn't

13:47

like that at all. She was a

13:49

really much more fun drunk. Okay. My

13:52

mom was very, you know, she'd ride

13:54

around the lake and jump in.

13:56

She was a fun... She was a good

13:58

time Charlie. She was really fun. She wasn't

14:01

like... She wasn't like, your uncle's a... I

14:03

know. ... didn't make her all again. No.

14:06

Okay. She wasn't dowdy, but I

14:08

did understand that character, but I based her on other

14:10

people that I knew, the older

14:12

Lorraine. Oh, really? And you've obviously never

14:14

told them. No. It's not a matter

14:16

of flattering portrayal. No. And so then you're...

14:18

So eight to 12, you're in this new house, and then at

14:20

what point do you start doing ballet? I

14:23

started ballet when I was like 11. Okay.

14:25

Did you have ambitions to act at that time,

14:27

or was it just ballet? No. I

14:29

was in the first play when I was 12 at

14:31

the Children's Theater, which is kind of... Of Minneapolis, which

14:34

is like a world-renowned. It won the Tony a few

14:36

years... Like 10 years ago, eight years ago. It

14:38

was a really amazing theater. So

14:41

I did Madeline the Gypsies when I

14:43

was 12. So that was my first play. So

14:46

you loved it. You were... This was what

14:48

I wanted to do. No. No. Really?

14:51

I still just wanted to be a dancer. I was actually loaned

14:53

out. I was actually given by my ballet company to the

14:56

theater company because they owed money. Oh,

14:58

my God. They

15:00

would borrow Leah Thompson to play the lead.

15:02

You were like collateral? I was like, okay.

15:05

So, and then it was... Were you at

15:07

ABT? Because you joined ABT, which is a

15:09

very prestigious company. Were you

15:11

there at this point? No. Later I went.

15:14

When do you go to New York? I went to Pennsylvania. I

15:16

was in the Pennsylvania Ballet. I was an apprentice there, and I

15:18

didn't quite make it. So then I went to New York, and

15:20

I was in ABT II. And

15:23

then I... It was funny because then Burchnikov told

15:25

me I was too stocky, and I walked out.

15:28

And I became an actor. I became a waitress.

15:30

A better... Okay. I'll show

15:32

you. I'll become a waiter. Wait tables. Do

15:36

you think there's anything worse

15:38

for a young woman's self-image

15:41

and female body image? Is there anything worse

15:43

in the world of ballet? Well, no. Ballet

15:45

is really difficult, but this is an interesting

15:47

thing that happened to me. I

15:49

told you I was giving an award, or I

15:51

was to Misty Copeland, who's in ABT. Oh, sure.

15:54

ABT, yeah. She's the first principal

15:57

dancer of color in ABT. So

16:00

I was there and I was talking to

16:02

her and I was at a reception and

16:04

there were all these ABT head honchos. They

16:07

were like, you were an ABT too. I was like, yeah,

16:10

you're right, I was. They were like, you were such a,

16:12

I remember you, you were a beautiful dancer. I was like, I

16:16

remember Misha telling me I was too

16:18

stocky and me quitting dancing. They were

16:20

like, oh, that Misha. Classic Misha.

16:23

I've changed the course of my life. They

16:25

were like, classic Misha. They just brushed it

16:27

off. But I was just so thrilled that

16:30

they even knew the story and had like

16:32

someone had even pretended to know that I

16:34

was a dancer. Also, I thank God

16:36

that he had that he did do that,

16:38

that Misha. Thank God. That's what I say.

16:40

Yeah. Because that course of my

16:43

life was completely changed in that moment. Also,

16:45

I mean, I think it worked out.

16:49

And I mean that not only because

16:51

of what happened as an actress, but what could

16:53

have happened as a ballet dancer. I mean, that's

16:55

a life that, you know, I wouldn't

16:57

wish on anybody. I didn't have the body.

16:59

I mean, I never, you never went to

17:01

the doctor. But I had when I finally

17:03

was an actor and I had the money

17:05

to go to a doctor, when they x-rayed

17:07

my back, my last two vertebrae thought they

17:09

were part of my sacrum. So they didn't

17:12

bend. Oh my God. So those

17:14

extra two vertebrae that make your legs go

17:16

up in the back and like make you,

17:18

I just kept thinking I was a bad

17:20

person. Oh, I'm like a mutant.

17:22

If I was a better person, I could get my leg

17:24

up. Oh my God. But it was

17:26

my body. Of course. And not only

17:28

with the body image, but the pressure that that must

17:31

do to a person that age was really unhealthy. But

17:33

let me tell you, it is a beautiful thing. Yeah,

17:35

I know. It's beautiful to watch. It's

17:37

beautiful to do. Yeah. It's heaven. Do

17:39

you miss dancing? You were on you recently dancing. You

17:42

were on Dancing with the Stars. Were you pissed? You

17:44

didn't win? No, I

17:46

wasn't pissed. I didn't win. But they

17:49

definitely need like a

17:51

12 step program for people who have been on

17:53

Dancing with the Stars. Why? What happened? It's just

17:55

a freaking nightmare. All right. Do you feel just

17:57

like immediate pressure? It's insane. Oh, I would. I

18:00

would have made the first round. It's

18:02

insane. It's so much pressure. It's so

18:04

insane. Producers with headsets and like, okay,

18:06

now you're up next. There's a lot

18:08

of that backstage chaos. It's almost

18:10

worse than that. It's almost like... Oh,

18:13

really? Yeah, it's almost like... Now,

18:16

Leah's making a very judgmental face, right?

18:18

A very smug... Yeah, like because they

18:20

surprise you and they torture you. And

18:22

they decide which way the game is

18:24

going to go. Oh, you're

18:26

a pawn. Yeah, you're a pawn in a game

18:29

that... So it feels like the Hunger Games. Oh,

18:31

my God. It literally feels like the Hunger Games

18:33

and you're in it. Oh, my God.

18:35

Well, that brings us back to ABT. Hello.

18:37

How do you quit? As what? You were 18,

18:39

19? I

18:41

think I was a 20. Oh,

18:44

you were old. I was old. I

18:47

just... Were you crushed? Were that any sentence? I

18:49

was a little bit crushed, but I was all

18:51

by myself and I just remember going to my

18:53

locker and going, that's it. That's

18:56

it. And I just took my things and

18:58

I just was like, that's it, I got

19:00

to do something else. And it

19:02

was upsetting to me kind of as a spiritual person.

19:04

I've always kind of been a spiritual person. And I

19:06

was like, why would the

19:09

great spirit give me this desire

19:11

to do something and not just

19:13

enough talent to almost make it?

19:15

Well, he didn't say... That's brutal.

19:18

That's very, yeah, that's hard to wrap your

19:20

mind around. Sure. But it wasn't enough, thankfully,

19:22

for you to not pursue another

19:24

visual art. No,

19:28

no, I didn't feel that way. I

19:30

didn't feel that way. I felt ridiculous

19:32

at the time. Cause he's

19:34

stocky. Yeah,

19:36

let's face facts. He's a stocky dude.

19:38

He's like, sure. Right. Like,

19:41

what? He's not like life, you know what I

19:43

mean? It just felt ridiculous. Cause I was

19:45

like 98 pounds. There

19:47

was no way I was getting any skinnier. I think

19:49

he probably meant that my hips were too big or

19:52

I wasn't tall enough. They didn't

19:54

clarify. I mean, it was fine. But

19:57

what it was was that the

19:59

greatest... I

40:00

think he and that whole era,

40:02

unfortunately, are a little bit afraid

40:04

of actors. But I

40:07

don't know why. I don't think we're that scary. But

40:09

I think that he would just

40:11

say like louder. Yeah.

40:13

Louder. And he

40:16

did, you know, they cast it really

40:18

well. They cast everybody and just set,

40:20

you know, commitment. See, this is what

40:22

I think about acting right now. When

40:25

I watch acting, and I'm directing a lot now,

40:27

and when I'm talking to actors, I

40:29

just wanna say deepen it. Just deepen it.

40:32

You don't have to do anything but deepen it. Like

40:34

go to the next level. And does that mean more,

40:38

feel it a little more, like sit with

40:40

it a little bit more? Yeah, like don't

40:42

just be, just don't yell at me. Find

40:44

a reason to yell at me. I'm hurt.

40:48

I need something from you. I

40:50

feel depressed. You

40:52

know, just- Totally. So many actors

40:54

are just like on top of the thing. But

40:57

we were to deepen

40:59

every single thing. Bob Zemeckis knew

41:02

that so many massive

41:05

plot points rested

41:07

on our acting. Right, right. Like when-

41:10

Did you rehearse? I remember him being so nervous

41:12

about the kiss scene when I go, it's like

41:14

kissing my brother. Because he knew that I

41:16

had to be like, rear, rear, rear, rear,

41:18

and then like, completely change

41:20

into another person. And it is, that's a good example

41:22

of something that, a pivot that you have to make

41:25

as an actor to go from, you want

41:27

this guy so badly, to go from, you're

41:30

overcome with, you know, and

41:32

then right away, it's like

41:35

kissing my brother. Are you, is

41:37

that a scary scene to get into? Is that- When

41:39

you can tell they're scared. Yeah. Yeah.

41:42

But you know, Crispin, you know,

41:44

after he punches him, and he

41:47

goes, and for

41:49

us to have to like- Are you okay? Fall

41:51

in love in one shot. Oh my God, of

41:53

course. He's like so, but they gave us the

41:55

great music and the great light. I mean, the

41:58

way they lit me. Yeah, it's beautiful. later.

46:00

I mean, it's, um, and they just

46:02

released it in Blu-ray. Yeah. Well, it's

46:04

a good movie. They don't do it

46:06

if no one's watching. Exactly. Exactly. So

46:08

take that, enemy mind. Take

46:11

that, everyone. No, I have no

46:13

problem with Dennis. The whole Quaid family. Yeah.

46:16

I have no problem with Dennis. It's just

46:18

that it's, it's so malign. And actually, at

46:20

a certain point, I got so

46:22

sick of it, you know, people going like doing

46:24

interviews and being like, I'm, I

46:26

have to ask you about Howard the Dead. Oh, yeah. And

46:28

I was like, oh, fuck you. Because so many people who

46:30

love that movie. I wish

46:33

I'd said it that way. I have to ask

46:35

you about Howard the Dead. I'm sorry, but I

46:37

have to ask you. My producer would be so

46:39

mad about it. I ask, sorry. You

46:42

know, as if they were going, as if I'm

46:44

going to shrink away. Yes, I'm ashamed. I'm at

46:46

the Comic Con. Yeah, you know. And people love

46:49

me. You got your finger on the nerd pulse.

46:51

I do. I hold my finger directly on the

46:53

nerd pulse and they love Howard the Dead. Yeah.

46:55

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49:21

hello again. Shaboom and I'll go

49:23

meet again. Now some

49:25

kind of wonderful. This is post

49:27

Back to the Future. Was

49:30

that a script that everybody thought, oh,

49:33

this is going to be something special? Did you

49:35

know of Howard Deutsch? No,

49:37

I didn't. But I did know of John Hughes and I

49:39

always wanted to get in his movies. Right. Yeah. That

49:42

was the in crowd. You know, the Brad Pack

49:45

or whatever. Yes, that's right. And everybody wanted a

49:47

John Hughes movie and he would never, you know,

49:49

I always auditioned for him and never got them.

49:51

But it was an interesting story because Howie

49:54

wanted me for this is Deutsch, not the

49:56

duck. I just want to clarify. He didn't direct

49:59

Howard the Duck. I was Willard Hike. Howie

50:02

wanted me for some kind of wonderful, and it was a

50:04

different script. I said

50:06

no, and then Howie left

50:09

the movie, and Martha Coolidge took

50:11

over, and the script got

50:14

rewritten, and then Martha

50:16

Coolidge left, and Howie came back. Do

50:18

you remember why you didn't want to do the first incarnation? Because

50:20

I could tell that the other part was better, and

50:23

I had Howie the Duck coming out. Yeah, you

50:25

were sad. I was sad. You didn't

50:27

need to go slum it with Howie

50:30

Deutsch. No. So then Howie

50:32

the Duck came out. Howie Deutsch came

50:34

back. Right, and you're like, let me look at

50:36

this Amanda Jones thing. Yeah, exactly. So

50:40

when you're working with Howard, is

50:42

it right away? Do you guys fall for

50:44

each other? It's just? No. He

50:47

had a crush on me. There's

50:50

a painting in the movie that's a plot

50:53

point. Yes, yes. And so he had like 12 of

50:55

them painted, because none of them were good enough. That's when

50:57

I knew he had a crush on me. Wait a minute. He

51:00

crushed borderline. That's a nice way of saying what he

51:02

had. But at this point

51:04

still, I was engaged to Dennis Quaid. Oh,

51:07

wow. I didn't realize that. Yeah,

51:09

I was still with him. So I had

51:11

to kind of get out of that before

51:14

I am, but

51:17

it was a crazy time. I mean, I did like 900 movies

51:19

in a row. God, yeah. How do you maintain

51:21

anything when you're working? That's crazy. I did

51:23

900 movies in a row. But what happens

51:25

is it all screeches to a halt when

51:27

you have a baby. I

51:29

want to do the research on this, because once

51:32

you push a baby out, you

51:35

can't be a movie star anymore. Is

51:37

that a scientific fact? Well, let's

51:39

do the research. The only

51:42

Meryl Streep is the only one. I was just thinking

51:44

of Meryl Streep. Yeah, she pushed a couple on. Yeah,

51:46

you can adopt a baby. Oh, Charlize.

51:50

And Halle Berry, and Sandra

51:52

Bullock. That's an interesting theory. But

51:54

once you actually create a placenta,

51:56

you can't be a movie star

51:58

anymore. They don't take your sad car. card necessarily,

52:00

but it's your movie star card. Yeah.

52:03

Does your face change that much? Or what

52:05

happens? That's interesting. I never did

52:08

a movie after that. A starring role. I

52:10

did the Beverly Hillbillies. After that,

52:12

I have never done a big feature. Isn't

52:14

that crazy? The Beverly Hillbillies. You

52:17

do Back to the Future 2 and 3 at the same time. Yes.

52:20

That's in like 89 time. And

52:23

when you're doing that, did Michael, did he

52:25

know at the time, or this is a couple years

52:27

later, he found out about his diagnosis? It was later.

52:30

It was later, okay. I mean, I don't know when he did. Yeah, yeah.

52:32

According to his book, I think it was during Doc O'Lanee.

52:34

See, you've read the books. I've read many of the books.

52:37

I'm a big nerd. I can't believe I'm not at those

52:39

conventions. So

52:41

interesting. And do you, at the time, is

52:43

it frustrating? It's like, what's going

52:46

on? I've done these big movies. That's

52:48

so frustrating. I mean, I still can't believe

52:51

it, but luckily there's TV. You

52:53

start doing TV in the early 90s. And

52:57

Carolin in the City is a huge hit. Did

53:02

you miss doing movies, or was it like, oh,

53:04

this is comfortable. I'm raising kids. This is sweet.

53:08

I found sitcoms to be very,

53:10

very dramatically hard.

53:13

Really? Yeah, I mean, not so

53:15

much so as some other actresses I've heard

53:17

of that like threw up every time, but

53:20

it's very- In front of the live audience. Yeah,

53:23

just the process of doing

53:26

a live play every week with

53:28

the pressure of telling the jokes, like boom, boom,

53:30

boom, and not being able to screw up. Because

53:33

if you screw up, they're like, get really mad

53:35

at you. Really? You could do another

53:37

take, no? With multi-cam stuff? I don't know, have

53:39

you never done it? I have, and I, definite pressure

53:41

because it wasn't my show and I'm just

53:44

coming in as a guest star, but you're

53:46

an ABT. Talk about pressure.

53:48

Like that you can't mess up. You

53:51

gotta be fucking fearless to do

53:53

that. So how does that person,

53:56

how does that not kind of transfer

53:58

over to- the sitcom. You

54:00

know, some people have a different experience. I

54:02

think my show was, first of all, we

54:05

had the best time slot ever on TV

54:07

between friends. Thursday. Thursday night between friends and

54:09

ER at the peak of their time. Er.

54:13

Er, yeah, between er and friends. So

54:15

it was literally the best time slot

54:17

ever. So that was a lot of

54:19

pressure on me. And

54:21

there was also this horrible kind of sexist pressure,

54:24

deserved or not deserved, because there

54:26

was Sybil, there was Roseanne,

54:28

and there was one, there was

54:31

another show. Mrs. Belvedere. No, with

54:33

a woman. That

54:35

sitcoms, three sitcoms with women that were

54:38

very- Veronica's Claws? No, it was Brett

54:40

Butler. Oh, oh, Grace Under Fire. Yeah,

54:43

maybe. And those women were very

54:45

difficult, all three of them, very

54:47

difficult. Roseanne was? Oh,

54:50

no. I'm just kidding. They were all very difficult.

54:52

So they were trying to like kind of keep

54:54

a lid on me, even though I was like

54:56

the nicest person ever. I was like, dude, I

54:58

have already had a career. Yeah, stop being paranoid.

55:00

I'm not gonna turn in a nightmare. Don't project

55:02

your shit about these other people onto me. So

55:05

they were like kept a real lid on me.

55:07

And, um. Right. They were like,

55:09

you stay in your place. And

55:11

so- Oh my God. How would that

55:14

manifest itself? It

55:17

just, just stay in your place. Just

55:19

stay in your lane and just be,

55:21

you know, don't screw up, don't misbehave,

55:23

don't, you know. I had two little

55:26

kids at home, so. But

55:28

for me, you know, some people experience sitcoms as

55:30

being much easier than I did. It was, it

55:32

was a lot, but I did a hundred episodes

55:35

of that. God, you gotta be proud of that.

55:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that show. These

55:39

are quick. These are just gonna be quick. What's

55:41

your favorite emoji? Your go-to emoji.

55:44

Tear coming down. Tear coming down.

55:46

Tear coming down. Okay.

55:48

I'm not gonna touch that, but that's the

55:50

truth. Tear coming down. Your

55:52

favorite emoji. That is

55:55

making me cry inside. If you could be a professional

55:57

athlete, what sport would you play and why? be

56:00

a skater, figure skater, is that a

56:03

professional or not? Yeah, sure. I think

56:05

so. Figure skaters make money doing a

56:07

scapade. It looks so beautiful. Tanya

56:09

Harding became a big, yeah. If

56:12

you could have one snack food for the

56:15

rest of your life, what would it be?

56:17

Doritos. Which, nacho or cool range? Nacho. Okay.

56:20

You know, Neil Patrick Harris said the same thing and then

56:22

he said, I said, what about cool range? He said, oh

56:24

no, that makes your breath stink. I was

56:26

like, well, nacho is not, doesn't make things. The whole thing makes the

56:28

breath stink. I'm not sure, you don't have a minty fresh. What's

56:31

your favorite movie of all time? Harold Maud.

56:34

Still? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh wow.

56:36

I bet you're, yeah, okay. Well, Cat Stevens

56:38

too. I mean, cause he took the hospital.

56:40

Yes, yes, God. You mean

56:42

Yusef Islam. On this show we say Yusef

56:44

Islam. Out of respect. Out of respect. Ha

56:46

Salama like me. Other than LA, where would

56:48

you most wanna live? Atlanta.

56:51

Montana. Oh Montana, do you guys go there?

56:53

Yes, we have a little, we have a

56:55

double wide. Oh wow, really? I bet you

56:57

don't have a double wide. I don't have,

56:59

I don't even have a single wide. A

57:01

double wide. Wow, where's your double wide? It's

57:03

in private, nice. My double wide is by

57:05

Flathead Lake. Oh my God, you fly fish?

57:08

No. Okay. There's no

57:11

trout in my river. It's all

57:13

walleyes. Some damn Minnesotans

57:15

introduced them. Oh gosh, they're invasive, don't

57:17

you know? They are invasive, they eat

57:19

all the trout. I bet, and they

57:21

crawfish. Crawfish, that's Louisiana. They

57:25

did, really? Is that true? Yeah, it's true.

57:27

But they're good eatin'. They fight

57:29

you. Yes, yeah, they're pike, right?

57:32

Pickle, they're real bony, no? Walleyes?

57:35

No. Okay. I think I'm gonna run

57:37

down. Well, do we have a title? Let's just be serious.

57:39

Nine aside. Nine aside. If

57:41

you could have dinner with three people dead or

57:43

alive, whom you've never met before. That's

57:46

a tough one. Oh yeah, those

57:48

are the ones. Three people? Yeah.

57:51

It would have to be Albert

57:53

Einstein, William Shakespeare, and Barack Obama.

57:55

Oh my god, second person in

57:57

a row. That's great, I mean,

57:59

what a great. Someone said that group exactly. No,

58:01

no, no, no, no, no one said that.

58:03

But it was the second Obama. Who

58:06

was your favorite Muppet? My

58:11

favorite Muppet? Probably

58:13

Cookie Monster. Oh yeah? Yeah, yeah.

58:15

Cookie Monster used to bother me because I

58:18

couldn't understand why only some

58:20

of the, this is how young I was when

58:22

I was watching, I thought- Oh, why then the cookies just fell

58:24

out? The cookies just kept falling out. Like you love cookies so much, most

58:26

of them are falling out of your mouth. Just pick them up. You're

58:29

so preoccupied with talking about how much you love cookies. They're

58:31

all right in front of you, all these like big crumbs.

58:34

Not a real person you can't really eat. Right, I

58:36

learned that about two years ago. But

58:39

I'm confused because when I was pregnant with Zoe,

58:44

who's my second child, I told

58:46

Madeline that I was really worried and I said,

58:48

Madeline, I have a baby in my stomach. And

58:50

she went, oh, that's Zoe. And

58:53

I was like, what? And so later

58:55

the next day I said, so who's coming?

58:57

She goes, it's Zoe. Zoe's coming. What?

59:01

I know, Zoe, I named her Zoe. Weird

59:03

she had the prophetic title thing that you had

59:05

when you were naming fake, when you were padding

59:07

your resume. Exactly, but I always wonder if

59:10

she named it her after Zoe, the character

59:12

on the Muppets. There's a Zoe character. Oh,

59:14

a later one with red hair maybe. Yeah, yeah. Oh

59:17

my gosh. But I don't know, I don't know. So

59:20

she said that and you're like, oh Zoe's a nice name. Yeah.

59:23

Zoe, such a nice name. I just told her the girl, because a boy named

59:25

Zoe would be rough. It's like that scene in Back to

59:27

the Future and you're like, Marty,

59:29

such a nice name. Zoe, such an interesting name.

59:31

Such an interesting name. Yeah. If

59:34

your parents ever, if you ever have a kid

59:37

and one of them when he's eight years old accidentally sets

59:39

fire to the living room rug, go

59:41

easy on him. Oh, you're

59:43

good. Okay. I

59:46

believe now I'm gonna, it's a good thing

59:48

you don't have any more time because I'm gonna, it's, if

59:50

you could be one age for the

59:53

rest of your life, physically, what

59:55

would you pick? Camping

1:00:01

or glamping? Camping. Dogs,

1:00:05

cats? Dogs. Beetle,

1:00:09

stones. Stones. Really?

1:00:12

You were the second person who

1:00:14

answered so emphatically. Oh, I

1:00:17

love the Beatles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you weren't as emphatic as

1:00:19

Wolfgang Puck said, without missing

1:00:21

a beat, stones, as if he hated the

1:00:23

Beatles. Oh, yeah? That's

1:00:26

our theory, is that Wolfgang Puck hates the Beatles. Some people

1:00:29

do. Who hates

1:00:31

the Beatles? Assholes. I know. How could you? You

1:00:34

gotta be a soulless. But I like

1:00:36

rock and roll. I

1:00:39

like, for some reason, I just like, makes

1:00:41

me just much harder. That's

1:00:44

the kind of music I just like to get like... Lizzy,

1:00:46

like sexual. Yeah,

1:00:48

that's the kind of dance. I remember dancing

1:00:50

with you once at a... Because we did

1:00:52

Ed together. It was

1:00:54

so fun dancing with you. If you

1:00:56

look on your scene, I'm going to grab it for you. This

1:00:58

you don't have to do. You don't

1:01:01

have to do. And this is only to satisfy... This

1:01:04

is selfish. It's very selfish.

1:01:08

But this is a scene where Marty

1:01:10

first meets... I'm totally...

1:01:13

I shanghied you here. This is

1:01:15

a scene where Marty meets Lorraine, as a

1:01:17

younger Lorraine for the first time. And I

1:01:19

was reading it today, and it

1:01:21

struck me that a lot of you guys must have definitely

1:01:24

changed things. Or

1:01:28

was it improvised? And I want to ask about like certain

1:01:32

lines, like line by line. If this was...

1:01:34

If you remember this being... I think this

1:01:36

is the original script. Really?

1:01:40

He wakes up and he says,

1:01:42

Mom, is that you? Shh,

1:01:45

everything's going to be all right. God,

1:01:48

what a horrible nightmare. I

1:01:50

dreamt I went back, way back in time. Take

1:01:53

it easy now. You've

1:01:55

been asleep for almost nine hours. It

1:01:58

was terrible. A terrible place to

1:02:01

be. Now this is new, right? This

1:02:03

is old. I don't remember this, this must

1:02:05

have been cut. The music was awful. They

1:02:07

didn't have rock. The cars were ugly. My

1:02:09

neighborhood hadn't been built yet and

1:02:12

everything was so weird looking. Well,

1:02:14

you're safe and sound. Back

1:02:16

where you belong in good old 1955. Oh

1:02:21

my God. You're my

1:02:23

mom. My name's

1:02:25

Lorraine. Lorraine Banes. Yeah, but you're

1:02:28

so, you're so

1:02:30

thin. Just

1:02:34

relax, Calvin. You've got quite a bruise on

1:02:36

your head. Ha, where are my pants?

1:02:39

Over there, it used to be on my hope

1:02:41

chest. Yes, on my hope chest. Maybe I made

1:02:43

that up. I wondered. I've never seen red

1:02:46

underwear before, Calvin. Now obviously everyone

1:02:48

knows. You changed the purple.

1:02:50

I've signed a lot of purple underwear. Oh

1:02:53

really? Yeah, sometimes on people. No.

1:02:56

Yes. Where on the band you gotta go high

1:02:58

as possible, obviously. Gross. I know.

1:03:01

Yes, so I wonder if that was a prop

1:03:03

thing. They didn't have red underwear. Or Calvin Klein

1:03:05

didn't make red underwear. I've never seen

1:03:07

purple, yeah, because we now know it's purple underwear. This

1:03:09

was an interesting scene to do because I had to

1:03:11

kind of pretend to be that voice. Oh,

1:03:14

in the beginning it's right. I had to try to

1:03:16

kind of. As he's coming out of. And then I

1:03:18

had to be like, when I turned around, I had

1:03:20

to, it took a long time

1:03:22

to get this right. Why are

1:03:24

you calling me Calvin? Oh my God,

1:03:26

that's your name, isn't it? It's written all over your

1:03:28

underwear. Oh,

1:03:31

well that's your name, Calvin Klein. It's written on

1:03:33

your underwear. This is new, right? Oh, I guess

1:03:35

people call you Cal. No, I said that. I

1:03:37

think you did, yeah. No, well no, actually people

1:03:40

usually call me Marty. Well,

1:03:42

I'm pleased to meet you, Marty. That's

1:03:45

Marty, I think I said Calvin.

1:03:47

Oh yes, yeah. Marty

1:03:49

Calvin, I think you said Marty Calvin. This is

1:03:51

definitely a scene that I shot with Eric. Oh

1:03:55

it is, oh. It's like one of the first times I

1:03:57

worked with him. I

1:04:00

sit here? So now this is

1:04:02

different. In the script it just says, no,

1:04:04

Gulp's nervous. But of course we now know

1:04:06

he goes, and then it's brilliant. He goes,

1:04:08

no, good, good, great, good, good. I mean

1:04:10

it goes on. He's, yeah.

1:04:13

That's quite a bruise there. Ha, and

1:04:15

then he falls, yeah. Lorraine, are

1:04:17

you up there? It's

1:04:19

my mother. Oh my God, I always

1:04:22

say, oh my God. Put your pants back on. Originally

1:04:24

it was his underwear that were on

1:04:27

the whole chest. The whole chest is such a

1:04:29

great line. I think so. I think, I

1:04:31

don't know. No, I think, see one of

1:04:33

the things I loved about this movie was

1:04:36

how much joy Bob Zemeckis had doing it.

1:04:38

Oh, interesting, yeah. You know what I mean? How much

1:04:40

joy he had laughing and.

1:04:43

I bet. That's what

1:04:45

I remember that was so profound

1:04:47

to me. How much I wanted to please him.

1:04:50

How much joy and how

1:04:53

fun it was to see his shots and

1:04:56

how he shot it. And it stuck with me

1:04:58

as a director. I bet. His, the

1:05:00

way he filled up every

1:05:02

single shot with story. You

1:05:05

know what I mean? Yes, every moment, every element

1:05:07

was important for the story, advancing the story. Yeah,

1:05:09

and when you watch the movie, it's really slow

1:05:11

in the beginning. Yes. But he's telling the audience,

1:05:13

watch this stuff and it'll pay off. Get it

1:05:15

up, your Uncle J.L. Board Joey didn't make for

1:05:17

all. Yeah, you need to see the cake. You need to remember

1:05:19

the cake. And it's like 40 minutes

1:05:22

later where the punchline is. So

1:05:24

you're my Uncle Joey. Better get used to

1:05:26

these bars, kid. That's right, you're right. It's

1:05:29

45 minutes from set up to joke. Wow,

1:05:31

that again. Brilliant. Brilliant

1:05:33

and brave. Brave. Do

1:05:35

you think about things like legacy and when

1:05:37

I think about movies, even when I watch

1:05:39

old movies I've done it, it's

1:05:41

a good reminder of like a time in

1:05:44

my life that it's nice to be reminded of. Do

1:05:46

you feel that, do

1:05:48

you think about things like that, like legacy and

1:05:50

permanence? Well, I

1:05:52

see it in real life when I see

1:05:55

these like little kids that are like, what's

1:05:57

really nice is doing these panels because I've

1:05:59

been doing. panel with Chris

1:06:01

Lloyd and Michael Fox and Tom

1:06:04

Wilson. What's

1:06:07

great is that we don't have any problems with

1:06:09

each other. We all still love

1:06:11

each other. There's no problem. That's great.

1:06:13

I could cry. It makes me so

1:06:15

happy. I eat. We just laugh and

1:06:17

you should see Tom and Chris together.

1:06:20

I wish they would televise some. I

1:06:22

know. Because they're so funny. I know.

1:06:24

Well. Lately, we've been doing with James

1:06:26

Tolkien who played the principal. Oh sure.

1:06:30

Jesus, didn't that guy ever have hair? He

1:06:32

looked the same. He does, really. So does

1:06:34

Chris. Yeah. Well, again, because Chris

1:06:37

was an older, there was an older version of

1:06:39

him. They aged him. And they're doing a musical

1:06:41

now. So yes, they're

1:06:43

doing a musical. So I think

1:06:46

all the people who want to back to feature

1:06:48

four, they might get the musical and the musical

1:06:50

movie. When I worked with Chris

1:06:52

Lloyd, I did an episode of Ed. I bugged the

1:06:54

shit out of him. I really restrained myself with you,

1:06:56

if you can believe it. That was me restrained when

1:06:59

we worked together. I was like,

1:07:01

I waited until we had been working for a little

1:07:03

bit. But Chris, I just followed him around. And at

1:07:05

one point, I remember him saying, jiggle

1:07:08

what? I don't remember the line. One point, I don't know.

1:07:10

And he kind of gave up on. He

1:07:14

100% has not read any of the books. He

1:07:17

doesn't remember anything. It must

1:07:19

be so weird to him that people show up.

1:07:21

I know. Yeah. But they do because it's, again,

1:07:23

it's a part of our lives. And it's such

1:07:26

an important part of my life. I

1:07:28

mean, if you had told seven-year-old me that I

1:07:30

would be talking to you about this, and I

1:07:32

roped you into doing the scene, his

1:07:34

seven-year-old little head would explode. So I

1:07:37

can't thank you enough for doing this.

1:07:39

I didn't do it for well. I

1:07:41

wouldn't cast me as Lorraine. I

1:07:44

surprised you. I put you on the spot.

1:07:46

And I stepped on one of your lines, too.

1:07:48

It's like I'm going to talk about regrets. I'm

1:07:50

going to be thinking about that for days. It's OK. It's

1:07:53

all good. You're the best. And they say, don't meet

1:07:55

your heroes. And I'm so glad when I met you

1:07:58

when we worked together. I'm so glad you turned out

1:08:00

to be. as kind as you are. And I really,

1:08:03

I'm not gonna cry. I

1:08:05

thank you so much. I'm so glad Baryshnikov

1:08:07

told you you were stocky. Thank you. Thanks,

1:08:10

Miesh. Thank you for having me here. Thanks. This was

1:08:12

a thrill. And this was a thrill. Thank you, my

1:08:15

friend. Doc,

1:08:25

so that happened. Oh

1:08:28

my God. Ah, so that happened. I

1:08:31

think over the course of that interview,

1:08:34

you may have said every single line in

1:08:36

Back to the Future. I

1:08:38

mean, obviously all out of order and out

1:08:41

of context, but you got most of them.

1:08:43

You know, when I roped her into doing

1:08:45

that scene, when it was

1:08:47

happening, it didn't register as being as embarrassing

1:08:49

as it was when I heard it back.

1:08:52

Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, I was embarrassed,

1:08:54

but hearing it back, like, oh, cause

1:08:56

it had been, I

1:08:58

think we got into a really comfortable groove with

1:09:00

one another and then to like, I broke it

1:09:02

and was like, under your seat,

1:09:04

you'll find a seat. That was kind of nerdy.

1:09:06

But you know, I

1:09:08

obviously knew what a thrill

1:09:10

that was for you. So I enjoyed listening to

1:09:12

that. But you know, I think in the show,

1:09:15

there's a pretty good balance, I would say, of

1:09:19

what we get from it and hopefully what

1:09:21

an audience gets from it, the show that

1:09:23

is. And that, that

1:09:25

you asking her to read that, I

1:09:28

think was an example of like,

1:09:31

that was for you. You know what I mean? But

1:09:33

I do think, I do think it was still really

1:09:35

fun to listen to, but it was like, that was

1:09:37

for you. That was a little, but

1:09:39

I'm glad you got to do that. That

1:09:42

must have been such a thrill. As selfish as

1:09:44

it was, and I agree with you, I think

1:09:46

that probably was, I don't know if it alienated

1:09:48

people, but it probably wasn't the most entertaining thing.

1:09:50

No, it totally was. But your intention was not

1:09:53

to entertain. No, no, that was selfish. Your intention was

1:09:55

to do something that the eight year old version of

1:09:57

you would have loved to do. And

1:10:00

it ended up being entertaining for me. Oh, it's good.

1:10:03

Because it

1:10:05

was one of the best moments. You know, those moments

1:10:07

that you'll remember that just

1:10:09

surreal. Yeah. Oh, but just hearing her

1:10:11

voice, I wasn't

1:10:13

there, so I didn't get to meet her, sadly. But so

1:10:17

I just listened to it back. And

1:10:19

hearing her voice was so strange because there's

1:10:22

something so familiar about it to me. I

1:10:24

know. Because I've seen that movie so many

1:10:26

times. I know. And it's

1:10:28

so warm and loving. And I thought there's

1:10:30

comfort. It's comforting. Yes. And I thought, you

1:10:33

know, when she plays the old version,

1:10:36

like middle-aged Lorraine, in

1:10:39

Back to the Future, she had a

1:10:41

sort of like boozy, kind of sad

1:10:43

quality towards- Her uncle didn't make parole

1:10:46

again. But her

1:10:48

voice now sounds so much

1:10:50

more like young Lorraine to me than

1:10:52

middle-aged Lorraine. It must be strange for

1:10:54

her to have seen a potential

1:10:57

older version of herself. Well, it's also

1:10:59

a credit to her performance. That

1:11:03

she made that real. That was a real choice,

1:11:05

that voice. I never thought about that in

1:11:07

that scene. The scene that we did, what

1:11:11

an acting challenge that must have been to

1:11:13

go from old Lorraine. Because you needed to

1:11:16

be tricked by the voice, you know, that

1:11:18

like older voice. And then he

1:11:20

wakes up and he says, you're my mom. I mean,

1:11:22

and then it's like the young version of her. The

1:11:24

whole part, I mean, she talks about it a lot,

1:11:26

thankfully, but what a challenge

1:11:29

that was. As much

1:11:31

as obviously everyone knows I love the movie

1:11:34

understatement. It never really occurred to

1:11:36

me until I talked to her, what

1:11:38

a huge challenge that must

1:11:40

have been. What a difficult role, all

1:11:43

of those parts. I mean, the first few minutes of

1:11:45

the interview, you were, I mean,

1:11:48

no surprise. You came across

1:11:50

as very giddy and

1:11:54

nervous. And so consequently, I

1:11:56

think you steamrolled her a little bit

1:11:59

at first, but then. you definitely

1:12:01

eased into it, you relaxed into it.

1:12:03

I mean, I know how

1:12:05

excited you were. So it's actually, it was

1:12:08

actually restrained for what

1:12:10

it could have been. Yeah, it

1:12:13

could have been a lot weirder. And

1:12:16

you know why I think? Because we'd already worked

1:12:18

together. And I

1:12:20

think had it not been for the fact that we worked

1:12:22

together for a couple days with one

1:12:24

another and she had some insight

1:12:26

into what a fan I was when I,

1:12:29

I also roped her into

1:12:31

doing this video bit for, I put

1:12:33

on, I gotta put it on Instagram. And you've

1:12:35

been showing up at her house a lot lately.

1:12:37

So she's just used to seeing you. He's a

1:12:40

peeping Tom. Oh, that's one

1:12:42

line you didn't get to. No, no. Now you did the

1:12:44

whole thing. Okay. All

1:12:46

right, another one of those kids got in front of my car again.

1:12:50

That story, that Baryshnikov story is

1:12:52

crazy. Crazy. So she's too stocky, but thank

1:12:54

God. I agree when you said that you're

1:12:56

like, I'm so glad he told you you

1:12:59

were too stocky. Thank God. Thank

1:13:01

God he was a, whatever you would

1:13:03

call someone who would call her a stocky.

1:13:05

Not a misogynist, just a body shamer. Yeah.

1:13:08

I mean, that whole world. That's not much

1:13:10

better. No. He's not a

1:13:12

misogynist, he's a body shamer. I mean, that whole world.

1:13:14

I mean, it might be both. But it's remarkable that

1:13:17

getting that gut punch from that guy.

1:13:19

I know. And then she was able

1:13:21

to pick up the pieces. Keep her down. I

1:13:24

would have folded. We've talked about this a

1:13:26

lot, like the resilience of some of these

1:13:28

people. It's so impressive. Yeah. And

1:13:31

I think you kind of need some of that in

1:13:33

order to make it where they've made it.

1:13:35

I mean, there's something. That's why I, you know, I

1:13:37

wish I had asked her this now, but I wonder

1:13:39

if she hesitated to

1:13:41

encourage her kids to get into acting,

1:13:43

just knowing, you know, how fraught with

1:13:46

rejection it is and how she, although

1:13:48

once she did become an actress,

1:13:50

I know she waited tables for a while, but it

1:13:52

sounded like things started happening pretty quickly. Yeah. I

1:13:55

think how could they not? I mean,

1:13:57

she downplays this a lot, but like she is. really

1:14:00

talented actress. I mean, she's a real,

1:14:03

and she just was such a

1:14:05

charming screen, I don't

1:14:07

wanna get into it. Yeah. I've done enough. I

1:14:09

love when she slips into her Minnesota accent

1:14:12

and I love that accent. I've

1:14:14

always loved that accent. Have you ever been to

1:14:16

Minnesota, Minneapolis? I have. It's a great city. I'd

1:14:18

say it in Edina, which is a, Oh, don't

1:14:20

you know? Oh, sure. It's

1:14:22

a suburb of Minnesota. It's

1:14:24

a, yeah, really. I love Minnesota. Me too.

1:14:27

Hormar, who does our

1:14:30

theme music for the show, is famous

1:14:32

in Minnesota. Yes. In fact, he named

1:14:35

himself after a mall, the Hormar Mall,

1:14:37

right? Yeah. I love,

1:14:39

but I love the accent. I love how you obviously

1:14:42

copy it instinctively, like you do with all

1:14:44

the guests when they have a cute accent.

1:14:46

Is it condescending to say cute? I

1:14:49

was wondering that. I don't know, maybe. It's to

1:14:51

say it's cute. About some, about an elder. Is

1:14:54

it cute patronizing? Is it kinda something to say she's an elder? She's

1:14:57

older than me. She's older, but to say an

1:14:59

elder. I'm not saying she's like a tribal elder.

1:15:03

She's elder than me. I'm not saying she's old.

1:15:05

No, I know. I know it's sticky though. It

1:15:07

is sticky. Yeah, cute. I

1:15:10

find it patronizing, and this doesn't apply to

1:15:12

her, but I find it patronizing in general

1:15:14

when people refer to really old people as

1:15:16

cute. Me too. He's like, I think Yoda

1:15:18

is cute. I think most people would agree

1:15:20

that Yoda is cute. But Yoda's a

1:15:23

fictional character. No, I know, I know, but I'm thinking. That's

1:15:25

the thing, I do think a

1:15:27

lot of old people are cute. I would

1:15:30

internally describe them that way. I would never

1:15:32

say it. Because I think

1:15:34

that it's just something condescending about them. Remember when

1:15:36

we met, I had met him, but Danny DeVito,

1:15:38

he was cute. He was cute. He was cute,

1:15:40

but I wouldn't say that to him. No, I

1:15:42

think it'd be rude. When

1:15:45

she told you that her daughter. Well,

1:15:48

Sean is cute too. I wouldn't say that to him either. I

1:15:50

know. When she

1:15:52

said that her daughter hasn't seen Back to the Future

1:15:54

2, I thought your head was gonna explode. I thought

1:15:57

you were gonna start throwing equipment. You're

1:15:59

a vlogger. The voice became distant for a second and

1:16:01

you were like, what? What?

1:16:05

It was really funny. I got

1:16:07

really incredulous. I got, not mad,

1:16:10

I was just stunned. It was, it's like, I

1:16:12

don't know. It's like Julia Roberts' kid not having

1:16:14

seen Pretty Woman. Like- I haven't seen Pretty Woman,

1:16:16

but I'm not. You're not Julia Roberts' kid. But

1:16:18

I only say that because I've

1:16:20

gotten so much shit over

1:16:25

the years for not having seen that movie. That's like,

1:16:27

wouldn't you say Pretty Woman is the one movie that

1:16:29

people are always like, you've never seen Pretty

1:16:31

Woman. Yes, that's one. Constantly. Constantly. I should just see

1:16:33

it. But you know, now it's sort of like a

1:16:35

badge of honor that I haven't seen it. Yeah. I'm

1:16:37

like proud that I haven't seen it. You know, Dirty

1:16:40

Dancing is like that for me a little bit. You've

1:16:42

never seen that? See? Well, I'm

1:16:44

not mad at you. There's a tinge of judgment. I

1:16:47

can't believe how casually she admitted to

1:16:49

having an affair with Dennis Quaid. I know.

1:16:52

And your reaction to it was really funny.

1:16:54

Like, not only did you approve of it,

1:16:58

you were like, oh, I mean, Dennis Quaid,

1:17:00

are you kidding? He's gorgeous. Those flat

1:17:02

abs. Not to talk more about looks,

1:17:04

but I also fetishized his looks. He

1:17:07

was the coolest. He was so cool. Inner space.

1:17:09

Dennis Quaid at inner space. Okay. But

1:17:12

if you guys haven't seen the movie, Inner Space

1:17:14

with Martin Short, Meg Ryan, in her

1:17:16

prime, such a charming performance. If

1:17:20

you're a superficial person and you've never seen

1:17:22

that movie, You like comedy. You are wasted.

1:17:25

You've wasted a lot of time. I

1:17:27

know we said this in the beginning about Back to the

1:17:29

Future, but I wouldn't say stop the beginning of this episode

1:17:31

to see Inner Space, but stop it now and watch Inner

1:17:33

Space. Oh my God, it's good. You

1:17:36

were very pro affair with Dennis Quaid.

1:17:40

Well, also then, I mean, then I felt, yeah,

1:17:42

I mean, that's superficial. And

1:17:44

this show is exposing among other things. I think

1:17:46

it's exposing that I do maybe

1:17:49

have a problem with superficial. With good looking

1:17:51

guys. Yes. Well,

1:17:55

at least we're talking about Dennis Quaid and

1:17:57

not Tom Brady. That's true. Researching the character

1:17:59

and. she

1:22:00

suffered that much. Even if critics hated the movie, she

1:22:02

was good in it. I agree. And I thought the

1:22:04

movie was really good. Granted, I haven't seen it since

1:22:06

I was a kid, but I loved it as a

1:22:08

kid. It never

1:22:10

made sense to me that that movie didn't

1:22:13

get good reviews. And then she made casual sex,

1:22:15

which I only know. I could tell you, I

1:22:17

could probably, if the box cover of that movie

1:22:19

committed a crime, I could draw

1:22:21

the best police sketch of it. I know it,

1:22:23

but I've never seen the movie. Oh, really? Never

1:22:25

seen it. But when I was a kid,

1:22:27

I was so, you know, maybe I've talked about how

1:22:30

I felt about Leah Thompson, and then the fact that there

1:22:32

was sex in the title. I

1:22:34

know it well. It's so funny why the Cookie

1:22:36

Monster bothers you, because you

1:22:38

don't like that he doesn't get all the cookies in

1:22:40

his mouth. But it is ridiculous. I think he gets

1:22:43

less than half of the cookies in his mouth when

1:22:45

he eats. Wait a minute. You're joking. Much

1:22:47

less than half. You're kidding.

1:22:49

He gets none. Oh, okay. Oh, God, I got scared.

1:22:52

I got, like, nervous. You

1:22:54

thought I thought the Cookie Monster was a real thing? Like,

1:22:56

maybe there was a hole in the felt or something. No.

1:22:59

I thought you'd be afraid that, like, it's

1:23:02

based on a real character. Uh-oh. Maybe I'm

1:23:04

too hungry. I know it's a Muppet. Or

1:23:06

maybe I need to eat some food. But

1:23:08

it's funny that that bothered you as a kid. Yeah, yeah,

1:23:11

yeah. That you were stupid as a kid and didn't realize

1:23:13

it was a Muppet. I believed in the Easter Bunny until

1:23:15

I was in sixth grade. The Easter Bunny still exists. Right,

1:23:17

right. I believed in... So,

1:23:20

again, thank you, Mikhail Brishnikov.

1:23:24

Shout out to Miesh. Yes. It's funny

1:23:26

because we call our producer, Michelle Lanzmiesh,

1:23:28

and so Miesh is now... But

1:23:31

she doesn't body shame people. No. And

1:23:33

she also doesn't, like, create... In the

1:23:35

chaos effect of somebody's life, she doesn't

1:23:37

create movie stars because of their shaming.

1:23:41

Not yet, anyway. No. Maybe she does.

1:23:45

Yeah, thanks, Miesh. Thanks, Brishnikov. He's

1:23:47

passed on, right? No, no, no.

1:23:49

He's very much alive. Really? Yeah.

1:23:52

You're kidding. Brishnikov? That's... Oh, yeah.

1:23:54

He still... He still... He

1:23:57

helped train Sam for a glossy version, I

1:23:59

think. I think so. I think I remember

1:24:01

him saying that. Oh my. Or

1:24:03

he met him in the process or something. Wow.

1:24:05

Oh, he's very alive. He's like

1:24:08

really healthy. Well, are you saying he's like really

1:24:10

virile? No, but he's very active. I think he

1:24:12

still acts and he... You're kidding. He was in

1:24:14

Sex and the City, you know. Oh,

1:24:17

I think I did. I'm proud to

1:24:19

say I didn't have that immediately

1:24:21

accessible. But... So do you

1:24:23

wanna, should we read a... Yeah, so we're

1:24:26

gonna close as we now do. With

1:24:30

a letter. Do you wanna read that one? So

1:24:32

this letter is from Alicia G. And

1:24:35

here's a little portion of it. She

1:24:37

says, I love everything that is the

1:24:40

wrong size. Teeny tiny elephants,

1:24:43

giant paperclips, et cetera. And while I was

1:24:45

living in Whitehorse, I found out that Manitoba

1:24:47

has the most oversized monuments and town statues

1:24:49

of any province. So cool. And I became

1:24:52

mesmerized with the backstories and names and reasons

1:24:54

they were built. So I did

1:24:56

my first solo road trip around Manitoba two summers ago

1:24:58

and saw 27 of the official 65 big things. A

1:25:02

week after I got back, they unveiled a new

1:25:04

one, biggest turtle known to ever be on the

1:25:06

earth. Obviously, I have to do another road trip.

1:25:09

And now I'm a super nerd about the

1:25:11

whole thing and have several maps of different

1:25:13

provinces in Google Maps with layers and links

1:25:16

all color coded. And anytime I hear

1:25:18

of a new one, it gets added to the map. If

1:25:21

you're not convinced, look up hashtag

1:25:24

Alicia and the big things

1:25:27

on Instagram. And you'll see it's actually

1:25:29

a super cool hobby. And everyone not

1:25:31

treasure hunting for big things in small

1:25:33

towns is missing out. It

1:25:35

is really cool. We saw it. It's cool, right?

1:25:38

And yet another example, I feel

1:25:40

like on every episode, we have a really pretty

1:25:42

strong example of why Canadians

1:25:45

are the best. Alicia

1:25:48

G, that is something I would never have thought to do.

1:25:52

But what a great way to

1:25:54

spend some time. I love that. Me too.

1:25:57

So check out Alicia's page and thank

1:26:00

you. for doing that and thank you for listening

1:26:02

to Life is Short. And also if you want

1:26:04

to be the next Alicia G. Yeah.

1:26:07

Email us and let us know how you make the

1:26:09

most out of your life at LifeisShort

1:26:12

at wondery.com. Yeah,

1:26:14

exactly. So thanks again

1:26:16

to Alicia G and especially

1:26:18

to Leah T. Ah, man. Thank

1:26:21

you, Leah. Life could be a

1:26:23

dream. Life could be a dream.

1:26:25

Doo doo doo doo doo. Thank

1:26:30

you guys for listening to Life is Short.

1:26:33

If you like the show, please give us

1:26:35

a five-star review and tell your friends to

1:26:37

subscribe. We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google

1:26:39

Podcasts, and every major listening

1:26:42

app as well as wondery.com. Life is

1:26:44

Short is hosted by me, Justin Long,

1:26:46

produced by Christian Long, and Megan Monaco,

1:26:48

our senior producers, Michelle Landes, engineers, Marcelino

1:26:51

Veapondo, and it's executive produced by Marshall

1:26:53

Louis and Ernan Lopez for Wondery. As

1:26:55

mentioned, our dear friend, Harmar Superstar, does

1:26:58

our theme music. Doo

1:27:00

doo doo doo doo

1:27:02

shaboo. I'm

1:27:05

so insulted. I'm

1:27:07

so insulted that you are telling us to do that. I haven't

1:27:10

like to do a zip lining. Now I want to do that

1:27:12

just to let the zip lining. Yeah, I can't. Would you do

1:27:14

a zip lining? Yeah, exactly. You would. It's

1:27:16

fun. It's obvious. Zip lining. You hang out the

1:27:18

thing and you go... Oh, I know old people.

1:27:20

You would do it. I would. I

1:27:23

know older people. Oh, really? And then

1:27:25

the second you go on it, it's worth it. It's so

1:27:27

fun. It's like being on a slide.

1:27:29

Oh, really? Yeah, you're all strapped in and it's not...

1:27:31

I'd be a little scared of that. You

1:27:34

see other people do it. That if her dad

1:27:36

was like, we're going zip lining, and you're like,

1:27:38

yeah, I'm in. And Katie was like, I'm in.

1:27:40

I would suck up and do it. That's a

1:27:42

scenario relative. Would you play with monkeys? Were

1:27:45

there genitals? No. Why

1:27:48

would you play with them? Like,

1:27:50

touch? You think of monkeys in that sexual way that

1:27:52

you assume are in their genitals. I thought it was

1:27:55

so sexual. Would you play with monkeys? I

1:27:57

was like, would you play... Play what with monkeys? Checkers!

1:28:00

How do monkeys play? Play around

1:28:03

with them. Not play, feed them. Oh, I

1:28:05

can feed them. That's specific. How

1:28:08

do you play with monkeys if you don't know them? They're not

1:28:10

good at chess, but check with them maybe. I meant like, you

1:28:12

know, have them jump on you and feed them. No, it would

1:28:14

not jump on me. If

1:28:18

that's what playing is, then no, I don't play with anybody. That's

1:28:21

how different we are in that regard. That having monkeys jump on

1:28:23

me was one of the best days of my life. You're

1:28:26

insane. You're insane. It was the

1:28:28

best. It was the best feeling.

1:28:30

And they kind of, they smelled great. And

1:28:33

they, I was having a mercy. They were full of bugs. Oh

1:28:35

yeah, I was having a mercy. I loved it. That's

1:28:38

so awful. Yeah. But there was an

1:28:40

animal. I'd rather do that than skydive.

1:28:43

Duh. I'd rather slow down

1:28:45

something than orangutan than skydive. Oh, I would have.

1:28:48

That's scary. So it was skydiving.

1:28:50

No, but orangutan could lose it and like smash

1:28:52

it. Or is it God of the Dark cut

1:28:55

like a tranquilizer right next to us? I

1:28:59

would rather do that than skydive. Really?

1:29:02

Strangers in the middle of the water? It's really funny

1:29:04

to picture. And

1:29:07

you'd have to know who's trained and everything, not a wild.

1:29:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it'd have to be someone trained

1:29:11

just to go over to you. But

1:29:14

I had to stand. Just

1:29:17

to learn how to doff its cab. But

1:29:21

what if they, that's all they've created? And you're like,

1:29:23

all right, this doesn't seem so right. It's like, it's

1:29:25

a bee? And you're

1:29:28

like, okay, you go to grab it to dance.

1:29:30

It's like, book. And

1:29:32

the trainer's like, oh no, we're not there yet.

1:29:34

And it's just like squashes your head like a

1:29:36

watermelon. And

1:29:38

meanwhile, you guys are like flying through the air, like

1:29:41

skydiving. It's like such a happy piece of the way.

1:29:43

And you're like, you get used to it so fast,

1:29:45

this is the best feeling of my life. It

1:29:49

would be so scary to go skydiving. I

1:29:51

would be so scared. But

1:29:53

that scenario of everybody...