Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 242 - Lisa Kudrow

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

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program. This is exciting. Come on. When you think of funny people, she's got to be on the top of your list. She's so great. We had a great conversation. Had a little bit of a problem, I will admit. I don't know. We touch on it a little bit in the interview, but we ran into a big bread issue. I screwed up the timing, and I was late. She was early. I couldn't read my Google calendar. because it's made for people who have eyes of a, of a baby, like brand new eyes. If you don't have brand new eyes, you can't read the month calendar on your phone. It's impossible. I have giant glasses and a magnifying glass, and I still can't read it.

So I was off by a half hour, and I tried to bake her bread, and I didn't, I just had to turn the bread off in the final stage. Just sitting in the oven just cold, like a little orphan. And I didn't get to give her the bread. and I came in and she apologized for being early and then I launched into the whole bread dilemma and she was like, why are you talking about bread? I don't think people know. The big stars don't know this is a bread themed podcast.

I think they just figure, I don't know. Maybe anything it has to do with Jesus. I don't know. Anyway, we got through it. But this bread thing, it's really becoming a bit of a problem. I gave mediocre bread to Julie Bowen when she was on the program, and I knew it wasn't a great bread, and I gave it to her anyway, and I want to get her better bread, or at least let her know that I knew that it wasn't great. And we've reached out through publicists. We've reached out through DMs.

Nothing. Not a response. And I thought we hit it off. I thought we had a good time during that interview. But I think we did. But I think then she got home and tried the bread and was like tried to saw through it. And now is embarrassed. You know, this whole thing is supposed to unite people and bring people together with breaking bread with other human beings.

And it's really starting to be a problem. The Fonz liked it. He reacted. He responded to us. We didn't have to chase him down. He came to us. Anthony Jezzelnick said it was the best Brady's ever had. But man, striking out.

Julie, if you are listening, and I'm sure she is, right? She's going to want to compare herself to the Lisa Kudrow, right? They have to be competitors, right? To super funny actors. Whatever. The conversation's great, though. We got through the bread troubles, and we have a really fun, enlightening conversation. conversation, right? It was good. Go to tompapa.com. My Grateful Bread Tour is on sale now. We're

doing all these great places. The Beacon Theater. Come on. Chicago Theater. The Moore Theater in Seattle. A lot of great dates coming up. I'm going pretty much every city in the United States between now and I think June. It's not even the full year. I think we have some stuff in the fall. maybe New Jersey. I don't know. Also, Home Freeze is streaming on Netflix. Thank you all for the great response to that. And it's kind of crazy that you put out a special. You go on tour and people say, when's your next special coming out? Wow, what am I? I can't even get a loaf of bread out of the oven on time. I got to get another special out. But soon, I guess is the answer. Soon. But enough of that. Now, enjoy this great conversation with Lisa Kudrow.

Oh, she has a new Netflix show called No Good Deed with Ray Romano. So funny. It's really good. You're really going to like it. We get into it in the interview. We'll talk more later. Enjoy. It's time for breaking bread with Papa.

Hey. Don't you know? Hey. It's how we go. Hey. It's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey. But don't you know?

Hey, it's also a show. Hey! Wait, that's... Cigarettes? No. Pringles. Yeah, my God. Do you love them?

I didn't when I was a kid, but now. Sour cream and onion? I don't eat it. I don't eat it. I just had a can of sour cream and onion. You did? Mm-hmm. Not today, but like two days ago.

Really? My daughters were home from school and for the holidays. Oh, yeah. And Pringles mean fun. They just do. I know. Like, they've got to be so bad for you. They're not great.

What is it? I don't know. They're not. It's like paper and potato. Right? Right, exactly. Tissue paper and potato. Yeah.

And they're really upping their flavor game. They have all these different flavors now. And then what's in those? I know. I don't get it. Someone gave me from Trader Joe's a potato chip that was advertised as turkey. stuffing and gravy potato chips. That sounds familiar to me.

It was accurate. Really? Really accurate. It really tasted like? Yeah. Because I had gotten them after I made Thanksgiving dinner for everybody and like I was done like enough. I don't need this, these smells around anymore. Right.

And someone gave me these chips. And I was like, yeah, this is exactly what I just threw away earlier in the day. Yeah. That's so crazy. I know. I don't know where the, I don't know who's. What evil minds are behind this? I know.

It troubles me so much. I know. It can just trigger our brains. So I was baking you bread. Yeah, yeah. This morning. Yeah. And I didn't think they were going to come out right.

But they did. They were on their way to being really good. The breads? The breads. Okay. And I apologize. This is from Lodge Bread, who's my favorite. I just didn't know if the breads didn't.

Anyway, went by they, them. I would imagine. Yeah, I would imagine. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for you. I'll give you the real bread next time. All right. This is great bread.

I love this bread. These guys taught me how to bake bread. But thank you for being here. My daughter graduated Vassar. Are you? Really? Last year. You should have given the commencement address.

I was going to, but they didn't ask. And it was very hot. You know where you have graduation on that beautiful lawn? Uh-huh. That beautiful, like. Yeah. Such a beautiful place. I have to text someone right now.

Go ahead. This is about me giving the speech? Yeah. Thank you. Because I could go back. They had a very funny actress that did it. Oh, yeah. Emily Mortimer?

Yes. Yeah, that was great. Were you there? No. Oh, I saw it. You saw it. It was so good. She was so good.

It was really good. She was really sneaky, funny. Yeah. And I was crying at the end. It was like she really like nailed it Yeah I gave up on texting Because I got engrossed No, sorry

You can go back to it Okay She loved Vassar so much My daughter just She just took everything out of that school I never saw a kid so happy with going to school Yeah I can't hear you anymore Because I'm texting

I'm sorry but you told me to do it It's okay Do you always keep the the keyboard sound on? No, I don't. That's a very mom thing. My kids are always like, dad, your light is on the phone, the flashlight. Oh, yeah.

I get that all the time. Yeah, that happens. Dad. Last night my husband woke up, and so he just got on his phone. And next thing I know, and I can hear, so I open my eyes. And then he's got his light. He's got his light on. Wait, why do I feel like I have to do that?

Exactly. To it. Okay. Yeah. And I'm lying down and it's dark and in my eye. And so I opened my eyes so we can see my eyes are open. And he said, are you awake? I said, I am awake.

That was a signal to you? Were you awake? I said, no. And he said, oh, sorry. Okay, go back. But just like, honestly, she's awake. Right. my eye. So bad. Did you love Vassar? Who are you texting? Someone at Vassar. Do we like them?

Love. Love them. Did you love it there? I loved it. Yeah, I did. Not everybody did, but I did. Yeah, she really just loved it. She did love it. Loved it. Oh, that's great. Because I couldn't hear you when you were saying that before. Because you were texting. Because I was texting. It's okay. The president of the school. Oh. She was a. Yeah, she just loved it. She went in studying American Studies. She was like into writing and stuff. But then she just started acting.

She just started showing up at all of the different stuff. And it kind of like, she just fell in love with it. Like the Philalaphaeus Society? Like not the theater department. Right, right, exactly. The other stuff? Yeah. So good.

Yeah. Those were the best plays. Yeah. Yeah. Were you doing that when you were there? Not even a little bit. You were just all into, it was like biology. Biology.

Right. Yeah. So you didn't have any thought in your head? Like maybe I'll go do that? No, absolutely not. Wow. And I even had a boyfriend at some point. And he said, you know, and he was Turkish.

I won't do the accent. But he said, you know, I can't help it. Could you do it? Can you do a Turkish? Yeah. Galbrae. Hadi bye bye, okay. But he, let's see, can I do it?

And he's like, you know, you're so, you study. biology and it's so boring and they used to want to be an actress, didn't you when you were young? Yeah. And now you're boring and you just have long hair. It didn't occur to me that maybe I should break up with him at all. It's like, well, he's entitled to his opinion. And I just said, yeah, but I love what I'm studying. Yeah. So now what? Now what do you want to do? How long do you stay with him?

A year. Two years total. He was a nice person. That's nice. Except for you have long hair and it's so boring and you studied biology. He apologized later. But ultimately he was kind of right. Not about the long hair part, but.

Well, then we broke up. My senior year, he was gone. We broke up. my hair really short. Oh, really? Really short. Still studying biology. That was after I graduated.

I switched to acting, but, and then I realized after I graduated, oh, now I'm everything he wanted. We'd like to thank the good people at Quince for sponsoring today's program. If you spend a lot of time cooking at home, it's time to elevate your game. When your cookware actually feels good to use and is thoughtfully made and looks beautiful on your counter, it just makes the whole, experience better. That's what I've really liked about Quince. Their cookware, knives, and tableware are elevated, but they're still super practical. Everything is made to last, designed to be seen,

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actually use. Head to quince.com slash papa for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's quince, quince, c-u-in-c-e dot com slash papa, P-A, for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash papa. Were you always funny? family was funny. Yeah. So. Who was the funniest? My dad. Yeah. My brother. My sister. Yeah. And they're older than me. My dad's older than me. Oh, wow. So, no, that was, that worked out. That was weird. But, so I would just sort of hear the funny things my brother and sister would say and then bring them to school.

Oh, really? So then I was like, what? I was this like very mature, funny person. How much older were they? Six and eight years. Oh, wow. It's a lot. Yeah, that is a lot. So you then roll in with mature takes on things. I think I was kind of funny. Yeah, in college, I think maybe I was.

Yeah. Yeah. Did you, were you the funniest one of your friends? In college? No, there were people that were really funny, smart. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God.

Yeah. Fasser meant it's, it's, everyone just feels smart. Like we'd go just like all her friends like living in the house. outside of campus. It was just like, it was just like, also uniquely smart. Yeah. They were just so, it was so inspiring going to graduation and seeing all these different minds.

And it was like, let's just release these people into the wild. Yeah. I think they're going to help make things better. Yeah. And then the way they talk about what they're studying and they're just like calm and yeah. Just express it really easily. And it's not that they're not enthusiastic.

They are, but they're just so smart about it. Yeah, and they support each other so much. They would just show up at shows and do all this stuff. Uh-huh, yeah. And now she has that same tribe, like, move to Brooklyn together, and they're all, like, trying to find their way, like, doing stuff, and they're all together. Yeah. Yeah.

That's great. So did you come right out here after? Yes, I came back home. Oh. Oh, immediately. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And did you think, I'm sorry if I asked some questions. that you've told me for, but... I'm not. We've, you know. Did you... Did you want to... Except when we did Conan.

Yeah. Do you remember that I was funny that night? Mm-hmm. Hilarious. Thank you. Yeah. Did you... Well, you are hilarious, so...

Did you think I want to be... I want to start acting? Like, was it hard to say no to biology when you left? No, because I... I know. If acting doesn't work out, okay. So I go back to school, catch up on, you know, what I've missed. And that's all it takes.

It's just sort of like time and writing papers. Do you have a science mind? It's weird to have a science mind and a comedy mind. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Kind of. A little bit.

Kind of. But to me, the science mind is sort of looking at patterns. or just being aware of patterns. And then, well, I mean, yeah, then trying to figure out how you devise some kind of experiment or study, you know, to get an answer to see if it would give you any evidence of a theory or offer any explanation to a pattern that you've seen, I guess. Yeah. And are you saying this is similar to comedy? No. There is a little something to that.

But something about patterns and then like the unexpected because comedy has to, I mean, a joke is because you weren't expecting that ending to the story or joke, right? Yeah. Yeah. Your timing is so funny. You have such a beautiful way of just communicating. I watched your first episode. of no good deed.

Oh, that's right. Partly, that's why I'm here. I thought it was just a hang out. Well, me too. I thought it was just coincidence. But it's really good. It's really well done. Isn't it?

It's kind of every episode. It's late. So, oh. Yeah. I watched the first one. And it was, it really was, it's such a funny. It's such a cool thing. This is why I always say like show business works,

that you could be in it and still be surprised by things. Yeah. That's very surprising. Yeah. Everything that happens in that pilot episode, you're like, wait, what? Yeah. Wait, what's happening? And even just your character, you have such a great, even when you're not being funny, there's something going on.

There's always something going on. Right. Like, what's the next line? Yeah. There's always something going on. That's my acting. I'm kidding. My acting is, when are they going to be done?

Do you have that timing just in your regular life? You must have. At what point do you realize that you can harness that, like, comedically? And was comedy the thing, like, when you come back here and you're like, I'm going to poke around in acting? Yeah. Was comedy? Like, could you picture yourself being serious? No.

No. Yeah. I mean, for starting, it had to be comedy because I knew nothing about. this world, you know, or the culture of this world. And I had just come from kind of serious-minded New Yorkish, tons of people from Manhattan when I went to Vassar. And, you know, there's something sort of serious about them and withering. Yes, cynical. And, you know, and I just thought, oh, I won't be able to be in an acting class. I won't be able to do that.

Right. Because that's taking it way too seriously. So comedy, not even realizing who populates comedy. Like the stand-ups. Right? Like they're just, it's like fun and easy. It's like, oh my God. Right?

Yeah. Polar opposite. Yeah. But it was improv. So that's different. different. Right. But no, John Lovitz is my brother's best friend. So when I graduated, he got on Saturday Night Live that summer. Oh, wow. And I thought, oh, wait a minute. I've seen him struggle forever. Yeah. And so it's not just like David Hasselhoff has, was touched by magic,

and that's why he can do this. You know, I just, right. And, and I, and I, and I, and I, and, and I, and, I thought, I wonder if I should try. And then it just went to, wait, I'm 22. I don't have any responsibilities. It's kind of a selfish pursuit. Yes, now's the time, you know, to try. And my parents were all for it because I was so serious. I mean, for them, I think it was, how's she ever going to meet a husband?

I mean, she's not flirty. She's so intense. You know, what man will be attracted to that? I think that's what it was. So they were thrilled. Really? Yeah, yeah. They were so happy.

She might have some fun. Were you really serious? Or something lighting her up. Were you really serious or were you? I don't know. Yeah. Not to me. Yeah.

I was funny. I don't know. Yeah. Well, it's a fine line. Yeah. Yeah. I guess as a parent. I may have been a little depressed.

I don't know. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, I don't know. That always helps for comedy. Then I, well, it does. Yeah. And then I went to, and Levitt said call the groundings, because he said, every acting class I ever took, I learned the most from improv. Right.

Because he has to listen and respond. Right. So, it's great training. Yeah. And they wouldn't let me take a class because when's the last time you performed? And I went, oh, junior high. Okay. We're going to send you Cynthia Saghetti.

And I went to one class and I almost didn't go back because I thought, oh, no, no, I don't, these people, I don't think these are my people. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if this is for me. So we lift a disc. Okay. And then commit, commit. I am committed. I'm here.

What does that mean? Yeah. You know, and then be angry. And people are like, gur. And I thought, that doesn't look good to me. So anyway, I forced myself to go back and there was a guy in the class who wasn't there before. And he was great. Like he wasn't doing gur.

He was just, you could tell he's angry. Right. And he's throwing the space ball. And I went, oh, it's not embarrassing when he does it. Yeah. That's a good example for me. And it was Conan O'Brien. And so.

Wow. I made a B-line for him and just went, hi, I'm Lisa. You're good. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing that you could be that keenly aware of what's good and what's bad day one. Really? Yeah.

You would be too, I think. Yeah, I guess so. Come on. Yeah. Phony's phony. Phony is phony. But the thing that really upset me in the early days was you'd see phone. and it's on stage and other people seem to be responding to it.

Right. And you think, how far away from this can I possibly be? I think I'm that. Like I'd get nervous. Oh, that was your thing. Yeah, I'd be like, oh, no. People respond to me too. So am I doing that?

Yeah. Like, is this, right? I just thought there's different, I mean, I've seen those people on talk shows or commercials. You know. Yeah. You know. Right. I'm not impressed.

Yeah. It's not what I want to do, you know. But, yeah. How did Conan respond when you went up to him? Hi. Was he nice to you? Yeah, very. No, you're good friends now, so it must have worked out.

Yeah. No, we're best friends all the way through. Amazing. Yeah. That's so great. Yeah. Who was struggling first? I guess you were both struggling.

Who broke out of struggling? Him. He broke out first? He graduated college. He and Greg Daniels, right? And he was president of the Harvard Lampoon two years in a row, Conan, right? And a double major. Because, you know, he's not big with the achievements, I guess.

They got in a car and drove out to L.A. and had a job on not necessarily the news. Right off the bat. Yeah, that's why they came to L.A. Wow. And then that didn't work out. The show ended. Yeah.

Yeah. That was a good show. I wanted the show to be better. I remember as a kid watching. Like, I wanted it to, you know? Yeah. It was like almost there. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, so you started out. Oh, this is stand-up. You're talking about looking at people doing stand-up, not acting. Yeah.

Looking at people doing stand-up. Yeah. And being like, oh, it's cringy. And then they'd come off stage and people like, you were really great. And you're like, wait a minute. I don't think that was great. Is that, am I that different from that? Maybe I'm the same and just delusional.

Right. Well, isn't that always the scary thought? Yeah. Oh, am I deluding myself? Then at some point I realized, no, no, just the delusion is all you need. Yeah. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. It doesn't matter.

Right. Right? Yeah. What does it matter? No, it doesn't matter. If it keeps you in there. Yeah. You have to keep, you have to.

So what was your first? gig. Oh. You're 22. I'm in the groundlings, and my teacher was Tracy Newman, who then became a writer and won an Emmy for the Ellen coming out episode. Wow. Yeah.

But anyway, she was my teacher, and another groundling, Robin Schiff, was writing a play and was going to have a backer's audition. And so they were having, she was asking the groundlings teachers, who's good? Like, who do you recommend? So Tracy had a list, and I was on the list for, like, Airhead No. 2. Right. For a backer's audition for a play. And that was my first audition.

Wow. And then I got the part for the Backers audition. Cool. Yeah. Very cool. And then it got backed, and I had to audition for the play. And I got the play. Oh, nice.

So I was Airhead Number 2, and they named the characters, Airhead Number 1, and two, Romy and Michelle. Really? Yeah. So that was my first job in an equity waiver play. Wow. Yeah. Wow.

That's amazing. Pretty good. Yeah. First one. It was great. Yeah. And I did a couple because one of Conan's friends was a director and he did a lot of Roger Corman films.

Uh-huh. Maybe did a couple. But he put me in one of those. Oh, very? The unborn. Yeah. Nice. So you're like 23 now?

24? Well, for the play? 24, 25, yeah, I think. Yeah. Wow, that's pretty quick. No, for a play. I mean, I couldn't support myself at all. I don't mean that you made it, but just to have that kind of validation that, like, I can go audition and people said I can be a part of this. Because I wouldn't get any auditions for shows and things. Right. Yeah. Yeah, but wasn't it like when you get that play, aren't you like, okay, maybe I can do this? Someone said yes to me. Well, I mean, in my groundling classes and I would move up in the classes and people thought I was good. Conan thought I was funny. Yeah.

So I thought I could do this. Right. If he thinks I'm funny, then I can do this. Yeah, you need that one person who just kind of like validates it. Yeah. It doesn't matter that I have to eat cup of noodles every night and I'm still working in my dad's office. And, you know, you just keep out. because I noticed people quit for a lot of good reasons.

Yeah. You know, but that might be the difference. Yeah. It's funny when you look back at those days and it's like, well, it seems like an impossible way to live. But when you're in it, you're just so happy that you're doing it. Yeah. You don't care about the couple noodles.

Yeah. Just like, this is fun. I didn't care. Yeah. No, it was. Yeah. And also I felt like No, I don't want to quit.

Yeah. That's not an option. Right. I don't think I've played it out. When I got fired from Frazier, I thought, yeah, maybe you're not one of those people who gets to do this. Yeah. I did think that. You did.

But not for long. How long did you have the gig for it? Three days. Just three days. Well, yeah. Before they shot it. You didn't shoot it. No, no.

They realized fast that they, you know, made a mistake. Right. Yeah. Isn't it? God. They were very nice about it. Were they? Yeah.

Oh, you must have been so excited, though. Uh-huh. That was very excited. Yeah. I thought, okay, well, here we go. Right. This is it. This is going to be.

I'm in. The best. And then how quickly does the friends audition come from that? Yeah. After that. Well, I did, after that, oh, God, was it a year or two? When was Frazier? I don't know, dates and things.

Yeah. But I know. Did it feel like a long time? Were you filled with doubt and like, oh, geez? No, because, well, I had doubt after I got fired and then I was running out of money and I didn't have a day job anymore because I quit at my dad's. And so I was about to start looking for a job. and then I had done a guest on Mad About You the year before their first season. Right.

I played Paul's Date. Right. And then my agent called and said, okay, so here's an offer. I think you have to say no. It's mad about you. They want you to come back, but it's a different role. It's only like three lines, and it doesn't even have a name. It's a waitress.

And, you know, you were cast on Frazier. So this is a no. And I said, wait a minute. It's not a no. Yeah. I need to do this. Yeah. And they went, all right.

And I didn't know what it was. I just drove down there and thought, all right, whatever it is, listen, respond, and be funny. That's all. Right. So I did. And by the end of the week, Danny Jacobson, I was just watching them because I love, how do you not watch Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt?

Yeah, right? So I was just watching. Danny Jacobson came over and just said, we think you're really good. So would it be okay with you if we had you do five more of these? And I thought, I don't need to get a day job. That's my rent for the whole. That's good for a year. Oh, my God.

Yes. That was great. And then there were auditions for the next for a pilot season. Right. It seems like. And that was friends, the friends. And then you run into friends. It seems like that time in television was like there was so much more opportunity for sitcoms just to bounce around and like just that all these people were populating these different shows and there were all these different shows and all these different nights.

Yeah. God. I know. I know. I mean, you know, as I was saying before, I heard myself as I was saying, you know, people quit. So you just don't quit. Yeah. But there's.

There's no work now. I know. I mean, for anyone in the business, writers, forget it. Yeah. Actors, less and less and less. Everyone who works on a crew in this country, no. Yeah. That's almost all gone.

God. So, yeah. In a short amount of time. Yeah. I know. I saw this guy do this video on walking through Radford. And he used to work on stuff. and as a producer

and he's just showing on his phone no, there's nothing happening. Yeah. All of these studios at Radford are closed. Yeah. It's just nothing being shot. I know. It's insane.

I know. But there's got to be, I mean, people still want shows. People just want... They do. It's so frustrating that... They do. They do. It's cheaper to shoot it somewhere else.

Yeah, I know, but... Whenever people talk about, there's always this debate of, you know, they want to go back to multi-cams because they're cheaper to make. Yeah. And you can do it. And then they say, well, they're corny and you can't do them. I don't know. There's got to be a way. If you do them the right way.

By the way, yes. They're corny. But people are still watching friends. Everybody loves Raymond. They love Seinfeld. I mean, okay, they're corny maybe. They're corny when they don't work. I guess people, yeah.

When they don't work. But, you know, there's another thing people do when they're doing a comedy is they don't hire funny people. Mm-hmm. And I think that makes a difference. Yeah. I don't know about you, but I think that makes a difference. If you do a good comedy, get people who are funny. Yeah.

Even if you have everybody on your crew that's funny, then you have just people throwing, non-funny people throwing stuff at you to try and stop it. It's amazing. It really is kind of a miracle when it does work. It's insane. Yeah. So when you get friends, do you have any inkling of what this is, there's no inkling at all? I mean, it's always very vulnerable. Like, are we ever going to get picked up?

Are we ever going to make it? Are we ever going to do this? I had mad about you. So I wasn't too concerned. Right. Uh-huh, and I was half hoping, well, now with the threat of me potentially being on another show when this one doesn't get picked up or we do our half a season or whatever it is, then maybe mad about you is going to offer me. Right. It's like, of course, they weren't going to, but I didn't know.

But I thought Friends was, I was like, yeah, this is good. I mean, it's good. Good doesn't mean it gets picked up ever. And I don't know. Yeah. I have no idea. I just assume it won't. Right, of course.

Because most of them don't. Yeah. Yeah. Was there any feeling after shooting the pilot that, because there isn't that, that story of when Burroughs is like, when you're in Vegas. Yeah. He's like, go enjoy yourself because your life is going to change. He said, this is the last, we were at dinner. He took us to dinner.

He said, this is the last. last time the six of you can be in public together. So he knew. He knew. And I thought, and I thought, but do you? Do you know? And I remember the, like five others were just like, oh. And I just went.

You're so naive. They're just words. He doesn't actually know. Yeah. I mean, the shows, it's, you know, it's good. It's not Seinfeld. It's not like groundbreaking. Like, I've never seen anything like that before, you know.

Right. But I didn't realize just the chemistry and what it added to the writing, you know, and whatever our comedic, like Matthew Perry, that is special. Yeah. You know, I've never heard. anything like that before and Schwimmer also. I was like, okay. Yeah.

That's really special. And so, but I didn't know if that was enough. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. Because I don't know. Because I'm an idiot. Yeah.

The kid that your parents were like, wow, she seems to be kind of, like, that's the person who was sitting at the table like, mm-hmm. I don't know. Yeah. It's interesting. We had... When are we going back to the tables? Yeah.

Right now we're just talking and eating, and that's not playing. So I don't know what we're doing here. It's my friend Greg who wrote on the show, it seemed like it was just what you're saying of like it helped the writing and it started to feed off of each other. Oh, yeah. Like, it really seems like when it's... So unique that all of this was happening creatively from the writing side and the acting side. It was.

I mean, and the writers are incredible. They were so funny. Yeah. They were so good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also, I mean, our tape nights were ridiculously long.

I mean, they were infamously long. Oh, really? Well, I mean, before that, I mean, it just didn't take much longer than two hours to shoot a half hour. Right. Right. But they didn't let anything get stale. And if they would always check, can we beat any of these lines, jokes, anything. Right. So, yeah, there were huddles all the time. It took us like six, eight hours. Six to eight hours. Yeah, which was bad when we would start at like six or seven at night. Yeah. Yeah. And I was pregnant, one of those.

Like, you know, before we said, before we asked, let's, can we start earlier? Let's start earlier. And I remember Mardiok and went, I don't know if we can get an audience. And I think you could get an audience. I think people sort of planned vacations and, you know, include this. And I think if, I think people could get off work. Because at that time, it could get, you know, like, oh, you got, oh, okay, yeah. Go do that.

Right, right. And we had two audiences. You dump one out and then bring another one in? Yeah. Well, no one can sit there for eight hours. So they'd come in halfway through the show? Yeah. And they don't really, and the warm-up guy, be like, so what has happened?

I think, yeah. Wow. I'm not exactly sure how that worked, but I know there was always food for them and toys and candy. Yeah. Just to keep, that is insane, six to eight hours. Well, everyone's young and they're just... I've never been that young. You were never...

Well, you got married early, right? Then you get married in the first year? Yeah. So, yeah. Were you the grown-up? Kind of. Yeah, I'm a year older than the next oldest person. Right.

But six years older than Matthew and Jennifer. Wow. Really? Six years? Yeah. Wow. I was 30. One.

Oh, wow. You were so old. I didn't realize you were so old. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was about people in their 20s. Yeah. I wasn't one of them.

But Phoebe may not have been one of them. Right. So that's me. So it works. Did you know Matthew was as special as he was just from the first time you heard him read? Yes, at the table read. Yeah. Because I just, I heard something else when I read it.

I mean, I actually thought, Oh, Chandler's gay. That's great. They have a gay character. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then I heard Matthew, it's like, oh, wait, he's not, this isn't a gay character. Oh, my God, this is really funny. Right. Just his timing, just that. Yeah. Just that. Those, those, the, those, the, that timing. That timing. It was unbelievable. Yeah. Because it's not mimicking anyone else's timing ever. Right? That's the thing. No, except, you know, the friends he grew up with Canada. Yeah. Yeah. I know.

Man. That was something. And Schwimmer, too. I'd seen Schwimmer on some show, on a Fox show. And I thought, he's really good. And then he was going to be in it. And I went, oh, because he was the first one cast. They wrote Ross for him.

Right. And I just, and I went, oh, he's really good. Okay. Yeah, I'm going to make an effort to be in this. Such an idiot, am I? No, but you can't know. I mean, so many things have to, like, fate has to get. Everybody else knew.

Yeah, everybody else, yeah, was like, no, no, this one's special. People auditioning for it were like, you got cast on that show. Oh, really? Friends like us. You got cast in that. Right. Yeah, and they went, that's the show. No.

Is it? All right. When did you know? At what point do you start to believe it? We were on Oprah. Season... Right before season two. Uh-huh.

Yeah. And she, they had this package that they showed us of people getting together to watch it. Mm-hmm. And then like internet cafes and I don't know. I don't know. And then we're all looking at it just like, what? And she said, you, you. You all don't know that this is going on.

Like, this looks like it's a surprise to you. Yeah. It's like it is. Jeez. Yeah. God. Remember when things could be a surprise? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Those are good times. There's no such thing as a surprise anymore. I know. Is there? No. No.

Everybody knows everything. Everyone knows everything. I guess the surprise would be, no, no, that was fake. Yeah. It looked real, but it wasn't. Yeah. So that's the new. surprise. Oh, boy. But what about, I mean, how long before you think you got good? It took about

eight years. Eight years? Yeah. So did you have doubts? Eight years is a long time. It is, but that's to get good. Like, that was like, I, I knew I was funny as a kid. Yeah. But once I got in it and was like, oh, this is a craft that you, this is a thing that you've got to go to work on. Uh-huh. It was about eight years. Like, I was doing okay. Like, things were, but to really, like, feel like, oh, I get it. Like, I know the tool.

I know what I, I know how to do this now. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was about eight years. Oh, wow. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's long. Okay. Yeah.

Is that surprising? Yeah, eight years and sticking with it and what, I mean, what did you do to live? I did a lot of, you know, you start getting gigs. You just start getting a little. Sorry, you've already talked about all this. No, I'm sorry. And your name is. We just met.

We were on Conan together. I forget. What do you call yourself? Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just getting a text. I see.

I should check. I should check too. Things are not good. She asked me a question. I didn't answer because I was talking to you. I'm sorry. I'm trying to. it's good.

This is... It's a lot of stuff... I mean, they deserve you. Who does? The graduates, I think. Right. No, they should have. I think...

Yeah, it would have been fine. Have you done... How many commencement addresses have you done? None. Really? None. No. Okay. Yeah.

I mean... God. How many have you done? One. At Basser? Yeah. Yeah. That's easy.

So it's you and Meryl Streep. That's pretty cool. Mariel Streep did it. Yeah. But she does. She had done, the year I did mine, she did Barnard. Oh, she did. Yeah.

And she was on the board of trustees, as was I. Right. And she wasn't able to attend a lot because she just works a lot. Yeah. But she was there that year. Oh. And that made me really nervous. Yeah.

Yeah. And in fact, So we're the night before I was very that to me is a huge challenge that was Oh yeah I was nervous about that you know yeah that'll wreck your year I took weeks before wrote it Rewed it rewrote it and so anyway and so there's a dinner and then the rest of us are having drinks and One of the people one of the he was like the president of the board said So let's hear your speech

And I just went, what? No. I said, it's, I don't, no, it's not on me. And he said, you don't, oh, you didn't memorize it? And I said, no. And I look at Merrill. And I said, do you memorize your speech? You just gave one at Barnard.

And she said, it's easy for me to memorize things. I'm not kidding. And I just went, oh, yeah. All right. You know what? I got to go. I'm going to go. I should rest. Anyway. Who memorizes a speed? That's crazy. And so I went to my room and talked to myself, okay, but that's Meryl Streep. You are not Meryl Streep. Everybody knows that. So no one's expecting you to do what Meryl Streep does. You will do what you do. And everyone will have to accept that Because you were invited to do this

And you get what you get and you don't get upset Okay So and then I just rewrote a couple things still Printed it out I brought a portable printer with me Good Yeah Oh those are tough

And then after when By the way Meryl was the first one to come up After I was done and went That was fantastic She was so great It was so nice. It was so nice. And another trustee guy said, that was great. So who wrote that? Oh, geez. I said, I did. He said, right, but with who? Don Roos. Like, who helped you?

Oh, God. No, no, I wrote it. Okay. And then I go and I look up, I see Merrill's speech. She's reading it. She's completely reading it. I know. Isn't that fantastic? That's amazing. That they all pranked me. They were just, she was just busting you. Isn't that, I hate pranks. That's, I do. I really do. Yeah. Why?

Because you feel. It's just like, this will be funny. It's a lie. Right. And lies are hilarious. And lies are going to make you have feelings that are really uncomfortable. It's just a prank. It's okay.

It's like, well. No. I know. How's that for a great sense of humor that I have? It's easy for me to remember things. Isn't that perfect? Yeah, because of course you believe it. Well, she's like, yeah.

Oh, God. It's easy for me to memorize things. Well, it's pretty cool that you and Merrill are the ones mentioned. I mean, there's others, of course, from Bassett, but from my daughter's perspective, it was like. Jane Fonda. I go where these people go. Yeah, Jane Fonda. Yeah, that's pretty great.

Jacqueline Bouvier. Jacqueline Bouvier. She had her wall? No. Yeah, before she was Kennedy on Assis. Right, right. And St. Vincent Malay?

I don't know. There's a lot of people. Yeah. Women. Powerful. And now men. Yeah, and the stupid men now. No, they're great men.

I mean, the great men. They're great men. Not the one that was dating my daughter. Oh, really? I didn't like him that much. Really? I don't want to get into it. All right.

Now he was fine. All right. Wasn't great. Really? That's all right. Well, I had, you know, the 1969, they started letting men in, young men, men. Why do we call them men? They were 18 to 21.

18. Officially. Sorry, well, but you don't really qualify. No. Perspective. But there weren't, it wasn't like 50-50. Right. You know, there was like, there were like 12 or 15 of them.

Uh-huh. And so what I like to say is that those. Men got the most important thing out of their time at Vassar. They graduated with too much confidence. Truly. Yeah. Yeah. Like girls lining up outside their doors.

Yeah, I can imagine. Literally. Right. And that's great. That's a great way to go out into the world. Yeah, I'm thinking you're that. Get a job and do well. Good for you.

Was it Hedy to be that famous? Like when it really started to pop, like, was it, did you have? What is Hedy actually mean? Did it occupy a lot of your brain? Oh. While you're doing the work and you're really good at it. And you have your crew and you're cranking out intense. six to eight hours and all year long and your summers you're just recovering.

That's a shoot night. Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, just on that. Well, no, no. When we were there, we were there. Yeah. And it was the same, you know, we still had to do our work. Yeah.

And no. So that protected you from the hysteria that's happening, the fame that's happening? Yeah. Because you have work to do. Yeah. That's pretty great. Yeah, it did. And we could keep each other in check and also just check in with each.

with each other. You know, like Jennifer was followed one time on the freeway and went, that was scary. That was terrible. Right. Couldn't wait to get into the gates here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's interesting, we had Henry Winkler here. Uh-huh. And that era of television, when his character takes off, it gobbles up the whole show. Yeah. And it was supposed to be Richie's show. Yeah. But it's the Fonzess show.

And then I was talking to my wife about it last night It was it's such a cool thing And I mean I think it harkens to How uniquely talented you all were But it really was stayed in an ensemble the whole time Yeah There wasn't like it didn't become the Chandler show It just was you guys always

Yeah It was It's pretty unusual Yeah But I think that's that was Marta and David Yeah That's their decision Right

You know They can steer that ship. Yeah. I mean, look, there's Ross and Rachel, the love story. Sure. You know, which drives the heart of the show, basically, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

But, no, that was them. They wanted it to be an ensemble. Yeah. They didn't want to break out. Right. But I think no one anticipated the bad part of no breakout. And that is, because it really wasn't done much, if ever before. Yeah.

That we all just stick together like our little, like a little union. Yeah. So what do you mean? What do you mean? What's the bad part? Oh, you mean that, you mean dealing with the making of the show? No, not making of it. I mean, then like negotiating. Right.

That's what I mean, like the contractual. Right. And then they're dealing with. Yeah. Yeah. they're sticking together. Yeah. Not that it bothered Marta and David.

I'm just, you know, I don't know that anyone foresaw that because they're very used to actors at some point just saying, well, I should be getting more than that person or that person. Right. Right. So who in your life calmed you down when you wanted to say that you deserve more than all of them? Who? Who? Who, who was it Conan? Yeah. It's very Conan. Get off your high horse. No. Yeah. No. No. Almost immediately early on. Yeah. Yeah. Decided. That's so great. Yeah. Man, oh, man. What is, that's, so that is. So that is special. Yeah. That really is special.

It was one of the best relationships. Yeah. I think a lot of us had. We had to really listen to each other. Something was bothering someone. Yeah. Okay, full attention. Yeah. No defensiveness. Yeah, it was really good.

It's like a family. Like a functioning family. Functioning. Yeah. Like a good relationship. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

And then you go on and you do all these other shows and they've got to be hell. I mean, working with Ray Romano. Oh, Ray. I know Ray from comedy. And what a difficult. person. Do you have a Ray impression? Do you do Ray? I don't. You don't? I mean, everyone does. Everyone does. Everybody has. Yeah. Yeah. That's my Ray.

Right? Yeah. It's just it. Yeah. But that's back to the Henry Winkler of it all. You too were you and Ray were, you know, such distinct characters beloved by millions of people for long periods of time. And there's none of that like in this, in this new show. It's just you guys, I don't know. Do you know why? Like, why do you not get typecast? Is that, is that an era thing?

Like, is that, are those days over where you be pigeonholed into doing that for? But I think, look, for Ray. it's easy because Ray did so many things after everybody loves Raymond that wasn't comedy. I mean, he didn't do another multi-camera show. I didn't do another multi-camera show. I didn't do the comeback, which was definitely not a multi-camera show. And I think I did a lot of independent films while I was doing. friends.

Yeah. But still, like for any, like, I don't know. And then I just sort of produced stuff. Like, I produced the comeback, and then I did web therapy. And I really, and I produced a show, who do you think you are? Right. Yeah. You know, genealogy.

Right. It's a, yeah. It's a non-scripted show. Yeah. And, yeah, and I just wanted to be home with my son. son and my husband. Right. Because, you know, he didn't sign up for me going away.

Movies were shooting. Yeah. Not in L.A. And so, yeah, I just kind of laid low for a while. Right. But it's almost... But Ray was always doing something different and showing it on the side. But it's interesting, like, I don't know.

I mean, you both, just in telling Ray's path and your path, there are two people who are artistic about it and really care about the work and they're trying different things and doing it like it's it it almost i don't know i don't know if it's the time like back then you know when you were in a sitcom and you're that and what are your other opportunities and you know like you were able to go do other stuff but you're also very thoughtful people who yeah are exploring even the way you talk about you starting off the groundlings yeah You were thoughtful. There was something searching and really. And then to carry that through, of course you're going to branch out. You're growing. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. It's not like you can just get a part and you're like, finally I nailed it. I did it. Let's cash the check and get a car and we're done. It's like, no, you're an artistic person that's completely, is still on a journey of some sort. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Is this podcast probably the peak? Is this like one of those things? Yes. Good. Definitely. Here is a... What can I ask you? Hold on a second.

This is what we call... We do a thing on here called an uncomfortable moment. Our crackerjack staff goes off on the internet and looks for things. Oh. And I didn't... I don't know if this was pitched to you or if this was... Nothing was pitched to. Because it's not told during the...

Look, nothing was pitched to me. All of a sudden, like the garings. the walls like what do you mean what's happening now i know i sense that i i think we said no didn't we we say no to that i didn't we say no to that i didn't feel that immediately what kind of bullshit is this no this is just something that they found and i didn't know i wasn't even aware of this but was this pitch to you before friends it looks like it was a show called friend. Friend, yeah.

With me as your friend. Right, yeah. And I wasn't aware of this. I don't know if this came, was pitched to you before, maybe during your Frazier Day. Yeah, yeah. And I thought, I don't know.

So you just passed? I passed. And then I got friends like us. Right. I read that script. That script wasn't great. It was just, hi, what are you drinking? Coffee.

Is there room on the couch for me? Yep, if you want. Do you cook? Bum, bum, bum. Do I cook? I have in my life. Who cooked for you when you were little? My mom.

Was she a good cook? I thought so. Yeah? Yeah. What did she make? She made chicken. What would she make on your breakfast? birthday. Oh, I don't know. I don't remember that. What? Did I have a special?

No, no. Did you have a special? I don't know. I don't think so. This isn't research. I know. Yeah, good luck. But you were talking about making, you cook, you cook Thanksgiving then. Yeah. So you're the cook. I'm the cook. And you cook Thanksgiving. And I thought I was great at making turkey because my mom, I made the turkey my mom made. You did? Yeah, same thing. Oh, nice. And so I would just, like I'll make the turkey like okay and bring things and I'll make the stuffing I'm making the turkey I'll make the stuffing

I'm making the turkey I'll make the stuffing okay and then like all of my brother's like I'd like to make a turkey so okay I'll make a smaller one you make yours yeah and then one year I did all of it and because I was doing everything I made

everything was just sort of like like casserole or you know like it's easier twice baked you can make make the mashed potatoes the day before, then put them back, add more butter and milk and, you know, and then the same with the sweet potatoes. And bring it to life.

So basically, I served turkey and baby food. Right. And couldn't figure out why no one liked it. It was delicious. I thought it was just delicious. That's the last time I was ever allowed for taking. It is baby food. This is what happened to me this time.

What? I do all the cooking, so I'm doing the turkey and these nice string beans and these nice Brussels sprouts and stuffing and all this kind of stuff. And work hard on it. And a friend had given me a recipe for corn pudding. Uh-huh. Delicious. That sounds good. It's just two cans of corn.

Oh. It's like, it's just two cans. An egg and flour? And corn bread stuff. And a big one whole thing of butter. Oh, no egg? And a big thing of sour cream. I think there was an egg.

Okay. And just mix it together. Mix this slop together. Sounds delicious. It was the biggest hit of Thanksgiving. Okay. No one cared about anything that I really made or crafted or got off the New York Times. Right. None of it.

It was just more of this. Just give us more of baby food. Right. lot of work. It's a ton of work. And I didn't know nobody liked the way my mother had made turkey forever. I don't know that part. I thought it was really good. I was enjoying it. It was good. Garlic salt. Yeah. Parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese. Yes. No. And paprika. Really? Just put it on top? Yeah. And no one liked it. I guess everyone was tired of it after however old they all are.

Right. You know? Yeah. I think it's good. So I don't know. I'm a little bitter. So you're fired. It's all right to be fired from that.

That's a lot of work, that meal. It is. And I didn't mind it. Yeah. I'd watch the Godfather and baste my turkey. I was good at it. I was so devoted. Every 15 minutes I was basing.

It was noise. It was, yeah. All right. I don't know why. It makes me mad. It should make you mad. A little mad. Not like mad.

It's a little, I don't like it. I don't like this story at all. I don't like that they disrespected you and your mom at the same time. All right. But I guess, fine. So I don't ever do it anymore. Yeah. Just from doing your genealogy show, can you look at me and tell me what would have been in my past?

Oh, so you never saw the show. So you don't know what genealogy is. It's not friendology. It's when you go and you do research on the people and you find out what bad people are from their past. I can't by looking at you? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Can't you?

No, I'm an excellent profiler. So I can tell. And then there's always surprises. Like there's some Nazis involved or slavery. There's a paternity issue. Yeah. So you can't tell? Well, no.

All right, I'm just asking. But, okay, your last name. Papa. Okay. Italian, Greek. Italian. Italian. So I guess Italian?

You look Italian. Wow. Like Northern Italian? Or you take after your Irish mother. The one German grandfather. Yeah. Yeah. All my cousins look like Italians from like Staten Island.

Oh, your mom's German? My mom has one German. Her father. Has one German. Has one German. Yeah, one German. Half German. Italian.

Three grandparents were Italian. One German. Very Italian. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, we don't really talk about the German part. We left before the troubles, but it's just more fun to be Italian. Uh-huh.

Well, the German, I mean, guess what? What? This is what I learned doing my show. Yeah. that after Spanish, the second most popular second language in America is German. Really? Yeah. Not popular, most spoken.

Really? Yeah. Milwaukee, Pennsylvania. We're so, I mean, mostly German. Really? Are you German? No. Hmm.

Can you speak German? No. No. No. Nine. Nine. Nine. No. Me neither. Can you speak any other language?

A little French. Because I've been married to a French man for almost 30 years. Why would I learn it? Yeah. Did you know French when you met him? I took it in high school, so no. What did you study? Spanish. Smart.

Guapo. Pardon? It means handsome. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's my go-to joke when I meet Spanish people. Yo is my guapo. And they laugh.

And then I can't continue. Right, because there's no more. My in-laws think just because sometimes I understand what they're saying. She speak French. She pretend she doesn't. No, no. She understands everything we say. This one.

Yes, you do. No, I'm not, I'm not not French. And she just speak. She just speak French. So no secrets. But I don't understand a word. And I think I was better off. Really?

I did not understand. Yeah. I don't need to hear what they think of me or, you know, like, you know, complaints or. How did you meet your French husband? I met him. Oh, I was living with a woman who was French. And he had just moved to this country who was told to look her up. So I met him when he came to pick her up to go out.

Oh, really? Uh-huh. Yeah. And then six years later, I remet him at her birthday party, and we started going out. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh.

So you start going out a year into the show, or you met him a year into the show? No, I met him before the show. Before the show. I met him after Frazier, after I got fired. Right. And so, yeah. And then what? What? And then six years later?

What? What? No, I met him in 1987. Oh, okay. Yeah, and then six years later. Gotcha. I met him at her party. Yeah. So you get married a year into the show, ish? Yeah, the first hiatus.

Right. So it hadn't really taken off yet when we decided to get married. Looking back, do you feel like that was a mistake? No. No. Oh, my God. To me, that was like, how lucky was that? Yeah.

God, that was so lucky. And then you are pregnant with your son second season? No. Well, yeah, 97. He was born in 98. Yeah, 97. Right. Wait, what?

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So you were a grown-up. Oh, yes. Yeah. I was such a grown-up. No, I was the only one married.

Yeah. And then the only one with a kid. So nice. It's so calming. Yeah. You actually just have a life. Yeah. Not like what is my life going to be.

Well, I did feel like, oh my God, like who on earth would I date? Yeah. If I didn't, you know, who would I want to be with, I wonder. Right. Yeah. It's different. Yeah, really different. How long have you been married?

24 years. Oh. Let me ask you this advice. Thank you. Yeah. I have so much advice. So you've been married for how many years? Almost 30.

Almost 30. Yeah. Do you do something special for the 25th? We were thinking about it and then it was, we were in lockdown. That's funny. We had my 20th, we were thinking about it and then lockdown. Yeah. We were on our way to dinner. We canceled our trip. We were going to go to Paris. Oh. We canceled our trip because the troubles were starting. We're like, let's just go for dinner and...

The troubles. Yeah. Use the troubles a lot. And you're not Irish. No. So that's interesting. I call on the troubles. And we're on our way to dinner. Yeah. And that's when Tom Hanks got. got it on the radio and they closed down the MBA.

And we're like, should we still go to dinner? And we're like, yeah, probably. This will be the last fun thing we'll do for a while. Yeah. But now the 25th is. No. Okay. Yeah.

So now, but the 25th is coming up. Do you do something big for the 30th then? Well, we haven't had it yet. Oh, will we? Will we? I mean, we talk about it. I don't know. We'll see what's going on then.

I know. I don't want to. Do you feel like you might jinx it? No, I feel like, you know. We're just not supposed to have a big party. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah.

We'll see. We always go away for our anniversary. Oh. Rather than gifts or parties. Wait, you always have? Yeah. With your kids and they're a little. No, we would leave the kids behind.

On their own. Yeah. Just leave some food out. Right. And then... Kids, cats. Dogs. Yeah, they all work it out.

Dogs are needy, but cats, you can just leave them. Cats and kids. Cats and kids. You can just leave. I need anything. No. Just leave them. So we would go away, like even just like overnight in town or whatever.

But we would go away. That was just to have a minute to ourselves. Oh, smart. Yeah. So we're trying to figure the 25th. It sounds like there's some weight on that one. Yeah, that's, um, when is that? This year?

Yeah, it'll be in March. Oh, March. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You got to do something. Do you have big parties? Like, do you like having big parties?

Not big parties. I'm always hosting, but they're small parties. I feel like we need more friends. What do you mean small? What's a small party? Like 20 people? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you have big parties? No. No. I had a birthday party recently for my 60th. Oh, happy birthday. Because I thought, thanks, I should have a party. And I had 60 people.

Uh-huh. And it was nice. Was it? Yeah. That's good. That was, to me, sort of big. Yeah. But not that big.

Did you have it at your house or someplace else? No. I had someplace else. Oh, that's good. Yeah, I didn't feel like dealing with aftermath. You know you should have done. What? Should have had it at the house.

And? And walked out with your mom's turkey. And my pure-rayed variety of potatoes. Yeah. And savory. Yeah. Have it. And just done that.

that. Right, exactly. And then left. If only I've done that. Do you want to create more things for yourself? Yeah. You do? Yeah.

I've got a couple of ideas. You do? Yeah. Do you need help? Well, I'm tired. Yeah. You're 60 now. Yeah.

That's when you get tired. You'll see. I'm feeling it already. I miss waking up like excited. Oh, well, I don't think that's age. No, I mean like energy-wise. Like when you're a kid, like you would get up and be like, just start running. Like, let's go.

Now it takes a while. Okay. To feel normal. Why? Oh, to feel normal. Yeah, I think because I don't sleep that great. I need coffee now. I sleep next to my wife and she's always flipping and flopping.

Yeah. Well, my husband is shining lights in your feet. face. High intensity beam. We do one other thing on this program. It's called a taste test. And we normally have beautiful bread and we talk about the finer things of eating.

But we also like garbage that we find at 7-Eleven. Okay. Do you eat junk food? Yeah. Yeah. What's that? Junk candy? This is something we found.

It's called freeze-dried sour worms. Okay. Aw. Yeah, right? Could be good. It's freeze-dried. Why wouldn't it be?

Is your diet, do you eat a lot of junk food and you're healthy? No, no, I had to get healthy. You did? Yeah. My husband insisted. I used to bake M&Ms. What? I used to, have you ever, oh my God.

What? As a kid, breakfast was baked M&Ms, and nacho cheese Doritos. Oh, really? Yeah, on a weekend. Baked M&Ms. You just put them on a... Put foil, put in the toaster oven.

Yeah. Toasted a little, it cracks and starts to bubble, and then you're done. Oh, that's amazing. And it's like a whole other chocolate. Wow. God, it's the most delicious thing. I had to stop because my husband told me that's poison. Right.

And Doritos, that's done. No more Taco Bell or a Jack in the Box. Oh, he made you do all this. Jeez. Yeah. I grew up on all that. Wow. These smell weird.

They do? Yeah. Well, I don't know. I don't know either. It smells like a candle. It's the same set they use for candles, which is toxic. Yeah. Let's try one.

Yeah, I think you should. Well, you're not going to do it? I will. Oh, I'm a good sport. You are fun. Well, it's like a cross between. A cheese puff? Yeah.

Because that should taste like a cheese puff now. It looks cheese puffy. It feels like it should be a cheese puff. Yeah, it does. So cheese puffs are freeze-dried? I don't think so. Well. These are.

Wow. Yeah. It's a cheese doodle sour patch kid. Right? Yeah. Which is not a bad thing. Mmm. I can't wait to take the next bite.

I'm going to lose all my willpower to not, because it's tough to not. Take another bite of that. I just got three cavities. I ate the whole thing. Three. From the one bite. Oh, from the one bite.

I thought you went earlier in the week. No, it's just like, and I've got a lot of crowns. It ate through the crowns. It's so much sugar. It's all sugar. I kind of liked it. It's all sugar. It's all sugar.

It's like cotton candy. It's freeze-dried cotton candy with... With a sour to it. With an air wick. These are really weird. You could put these in a bowl and just leave it out in a room to make it smell like fruity. Like fruity. It would.

I'm not kidding. No, you're right. I'm afraid to take another bite. You don't have to. Ooh, the smell is worse than the taste, though. Like, when I smelled it, I thought we were in trouble. But when I ate it, I feel a little happier. It's just sugar.

Yum. But it's good. What? Okay. Sorry. You're glad to think it's good, your luck? Everything was going so well up until this point. Yum.

Sorry. Here, you gave it back. Well, I licked that part. I'll just put it down there. Yeah, just put it down. Not too close to the way. I'm sorry. I feel like that really upset you. Why'd you? God damn it. I didn't, I don't know what these are. I'm not upset. It's just, I haven't had. Did you just wipe your hands on the tablecloth? Yes. Because I thought I had a napkin, so I just put it down like it's a napkin. Have you done that? I do that all the time in restaurants. Because I'm not thinking.

Yeah. I'm just like, oh. Oh, here's my napkin, and it's the tablecloth. And I just set it down, lay it across my lap. Seriously. You really make me laugh. You're a very funny person. You're a very funny.

Thank you, but you're funnier. Furnier than I am. I think you're funnier. I don't think so. I think so. No way. Come on. Way.

I laugh out loud at your stand-up. You do? Out loud. Well, that's nice to hear. It takes a lot to laugh out loud. It does. Don't you think? Yes.

Yeah, especially when you're a jaded Vassar alum with all those cynical New Yorkers. No, it is. But you made me laugh out loud repeatedly today. Oh, that was real? You always make me laugh. Thanks. Yeah, it's really nice to meet you. Your rhythm is really so great.

It's cool that you, that's kind of like the Matthew thing. It's like you're just uniquely funny. There's, you know, there's, there's kind of big. categories of funny. Yeah. That are similar. Okay. And then some people are very unique.

Oh. I put you in unique. Okay, good. I don't know what you're talking about. Me neither. I just ate chemicals and my brain's just words to come out. Yeah. No.

It is true, though. Thanks. Thanks. Do you miss Matthew? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

Yeah. But I can turn on the TV and see that guy, that Matthew. Yeah. That is nice. That was helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Do you, uh, does it's just weird that he's not here.

Mm-hmm. You know, that thing, it's even if you don't talk every day or, you know, and then just knowing that, no, that's not even going to be an option. I know. Ever again. Oh, okay. Because sometimes you forget and it's like, wonder how he's doing. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like, oh, he's fine right now. Or what he thinks, like, what would he think of this, like whatever big event or, you impersonal or whatever. Be like, oh, what would he think? I don't get his perspective on this one. It's a weird one. Yeah.

Well, and also, I mean, there's things that the six of us will be asked, you know, like, oh, they want to do this with this. And you all have to give your approval. Right. And so we just check, like, hey, is this all right with you? Yeah. Matthew's estate says it's fine. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Yeah. It's strange. Okay. It is strange. And he, you know, was smart. Yeah. About that stuff, too.

Oh, he was? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was really smart about that. Yeah. Anyway. Have his perspective. Yeah.

No, it's a shame. But, man, what a great thing to be able to see them. No, I never met him. No, I never met him. But, yeah, it's just uniquely, uniquely funny. Yeah. I don't know, ma'am. Yep.

Thank you for doing this. It was really nice spending some time with you. Yeah, this was nice. Did you enjoy it? A lot, and I was looking forward to it, too. Oh, that's good. Yeah, yeah. That's great.

So maybe we'll do something else. Okay, with maybe bread that you baked. Like you'll plan it, you know, differently. I didn't say better. I'm really upset with myself because I'm really good. about planning it because I had to feed the starter two days ago to get the bread ready for you for when we met. I thought it was going to be at one. How early I was. Maybe we can get the bread. Maybe we can deliver the bread. Maybe. By we

I mean you. I know. You don't have to. You don't have to do that. We'll just give her the lodge bread. The lodge bread. Yeah. Because I'm special, I get to watch probably the whole season of of no good deed before everybody else. Yeah. And it's really good work. Isn't it neat how they do that, though, on Netflix? That's what blows me away. It's like, oh, you know my account.

Yeah. And now there's a show on my Netflix. Yeah. That only I can see if I enter a code. Yeah. It is pretty cool. It makes me feel special. It makes me feel special too.

Right? Yeah. I know. Like we're on the inside. Yeah. Yeah. But I can't wait to watch the rest of it. of it.

Really good work. Thanks. And I don't know. Yeah, it's good. I mean, it is good. It is really good. Ray Romano. I know.

Come on, Dennis Leary. Can you tell me how it ends? Oh, yeah. No, I think I can. And that'd be funny if I went, oh. Yeah. Is there a potential that we'll do more of them? Can you answer that?

I don't know, because, I mean, the story wraps up. Oh, it does. Okay. But, you know. Okay. Where there's a will, there's a way. Secret message received. No, but I was told, you want to do this limited series?

And for you, it'll be a limited series. And I said, yeah. Oh. So you die? And then it was, well, and then it was maybe not a, I don't know. Yeah, and I don't know. So I don't know. Okay.

This is none of my business. All right. I didn't produce it or anything. You could take the bread home, you could take the sour worms home. Well, I think you want the sour worms. Oh, okay. I'll take them. liked them.

All right, I'll take them. But you seem to like them. I did like them, but I shouldn't eat them. No one should eat them. Those are worse than cotton candy. Cotton candy has less sugar in it. It's really true. Than that.

You're the best, thank you. Thanks. All right, we got it.