Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Brooke Shields – on Growing Up Famous & Learning to Trust Herself

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

‘You’re Killing Me’ star Brooke Shields joins the show. Over frisée salad and an omelet, Brooke reflects on lifelong fame, longing for serious roles, and how she later found her confidence. Plus, we get into the important conversations the documentary ‘Pretty Baby’ sparked at her dinner table with her daughters and we get into all the fun she’s having leading the murder mystery ‘You’re Killing Me’ on AMC/Acorn. This episode was recorded at Cafe Cluny in NYC’s West Village. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You know her from Blue Lagoon, Suddenly Susan, Lipstick Jungle. She has a new show out on AMC Acorn called You're Killing Me. It is the icon herself, Brooke Shields. I mean, I practically have Suddenly Susan on a loop in the house going, Mom was funny. Watch your mother be funny. This is Dinner's On Me, and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. So today we're at Cafe Clooney, where I have been coming to for years here in New York City.

It's definitely a West Village institution known for, its reliable take on classics, but done with the French twist. The French brioche toast is incredible. The French omelets, I always seem to lean toward the fraser salad. Every time I'm here, I see an A-Lister, West Village A-Lister. And so I thought, yes, this is the perfect place

to bring my friend Brooke Shields, because you listen, you can't get more A-List than Brooke Shields. All right, let's get to the conversation. I was just going through, my phone and I found the photos. Because I feel like the movie really... In Puerto Rico.

I was just about to have my baby. I feel like we had met before probably very briefly, but we had never really like connected. No. And Justin and I were sitting in Puerto Rico. You were on vacation with your family. Uh-huh. And I remember I had stickers on my iPods

because Justin and I had the exact same iPod cases. And so I was like, these are mine. These are his. So I just put stickers on. And you came over and you're like, oh, do you have kids? Oh, yeah. This was your icebreaker.

And I was like, oh, no, but ironically, I'm about to have a kid in like six months. And we ended up having kind of like we celebrated New Year's Eve together. Yeah? I got to show these photos, Brooke. We look so cute. We were very happy. Oh, we were so happy. And we had those things on our head.

Good. Yes. I was so happy for you guys. I remember being super excited for you. I know. And babies. Babies were coming, and we were, now we have two. And then you sent me your announcement.

I wasn't in L.A. Yes, yes. I couldn't go to that. I know for the baby shower. But what's so crazy is like right before, like those were like months before COVID. Like everything shut down. And I remember the next time I saw you, you were recovering from a broken femur. Oh, man.

It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I'm so glad I'm alive. Yes. I mean, you had a cane. I know. And that was good. I was after being in hospital for a month. Insane.

It's mind-blowing to me. That's something so, like, I know you were like, just on an exercise. Yeah, on like a balanced thing. Balance thing and like flew up in the air. But, I mean, that thing, something like that could happen so fast. But also, you know that you were recovering so quickly, too. I mean, I know it was, it probably felt like an eternity for you. And then to do it during COVID when everything was like wacky with like going to hospital and like seeing doctors.

Like doing rehab by Zoom. It's like surreal. Yeah. I was feeling so invisible because it's COVID. And I thought, oh my God, if I like, if this is it, like really, if this is it, I have to go out registering somehow. And so I started listening intently, not just to my diagnoses as they were talking, so that I could ask good questions. But I remembered something about each of the nurses,

because they switched shifts every 20 minutes or something, like you'd get different people. And so I would remember one thing about each of them. And then the next time I'd say, hey, how is your son's second year birthday on Zoom? Was it fun at all? And they'd be like, oh, Well, yes, and his grandmother sent us a blah, blah, blah.

And so they were humanized. And then I became like a person instead of a body and a bed. And, I mean, granted, I was young enough to, you know, and a lot of the people on that floor. The people who are breaking hips and femurs are not my age. They're older. And like I became really aware and intent of everything the doctors were saying. And we remember it and ask them about it the next day.

so that, and they're like, are you Googling? I was like, I'm not web-M-Ding anything. Because if I do, I will have everything in there. I will be dying. Right. I will be convinced I am dying. Yeah. So no, I'm not stupid enough to go look at WebMD.

Catastrophizing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you feel like you came out of that process, like, changed? I mean, it sounds like even just that exercise of, like, trying to connect with people, which is not like a groundbreaking concept. No. It is like, you know, in that time when we were so separated from one another and, you know, you are feeling invisible. Like, what a beautiful thing to do to just remember, like, oh, human connection is, like, a great healer in itself.

Yeah, I mean, I think I've always felt that because I think for some, well, for obvious reasons, I guess, I'm always, like, instantly isolated. Like, I'm reminded of that scene in, oh, God, last year at Marion Bad, it was a French film. and it was very avant-garde, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a reverse zoom. So we're also programmed to see this and then go into that. This started here and just zoomed out, and it was like, as a cinematic tool, it really struck me. And, like, I wrote a paper on it, and I was like, oh, I often feel that way.

Like, even, like, especially in a crowd of people, I instantly am like, like, it's, I'm, I don't know. display or there's something in there. So I think that I've understood from an early, early on that break the ice immediately or say, you know, hey, I like that shirt, you know, and kind of get people like, oh, thank you, it was my, you know, and then all of a sudden you're like, okay, now maybe they can just at least see me, hear me, you know what I mean? Like it's, you get used to it. Because I think the opposite, or the alternative is complete isolation.

Right. You know, just get smaller and tighter and stick to, because it's all too much. Right. And I didn't want to, I could do that really easily. But it's interesting that you kind of had to consciously keep that in check. Because I feel like, you know, so many people just cannot relate to being someone who's been in the public eye

as long as you have. I mean, I've been in the public eye for a lot of years, but like not since I was, you know, pre-teen. I mean, it's very intense. 11. That was your first I mean, you know, and obviously working before that, but like.

But I wasn't cognizant at 11 once old. Sure, right, right, right. Like, by 12, and people are trying to cut your hair off at the Cannes Film Festival, you're like, oh, this is not for me. Right, right, right. You know, so it's, but I get, but there's another thing about that though, which

is I've grappled with trying to reconcile it. And, hey, there's nothing to do about it. It just is. Right. But also, like, I never knew relative anonymity. Right. So it's something that, whether you choose it or not, that you haven't been robbed of something that you really treasured in a way. Oh, that's interesting. I never thought about it that way. And then that's the way I kind of psychoanalyze things because otherwise you just won't go crazy. Do you know what I mean? Like you can, and you can start feeling victimized, which is the worst.

Right. You know, you can all of a sudden start pitying yourself and losing sight of the blessings that do come with being whatever that thing is. What does it afford you? For me, if it affords me more opportunity to work, then it's worth everything. Because I'm not interested in fame or, like, that's nothing I ever coveted. I coveted doing more work and getting an opportunity to keep learning and growing as a talent, which I didn't really have much opportunity when I was.

I was coming up because I became famous so fast. That it was just sort of all of that. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Brooke talks about how her mom taught her to hustle for a buck and why it's so valuable now. And why is she almost dropped out of Princeton. Okay, be right back. Your mother showed me this Carvana thing for selling the car.

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Visit wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. And we're back with more dinners on me. Did you two need some more time with the menu? I think it's a fris salad. I think I might do that. The fray? Would you like an extra butch egg on there?

No, I think just one's fine. I think I'll do the omelet, spinach, tomato, Greer, and mixed greens, please. Maybe a mushroom in there is mine, too. Just one mushroom. Thank you. Just one. Just one.

One little lonely mushroom. Baby mushroom. Baby mushroom. Do you like your omelette soft, medium, or well done? Well, well, please. Thank you. And then the other piece of which I've kind of understood lately is that, like, as an actress and an aging one, you age out pretty quickly, right, in a way. I mean, yes, there are more roles being written for my age group and, you know, with a lot of my contemporaries that are working.

more and yes we're seeing that more so that's positively changing but if I didn't have this other element of being a commodity I probably wouldn't be able to live as well as I do because I can ferret out money-making gigs that are not don't jeopardize my career like my work right that's my mom like that's my mom sort of wanting like look we can get a car if we do this. We can get a better apartment if we do this. It was all transactional to get a better life. So in a way that doesn't nurture a career or a talent because, you know, after Pretty

Baby, my next or after, let's say, Blue, go, right? My next move wasn't a Natalie Portman move, which was go on Broadway and play Enfrank. That creates you as a thespian as a actress. I had Brooke dolls and hair dryers with my name on them. you know and was doing kind of you know shitty TV movies like because then we got to go on vacation like so it was a non

there was no plan but in hindsight it has afforded me a nice life and better schools for my kids like all of those things that I now go oh I don't resent that anymore because

in this era of my life I can use it probably until I'm however old. Yeah. Did you ever feel that, do you remember feeling when you were younger that you wish you had more opportunities like that? Did you like, yearn for that? All the time.

Obsessively. Yeah. And it would always be like between me and Huma Thurman. And like, you know, for dangerous liaisons. It's like they brought me through the ringer for that one. And then for, you know, all these different, like, I don't think I was in the raising Arizona one, but there were all those conversations that you're part of.

And that you went up for, you know, went out for. And then I was always just a little not sexy enough or too famous or too well-known. And I would unbalance the ensemble. So I couldn't be in an ensemble because... You're too much of an... I mean, let's face it an icon. Yeah. all those things, you know? And so I was just constant like, oh, I must be not good enough.

Because if I was good enough, I'd be able to get those things and I'm not good enough. And, you know, and then thank God for college, because I found myself in college. Right, right, right. Like, intellectually and emotionally differently. So, but then when I got out of college, and nobody, like, I couldn't get arrested. So it's been sort of, it's just been a really interesting ongoing kind of dialogue in my head. Right, right. But I always felt, you know, I was like even seeing Jessica the other night, like, she came up to me.

Like she saw me and she went, okay, get me up. And I was just, I could not speak. Yeah. I was like, hi, hi, Ms. Lang. I know. I was like, no, no. And part of that is because. because she's just, oh my God, and just amazing in every way.

But also, like, these are the women that I was like, if I could just be like that and get respected for my work, you know, for like my talents, you know, I'm, and then maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe that's it. You know, that's got to be it because if I was good enough, you know, it's like living with an alcoholic, you're like, I can make them stop. If I'm just good enough, you know, mommy will stop or daddy will stop, whatever. It's like it's the same crazy, crazy making, unending, never getting that approval because it's not possible.

Right. Right. So I really had to thank God for comedy. Thank God for Suddenly Susan. Like, thank God for friends. Right. Friends just blew it open, and I didn't have any problem being a comedian opposed to a serious actress, which was at that point kind of those two things. Right.

You pick a lane. Well, you were either television or film. Right. And then you were either comedian or serious. Because when you're talking about having gone to college and, you know, focusing on your career and also your independent. I know that was a time when you sort of like were able to separate from, you know, being under your mom's roof at all, at all times. And I know that was also a very difficult thing for her to like let you go.

I can only imagine, I mean, you're going to this now with your kids. So you must have some empathy, like, what it feels like to, like, have your children go out into the world. Oh, it's horrible. I can't even, I'm, my kids are so much younger than yours are right now, but like, I mean, I can't even fathom how that hard that must be. Seeing them in the rearview mirror as you're driving away from college is like a gut-wrenching experience. Do you have empathy for your mom having now processed?

I've always had empathy for my mom. I mean, like, she, of all people, she probably needed empathy. Yeah. Because you know what? That was the least, that was the most, and I wouldn't say my mom was selfish, but she was very scared and scarred. And so with that, there was. this desperate, her whole world was tied up in my love of her and her, my being her, hers. Yeah.

You know, and it was such a source of, like, there was never going to be any letting go, because why, you know, but when she, I begged to come home because I could not believe how homesick I was. Like, I couldn't believe it. I was so shocked with how, and I thought, what am I doing? Yeah. I was like, what am I doing? This is stupid. I just keep working.

Like, why would I do this to myself? And, you know, the joke was I was about a summer away from becoming Grey Gardens. Summer away, that's so good. And then she said to me, you'll never forgive yourself if you give up. She goes, you're not a quitter. She goes, remember the hula hoop. And I'd won a hula hoop contest when I was nine, never having hula hooped. And it was on the stage of Greece for their 100th performance.

And I got up on stage and I won. And I got to meet the cast and get a vinyl record signed. This is when you went to see Greece on Broadway? When I was nine. And then you went and played Brazil later. 20 years. All circle moments. Okay.

That's the universe saying you're doing the right thing, by the way. Yeah. That's crazy. Okay, so you won a Hulu hoop contest at age nine. Your mom said, remember the Hulu hoop contest. Don't quit. Don't quit. And she just wrote, remember the Hulu hoop.

And she said, you'll never forgive yourself. So she kind of forced me to stay, which for her was the beginning of the end. Because she, that was the beginning of my real individuation from her. And she never planned for it, I don't think, emotionally. That's really tough. You know, yeah, because you feel beholden, you know. But I also knew kind of how broken she was. And I thought I could do both.

but she was very gracious in the most painful way for her and you would have thought because all she wanted was to go back to the way it was you know and I'd just give her a lot of credit with just the two of you working and managing you and traveling having fabulous experiences reaping the benefits of hard work and sure yeah and I mean what we didn't know is I think just era

even if I had stayed, I was not on the right trajectory for kind of improvement, you know, because we didn't have a lot to hold on to except for fame at that point. You know, so I think those four years gave me a perspective enough to say, okay, I have to go about all of this differently. and it just took, you know, it took a turn because my next move was to leave her as a manager and go to an agency which I'd never been with before. And, you know, finding out later that, like, Sam Cohen wanted to represent me when I was, like, 14 or 15 or something, but he wanted my mom out of the picture.

I never knew this. Right. I didn't know this until she'd have. Yeah. And my godmother told me. And I was like, so he did think I had talent. So all these years, I didn't think, I thought I was rejected by him because I wasn't talented. Meanwhile, I know that that type of validation doesn't necessarily mean the world, but it did to me.

Because he was a big agent of really great actors, you know. Right. Now for quick break, but don't go away. When we return, Brooke looks back at the media scrutiny she endured as a teenager, and we get into her new murder mystery show called You're Killing Me on AMC and Acorn. Okay, be right back. Risa's knows a thing or two about great combinations. Chocolate and peanut butter, obviously, but there's more than one way to Rises.

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The uncertainty of not knowing is a form of agony. From Sony Music Entertainment and novel, this is Cut Color Kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Cut Color Kill is available now on The Binge. Search for it wherever you get your podcast to start listening today. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once, add free. And we're back with more dinners on me. So I was under the impression that I was going to come out of college a smart actress

and that Hollywood was going to be like, oh, great, and now she's intelligence. This is it. So, I mean, a trifecta. You know what I mean? We've got looks, fame, intelligence, hopefully talent. And they were like, oh, no, no, no. We wanted you kind of dumb. Like the press were like mad.

It was weird. They were weirdly. They couldn't manage it. They couldn't manipulate me in the same way. So instead of struggling through answering their questions like I used to, I would say, I don't think that that's what we're here to talk about. I mean, if you want to talk about, and they would be like, oh, she's not valuable anymore. Oh, we don't like her that way.

And also, didn't, like, Time write an op-ed or the New York Times write an op-ed about your... My mom. That was, the op-ed was about my mom. Oh, it was about your mom. But something about your scores. Oh, no, Life Magazine. Life Magazine. Printed my entire academic record from Princeton.

I mean, I was thankful that I only got one, you know, B, B minus or B. I mean, yeah, it was, God, it was like almost all A's. The grades were impressive, but still, it's insane. It's insane. Well, but I mean, it's also insane that Barbara Walters asked me my measurements. Like, how, like, people are, what? Did you ever, like, encounter her again, like, when you did the view or anything later in later years? I did.

Do you ever sense, like, her, like, ever kind of, like, I mean, when you know someone that long and you're in the media, and you've seen them grow up, you know, in the public eye, and then, you know, you're, you know, years later at the end of your career, right? I'm talking about Barbara Schultz, not you. But, you know, like, on the view. Well, okay. Thanks for asking me on your podcast, Jesse. But, like, you know, Barbara Walters now, like, you know, in this, like, the twilight of her career on the view. And, I mean, in having you on, I'm sure, as a guest at that point, like, there was no, like, sort of acknowledgement of, like, I've seen me through this.

Oh, no. Because that's not in her nature. You know, I mean, yeah, I think also it's like I took everything personally and I kind of still do. I'm much better now at not letting it affect me so much. You know, these women were like when women weren't had any power. And they're in a male world. Like, they weren't thinking about me at all. I mean, you know.

That's a very generous response. No, I think it is because, you know, I mean, you also lived through that and had to, like, as a young kid, go through the media machine. And that's just got to be hard in itself. But also, you know what, they all, well, Barbara in particular did. she and God rest of our soul she her big thing

especially on the view was Brooke and I go way back like all of a sudden my presence was had more currency in the view scenario

than it ever did on the on the way so it was like oh I'm famous and still relevant somehow in her mind or whatever because I'm on there for something. Yeah.

Because, I mean, I'm working or whatever. You do go way back. And it was, but it was like validating. It was like so interesting to sit there and going like, oh, she's needing validation in front of these ladies. It doesn't end. I don't care who you are. There is that, I mean, I don't know if an Oprah feels that way.

Maybe she's in a different world or, you know, Diane, I don't mean, you know, she's been through loss. I think that, you know, makes people a little more human. But it's so, it was really interesting to me because I was like, huh, wow, I've come from that in your mind where you were, I mean, the discomfort that I felt at age 15, and you see it on my face, standing up kind of being compared to this woman in measurements, and I stand up, I did it. Like, I didn't brush it off or anything.

If someone asked me that now, you know, I'd come back with some kind of a quip. Yeah. You know, you know, I don't know what I would say, but whoever would be... You have agency and you have, you know, you have a sense of possession of yourself now in a way that you just don't when you're that age. No, and my mom was sitting right there and she was, I think she probably had already been drinking, but like you, because I know her face. But, you know, she didn't even register that as slightly in a little. appropriate because her thing was, as long as they're talking about you, it doesn't matter what they say.

You know, we're on Barbara Walters. This is, you are my shining, you know, thing, my baby. So it didn't matter. Like it wasn't, also, that wasn't the era where people thought that was weird. Well, it's in, and I mean, first of all, the documentary is really, I'm really impressed that, first of all, you were so willing to be so open. And also, it's just astonishing to macro out, like, look at your career because it is really, it is really impressive.

And you've been through so much, and it's kind of miraculous knowing, because I've gotten to know you as an adult. And I think you're, like, one of the most, like, level-headed people I've ever met my life. And I was like, how? How did this happen? Like, you're just, you're such a wonderful, generous, caring, compassionate person. And I was like, you have every excuse to not be, like, even just a fraction less than what you are.

And yet you aren't. And anyway, but in the documentary, it's pretty baby. Brook Shield is the name of the documentary. It's a two-part series. And I had watched it years ago when it first came out. We watched it before our conversation. But, you know, there's a really interesting conversation that happens at the end of the movie with you and your family around the kitchen table. in your brownstone that I've been in,

about, and your daughter's talking about your work and, like, kind of, you know, analyzing it. I'm trying to think of the right words. Judging it a bit, but also you're really great about hearing what they're saying, not making them, like, not making excuses for it, but at the same time not apologizing for it, because that's what happened.

I loved hearing that conversation about what your daughters and what this generation, respond to why how they respond to those films and also they hadn't seen any of them they were just talking about it from the information yeah had and then Greer saying I'm never going to see any of those movies right ever has she seen no of them still has it none of them I mean you know I practically have suddenly Susan on a loop in the house going mom was funny watch your mother be funny so well what was amazing about that scene was it wasn't planned. Like we were supposed to just do B-roll. It was just going to be B-roll and have

like music, you know, like before the credits, like, oh, this is her life now. And, you know, it's not a complete tragedy. And Lana, the director, asked one question, have you ever seen any of your mom's movies? So one question she asked. We were loved and that was the question she asked. And that whole conversation happened. My first reaction when I even saw it after was, thank God your children aren't afraid of being judged for having an opinion. Like, even if that opinion is possibly judgmental to you or possibly not hurtful, but like it could be kind of make you feel like,

oh, something bad, right? and I was really proud of that because it didn't happen just in the moment it happened over the course of their whole lives asking their opinion having them voice it having it not be a right or wrong but an opinion and having been a kid who's never asked her opinion

just didn't factor in you know I didn't even know I had an opinion until I went to college so intellectually you know, I didn't know these kids thought anything of this. You know, and then seeing Pretty Baby, the film, I did not prepare Greer enough. And the first screening of it, she left in the middle.

I'm talking about Pretty Baby. The documentary. So, you know, it's all been so compartmentalized, and our life with our children in New York has been so, life in New York with children. You know, it hasn't been Hollywood and it hasn't, even when I was doing a lipstick jungle, I was like in the city, but I was there for the morning and there for bedtime. And so it was like, it was just sort of like mommy has a job. But when they were talking about all of the things that you couldn't do today and that it was exploitation, you know,

I never wanted to own up to any of that because I felt like it was going against my mom. You know, I needed to stay on her side. The other part was, I don't feel scarred from it. Like, it really was pretend. Right. You know, and you remember the Keith Carrading thing where I had to kiss him.

Yes. And I was like freaked out. I kind of thought like this. Yeah. And Louis Mal was getting madder and madder. And the director was. And he was like, no, that was endless love. The other, the other, the director, twisting of the toe.

But you were scratching your face because he was like, oh, I don't want to. And he generously, he was like 28. He said, can I talk to her for a minute? And I was 11, you know, and he said, you know, this doesn't count as a first kiss. And I went, he doesn't? He's like, this? All of this? I guess this is pretend.

It means absolutely nothing, none of it. And I was like, oh, okay. Well, I can act this. So I, you know, close my eyes lightly and, you know. And that was everything to me. So like those little moments solidified this belief. that it was literally just acting. I love that you're on TV again.

I got to watch the first two episodes of your new show. You did? I did, yeah. It took me forever to figure out how to stream these shows with like a second often indicator. No, it's impossible. But I did it. Oh, thank you.

It's called you. It's so great. It's so much fun. It's so much fun. On AMC? AMC, ACRN. Yeah. You know, these shows,

you know, you shoot them in Canada. The goal is to sell them internationally as well. And there's a formula. And, you know, this whole sort of world of only murders in the building or murder she wrote or, you know, there's this affinity for these things. But these shows, they can really tie your hands if you're not, like, creatively voice your opinion and really, really. And from day one, they have allowed me to be funny and do things that are not cool, you know, me climbing into a window with my, you know,

but hanging out, whatever, like, whatever those things are that previously in some of these environments, they've been like, no, it makes you too unlikable. Or, oh, no, you're, you know, you're too pretty to be funny like that. And you're just like, you finally go like, no, no, the reason why this is appealing is because this character looks the way she does, then she falls on her face. And it's not slapsticky, joky, but it's intelligent, self-deprecating without being self-diminishing humor. And I said the only way a show like this is going to differentiate itself at all in a sea of these mystery, the Irish Bloods and this one, going to England and Ireland and everybody's solving mysteries everywhere.

And, you know, it's like, and there's a murder every week. And, oh, my God, it's like in a small town. Yeah, I mean, we... The coastal town. Yeah, the coastal, teeny sleepy town and, you know, a fishing town. And so you kind of have to go, guys, you have to think outside the box for this because it's not enjoyable for me. You're not using me appropriately.

So lean into that so that when we get to the dramatic... stuff, it matters. Yeah. Otherwise, it's just modeling and boring. I mean, it's also like a formula that worked really well on Suddenly Susan, too. I mean, I feel like that's why I remember so much about that it was ran for four seasons.

I was an avid watcher, and I loved it. But just like watching, you know, you be ridiculous and, you know, you're such a great physical comedian, which also then, like, parlayed its way. I don't know what came first to chicken or the egg with this, but like, I think, you know,

But that was also the time of, like, you started doing Broadway. And, like, Greece came at the right time. And that was when stunt casting really hadn't happened. Right. So, you know, they weren't putting famous non-Broadway people into these lead roles. You know, Rosie was kind of the first. Rosie O'Donnell played Rizzo. I replaced her.

And that opened up a whole new world. where they realized, oh, we can get a name in there, keep the show open through the holidays, make their nut or whatever. But then I got friends. And the day after I got friends, it was like My Lana Turner moment. The next day, my agent's called and they were like,

how would you like to do your own sitcom? I was thinking. I was like to stemmed off of that friend's appearance. Because Marta Kaufman didn't let me do the crazy laugh. Yes, you talk about the syndogatory, you said, right? Yeah. Because it's such a test.

also like big swings pay off. So you're playing Matt LeBlanc's crazy stalker girlfriend. I know you talk about how you did this crazy laugh and like kind of just like over the top and throwing your head back and then like back to like being super serious. And Marta Kaufman, who's one of the creators, co-creators of a friend, David Crane was like, that's too much. No one's going to be that's too wacky. And then I know how these tape nights go because you're in front of a live audience and like they will change things they'll just like they'll figure out what works in the moment and it was one of those things where you're doing the scene and then you heard from across the stage martha i'm telling your story too no i love it but like martha calls to you like shield do the

do the do do do do it back in and so you do it do it's like the macy state parade blue like oh yeah yeah yeah yeah i was like oh my god you know because you're if you're you don't often get your instincts respected and you know and does it and sometimes it's like your instincts are wrong right it does happen oh it happens and and but at that moment I was like okay they already have the straight one in the can so if this sucks they can't just use the other one right so I thought okay and you know I went like crazy and it changed everything I mean all these guys in suits like 20 minutes later we're all walking in and I thought like oh it must be a tour. Those people are in, like, they're getting a tour of the facility. I don't know,

like, I'm in an insane asylum. And then they were executives. And they brought all the executives out of their offices to come in and, like, scout me, which I had no, I think, God, I didn't know any of that was happening. I just, it was so. While you were on set at Friends, they were already like saying we should make a sitcom. Yeah, they were, they all came down on, mass. Oh my God. Because after that laugh, people kind of went, she's, there's, what? That is, we never understood that. Oh, interesting. Thank you so much. I adore you for doing this. I've been wanted to do this for so long. I'm so glad it worked. I'm so glad it worked. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Cafe Clooney in New York City's West Village. Next week on Dinner's on Me, you know him from The Punisher, the Walking Dead,

the Bear. He's currently starring on Broadway in Dog Day After It's John Bernthal. We'll get into his intense, no-b-s approach to acting and how he brings such raw humanity to every character he plays. And if you don't want to wait until next week to listen, you can download that episode right now by subscribing to Dinner's On Me Plus. As a subscriber, not only do you get access to new episodes one week early, you'll also be able to listen completely ad-free.

Just click try free at the top of the Dinners On Me show page on Apple Podcast to start your free trial today. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Bear engineered this episode. Hansdale She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasney and Justin McKita. I'm Jesse Tyler Furton. Join me next week.