Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Ali Larter

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

More of my interview with ‘Landman’ star Ali Larter. Ali tells me more about making the move to Idaho. We reminisce about early career auditions and our love for the kitchen. This episode was recorded at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We want to maybe have a few dinners there. We want space for the kids to hang out and play, and we don't want to be too cramped. That's the main thing. So we're staying at a home I booked on Airbnb. Every time I stay at one, I'm reminded why I love them so much. It's the thoughtfulness. You walk in and everything's just handled. There are fresh towels that actually match.

and the heat's already on and the kitchen has basics you always forgot to pack and there's a clear note telling you how to work the fireplace so you don't actually, you know, set the place or yourself on fire. And honestly, I've been thinking about hosting my own home on Airbnb while I'm away on trips, but managing everything seems like a lot to juggle. So that's when I turned to Airbnb's co-host network.

It's so great. You can partner with a local co-host who, can manage everything, messaging guests, styling, stalking, making sure check-ins are smooth, all the little touches that make a stay feel effortless. So if you've been thinking about hosting, but all those details feel, you know, overwhelming, as they should, a co-host can help you create that, wow, they really thought of everything feeling without you having to become a full-time inkeeper. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. Hey, it's Jesse.

So listen, I have a little extra side dish for you from this week's episode of Dinners on Me with Ali Larder, who is currently starring in the hit series Landman streaming on Paramount Plus. We got together on the penthouse paddy of Mastro Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, and I was so excited to break into a seafood tower with her and get into her career. and her new life in the Midwest, and her amazing part is Angela, opposite none other than Billy Bob Thornton. I mean, this show, Landman, has such an amazing cast.

Demi Moore, John Hamm, Sam Elliott. Allie told me about her audition process, the early days of working together, and what it was like shooting on location in Texas. Okay, let's dive into the conversation. You all are so incredible. It was like, it was a long process for me. You know, I've talked about my casting process a lot,

but it was over three months. And my first audition was four pages, the first scene and the FaceTime scene. But you don't know that because you don't have the script. Right. You know, like, and a lot of the actors are just offered these roles in Taylor's world. You know, with John Papsedera and Taylor kind of going through it, and then he casts around it and he puts the other actors for a really arduous process.

and I'd unfold it, and then I had, like, 10 pages, and then the night before I had to fly down to test, he threw in an extra three-page monologue, so I had 19 pages. Oh, my God. I know. But it's, like, after I even read the first, you know, scene, I wanted to play this character

because it's very rare for me in my career that I've gotten a chance to, like, lean into all the sides of a woman, and she can be so ballsy and fierce, and then also there's these, like, massive vulnerable moments, and the moments of, like, historical, where she's putting on a show, you know, trying to get a rise out of her husband or, you know, just making life fun and a game. And then there are these real moments of sincerity. There's just

so much, there was so much in there. And I wanted to do that. Like, I wanted to get in, like, dig into all those complexities. And I really wanted to work next to Billy and be part of something that I thought could be very special. I mean, you've had, like, this, there's a theme in, like, the roles that you've played, that you play these women who on the surface can be underestimated and they have this great agency to them. And this, I mean, you're so spot on by saying that you're playing so many different facets because I have seen you, I've seen versions, like colors of this character and other people you've played. But this is a very full version. And I think part of that's just, you know, the, um, the, um, the luxury of getting to play someone over many episodes.

You get to parse out these pieces. And it's such a gift when you get to play that on a series. But I mean, I, I just, I love how much agency, agency she has over herself, but also of over the people that she loves. Yeah. I mean, in Texas, the women really run the show. I mean, that's part of it too. You know, it's like, it's, it's truthful to that part of the world. When I say that, It's the fiercest to them and a strength, but they, like, own it, you know? Yeah, it's been really exciting to kind of get to go to those places and have scenes that are 10 pages long, too. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's such a dream.

You never get that. And that's, to me, what makes our show so different, you know? And you all are on a location together in West Texas, right? Yeah, five months in Fort Worth. Yes. Fort Worth. I do love Fort Worth, but my grandparents were from that area. Did you grow up going there?

I did. I grew up in New Mexico. Okay. So we would drive into Texas and like in West Texas. Yeah. It's an incredible place. Yeah. Do you, I mean, what's it like, how do you fill your time there? I mean, we're working a lot.

Okay. You know, like especially this season, I was, I'm always working. Last season, you know, I love being in Fort Worth because you're around the reality of what the show is. You know, it's like, it's like you go to the stockyards. You feel like the cattlemen, you know, there's nobody wearing a kid. cowboy hat that doesn't like didn't just come from the fucking rodeo you know what i'm saying like there's no like pomp and circumstance in that way it's really real and so that i love and i love being around the women who are just like tough and fierce but like really own their femininity like

love it you know so it's like really interesting to be able to have that around and then all that just bleeds into why the show looks and feels authentic yeah i mean that that part of the um the country is so interesting because there's such insane wealth with just the industry that that's there and I remember I was at a human rights campaign gala and that the Texas contingency was there and they were like high hair lots of sparkles and like this is how they do it gala

more is better and they were the ones who were like when it was like the live auction like they were the ones that were like going way higher than anyone else in the room absolutely I mean, it's a place unto itself, and it's like Dallas is so different from Fort Worth, all the different places within Texas have their own unique kind of thing that makes them, them. But the oil is just, I mean, that's the heartbeat of Fort Worth, you know, and it's just like generational. I mean, have you ever spent any, like, extended amount of time there? Is this like... That was my first time going. And now it's like, you know, when I have time off, I'm flying home to my kids. So it's like as a working mom, yeah, in Idaho. And as a working mom, like, you're doing it and you have three or four days.

Like, you're jumping the plane. You're going and doing that. You're jumping back. And I just think of it. It's like, it's like in two ways, like, this is the greatest season of my life, but it's not really my season. Meaning, like, I'm so busy, like, either working on the show or being with my children or connecting with my parents, being with my husband. And then you're, like, back to work. You know, so it's not like a downtime.

It's not like this time of like self-growth and development. It's this time of like, it's just, it's go time, you know. Yeah, I mean, we just, I think I'm a parent now. Yeah. Oh, bless. Congratulations. Yeah. I look at my, this is two boys.

Okay, beautiful. I look at my career in such a different way now as a parent. I mean, I prioritize my time obviously differently. I also find myself going back and forth and traveling way more. And it's like, it's not even something I think twice. about. It's just like the way it has to be. Exactly. Exactly. But also like, you know, when I was doing Modern Family, for example, I was just, you know, I was in a new relationship. That's all I had to worry about. I was just like, you know, free and easy. And like I just, I had a different

relationship with this industry. And now it's, you know, it's different. Well, we've all been doing this for a long time. I listened to you with Lizzie Kaplan and was laughing about like the smokehouse, you know, like the pilots that we all got and then didn't go. And like, that's so crazy. Yeah, John Hamm was just like, like, trying to find a job. That's wild. He was pre-madman. He's like, I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, just sitting at the smokehouse.

Just sitting at the smoke house. You know, trying to find it. Just trying to figure it out. But, like, all the actors, I feel like during that time, like, everyone did lean on each other. Yeah. You know, like, that's when it was like seven auditions a day. Like, I was, like, racing in my carola. And so the next one, you know what you're saying?

The air conditioning is out. You're sweating. You get your pages, like, the second you get there. It was such a different time in our industry. And, you know, know, I kind of cherish it, too, you know? And then most of the people that are coming up now will never experience what we experience. No, it's so different now. I mean, I cherish it, but I'm also, like, glad to be past it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's no going backwards. No. No. No.

No. No. No. So my son's 14 and our daughter's 10. Okay. Yeah. So it's fun. It's actually really fun ages. You know, I think you'll, you'll see, like, as they get older, you really want to start, like, traveling with them and, like, experiencing things together. We're in the the beginning it's like you know you love to take them on trips but trips but then you want to go with your partner and go off on having experience now we all want to be together and so that's where life has really shifted in the last couple years is we want them on the adventure with us you know it's fun ages yeah it's fun ages for that yeah i mean i'm having fun now at three and five so it's just the travel gear like the amount of stuff the strollers and the hugaboos and the da-da-da

and the food i think we're fortunately out of the stroller phase now okay good Oh, my God. The first time I traveled with a stroller, if there had been, and I'm sure there's, like, a head camera on me. Yeah, yeah, some TNC. There is, I mean, the way I threw this stroller across the airport trying to figure out how to open it up. Yeah.

Or just shoving them in your car. Like, just never, I never collapsed mine the whole time. I was like, get in that hatchback. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Allie tells me why she moved her family from L.A. to Idaho during the pandemic. Okay, be right. back. Big thanks to HomeServe for sponsoring this episode. You know, owning a home, it's amazing until it's not. One minute you're enjoying your morning coffee and the next, your ankle deep in water

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Yes. And you love it. I love it. You know, we drove in five years ago on our daughter's sixth birthday. And we were only going for two months. It was like, you know, trying to homeschool during that was just brutal. And, you know, that time is a place where, you know, you know, Hayes and I were like, this isn't working. And if they're going to be on screens, let's go ski as a family, let's have an experience.

And I'd actually never been to Sun Valley. That was my husband's, I'm going to say Sun Valley. You know, he gets so mad at me. He's like, we live in Idaho. Stop saying that. But we drove into the ski town. And, you know, it was incredible. to be able to be together in this tiny rural place and then ski and they would do a couple hours and then we realized that schools were open there so we put our daughter in kindergarten and we extended it because it was still shut down in LA and so she was able to go and be around other children and that was so that was so lucky that you got to do that incredible and then we also spent a lot of time outside you know so she didn't have to be masked because they're you know they're looking at mouths so they're still learning with their vocabulary and facial expression and all that so we spent a lot of time outside and

And then we went home for the summer because we'd recently built a house and Rustic Canyon that we thought was going to be like a generational house, you know, that we would be there forever and pass it down to the children. And we looked at each other and we're like, could we do this?

Like, we're both working actors. You know, the idea was like, you know, he would do like, you know, a comedy on the lot. You know, I would do some kind of drama, maybe do a movie that I traveled here or there, but we'd be with our children the whole time living a life, like, you know,

trying to normalize our profession in some way. So, yeah, so we came back for the summer and we were just like, can we do this and will we lose our careers? Like, you know, what's going to happen, you know? And it was the first time I think my husband, you know, and I were like, let's force the path that feels right to us. Yeah.

And, you know, let the cards fall where they're going to fall. And if we get on flights more for an audition or whatever that is, like let's just try. And so we went there, we rented a house, you know, we put our children in school, and we just fell in love with the community. Which to me seems like that's a real commitment when you put your kids in school because that's, you know, they're going to start developing relationships. That's right. That's the part that, like, hard. Justin and I talked about, did we go back east now that, you know, I'm kind of like working more everywhere.

That's the other thing. It's like the industry sort of has shifted from L.A. or even New York. It's sort of just in different places now. Yeah. You don't really need to be in these cities. But, you know, when you think about it, we're like, well, you know, with the kids, like, once we move them, it feels a little bit more permanent. I think, like, we were at 10 and 6, and that's, like, kind of the last time. Yeah.

10 is like, you got to get somewhere by 10. Yeah. You know, because he went into the fifth grade and, you know, he had this extraordinary teacher. And, you know, it just started really feeling right, knowing that we could pivot and come back, you know. Like, we weren't, I was giving it a year, you know, of. going is this possible and it just you know like we just kept getting like green lights you know like our son met an incredible group of boys we met some amazing families that had grown up there and lived there for generations and then also people that had recently done the same move um

and it's small and and we loved the idea of really giving our kids the values of a small town yeah you know like really slowing down being accountable respect you know that kind of stuff yeah Would you let your kids in the industry? I feel like the responsible thing is to say no. I love what I do so much. The idea of my parents not allowing me to do that is devastating. I also, when I started, I was in Alta Cricu, New Mexico, and I didn't, like, dive into L.A.

Right. I look at like Aubrey Emmens who played my daughter a modern family and she started when she was four and she's an incredible you know young adult now but as I saw like how hard that was

for her too I mean like you know not just not just not understanding what she was doing and like I saw like you know people being frustrated with her because she's four and it's like you know she can only do what she could you know so that part like seeing thinking about

my kids in that sort of stressful environment. That's very, very young. I don't know if I can do that. But if they wanted to explore it in a way that felt safer, kind of like the way I felt like I was able to, maybe he felt like you were able to, I think that I'd be very open to it.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I agree, you know, it's really hard with social media now because, you know, my son's almost 15, so he's allowed to, you know, he got Snapchat and he's allowed on it. But our daughter is in, and she, I think, she has like 575 videos from this year already.

She videos herself. She does little diaries in the morning. She knows like she's got cap cut. She's got all this stuff. She doesn't show it to anyone. It's like her and her friends. They just like text them back to each other. So it's just private for her and for us.

But she loves it. You know what I'm saying? She loves it. And she is a bit of a ham. So we'll just, we'll see how it unfolds with their life. But I think that for me with this business, the one thing is like, I wouldn't want them just to, like, go to Juilliard or go to, like, the Tisch.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you need to have two parts of your life within this industry. You know what I'm saying? So that you don't have, you don't have to rely on this industry. This industry needs to be, like, the bonus in life, you know?

It's like, I want them, I would hope that they have two parts of it, you know? Yeah. What would you have done if you, if things didn't pan out? I don't think we thought, like, have we followed that advice? No, ever.

Well, exactly. Exactly. Because I don't know what I would have done. Like I say now, it's like, oh, I would have gone to culinary school, which I think I would have. Yeah, that's possible. But I don't know if, like, at that young age, I would have known that that's something that I was excited about. Right. I did want to be a news broadcaster.

Like, I thought that was going to be my path. And I ended up having a chance to go to Japan when I was 17. And that was a real pivot for me that was like first starting to go to New York and then starting to travel internationally. Did you go with family? I went alone. It's like my dad will always say. It's like walking me. to the airport and like the sobs because he knew like I wasn't coming back as a parent now could you

imagine this I would be there just like two hotels away yeah I will track my children I like I do not even care oh yeah like I was a force of nature though I don't know my if my parents knew what to do with me you know what I'm saying um but you know that's when I kind of got the wanderlust you know and I got this chance to live in Japan and Italy and was traveling and it was just again being exposed to so many different people in different cultures. It was enthralling. And so that's when I started like kind of going, okay, like how do we want to express ourselves? What do you want with your life? And I came to L.A. and started at the Howard Fine Studio and just like dug in. And I was like, if you're going to do this, you just need to study. Right. And I've worked with, you know, everyone from Tony Greco,

Ivana Chubbuk. I've talked about like, you know, and then you work with all these different people and you put together what starts to work for you, right? Like different pieces of the process. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Allie and I bond over our shared love of cooking. Ooh, fun fact, we both have cookbooks. You know what? Go buy them, actually. I'm going to plug them.

They're great. Okay, be right back. I've talked pretty openly on this show, but, you know, therapy actually has been really a very important part of my life. Not because of some big thing that happened, but because, Having a space to check in and get honest and talk things through actually makes everything else feel so much more manageable. The hardest part, though, can be getting started. I literally think I had start therapy on my to-do list for, well, longer than I would like to admit. Grow therapy makes it way easier to check off the list.

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And we're back with more dinners on me. You wrote a cookbook. I did. I wrote a cookbook, too. Comment! What's it called? Mine's called Food Between Friends. You're going to get a copy.

Most definitely. All of my guests get a copy. Okay. So is yours like dinner parties then? It's not dinner party. Yours is dinner better entertaining. It's called food. I mean, it's sort of about cooking with friends.

So I have a very close friend named Julie Tannis, who's my cooking partner. And she went to culinary school. I always wanted to go to culinary school. I always wanted to go to culinary school. Yes. And because of my career, I just never had time. I mean, it's really a commitment. Yeah, of course.

I mean, it's not just, like, something you can do in the evenings. No. It's a whole thing. No. And I really wanted to do it right. And so, like, she sort of, like, helped me figure out my way around the kitchen. Because I was, you know, a great home cook. But, like, I wanted to, like, learn some real skills.

And so we started cooking together, and we started developing some recipes together, and that led into a cookbook. So she's on the cover with me. It's me and her together. Beautiful. So what was, like, the greatest skill that you learned? I mean, truly just like how to dice an onion properly. Yeah, I like that I can do that.

Right, take the top off, slice it by, yeah, yeah, yeah. But just like taking the long way for things. Right. And not always doing the shortcut. Yes. Which is time, which is a luxury. I love to miz on floss. Like, I love to put everything in their little bowls.

Yes. She's really great pastries and cook, like, she's a great baker. So she taught me how to, like, really do a great pie and, like, make good pie dough. Mm-hmm, just things that, like, I was always kind of scared of. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really proud of it.

There's never ending amount of things to learn how to make, you know? Like, there was no way I was getting on the sourdough train. Yeah. Because, like, I don't need bread in my house. Like, my husband jokes, like, when I'm, when I'm filming or leaving on press tour, and then when I'm not working, the kitchen is totally different. It's two different kitchens, you know, because I will eat everything. I don't have a lot of self-control.

Like, I really love cooking, and I really love eating. Oh, I keep my, I just keep it clean I eat a lot. It's just like I'm not doing the cheeses and dripping in red wine and like, you know, all like the beef wellingtons and like baking, baking, baking, which I love to do too. Like simpler baking, not super complicated because

it's for the children. But like I'd love to do a Pavlova and I love like a flowerless chocolate cake. Like that's always around for me now. But I do, I just, I love that you made a cookbook and I think mine's like over 10 years old now and I took I took two years off after my son was born

because I just needed a break to not be in the public eye and be judged at every single turn of your life and it was like one of the great decisions of my life also. Is this right after heroes? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I had Teddy and then I did that

and it just was like it took a couple of years. Writing a cookbook, I don't think people understand how arduous I can be though. Oh my gosh. I mean, you have to not only develop recipes but then hire recipe testers who can cross test these things. For sure. It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing. And I remember being so fixated on certain recipes I wanted to create and like they weren't working out. It was like jamming a square

peg into a round hole. I was like I know I want to do this. Or you wake up at three in the morning and you just start cooking. Like that was a big thing for me like where I'd wake up at 5 a.m. I was back in the kitchen and mine was more like the 10,000 hours. You know, it's just like things that I had made over and over and over and over again. And my best friend Tracy Zahorian and I did together and that was the greatest gift because we were just like we made it as an expression of what we love to eat yeah you know what i'm saying like how we love to throw a dinner party and you know it was like kind of before everything was kind of being shown as messy yeah and that was a huge part of it like how the mistakes yeah exactly make it beautiful right and the things that don't work

you make it a positive you know 10 years ago it was all about you know the tweezers and like everything It was so beautiful. Yeah. And like, that's just too much pressure. It's unattainable and it's too much pressure for a home cook. It's just simply too much pressure. And that takes away all the beauty of cooking to me. Yeah.

You know? So, well, lucky us that we got to do our cookbox. I know. That was a little more for my chat with actor Allie Larder. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet, make sure to check it out on dinner's on me. This episode of Beard. Dinners on Me was recorded at Mastro's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, California.

Next week on Dinners on Me, you know him as, well, my husband, Cam, on Modern Family. It's Eric Stone Street. We'll get into some of our favorite memories working together over 11 seasons. Eric's incredible attention to detail when it came to Fisbo the Clown. Plus, I get the inside scoop on his super secret wedding. It was so secret, I didn't even know about it until just a few days before it happened. This is going to be a fun one. 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. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasni and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.

This is not a drill. For the first time in Lipstick on the Rim history, a real housewife has entered the studio. And not just any housewife, Rachel Zoe, the fashion legend herself. Did we expect styling stories, glam, chaos, stories from the past decade and a full cat eye at all time? yes. Did we expect her to open up about divorce, rediscovering herself, joining housewives as

zero prep, and what it feels like to finally feel like her again? No. It is vulnerable, iconic, hilarious, and one of our favorite conversations ever. The real housewives have officially entered the chat. Listen now.