Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with D'Arcy Carden

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

More of my interview with 'The Five Star Weekend’ star D'Arcy Carden. D’Arcy recalls attending the 2020 Emmys while nominated for her role as Janet in ‘The Good Place’ and we discuss Shakespeare fears, babysitting drama and how we measure success at this point in our lives. This episode was recorded at Wife and the Somm in Glassell Park, Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Discover the craftsmanship behind every bite at your local Boershead deli counter. Boershead, committed to craft since 1905. Hey, it's Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinners on Me. This week's guest is Darcy Cardin, who you know from the Good Place, Barry, and Peacock's five-star wedding. We met a wife in the Somme in Glassell Park in Los Angeles,

and we talked about the odd jobs that paid the bills, finding her community through UCB, and how success has changed and in some ways hasn't changed the way she thinks about show business. We're jumping back into the conversation as Darcy looks back on her 2020 Emmy nomination for her role as Janet in The Good Place, a year when the Emmys were a little different.

You were nominated for an Emmy the year of COVID, right? Yes. Tell me about that, because Dan Levy's a very good friend of mine. And so I heard about his experience with like Schitts Creek and then being like in a weird like restaurant. Right. In Idaho, maybe Canada. God, it was such a weird. Where were you?

I was in my home in Echo Park with my dog and my husband wearing a Valentino dress and Adidas slides. Wait a minute. Okay. Did they send a camera to you? Yes. They sent a camera to. and like a camera guy or two that were like setting it up with masks on and then like waited outside on our porch

the whole time, if I remember correctly. It was so strange. Yes. And it was like, this is another one where I'm like, I'm so grateful and honored. But that is not how you imagine your Emmy nomination happening. It's something like at the time, in the moment, I never had the thought of like, this sucks.

I was like, I can't believe I'm nominated for an Emmy. It's only after that I've come around to being like, oh, I got totally boned, like, meaning I didn't get to experience the fun of the day. Right. Had you been to the Emmys before? I'd been to the Emmys before. Because the show had been nominated before, right? But I hadn't been nominated. I hadn't been nominated.

So it would have been fun. Yeah. Of course. I mean, it also, yes. Yeah, it would have been fun. And there was like a Zoom rehearsal, I want to say. But again, on the little monitor that they had set up. in my house.

And so you're watching, were you watching the Emmys? Yes. Okay. And were you like, I need to clean off this table behind me. You know the way you would do for like a Zoom. Right.

And Jason was like art decorating it. Of course. Like he made it beautiful. He's like we're going to move this plant and put it here. It was like a little corner of our of our house. Oh my God. And yeah, my like big 60 pound dog like on my lap.

You know what I mean? It was in a way like so sweet. Yes. and special, but also, you know, would love another opportunity. 100%. Absolutely. But there is something like, that was a one-off. Totally.

So you are part of that year. Totally, which is like history. I mean, Dan also feels the same way. He's like, I can't believe that that's so appropriate for our show that was like under the radar for so long that we won during a pandemic. And that it was like historic, if I remember correctly. They won more than anyone ever had. They won so many of me.

Sorry. Yeah, no, no, no. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had. And, like, it was huge. Yeah. It was huge.

And he was like, I would love to like... To like, maybe try it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a memory of like this little Zoom. No, not Zoom, but the monitor, a rehearsal before the Emmys, just, I guess, I don't know what it was like, but it was all my little... Category. Nominees. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Annie and, like, Betty Gilpin and all the women. And we were just sort of like in our pajamas or whatever, like, waving to each other, texting Betty under the table. Like, this is so insane. So wild. It just was very wild. And when, you know, I lost five times. So when you, I know how to this. So when you lose, but you're also just sitting at harm already.

Like, what's that moment after? Like, when the guy's come in and take the camera out of your house and then. It's so, that's so funny. It is like, it's a laugh almost. You know what I mean? It's like, it's like, what the hell? You know, I really didn't. think I was going to win and I really mean that.

You know, I did that like last minute panic write a speech, like the minute before, which my husband again was like, you did like do this an hour ago, do this yesterday. But I was like, what if? Who do I know? Totally. But, you know, I really knew I wasn't going to get it. But so there wasn't like a huge disappointment. Right.

It was more just like, that was wild. And now I'm going to tell you something that I don't need to tell you. But I'm just going to. And we can cut it if you want to. But this was an especially weird day because this is sad. But ultimately okay. Okay. God, why am I doing this?

No, tell me. My, after we, yeah, after we, after the Emmys, meaning after like we, the camera guys took the monitor away, Jason had like tears in his eyes and he's like, I have to tell you something. And I was like, what? And he was like, our nephew was in an accident. And it was like, he had been sitting with this all day. And he was, he's fine.

He's fine and he's thriving and he's the coolest kid in the world. And this is years ago. But, but he didn't, he would been like, you know, his energy was like so weird all day. And I was like, oh, he's more nervous than I am. Right. So when I think about the Emmy's day, all I think about is like, I'm going to cry, is thinking about my nephew, like, like, not knowing what was going to happen. And it's such a weird, like, when you say what was it like after, I'm like, I don't even remember because I was like, yeah.

I mean, beyond thinking about it, I was like, yeah, I mean, beyond thinking about it, I was like, distraught. Oh my God. Like, it was one of those nights where you don't know which way it's gonna go. Oh, God. How that's so heavy.

So heavy. So heavy. Oh, my God. You're sitting in a Valentina dress. I know, I know. And it just was like, you know, people are texting and like, that was fun.

And I'm like, this is just like the crazy. It just was crazy. It was crazy. He needed to get that off his chest. And like, okay. We've had this moment. Yeah, it was really. I'm glad he's okay.

So okay. But it was like. you know, he, he, he, he, he, it was not great, but they, my family, my husband's family is in Virginia and we rented an RV and drove there after. It was like, and then we stayed there for like a month. It was, it was, like, hard and sad, but he, but it was so, to have, like, that COVID time where, you know, we had nothing to do. Yes. It was pretty, like, like, amazing. It was, those big life moments actually could, we could put our attention on them. Truly, it was like, very special. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's.

doing great. Oh my god. That is wild. What a crazy sequence of events. I know, I know, I know. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Darcy and I talk about Shakespeare, New York Theater, and the unforgettable years. We both spent hustling and juggling auditions and day jobs. Okay, be right back.

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for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. And we're back with more dinners on me. You've studied Shakespeare, right? And I haven't done one in so, so long, that that would be very scary in a good way. Yeah, Shakespeare still scares me. Every time I have done many, and I don't know Shakespeare at all.

Like, I really, I have to find the No Fear Shakespeare volume, like where are like dummies down with the language. And I have to spend a lot of time with it before the first day of rehearsal so that I can look, so I can even join the conversation. Yes. I mean, it really, I have to do a lot of homework. And I now realize a lot of people do that and have to do that. But I found. Um, totally. But every time I'm cast

in a Shakespeare, I'm like, this is gonna be the one where they, like, oh. He's actually not very good at that. Totally, totally, no. But I... Like you good, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really want to do that.

Do something, do something. I mean, a Shakespeare in the park sounds like so much fun. It's the greatest thing. I really want to do that. Yeah. Have you seen Shakespeare in the park? I have.

But not you. I saw something a couple years ago. I think, I feel like it was. was Hamlet, but then it could have been Macbeth because sometimes those get mixed. Wait, let me just think. It was Hamlet. It was Hamlet. It was Hamlet, yeah.

But that might be the only thing I've seen. How? I mean, it's not, they don't make it super easy to get tickets. And when I lived in New York for 10 years, well, it's free, right? It is free, which is why I make so hard. I can't blame it on. I can't blame it on people. Because it's free, people wait out in line for, you know.

I think that was the day. Days. I remember when we were doing 12th night last summer, you know, it was with Peter Njonga and Sandra O and Peter Dinklage, and the reviews were glorious. It's like by the end of the run, people were waiting out in line, and we would leave the evening show,

and we would see people already in line for the next night. And they would camp out. They would camp out on the street. Oh, wait, because they're not allowed to go in yet. They're not allowed to go in yet until the next morning. So the line would be like five or six. six blocks long. Oh my God.

Then in the morning they would all file in. And sometimes the people at the end of that line would not get tickets and they would start the line for the next day. They're like, well, if not tomorrow. I don't think that is commitment. I have like a memory, maybe, God, I have a memory.

Maybe there, it's either, it either was a story I heard. I did it myself where I watched a documentary. That's one of those stories. Yes, where like people, are waiting in line outside of the park and then the second you're allowed to go in, there's just like kind of speedwalking to the front of the line. Like, you have to stay in line the same way you were.

Right. Well, I think it now, I don't know how they did it back then or in your dream or in this documentaries. But they now give, I think, tickets to people so that they're like, they can leave and come back and they have their voucher. Do you think that maybe because of the internet and Instagram and everything that like our memories are sort of like what is real and what is a memory and what happened to me and what I watch.

I will adopt someone else's experience as my own. Yes, that's scary. It is scary. And I will truly, it's not like I'm trying to get away with someone else's story. Like, I truly think it happened to me. This happened to me. I, um, when I, I, I, I, okay, I moved to New York to do theater, but fell in love

with improv. So my life in New York was doing improv shows at UCB. And that is when this was the weirdest is because I would be doing, I don't know, 10 to a hundred different characters and, scenes a night. Yeah. And then I would be like, did that, I would have a memory of something that happened.

And then I would be like, that was in a show last night. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that was not a real thing that happened. That wasn't a real thing. Yeah. That was the thing that I'm thinking of was something that was made up in an improv show last night.

That happens to me more and more. And I don't know. Maybe it is something that, the way that we're consuming information. Yeah. Too much. Too much. Too fast. Not being able to put like context experiences, sort of just like taking it all in and like

filing it away, 100%. Yeah, it's bad. Or dementia. Yeah, early. Or just old age. Young old age. Young old age. Such young old age.

I'm loving this food. This is very special, this tuna tartar. So you lived in New York for 10 years. What neighborhood did you live in? I lived mostly, I mean, I lived in a lot of neighborhoods. You too. Longest was Hell's Kitchen in Brooklyn Heights. Brooklyn Heights.

Whoa, fancy. But like, in a one bedroom. Still. And even still, like, the other day I was talking to Jason, I was like, how did we get that apartment? It was like, it wasn't nice, but it was in a gorgeous, it was, it was in like a, it was on a street that was one block away from the water and had like, like, like fire street lights. Do you know what I'm talking about? Like a flame. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So beautiful. Like did a little guy like in a long, like, like nightgown light it every night? Yes, every night. We loved them. But I was asking. Jason about that and he was like, he was like, our landlord hated us because we had somehow gotten a great deal and she was just like, get out of here. Now for another quick break, but don't go away.

When we come back, Darcy and I look back on our years as nannies in New York and we discuss whether breaking into the business is any different today than it was when the two of us got our start. Okay, be right back. Here at the Happiness Lab, we're serving up some hot takes for the summer, big ideas that just might reshape how you think about your well-being. like the radical notion that we should get rid of small talk completely. We talk about current events.

We talk about what you do for a living, but not do you love what you do for a living. Is this your dream job? For more surprising ideas backed by psychological science, check out our new series, Happiness Hot Takes. Listen to the Happiness Lab with me, Dr. Laurie Santos, wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back with more dinners on me.

I know we shared this in common too. I babysat exclusively in Brooklyn Heights. So I know this parks very well. Yeah. Yeah, Brooklyn Heights is great. You babysat exclusively. And was that like five choices? Okay, okay.

That's so funny. No, I, I don't know how I actually ended up getting involved. No, this makes sense. As an actor, like, I was just like looking for anything that, I'm sure you had the same experience, but like I was doing like retail. I never waited tables in New York, but I did retail and I was a bartender at a Broadway theater and I was just needed, I needed cats, that's right. And I needed money.

So I think it was an actor friend of mine. It's right. His name's Alex, Alex Draper. And he was like, well, we could definitely use help. And now as a parent, I totally understand. I was like, God, anyone who looks normal and like cool and fun, like come on in, help out. Like join the payroll. But isn't that?

Wait, keep great. So anyway, I started working with him and his daughter, Nora, who I think I ran it to them like, I don't know. And she's like a full adult. And she's like a full adult. Yeah, it was really weird. Yeah. And then I got, I was with Nora at the playground and I got poached by another family. Yes. That didn't know them?

That did know them. Oh my God. Oh. Oh. Dron. He's a screenwriter, Billy. And his wife was, they were incredible. And like, for a while, like, it was like, both the family was, like, shared me happily. Yeah. But then it was like, you know, they would like, one would need me. And then the other one would be like, well, I'm with the other family. And they kind of get. A little. And now I'm experiencing this as important. Yeah. I bet. Totally. You're like your mind. Yeah. Absolutely. Right. I need you to make a. commitment. Exactly.

Contract. This was like, when I was a babysitter in New York, my move was like to have a bunch of families so that nobody could count on me so that if an audition or a show came up, I could just bail. If I was somebody's every day, then I wouldn't be able to go to an audition. But if I had 10 different families, then I could always say I'm busy that day. Right. You know? Yeah.

Which worked really well for a really long time until I fell in love with like one family and then completely uprooted my, not uprooted, kind of uprooted my life because I was just like, I'll do anything for her. Yeah. She's mine. Yeah. You know?

No, that's kind of how, I mean, I love both of the families that I worked with. And then it's a third family that I kind of worked with a little bit. But I remember, because they were all involved in the industry. And I remember them coming to see like my little shows off Broadway. Yeah. So proud. So proud. They were so sweet.

Yeah. I also remember one of the guys, that Billy, who was one of the fathers, one of the families, he is a screenwriter, as I said, and he was writing something. And I was kind of like, are you going to let me audition for it? And it was sort of like weird for him, I think, to like, also, you know, he wanted me to stay in my job that I had because I was actually helping him do his job. So, you know, there was that weird thing of like, oh, well, do I extend an audition to the babysitter. And then I remember during that time, I got an audition for Spam a lot. And then Spellingby

happened. And so I ended up having to leave them anyway. But for said, they must have been so proud of you. They were. I think Spellaby was my introduction to you. Was it? Yeah. So what I want to say like 2002 or three. That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was like, mind blowing. Like, if you were a musical theater person and you like improv, that shows right up your And you were incredible. And the cast was so good. It was really like a very special show. Especially like, I think I'd been in New York for a year and things were like not going great.

I was having a great time, but it's not like I wasn't on Broadway. You know what I mean? I wasn't, I wasn't, it certainly wasn't like easy. And then kind of seeing like a bunch of funny weirdos on stage gave me a lot of hope. Do you know what I mean? Where I was like, okay, there's a place for me. Right. And also that it was created from.

of scrappy roots. Yes, totally. Which, you know, with UCB, I mean, it's, it was the same spirit that Spelling Bee was created. You know, there's a funny thing, like, Spelling Bee could have been a show at use, a really good show at UCB. Like, you know, Gutenberg.

Yes. A couple years ago was on Broadway, came from the depths of the UCB stage. And it was just as good there. So it was very, like, inspiring to kind of see where, like, musical theater was going. It was really exciting. And you were just incredible.

You really, really were. And then it was like, this is so funny. I think in my mind you went from Spelling Bee straight into the class. Is that right? I did. Because I just remember being like, my guy! He's mine. That's what about Kristen Dup because I knew her from musical theater.

And then all of the time she was like Veronica Mars on a billboard. That's mine. Yeah, I was like, she's one of me. It almost felt like I claimed you or it was like my friend was now on TV. That's so sweet. I love that. Thinking back on your, your, your, um, bartending and your babysitting, I was the same way. It was like a hundred jobs a day.

You know what I mean? I feel like I would like leave my apartment at six in the morning with like a house on my back. Yeah. Of like audition clothes and a change for this job and maybe like a little blazer for this job. And then like I had a show that night, whatever it was, it was, it was like, I love New York. But so much, not even but. I love New York. and it was like such a struggle.

It's such a struggle. I don't know how I did it. Me too. I wonder if it would have been easier for me to struggle in L.A. Why do I think not? I don't know the answer. I think it, I mean, it seems just like it's an easier, like the weather is better.

You can have a car. Right, you can have a car. These are also things that you had to pay for, not the weather, but like the car. It does feel like New York is like set up for struggling somehow. Yes. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, when I look back at like what I did to survive and how I survived, I'm like, wow, I really must have had so much confidence in myself because you can't be in that circumstance being like, this is going to be in my life for a long time.

Yeah, totally, totally. I mean, the apartments I lived in, the roommates, the roommates. The, like, and the jobs, the millions of jobs and the zero dollars and just like knowing it couldn't be like this forever. Yeah, there is like a little bit of confidence in like delusion or something where it's like, well, this has to work out. I want, yeah, I don't know. I mean, I wonder what that is. I think it is, I mean, I talk about this with actors all the time and I was just had just had end out on yesterday. I love her so much. Wait, is she in town? She was, yeah.

Oh my God. For Press for the Testaments. We did Handmaid's tale together and we got a lot of time together. Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's great. I love her. But we were talking about how young actors, I was like, I always say, like, if you don't have to do this, then don't.

And I remember, like, a professor saying that to the class and taking it in, like, really being like, okay, this is good advice. It feels harsh just to hear that. And also even to say it out loud. I know. Because it seems mean. But there is something to that. It feels like you have to really have a passion. But then I look at other people, and things are certainly different now with social media.

But, like, there are some really talented people working who, like, kind of fell into. to this do like Instagram. Yeah, that's true. I know. And they're super talented. Very talented.

And some aren't. Yeah, but like some true, like, full on, like, I mean, I'm thinking of a few people

in my mind. Even Victor, who did Sorry Baby, a genius. Yeah. And really, like, the first time I saw them was on Instagram,

just doing like front-facing comedy. But I wonder, like, sometimes I think about that, yeah, like, did they struggle? Right. I know, is that, what is the equivalent of, like, Instagram? I'm doing this because it's like the kind of comedy.

Yeah. What is, is that equivalent not to be like, we had it harder, but like, what is that like compared to, like, waiting in the line that you don't get into even the audition and the, like, cattle call? Well, and now people are putting themselves on tape and, like, I, you know, people are finding, like, little corners of their apartment and putting themselves to tape. And, like, Lucas Gage went kind of viral during the pandemic for being demig. being demoralized on a Zoom audition. You know, this guy's like making fun of his apartment, not realizing his microphone was on. And like...

What a moment. And he handled it so well. He handled it so well. And he's also now like, you know, a big star. So it's like... Yeah. I don't know. It's wild. I mean, I think there's... Yeah. I think I don't wish I was struggling now. Does that make sense?

I was going to ask you if you wish that you had started in an environment like this today. And I don't. Yeah. I kind of like how... I don't know. sort of feels like another era, truly. It does.

Like, you know, maybe this, I think we, okay, you know that feeling when you walk in an audition room and you go like, oh, there are 10 of me. Oh, Jesus Christ, you know? Now it's like that times a million where you're kind of like, you can see the world here.

Yes. And you can see, I don't know if it's like your competition. And this is so, well, actually, this is actor specific, but this is also just like person. This is just like, I have a dream, I have a hope, I have a want in my life, and now I can see that this person is doing it already, and maybe they're doing it better, or they already got to it or whatever, and there's sort of like a,

like we only could see what was in front of us back in the day. Right, right, right, right. I don't know. I don't know. I think it would have been, it would have been easier for me to be, to feel like it's already, I'm already out there in some other way. Yeah, no, I agree with you. And I also, I feel because I had no, desire or even not desire, but like, I just never imagined myself being on television.

Yeah. So for me, like, my gauge of success was, like, the theater that was, like, playing in this, like, ultimately, very small part of the world, even though New York's, like, the greatest city in the world. But, like, it was a very, very small community. Yeah. So I kind of, I gauged my success on what felt like a community of people that I felt comfortable around.

And, like, now it does feel so much bigger. And, um, I don't know. It's wild, and I don't know how people are doing it now. That was a little more from my conversation with Darcy Cardin. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet, make sure to check it out on Dinner's On Me. This episode of Dinner's On Me was recorded at Wife and the Song and Glassell Park, Los Angeles.

Next week, you know him from therapist, viral TikToks. It's the internet sensation Jake Shane. We talk about the accidental video that changed his life, and why validation is more complicated than people admit. 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 Baer engineered this episode. Hans Dale 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 Ferguson. Join me next week.