Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Simon Helberg

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

More of my interview with 'The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘The Audacity’ star Simon Helberg. Simon tells me about the unfortunate way he found out ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’ was cancelled, how he untied his self-worth from achievement, and how parenthood brought more perspective. Plus, I share a funny time at this restaurant that involved his ‘Big Bang’ costar Jim Parsons. This episode was recorded at El Condor in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now you have the opportunity to hold this chapter of Canadian soccer history in the palm of your hands. Score the FIFA World Cup 2026, $1.5.4. today. Look forward in your change. Hey, it's Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinner's On Me. This week's guest was Simon Helberg, who you probably know from the Big Bang Theory and the AMC dark comedy, the audacity. We met up at El Condor on Sunset Boulevard, the legendary Silver Lake spot that's been serving margaritas and enchiladas for over a decade.

Now, with El Condor set to close its doors later this summer, it felt like the perfect time to settle on their front patio and soak in the hip east side vibes. Now, to get back into the conversation, you're pulling up a chair as Simon explains his casting process for the Big Bang Theory. I got, like, cocky, not cocky, but I got excited because Studio 60 was like coming together,

and I think that I already had it. I can't remember, but the original Big Bang came along, And it was Jim's, it was when they would, like, fax the sides. And I just remember the sides. I used to call my fax machine a sides machine. Yeah. Because that's the only thing that would come in on. Yeah, exactly.

And it came out. My size machines running. Yeah. Got an audition. This was post, the remember you set to flatten them, though? Did you? Mm-hmm. That this, we were in a little bit of a better time.

We had flat paper. But this was, um, so the sides came doing, it was for Sheldon. And it was just three, four pages of dialogue. And I was like, oh, I'm not going to audition for this. Because I was already like, I think I was already up for Studio 60 and it was like tomorrow. And it was this man. It was Jim's model.

He had it. He did it in the pilot. And it was like, I was like, I'm not, I can't do that by tomorrow. And I didn't go in and Jim got it, which was the way it was always supposed to be. And then the next year, they redid it. They came around. They had this character. I said this a many times, but I was doing pseudo-60 and I was like, I don't want to do another failed pilot, another nerd, another character.

like this and I'm happy I'm on the Zeranswarkin show and I kind of shied away from it and then I got sort of coaxed into like trying and going and then I got it and I and of course Studio 60 just like disintegrated. So you didn't know that's fine that Studio 60 was canceled or was it no they never I don't know if they did this with you guys but they they were it was very classy they would they would do this thing where they just were sort of like we never told you what our plans are for next year so have a great summer it was like that kind of thing and right like I remember going Like an ambiguous end. To the upfronts.

And, because I knew that Big Bang got picked up, but they hadn't canceled Studio 60. I remember we waited. We had to wait to see the boards or whatever to make sure. But I wasn't a regular on. Anyway, all of this to say, it's like, so, it's always, like, behind the sort of curtain of all this, this, like, glamour is just the most kind of amateur hour bullshit. It's insane. It's insane. I know.

It just, like, couldn't get. an answer from anybody. Even getting Big Bang was such a sort of soft landing. Like, I tested and then I didn't hear anything and week went by and then I had to call my agent. Like, did you ever hear? And it was sort of like, hold on one second. I'm on a whole. She was like, oh yeah, okay, yeah. They said, yeah, it's, you know, it's yours. What, no, that's not how you found out. Hello? That's not how you found out. It really is because you know how they give you like five business days? Well, you don't because you're only a success story. They're like, no, I've only been told in the room.

When they do the poppers and like the streamers come down. Yeah, they take you in the jet in the gym, didn't you go in the gym, bro? I did go to the gym bro. See, we didn't even get them. And then the sign come down saying you're hired. Right. Yeah. And then Les Moon Best comes out and puts away his baseball bat. They bring you the big check. Yeah, exactly. No, it was, it was, so they give you like a, you know, you have to sign away your life before you go in there. Yes. You sign it as though you've gotten it, which is like, also very strange. Yes, very strange.

So you're like, okay, and I get this amount of these episodes produced, and then in the second season, we get this, we go to this rate, and you're like looking seven years into your future, but they also tell you, we can let, we get five days to let you know, and we can test however many people we want. But I was the only one testing, but I think, again, I probably said this a thousand times, but I think, like, I left, it went great, but I think that then someone was like, no, we have to, let's get somebody else. Yeah.

And so there was, see losses out there. Yeah. And so there was this like five days. And Kaylee got cast right away. She was at my test with Jim, testing with Jim. I was like, oh, hi, Kaylee. I kind of knew her. And I said, Jim, nice to meet you, you know.

He didn't read with me. He read with her. She was testing against another woman. The next day I looked on like Nikki Fink. Remember Nikki Fink? Yes, Nikki Fink. That's hard to get all my news. She was like the sleuth of,

It became deadline. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was in the days of, like, you could go on one. Exactly. That's how I found out Big Bang got picked up ultimately. And that's also how I found out that Kaylee got cast. And I was just kept checking Nikki Fink, like, did they cast my role? And so this week went by and then I got this sort of like lob.

Like a, I had to ask, like, do you want to go out again? And they're like, oh, okay. Yeah, sure. And so that sort of set the tone for, for a, for a. minute there. I was just confused. But you know, you never know what. Anyway. Now for quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Simon opens up about how he managed his anxiety while working on the Big Bang Theory. And we discuss how we balance fatherhood in our careers. All right, be right back. AI is moving fast across the enterprise.

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wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. And we're back with more dinners on me. No, that was always my worry, which is, I think, part of the, like, just the OCD brain and the sort of magical thinking of it all where you're like, I have a magic, I have a sort of a recipe that works, even though it requires a certain amount of like self-immolation and flagellation, like that I have to torture myself, but it gets me where I need to go. And then, and I think that that's true for some people or it works until it's, it's just not sustainable anymore. And, and so, yeah. So like, but I have the same thing. And, you know, and when I did take these certain drugs during, like, anti-anxiety, anti, I don't remember even what they were.

They were, like, heavy, though. There may have even been, like, an anti-psychotic. So that, it, it, like, dulled me, bloated, like, nodding off, like, that. And I was like, oh, I can't do that. Right. It took me a while to realize what was happening. I was like, okay, so I did, I went off that. And I kind of was off, and I found a great therapist, and I kind of got things moving.

and much just regulated. And then after the pandemic, I just kind of had another, I just sort of like went off to work and like lost my mind. And now I'm on Prozac and it's great. It's great. It's so great because it doesn't,

I just got to a place where I was like, you know what? First of all, you can always go off of it. Yeah. And, but I was like, if this, if I have to lose like 0.1% of some, flair, but I gain like 50% of calmness in my life. I will take that because I don't want to act anymore.

Because for me, it was actually acting was, it just became paralyzing. That was my anxiety. It was just about work. Just all about work. Was part of it, do you think, being a part of something that was so successful for so long and the expectations to sort of take your career to another place from that? It's kind of like, I mean. Yeah, I mean, yeah, but I also think it's just from a kind of a blueprint, a sort of misguided conflation of like self-worth and accomplishment.

And that my entire worth is so entangled in what I am able to do that I feel that I am not, I have no meaning as a human being if I am not. Yeah, if I'm not doing something at the highest level, I don't. And I'm not saying that, that's not like a humble brag. It's like, it's a, it's sort of like was a curse. Have you been that way in other parts of your life? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So like, and again, it's sustainable until you either burn out or you're not the best, or you're not, or you don't feel good about what you're doing. Or you get somewhere, but then like, how are you going to stay there? How are you going to? Right. So, and it's just not a great reason to create, you know? Like, I don't want to, I like doing it because it's a fun way to express yourself and to sort of bring people into, like, the human condition. And it feels exciting and cathartic.

And then when it feels terrible, it's just so sad, you know, like, I don't want to go work anymore. Right. It's going to be so hard. Anyway, and I feel like I... It's also hard... It's hard... It's a difficult thing to criticize and I guess complain about it's a wrong word, but like, I think that, you know, this industry, I mean, I know looking from the outside, many people

think this industry is like the sort of blessed thing that like we get to do this thing and get paid very handsomely to do it, but there is a lot that it costs certain people. I mean, not everyone has this experience, but like I have... you know, watch people struggle with what it takes from them to do this. And like some people leave the business and some people, it's such a deep passion of theirs. They want to stay in it. And they have to figure out how to do that. And yet still take care of themselves.

It's a very complicated thing. And it's also something that's hard to complain about because it is one of those jobs that is considered something that you, quote, unquote, sign up for. Yeah. Right. And it's also kind of intrinsic in what the job calls for. so it's probably, I don't know what comes first, but the people that go to, who decide they want to perform,

probably are already, have a certain disposition and are already kind of an open wound in some way. Or are trying to repair something, or are trying to also just deal in deep things. And not to say that other people don't have that, but if you are kind of of that nature, and then you're put into these situations,

or you have to recall it or do it over and over or you're on a big stage or it's just sort of, it's unusual. It's not like, so I don't really, I mean, I'm sure there are people who are very stressed out about, you know, my groomer is late and I have nothing to wear the awards or whatever. And like, and I look older and whatever, all of these things, that's fine.

But I think also that there's like a pain that probably a lot of creative people have, that everybody has, but creative people sort of like surf it a little bit, you know? I agree with that. Which is cool, noble and hard, and I don't know. Yeah. I don't know.

Has being a father? No, it's done nothing for me. Change. I was going to say, has it? No effect. I mean, it's got to obviously, you know, change it for the better or worse or both or? Well, I think it's,

Doesn't it just put things into perspective so often for you? Yeah, I mean. Kind of just grounds you. You also got to be a father during. Yeah. How old are your kids? They're now 12 and 14. Okay, yeah.

I mean, I always, I wonder what it would have been like to become a father while I was doing modern family. I think it would have. I mean, obviously, you know, Ty Borel always is saying, he would always say, you're living the life. I wish I could live because he had kids at the very beginning of modern family. And so the whole entire time he was doing the show, he was learning how to become a father and like all these opportunities that I was taking, like going off to Monaco to like accept the ward on behalf of modern family at their film festival. Like I was the person I got to do that because I wasn't tied down with kids. And like he was just so jealous of what I was doing. But there is a piece of me that feels like it would have grounded me, at least in those last few years, when things started to get really crazy in a really very helpful way.

Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. I think as soon as I had kids, I, like, everything did just calm down, believe it or not, in my mind. I mean, things got crazy because having kids is crazy. But everything made sense and everything. There was like a recalibrating. So I felt, I mean, it just was incredible.

And it just showed me, it's like I had to be a bigger person in certain moments. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, I share a hilarious story of a dinner I had at El Condor with Jim Parsons. Let's just say it didn't go as planned. Okay, be right back. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement. And nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025.

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I heard such good things. It was, um, exhausting. I mean, it was, it was, it's basically a one-man show. It is a one-man show. I had another actor with me, but she didn't have any lines. It was more of this, like, smart. Smart to all this time. Keep an actor nearby, but don't, yeah, yeah, don't let him speak.

But, but, yeah, I mean, I can't talk about it to be called a one person. show because Charlotte Dembaugh was with me but she I was like Charlie you're not holding her way with lines yeah yeah I mean I'm really look you got to let me call this one yeah yeah yeah um I'm really I'm really proud of myself for doing it I'm I want to try and maybe do it here or in London or something it's incredible I mean it it's and you've been doing a lot of theater like recently right no I haven't more so in fact I need to stop do you just is like you need to to be how does that work with like Your family. With the family.

That's a great question. It must be very hard. It's hard. It's really, really hard. I mean, I've been lucky enough that the kids are young enough that I can bring them along with us for a part of the time. But now that, you know, they're getting deeper into school and, like, Beckett's going to be starting first grade next year. It's going to be harder. It's like I am.

Yeah. I think I have sort of, I've had a really lucky run of doing theater that I really care about these past like six years. And I think it's going to have to start changing soon. I'm going to have to, like, really start making decisions about what I can do that takes me away from the family. Yeah. Because it's, that's, that's, what about you for Vancouver? I mean, is it? I can go back and forth easily enough because it's two and a half hours, same time zone.

I can come back on weekends. But, like, it feels like to do a play, especially if it's not in the same city, you're just gone. I mean, you are. I mean, you can't. You can't go back and forth. You can, but it's like very limited and it's exhausting and it really does take a toll on you. I mean, I was lucky enough that my show was dark on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays. So I was able to come back for some long breaks.

But, you know, it was hard. My kids were, they'd be so excited when I'd come home and then I'd have to leave again. And I think there's something really important about instilling in my kids that we, it's important to do things that you're passionate about and see them through. Yeah. I've had this conversation with other actors who spend time away from their children working, and I always ask for advice and how do you cope with that? And I think this is for true with, like, not just people in the entertainment business,

but a lot of people have jobs to take them away from their kids. I mean, my dad was in the Naval Reserves and was away a lot. Wow. You know, I mean, sometimes it's a necessity and they have to be away, and sometimes it's something that's just a passion. Yeah. But, like, I think the advice that I got from, was that it's just, it's very important for your kids to see that you're following things

that make you happy. I mean, obviously, you have to make decisions at a point where it's also decisions that are good for the family, but, no, you're right. Also, like, seeing things through. Yeah, being a role, it's a big role modeling. Yeah. I, I totally, I totally agree, especially when you're, if you're lucky enough to be in something creative and something where you can maybe pick and choose that the jobs you are going to do, it's true that modeling that responsibility is

important. But I think doing like I'd love to do theater in New York, but I just know that my kids have to, they have to be grown. I just can't. I couldn't go away for that amount of time. But like doing, you did something in the park, right? I did the, yeah. Well, that's something you could do. You could take your family to New York for the summer. Yeah.

Do you have my sign you up for the park next year? Yeah, sign me out. Is that all you have to do? That's all you have to do. I slept in the street to see the Siegel when Merrill. With the Merrill Street. Yeah, Kevin Kline, the Mike Nichols one. Wow, yeah.

I saw that production too. Yeah, I was, well, I was like 1990, 2000. 2000? I think it was, yeah, 2000, yeah. That's right. Yeah, that was. Yeah, it was a crazy cast, Marsha, Gair Hardin, Natalie Porton, Kevin Klein, film, Seymour Hoffman.

Yeah. It was crazy. When you worked with Meryl Streep and Florence Jenkins. Is that what was a movie? Florence Foster Jenkins, right. Which you were so great in, by the way. Oh, thanks. Did you tell her that you're ready to tell her that, yes.

What was her response? She was, she felt. She didn't care. She felt like, I should have slept in the street two nights. No, it was like this summer too. Oh, my God. Yeah. But, yeah, that was.

yeah that I just remember she did a cartwheel and she did it's like all the talk yeah all the theater yeah else she was a cartwheel and check off they're gonna riot um that was so good yeah um but yeah oh my god all those actors but yeah i mean that's it seems it seems like that it would just be a great time do you enjoy that do you because you've done a bunch of stuff i have yeah what's is it is it what's it like like is it It's different than just doing it? It doesn't feel like regular theater. It doesn't. It feels like summer camp.

Okay. Because of just the outdoor. Just the outdoor element of it. And it's just, you know, you just don't have the comforts that you have, would normally have doing any sort of theater. I mean, it could be so hot. They literally have like buckets of gatorade off stage. I remember doing Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino. And, like, we, they put us in these very.

hot, you know, period costumes. And we would have to dunk our wrists into buckets of ice coming off stage because we like regulate your body. Yes. It was really intense. How was that? So when was that? What year was?

That was, oh gosh, I was doing Modern Family. It was like after like the first season of Modern Family. So 2010. Wow. How was it working with him? I mean, first of all, he's such a theater beast. He loves being on stage. He's incredible.

I mean, he was incredible. He, he was incredible. He only rehearsed half the time. I'm getting really emotional. You're becoming Pacino as you. It sounds like you ate Pacino. We were doing it in rep with Winters' Tale, and he was only in The Merchant of Venice.

So he, we had to split up rehearsal time and then also time on stage in the park. Like some nights he'd be off when I would. And you did both. And I did both. So he was really antsy because he wanted to like have a run and he would have to like, you know, Al Pacino had to like sit in the wings waiting for time and time to stage. But he would get very antsy about time he didn't have in the rehearsal room. So he would just show up on days when he wasn't needed and like run lines in the other

room. Wow. Like, that's the type of actor he was. Yeah. And he is. I spoke about him. Like,

he's no longer with us. No, no. It was a long time. Yeah. Yeah. But speaking of like, but being,

you know, you were talking about being inspired on Big Bang Theory and like kind of like trying new things. So just like just being, yeah, feeling free. He's a very experimental.

He's a very experimental person. And like, so again, this is like early modern family, but I was very inspired by him on stage and just how, free he is and like how open to you know if you throw

a different line to him like he's he'll take you somewhere else and yeah his staging was never the same like and like not in a way that was like meant to fuck with anyone else but he was just very free on stage and obviously very imaginative yeah and I remember coming back to modern family

and so just being wildly inspired by that summer and like that's doing my first take of a scene and just like they're gonna fucking incorporate all this stuff I learned and they were like what are you doing? Why are you? Why are you talking?

Yeah. Did you, do you don't remember what episode that was? Do you ever want? Because I feel like I have things like that too. I do. Yeah. There's an episode I was very hungover for as well. It was after like the Oscar Vanity Fair Party.

And I basically rolled in still smelling up tequila, Julie Bowen was like, wow, you had a night. I was like, oh. Yeah. And I, every time I see that episode. I can't describe the episode, but I know if I see it. Because you don't remember it. Because I don't remember it.

Yeah, yeah. But I was like, I should have been fired. Well, you were, you know, I mean. Hungover is just means you were drinking earlier. I wasn't continuing it to be. That's so funny. Yeah, because I have episodes like, I have the same exact kind of experience when I went to make the movie with Merrill where I came back. And I was like, well, life is different now.

Like I was in London, you know, and I just remember the same thing like this of like I've got a different approach to all this. And it's like, which that, that's kind of, that's like magical. Yeah. I mean, because that's the thing that used to happen when we were young, you know, like when you're kid and you're, you're just learning something. And it always feels like, I think I figured out. And that does go away. But when you work with people like that, it feels like it never went away for them.

And it's just so great to steal from them. And to be like, so you, so this is how you do it. Like, it's incredible. And it's not even something that can always be articulated. It's just a... I remember Merrill talking about... I said Merrill, like we're friends. I mean...

There's only one, Meryl. Not Meryl Lynch. Merrill Lynch. Sorry, just to clarify, I'm talking about Merrill Lynch. No, but I remember watching Meryl Streep talk about acting specifically on stage and really just sort of in any rehearsal process and talking about how painful the rehearsal process is and how you just feel like the worst.

actor because you don't know what the fuck you're doing. Yeah. And listening to her say that was so, oh, yeah. Freeing. Yeah. I was like, oh, my God, Merrill Streep feels that way. Like, that's how I feel. Like, I feel like, what am I doing?

This is terrible. Yeah. And, like, letting yourself be just a bad actor. And I'm like, I'm certain Merrill Street in the rehearsal process has never been seen from the outside viewer, a bad actor. Right. But the fact that she feels that way is. Yeah, exactly.

It's, um, I feel like that. like that's you want that's that's all I want is to work with people who feel like a little bit scared yeah I guess you just don't want it to be overpowering the way it like shuts you down or shuts your experience down but that that sort of exhilaration of like yeah trying something is pretty incredible I just did um 12th night last summer in the park and um the pita nongo played viola and she was great. Oh, yeah. And there was this one piece.

We cut the play down from like, it's normally like a two and a half hour play. We cut it to 90 minutes. So there was a lot of material we had to take out. Yeah. And there was this scene we probably needed a little bit more connective tissue. But if we put too much in, it was like going to need like a lot more. Yeah. We just kept taking stuff away.

But we still needed this beat to happen. And it was a beat involving me where I was meant to be like wooing Olivia. Oh, yeah. And I didn't know how to do it with like no dial. Like all the dialogue had been taken out. Yeah. And it was also done in a very contemporary style. So like I was, you know, my character was on a cell phone a lot.

And like I was doing duolingo and like taking selfies and like being like a douchebag, like influencer. Anyway, I ended up. What's his name? Agri-Cheek. Yes. Yeah. I ended up trying to fix this moment of like wooing Olivia and like basically. cock blocking

Lapita's character who was disguised as a man by like bringing on this really tacky teddy bear with a mylar balloon that said I love you and that's Olivia's name spelled phonetically like wrong

and like it was just this moment and I tried so many different things at one point I was like rapping because Lupita had had this moment of like wrapping her love letter and I was like what if I come in trying to do that so I was just trying all these things in front of an audience and they were all bombing

So bombing in front of 2,000 people every night was like crazy. And Lupita was getting so nervous for me. Like as she, she was like, I'm very, I'm uncomfortable. Like, and I was like, don't, don't for me. She was like, because she was on state with me. Flattering or? She did say one night. She was, you were so brave.

And I was like, is that, do you mean that as a compliment? You don't want to hear that. Because she's like, I just wouldn't do it. I wouldn't, I wouldn't try that choice. Yeah. I would go for like, I would just like try and get off stage as fast as possible. It's like, well, that might be what I ended up doing. And I ended up, we had to like finally like settle on something that was like fine, but it wasn't great.

Yeah. But every night, um, Lipita behind me, I could just feel her dying for me when I was like, when it would be sort of like a muted response. Yeah. And then I started getting enjoyment out of her discomfort. Right. So I would always turn to leave and like look her in the eye and she would get pleasure. out of me like clocking her discomfort.

As long as two people were enjoying it. Exactly. So, yeah. That's really funny. Yeah. Yeah, that's, that seems like a, it seems like a very good time to do. It was a lot of fun. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, this has been so great too. I'm so happy to, it's such a great setup you have. I know. It's a good gig. I'm happy you came to me and to Los Felis, our old, our old hood. It's, uh, it's good to be. Oh, and I was telling you.

Before we started this, at this place, El Condors, they're closing in August. Yeah, that's very sad. August 31st, yeah. I mean, that's kind of the bummer about this is because a lot of people I meet who listen to this podcast, like, oh, I try a lot of these restaurants that you've gone to. So I guess this is coming out in June and they'll come around for like another few months. I hope everybody swarms it. I know. It's such a special place.

It truly is like one of my favorite restaurants. It is. You know, I had a crazy meal with Jim Parsons here. Really? Where I had accidentally gotten stoned before. Accidentally. Accidentally got stoned before. We, I had these plans with Jim and Todd, because Jim and Todd lived right down the street for me.

And so we'd had these plans on the books for like two weeks to have dinner together. We were going to come here. And I had a friend staying with me, and she gave me a little bit of brownies. Okay. I ingested some weed. And she's like, it's very mellow. And I was like, okay, great. But she's like a very experienced weed consumer, and I'm just not.

And eating it is... And eating it's a whole other thing. I had some around, I'm going to say 11 a.m. And I was out for the day. Like I had to lie flat. Yeah. I slept hard for like, probably to like 4 p.m. And then I think right before I took the weed, Jim texted me saying, are we saw him for tonight?

I said yes. And then I ingested weed and then was out. And Justin was like waking me up. He's like, we have this dinner with Todd. He's like, should we cancel? I was like, no, I literally confirmed with him just a few hours ago. Like, I can't bail on him now. Yeah.

I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine. So like I was drinking coffee and like really trying to like wake up. But I was stoned out of my mind. And we go and he's like, do you want us to pick you up? And I was like, I can't drive. Yeah. And Justin was like, I want to have a drink.

So he was like, yeah. And Jim wasn't drinking at that time. Yes. And so they pick us up. And I was like, I'm just going to like, I'm just going to roll this. I'm going to, I'm going to, like, I'm going to be fine. I'm going to like, really just focus. And we get in here and we sit in the back and I was like, I can't do this.

Did you tell them what had happened? I have to tell you I'm wildly stoned right now. Yeah. And they would not let me off the hook. They just like, you know, like, have you ever like been to a. inebriate or stone It's like you get really paranoid They knew that that's where I was

And they were fucking with me Oh yeah I would say I would say something in the big Why are you yelling? Yeah Like I would like No that's

Yeah I'm a lightweight I'm a really lightweight Yeah true Paranoia is It's always a part of my existence But yeah that You gotta be careful eating that Yeah

And then going out Well I know That's It could have been a really A great TMZ moment had gone awry. My God.

Well, yes, everyone should come here. Yeah. And eat sober or high, and it works just the same. That was a little more from my conversation with Simon Helberg. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet, make sure to check it out on Diner's on Me. This episode of Diner's On Me was recorded at El Condor in Silver Lake Los Angeles. Next week on Ditters on Me, you know her from her Emmy Award-winning performance in The Handmaid's Tale and HBO's The Leftovers, it's Anne Dowd. We get into her new Hulu series, The Testament, where she reprises

the role of Aunt Lydia, and will reflect on her decades-long career as one of Hollywood's most brilliant character actors. 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 Kalasney and Justin Makita.

I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if.

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