Fresh Air - Rose Byrne

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Rose Byrne starred in big box office comedies like ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Neighbors,’ and, more recently, the indie film ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,’ which kind of defies genre. It’s about a woman trying to care of her sick daughter while her life is unraveling. “In many ways, it tapped into the monster within and the fear of being a parent and the horror of being a parent – and some of the joy, too.” Her raw performance won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination this year. Now Byrne is nominated for a Tony for her performance in a revival of Noël Coward’s play ‘Fallen Angels.’ She spoke with producer Ann Marie Baldonado. Later, TV critic Davie Bianculli reflects on the end of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.’ The final episode airs tonight. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Our guest today is actor Rose Byrne, known for both drama and comedy. She's now one of the few actresses to be nominated for an Oscar and a Tony in the same year. She's currently on Broadway in the revival of the Noel Coward play Fallen Angels. She spoke with Fresh Airs and Marie Boldenado. When Rose Byrne appeared on American TV in 2007 in the show Damages, it was clear she was a dramatic, Force. Playing opposite Glenn Close, she was nominated for two Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards. Then she starred in a series of comedies, get them to the Greek, bridesmaids, and neighbors, and it became apparent that she's also one of our most gifted comedic actors. Her work in the last year alone shows that she's so good at playing complex characters in any genre. She stars opposite Seth Rogan in the Apple TV comedy Platonic, and she received an Oscar nomination. for her raw performance in the film

if I had legs at kick you. Now Rose Byrne is on Broadway in the play Fallen Angels. It's a revival of the 1925 Noel Coward play, a farce about two wealthy women married, English, who go a bit crazy when they hear that the man they had both been involved with before they were married is coming to town. Both Byrne and her co-star, Kelly O'Hara, have been nominated for Tonys for Brue's for Brueyre.

best actress in a play. Roseburn, welcome to fresh air. Hi, thanks so much. Now, this play is from the 1920s. It was scandalous back then because it was about two women talking about having affairs with the same man before they were married. Had you known this play or had you performed Noel Coward before? And I'll say that Coward is a British playwright known for writing sophisticated, witty comedies about the upper class, you know, funny with a lot going on underneath. I wasn't familiar with the play. Scott Ellis, who's the artistic director of the Roundabout theater, brought it to me and Kelly O'Hara for a benefit reading for The Roundabout.

So that's how I discovered the play. Obviously, but I was familiar with Noel Coward. I'd seen productions of his more popular plays, I guess, that had done sort of very frequently. Like, I'd seen Private Lives. I'd seen Hayfever. Like, I've seen productions of his other play. But Fallen Angels was, no, I didn't know it. It's a lesser done play.

So it was a really interesting discovery. I want to play a scene from the play. Here you and your co-star, Kelly O'Hara, are discussing your ex-lover Maurice, who's French, who you haven't seen in years. You're both excited about the possibility of him visiting. Kelly O'Hara speaks first. I say, wouldn't it be too wonderful

if he arrived suddenly now? Oh, I should choke. You're sure you left a thoroughly clear message at your flat in case he went there first? Of course. We're bound to get a frightful shock when we do see him. Oh, I don't see why. He's bound to have gotten bald or gone fat or something. No, no, he wouldn't have changed at all.

He wouldn't come if he had, because he's far too conceited. Not conceited, a little vain, perhaps, naturally. With those eyes, who can blame him? And those hands? And those teeth. Those names change. That's a scene from the play, Fallen Angels. Rose Byrne, you're Australian.

You live in the U.S. now. Can you talk about your accent in this play? I would think that some of this dialogue is fun to say. And some of the words, the syllables get drawn out, like the way you say eyes, blame, even teeth in this clip. I mean, yeah, it is the language he uses, sort of linguistic gymnastics and the extraordinary vocational. vocabulary of Noel Coward is a delight. Yeah, we work with Kate Wilson, who's the head of

voice at Juilliard, and I've been working with her now for nearly 10 years. And she's extraordinary because she's just like consonants, consonants, consonants, you've got to hit the consonants, stick the landing. Like, it's sort of the language that sort of is everything in a way. It is this brilliant sort of use of language that he had at the age of 25, I believe, when he wrote this play. It's all in the delivery and the kind of the pacing of it and just staying very lightly on all of the language. It's a real tightrope. Yeah, I never tire of sitting backstage and I'm constantly rediscovering the words that, and he peppers throughout, like the word callous is throughout, which I just love. It's so delicious and just brilliant and bitterly is used.

a lot. It was a bitter time, bitterly, and it's just these brilliant words that he uses that I've started to use in my day today as I walk around in my life now. You're doing everything bitterly now. Exactly. It was a bitter time, I say in the morning to my children, and they're like, what? Well, it's interesting you said that thing about consonants, but in that clip we just heard, too, it's like the vowels, too. It's like what happens to the vowels in an upper crusty British accent? maybe.

Yeah. And also, you know, the lover, his name is Maurice, which is a wonderful name because it's like Moore. Moris. It's like hidden truths in there and a hidden kind of subtext that is, that we just dig in mind for every night. And vulgarity, words like that. It's just brilliant.

It's so fun. For a lot of the show, you and your co-star Kelly O'Hara are playing drunk. Like an hour. She's getting drunk. Yes, slowly but surely you're getting drunk over the course of the evening. And so much of the comedy comes from that. How do you prepare to act drunk and how do you actually do it? It's interesting.

Well, his writing is so brilliant with the drunkenness. Like he's, you know, the switching of words and the slow decline and the volume. It's very specific in the stage directions. My character gets louder continually throughout this sequence. of them drinking, which is very funny and very true about drunk people. They often get louder and louder and louder, and that's what happens to Jane. And then it's referred to in the third act that she was much worse than Julia. And she really is.

She sort of unravels. And then there's a violence that comes out in the character too that is very dark and can also happen. I've seen with people when they get to inebriated, sometimes it can really, you know, It can not reveal the best part of them. Yeah, there's a lot of physical comedy in this play. It reminds me, actually, of kind of Lucy and Ethel, and I love Lucy, as far as the physicality of it.

Or maybe you're both Lucy, as far as how over the top. I mean, that, you know, we stand on the shoulders of those women, you know, of those and, like Carol Burnett, like they're just on a pedestal. Kristen Whig, you know, the physical comedy of those performances. Julia Louis Dreyfuss, I mean, John Cleese, these. These are the people I put on pedestals. Maya, Rudolph, you know, are just brilliant physical comedians. So we've definitely pushed that side of things, which has been very fun. How just performing in a Broadway show, eight shows a week, how does it compare to shooting a movie?

You know, even like something so kind of adrenaline pumped as your last film, if I had legs, I'd kick you. I was just wondering how it feels differently those different kinds of performance. No, it's a great question. something I'm sort of wrestling with because it's kind of a little bit hard to describe in any area diet fashion but it feels we are trying to reach the back row you know so it's a physically it's just bigger it is a bigger experience and then to sort of to perform in a bigger arena like that and to still remain truthful in that sense of like you know I felt like I was screaming when I first got up because we're not wearing mics either there's mics on

the stage but we get up there and I'm like what you know scream hello Oh, Jane, you know, starting to yell. How do I translate that in a way that still feels authentic? But the theatricality of that, leaning into that, too. So it's been a learning curve again to do that. But I had long wanted to do a true comedic piece on stage. Like, it's been one of my dreams. So this has been extraordinary to have this experience.

I also like that you do some hair acting in this play. Like at one point, your hair shows how drunk you are. are and like what may have happened to you over the course of the evening because your hair is really big and it actually reminded me of your hair acting in the movie Spy from 2015, which I'm glad you threaded that needle, Anne Re, I appreciate that. There are so many fun things like your hair, what you do with a napkin and you and your co-star, Kelly O'Hara, are constantly repouring yourself champagne. So there's, you know, there's champagne all over.

So it's just interesting all the different kind of props that you use. Yeah, and that's listening to that clip. The main thing about that clip is timing when I drink and when I eat, because you're constantly drinking and I'm constantly eating throughout that sequence, which is fine, but it did take a minute through the previews to really figure out how to time that technically so it's funny, you know, to get the breath on the beats for the comedy and also to establish how much they're drinking, you know. So that was, again, sort of a,

technical, physical feet to figure that out. Do you eat the same things? Like, are you ingesting the same amount of water and food? That was also a process of like figuring out, yeah, what could be an oyster, what can we eat that is, you know, described in the play of what they're eating and then figure out, yeah, so that was also a process of figuring out all of that stuff. But also really fun. I mean, it's so fun and delicious.

Well, what are you eating? You're not eating oysters? So the oysters is a jello. It's a yellow, like a lemon-flavored jello, which is actually good. It's like very bland. And then there's one chicken sausage that we kind of nibble on. And then these like weird sort of like potato things with the steak. And then we have like donut holes when we're eating.

It's supposed to be proffit rolls. Yes. Yeah, you eat a lot of those profferalds throughout. I'm eating a lot of them. And they've sort of become, again, a source of some of the comedy, like playing with the food and all that kind of stuff. Now I want to ask about the film if I had legs, I'd kick you. And I have to say I feel a little bad about asking you about it because you talked about it for so long. It premiered in Sundance back in January of 2025. And, you know, it seems like you've been talking about it. It came out late last year. And then you were nominated for the Oscar earlier this year. And it's such a great film and you're so great in it. But it's kind of relentless. And I wondered if speaking about it was also. relentless. No, I mean, it was an extraordinary experience for me, honestly, that Mary Bronstein wrote

this incendiary screenplay, and I just did not want to mess it up. And it was such a creative opportunity. And her and I have just, we hit it off and had this a real experience, you know, one of those experiences in life that, you know, sort of creatively has kind of changed me. How would you describe the film and your character, Linda? I've loved speaking to other people about the film because it really is, it sort of defies generalisation or description because it's sort of like a fever dream in a way. It has Gallo's humour in there. It's also, obviously, extremely, there's horror kind of tropes in the film too.

I think Mary Bronstain really kind of broke the mould with the tone of the film in many ways. and she really sort of plays with the edge of consciousness, I think, in many ways and tapped into sort of like the monster within and the fear of being apparent and the horror of being a parent and some of the joy too, but obviously she's in a really extraordinarily difficult situation, this woman. But I still can't believe the film kind of got as far as it did just because it was, you know, it's a small independent film,

so it was just extraordinary. Yes, the film is written and directed by Mary Bronstine. And it's based on some of her own experiences. Her daughter had become ill when she was younger and she had that similar experience about trying to get her well and feeling trapped or the weight while doing it. And I read that you both did a lot to prepare for the role that the two of you would meet after dropping off your kids at school and just talk about the script, about motherhood. Did any of the stories that you should, you shared make it into the movie. Yeah, we were really lucky. We had a period of really like five or six weeks where I would, yeah, go to her apartment. And we just started from page one and just went through every single, you know, comma and syllable and dialogue and everything. Just carving through and sharing stories. And as to your point, Mary Bronstein has shared that too.

It was based on a, you know, something she went through with her own child. And obviously she didn't behave like my character does in the film. but the fears behind that and what went into it and she shared her journals from that time. And, yeah, and I shared my own personal experience of being a parent and how that feels and struggles. And it was really an incredible period we had there. So then when we got to set,

obviously it was a short shoot. It was only 25 or six days or something. We sort of had every conversation so we could really leap off and play the scene and discover stuff. And as an actress, I can't make any sort of decision until the other actors in front of me and I'm, you know, responding to what's happening.

So I'm so grateful we had that period. Mary Bronsteen has said that, you know, she wanted to capture that visceral feeling of, you know, desperation, that mental state when you feel everything is falling apart because all these things, she has a child who's ill and then there are all these other things that are happening to. And as these things feel like they're falling apart, you feel like it's your. fault. Like it's the state of where you're so stressed that all these problems become equal. And that felt real to me. And I was wondering how you and Mary Bronsten wanted to convey that. And if you've ever had that kind of feeling before yourself.

What Linda's going through of having a seriously critically ill child, you know, knock on wood, most parents won't have to go through that, you know, 99% of it. Isn't it so very extraordinarily specific illness that she has too? But I was sort of obsessed with like how do, what happened before this? Like what led to this moment of who was she before? Like what, you know, because very little information is given. And I was like, I wanted to like discover this sort of, because she's got such a sort of streak of distrust of authority. You know, she's very defiant and like prickly and why.

Like, where did that come? So that was sort of our boring like actor homework that, you know, I was really interested in as a point of entry for the story. And Mary was, she's come from her acting background. She went to NYU to train as an actress. So she, she loves character and the details of that. So that was something we sort of, we discussed a lot of and sort of, and just also tracking the downfall because the trap would be she's hysterical from the start, you know,

and how do we, you know, and sort of track that sort of slow decline. And also the isolation the character has put upon herself because she does not want anyone reflecting back her choices, which are becoming increasingly unhinged and irresponsible. And so she just has her therapist, really, and he is telling her, you need to get a good night's sleep, don't smoke pot, you know, these basic things. And she's ignoring that. She just completely goes off the rails. She has no guard rails anymore.

So that sort of sense of isolation that I've seen with people in my life, if they're in a situation they don't want commented on or they don't want to acknowledge, they slowly remove from your life because they can't have that reflected back. I want to play a scene from the film, and Mary Bronsstein, the writer-director, is actually in it. She plays the daughter's doctor who's really hard on your character, Linda, in this scene. Here the doctor is trying to talk to Linda about how treatment isn't working and she doesn't think Linda is doing enough to help.

You've missed the last few weeks of family sessions. Yeah. I told you what happened. Our entire ceiling fell down and with all that chaos and we're living out of the hotel. So we need to schedule something as soon as possible to talk about our goals and the treatment process. Yeah. Yeah. The, yeah.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, you meant now? Okay. All right. Um, well, uh, let me look at my schedule. I should probably do that.

I know that you already know this, but you can't start letting feelings of guilt and control about this illness and treatment affect you. It's no one's fault. That's right. That's what I keep hearing. Also, I really need you to start taking care of yourself. Right. You can... Yes.

No, put my oxygen mask on first. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I'm just going to have to get blunt here. So she needs to reach her weight goal in the next week. If she does that, then we can put tube removal and discharge dates on the books. But if she doesn't do that, I'm going to have to reassess the level of care because obviously something is not working here. And this is what I need to talk to you about.

When can we sit down properly? Yeah, fine. September 7th. It's September 15th. September 20. I mean, September... September 20. That's a scene from the film.

If I had legs, I'd kick you. I think it's hilarious. I'm like, that's funny. Well, you know, it's funny because, yes, there's a lot in the movie that's funny. But, you know, when you were nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, people are like, that was supposed to be a comedy who feels like hard to me. It's not exactly. Yeah, I know. Totally.

it's not bridesmaids. No, it's a different sort of comedy, totally. But that seems so funny hearing it, especially because Mary's so serious. And she's my friend, and I'm like just dying because she's, and she also looks like she's 12 years old, Mary, and she's playing the doctor. But that's what happens. All of a sudden you get to a certain age, and then there's all these younger people telling you what to do, and you're like, oh, my God. And so that was really, she was so stern and kind of scary as that doctor. Let's take a short break here and we'll talk some more. My guest is actor Rose Byrne. She's currently on Broadway in the revival of the play Fallen Angels. She just got nominated for Best Actor in a Play for the Role. Her films in series include damages, bridesmaids, neighbors, insidious, platonic, and if I had legs, I kick you. More after a break. I'm Anne-Marie Baldinado and this is Fresh Air. Hi, this is Molly C.V. Nesper, digital producer at Fresh Air.

And this is Terry Gross, host of the show. One of the things I do is write the weekly newsletter. And I'm a newsletter fan. I read it every Saturday after breakfast. The newsletter includes all the week's shows, staff recommendations, and Molly picks timely highlights from the archive. It's a fun read. It's also the only place where we tell you what's coming up next week, an exclusive. So subscribe at WHY.org slash Fresh Air and look for an email. email from Molly every Saturday morning. Even though she maybe knows that it's not her fault,

it's hard to not feel like it is and it's hard to not feel judged. And I think that speaks to what can happen to parents, to moms, that you know, you blame yourself for things that are beyond your control or you think people are judging you about your parental decisions, even when there's nothing you can really do. And I was wondering if you related to that feeling of guilt. No, of course. I mean, it's like, it was fascinating to examine that and examine it in my own life. And also, I spoke to parents of children with special needs and the whole spectrum of that of, you know, how it had affected their life and their marriage and their self-esteem and the cost of that. And it is just heart-wrenching. But what Linda, the hostility that Linda has

is something that I had to discover that was very different from how I rose. would respond to something like that. And that was really fun to kind of figure that out and figure out where that hostility came from and why she has that for anyone approaching her telling her what to do, whether it's the doctor or the therapist or her patient or anyone or her husband or even the child for that matter

and her resentment around that and was very fun because it was far more interesting than something, how I would have approached a situation, a crisis like that. And I think that was the K to May figuring out that aspect of the character. Yeah. And I think something that the film does so well is convey that pressure of what it's like to be a caretaker, like the darkness of it. Because it feels relentless like you never stop worrying.

And, you know, there are these decisions that the director makes. For example, there's this constant beeping of the machine that happens through the film. And, you know, it's the machine that feeds the daughter through the feeding. And you can hear that throughout the movie and that adds to the anxiety. And I think that's also what happens when you're a caregiver. Like there's that constant beeping in the background. Yeah, these noises get magnified. And actually, Mary Bronstone made those louder just a bit.

Like the clock on the wall, the beeping of the machine. All those things were louder because they are in her point of view. And it is as a parent those things become overstimulating. It's relentless. And she wanted to cap her that. claustrophobia. And the sound design was really extraordinary in that sense, too, really captured that. One thing I should add is that we never fully know as viewers what kind of illness the daughter has, nor do we see the daughter's face through most of the movie. Yes. Again, she sort of provides

more questions and answers. And the conceit of not seeing the daughter, and she's Mary spoken to this many times, but sort of a two-prong thing in that, you know, I don't think Linda, my character can see her daughter at this point. She's so drowning and beginning this sort of real descent into her crisis, her mental health crisis, that she can't even see this little, she sort of lost her shape, which can happen with your family or, you know, when you're in and day in and day out and day, you just, they lose their physical shape in front of you, your kids or your husband or wife or whomever. And I feel like we sort of, that's Linda's perspective.

And also for the audience to have that choice taken away, to not see the daughter, you're forced to reckon with the mother. Because as soon as you put a child on screen, your empathy, as it should, goes to the child. They're so vulnerable. And it's, you know, immediately your concern will go to them. And so she takes that choice away from the viewer. So, you know, you're forced to be in the person.

perspective of the mother. What was it like making a film about motherhood and anxiety and then going home after work and then being a parent at home? Well, kids are so in the moment and grounding and in the best way. They're not particularly interested in if you've had a hard day, but it's so wonderful because you immediately snap into your role as mom, the greatest role, the most challenging, the most fun. And so for me, it was, it's church. stay. You said to leave it at work. I mean, obviously, there were days when I was more exhausted or tired or, you know, harder to let things go. But children are the great equalizer, as a parent, you know. Let's take a short break here and we'll talk some more.

My guest is actor Rose Byrne. She's currently on Broadway in the revival of the play Fallen Angels. She just got nominated for Best Actor in a Play for the Role. Her films in series include damages, bridesmaids, neighbors, insidious, platonic, and if I had legs, I kick you. More after a break, this is fresh air. One of your early acting jobs was working on a soap opera, and you say that you got a lot of good training from that. What was the show like and what was your part if you were a kid? What kind of role did you play?

It was called Echo Point, and I played Billy, who's set up of the show. was who was her father. It's unknown. She didn't know. It was like the overarching storyline plot of the soap opera. And I was very young. I was 15, I think, when I got that part. So I still, you know, I would be at school and then going there and then getting tutoring.

And it was an incredible technical training. It's amazing what you learned. You just learn how to learn lines very regularly and quickly because you're doing so much. You're filming so much. so much, all that you're doing like 15 pages a day or something you're like. It's intense. And the technicality, you just, it's brilliant how much you learn about the camera, all of the machinations of making a show or a film. So it's a brilliant training ground, I must say, for the technical aspect of acting. Did Billy ever find out who her father was?

Well, I think, so I think what happened was that we quickly, we did not, was not a successful show. Oh, I'm sorry. It's okay Who quickly was deemed Was not going to be picked up After six months So they rushed the ending And I did find out

I did find out Who my father was I think they were hoping It would be season You know 25 that I'd find out But it was in fact Season 1 So

I do She did find out Oh few Yes no Thank God I think they told me Already I think it was

Pretty obvious Who it was I'm pretty sure They told me as well I want to ask about bridesmaids, which came out in 2011. It came out 15 years ago this month. It was May 2011. Oh, my God.

How did you get that role? It's crazy, right? That's wild. I had done getting to the Greek, and Judd had produced that, and he was producing bridesmaids, yeah. So he had been working with Kristen Wigg and Annie Mamma on the script for a while, I think, and I went in and I auditioned, yeah, with Kristen. And Paul Figg, the wonderful, gorgeous director. I want to play a scene from the film. Just to remind people, this film is about Annie, played by Kristen Wigg, her best friend Lillian, who was her friend since childhood, played by Maya Rudolph, is getting married.

You play Helen, a new, very put-together, wealthy friend of Maya Rudolph's character. And you've tried to step in as a new best friend, kind of taking over things like the show. shower, the Bachelorette party, even the wedding itself, taking that from Kristen Wiggs' character. This scene is near the end of the film, The Bride, my Rudolph's character, has gone missing, and your character is trying to find her and get her back to the wedding. And she has asked Annie for help. You're both in the car driving. I just don't know what could have possibly gone wrong. Everything was going smoothly. The dress looked fantastic. It had come in from Paris. Dougie was being great and very

helpful. I had organized everything to the, you know, last final detail. I just... I don't know what's happened to her. I don't know. You should know, right? You're her best friend. It's weird that you don't know. You guys are so close. Annie, I, uh, I want to apologize to you personally for all the things that have gone down. I know that I hurt you, and then I created a distance between you and and I want to apologize. You know what? I don't want to hear... Everything that happened in the shower and in Las Vegas. Okay, I don't want to hear anymore, honestly. I just, I don't even want to talk to you.

Perry never really wants to talk to me either. He travels a lot, like, all year. I'm basically just by myself. I don't want to, I don't feel sorry for you. You know, I really like that original dress you picked at the bridal store. I thought it was beautiful. You have really lovely taste.

Thanks, but that's a little too late for that. And I don't think that Brazilian food really gave us food poison. No, I did. I think people just asked me at their weddings because I'm good at organizing parties. I don't have any female friends. I'm sorry. Oh, you're smiling. It's just, it's the first time I've ever seen you look ugly.

That makes me kind of happy. I look ugly. No, I don't. I don't really look ugly. You're an ugly crier, but that's okay. No, I'm not really an ugly crier. No. This is my makeup.

I still look pretty good. That's a scene from bridesmaids. It's hard to remember that back when this movie came out, you know, there were articles in the press. People were still asking, can women be funny? Can they be raunchy? Can comedies starring women make money? What was it like making this film surrounded by so many female comedians?

It was so fun. Oh my gosh. We had such a fun time. I mean, it was a great group of actresses. I was like, this is incredible. It's already extraordinary to have that many scenes with just women. I've had that once since then when I did Mrs. America, a show for FX about the second wave of feminism playing Gloria Stein.

But this was really, really special. And we had no idea that it would go on to become such a beloved movie. And it was, again, like an education, an education in the brilliance of these comedic actresses and the performances and me trying to. I mean, Helen's really the straight man in the film. But it changed my life in so many ways. Helen gets off some good zingers, though. Oh, thank you. Even in that scene.

Did you learn any specific techniques from these actors who were, you know, well-versed? Improv? Yeah, that's so, I mean, what Whig does is so different from what Melissa does, to Maya, to Wendy, to Ellie. They're all so brilliant in their different ways. And I don't know, improv for me is still a little mercurial and a little like, sometimes I'll come up with something funny, but sometimes, often I don't. Like, it feels for me, intuitively, I've always like, character driven. Who's the character? How is the character, you know, what would they, Helen is so different for me. Like, that's such a different, so fun to play because it's completely opposite. to myself in every kind of possible way. So that entitlement and the presentation and all those sorts of fun things and what means something to that, to a person like that. The more character-driven I can make it feels like the comedy can be more specific. But the improv stuff, I mean, it's just like a skill set that is still I marvel at when I'm working with someone like Sarah Throgan.

He's also the same. Just naturally, they make it look effortless, but it's actually really great. Incredibly hard. Since we're talking about Seth Rogan, I want to play a scene from the first time I think you worked together on the movie Neighbors, which came out in 2014. You play a young married couple. You just had a baby. And you happen to be living next door to a frat house at a university. And it kind of escalates.

You sort of have battles between each other. And here's a scene later in the movie. You're fighting with your neighbors has sort of escalated and kind of gone too far, and the two of you are fighting. We went too far now. This is dangerous. Oh, we did not go too far.

Now is when we get them back even more. Do you see what they did to me? We don't stop now. What's going to be next? Are you going to break into the house? No, no. You need to grow up. What?

Our family is in danger. I need to grow up. Yes, you need to grow up. One of us has got to be the adult in this relationship. You should take responsibility. It's not only offensive, but it's... It's offensive that I'm saying that you should be smart?

Yes, it's offensive that I have to be the smart one all the time. I'm allowed to be just as irresponsible as you. Well, that's how it works. I'm the dumb guy and you're the woman who's supposed to stop the dumb guy from doing dumb shit. Haven't you ever seen a Kevin James movie? We can't both be Kevin James? I'm Kevin James. Well, I have a little bit of Kevin James and me. Well, we can't both. Clearly, you're the one who knows better, so you should know better.

I know that I'm not like that, and I've never been like that. Well, maybe you should be. There's never been me, and just because I'm a mom doesn't mean that I'm going to change who I am? Well, just because I'm a father, it doesn't mean I can stop doing mushrooms with teenagers. Fine. Fine. Good. Good then. Okay, Kevin. I don't think we're a good team anymore. Teams breaking up. Yep. This worked before we had Stella, but...

Now it doesn't. It doesn't work anymore. Yeah, because someone refuses to grow up. Fine. Okay. You go find your nagging wife that you want to find, and I'll go find a real man. Fine. Fine. Fine. That's a scene from neighbors. And, you know, this is a scene. is a pretty, like, raunchy, like funny, slapsticky kind of film.

But one of the great things about it is this portrayal of a married couple. Because it's not, it doesn't follow those tropes that you make fun of in this clip. Yes. They really wanted to break those stereotypes of like, in these typical sort of broad comedies, it is the nagging wife who's like, you can't have fun, you can't do this. So it's like this very, like, old tropes that are extremely boring. And so we wanted to break those typical ideas and have like two wildly irresponsible people who are trying to be parents who are trying to like be parents and also party with the, you know, the ridiculous frat house next door. So it was it was really fun and an intentional thing that we were trying to address and do and be sort of conscious about it.

You know, it was a really big bonding exercise for Seth and I. and it felt sort of fresh, which was nice. Rose Byrne, congrats on the Tony nomination, and thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Emery. Thank you so much. Rose Byrne spoke with Fresh Air producer Anne Marie Boldenado. Burn is starring in the Broadway revival of the Noel Coward Play Fallen Angels.

It will be live streamed on Broadway HD on June 5th. Its limited run ends on June 7th. After we take a short break, TV critic David Bioncule reflects on the end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The final episode airs tonight. This is fresh air. The Late Show with David Letterman ran on CBS from 1993 until he retired in 2015, and after that, in the same Broadway space, now known as the Ed Sullivan Theater, it became The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Tonight, after 11 years at the helm, the show's second host steps down, but not of his own volition. And the franchise itself is ending, too.

Those are decisions made by CBS and its corporate owner Paramount. But our TV critic David Biancouly says, Colbert is very much going out on his own terms. Stephen Colbert has approached the last weeks of his show with what seems to be a mixture of defiance and celebration. He's defiant in that he's doing pretty much whatever he wants to. When he hosted David Letterman, the man who launched the late show, and who himself was famous for gleefully throwing watermelons and other projectiles from the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater, Colbert joined Letterman on the rooftop. The two of them threw things, including Colbert's desk and guest chairs off the roof.

And then Colbert gave Letterman the last word. Letterman quoted the familiar send-off of one of CBS's respected news icons, Edward R. Murrow, but Letterman's last word added an expletive. Well, Dave, yes, sir. Hey, thanks so much for creating the late show 33 years ago. It's been a pleasure having you back to destroy some stuff. The pleasure is all mine. I enjoyed destroying stuff.

It's great, great fun. Thank you for everything you've done for our country. Feeling is mutual, Dave. Thank you. Anything you'd like to say to the audience before we go? Well, not necessarily late to the audience, but the folks at CBS in the words of the great Ed Murrow, good night and good luck,

motherfuck. It was a show of support and a sentiment and a phrase that caught on. Days later, on HBO's last week tonight with John Oliver, Oliver used Letterman's phrase as the sign-off for his own show, after giving Colbert a quick plug. Oliver also showed up on Colbert's late show

in solidarity, along with fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Myers. The defiance was on display there, too, as Colbert asked his guests about late-night TV in general. Jimmy Kimmel, a survivor of his own politically electrified corporate battles, gave the best reply. Seth Myers, seated next to Kimmel with an iPad, provided comic sound effects. Late Night is in a bit of a weird spot right now, spoiler alert, and people questioning its future. I've been asked this question more, like three times over the last ten times.

months in various interviews like they go like make a case for late night I'm like what do you mean and you go like make make a case for it like why should it continue to exist I'm like we like people like it I enjoy doing it why would you say that make a case for late night well I would say that I in my I well I'm look at the figures and the fact of the matter is more people are watching late night television now then I know everybody gets crazy then when Johnny Carson well now obviously Johnny Carson had a lot of people watching one show, but we have a lot of shows

with like 30,000 people watching each one, right? And it adds up, and people watch us on YouTube now, and people have a lot of different options, and yet they still, they keep coming to us. And I will tell you, when I got knocked off the air for a few days, people... Thank you. People...

People canceled Disney Plus. Why isn't... Why aren't you people canceling Paramount Plus? Because you didn't have it in the first place? Stephen Colbert also showed defiance in planning his final shows. One program, presenting sketches and ideas that didn't make the air, pretty much was an inside joke aimed at his staffers, who were the only ones seated in that night's audience.

It wasn't that entertaining to watch, but I suspect that may have been the point. Colbert made that show with and for the co-workers he loved so much. because he could. And on other shows, Colbert's musical guests and song selections were statements, too. He got Bernardette Peters and other Broadway musical stars to sing, putting it together from Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, a song that's all about the joys and difficulties of making art.

And David Byrne came on to perform a highly charged version of Burning Down the House. In the context of Colbert and his show, both leaving CBS, those lyrics were amazingly spot on. And Colbert joined in at the end, singing and dancing with Ed Grimley-type glee. And, of course, Colbert was ruthless to the end in his monologues, diving deeply into political topics instead of avoiding them. Like this joke from earlier this week.

Today, the Justice Department posted an addendum to the original settlement, which says that the IRS is forever barred and precluded from pursuing examinations of truth. Trump-related or affiliated individuals and related trusts in businesses. So he just gave himself a get-out-of-jail-free card and a way better one than Jeffrey Epstein got. The celebratory element of these final shows has been reflected in the A-list guests who showed up and how Colbert interacted with them. Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks showed up separately with projects to plug, but also brought stories and perspective.

and Tom brought gifts, including a vintage typewriter, one of his well-known passions. John Stewart, who, like Letterman, was one of Colbert's former employers, had a great time comparing getting fired stories. Several of these shows and guests could have been the finale. David Letterman, John Stewart, the gaggle of late-night cronies, and Barack Obama, who appeared in a pre-taped segment to answer the Colbert questionnaire. What is the scariest animal? This is a scientific nerd question, but mosquitoes are the scary. Yeah, yeah.

Because. They bring a lot of bad diseases. There you go. Tonight is the real last show, and the final guests and contents are a mystery. Meanwhile, it's still a mystery to me why CBS and Paramount are being so short-sighted and stupid. Firing Colbert, that's bad enough, but he'll do fine. Ending the late show franchise? That's the worst mistake CBS has made with its entertainment lineup since firing the Smothers Brothers.

David B. & Cooley is Fresh Airs TV critic. I'm sure the show will be great tonight and Colbert will probably make us laugh. But when his show is over, it's going to be really sad. I'll miss you, Stephen Colbert. And now performing Burning Down the House, David Byrne. Fresh Air's executive producer is Sam Brigger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorock,

Anne Rae Boldenado, Lauren Crenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Yacundi, Anna Bauman, and Nico Gonzalez Whistler. Our digital media producer is Molly C.V. Nesper. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. Our co-host is Tanya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross. Cha-cha!