Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Melissa Rauch: Amy Farrah Fowler & Bernadette Rostenkowski Reunite!

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory, Night Court, True Blood) joins us for a TBBT reunion! She and Mayim reminisce about the series, from their bond at joining the cast together at the same time and the origins of Melissa’s Bernadette voice to their favorite on-set memories. Melissa opens up about the awkwardness that ensued when she tried to confess her deep love of Blossom to Mayim and what it was like to come of age in their acting careers just as social media was taking off. She discusses her comedy influences, what she likes about writing for herself, and demonstrates her formerly thick New Jersey accent. Melissa also describes her tendencies to beat herself up internally and the positives and negatives about how celebrity is looked at in our society. NOTE: This episode was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike. BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of my memories of Big Bang was like me and Melissa learning together. Like, oh, there's this thing called Spanx. Oh, okay, we're going to wear those now. Or like false eyelashes. What? Like, that's crazy. I didn't know that you're supposed to go to a stylist, but I bought this, like, it was literally, I went to the Beverly Center and bought a dress of Forever 21 for a big photo shoot,

like a studio-led photo shoot with professional photographers. And I bought, like, a dress for. for 1999, and then on top of it, this is where it gets even crazier. It needed to be altered, and rather than taking it to a professional, I duct taped the bottom of it, myself, which I often did. I was like, well, that's what I've been doing, like, for years. That's what I do. Our dressing rooms were next door to each other, so there was a lot of just knocking on each other's

And we share, even shared, they were adjoining for a while, wasn't it? We shared, so we shared a bathroom. That's right. For the first, I think the first year. And then there was some renovation that happened. And all of a sudden, we each had our own bathroom. And I thought, oh, she doesn't like to share a Pish Room with me. Okay, look, who got too big for her bridges?

I did not initiate that. I did not turn it down when it was. No, I think, right. Look, you saw the beginning of this. Would I turn down sharing a bathroom with Blossum? They out of my head? It's Myambialic's breakdown. She's going to break it down for you.

Because you know she knows a thing or two. So now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down. Hi, I'm Myambiolic. And I'm Jonathan Cohen. Welcome to our breakdown, the place where we break things down.

So you don't have to. It's a special one today. Big Bang reunion. It's a Big Bang reunion. It is Melissa Rauch, who played Bernadette Rostenkowski for so many years. on the Big Bang Theory. She and I were both made regulars in the fourth season.

And this is a woman who doesn't need much of an introduction. She is currently starring in an executive producing Nightcourt, which is a follow-up to the classic comedy series from the 80s, I guess it would be. Yeah. And Melissa is an amazing person. And I would love for you to get to meet her. And we're going to talk about all things Big Bang. And how she's a huge blossom fan.

She will talk about the awkwardness that ensued when she tried to decide how to let me know upon meeting me at Big Bang that she was an enormous blossom fan. It's a problem we all have. It's really a pleasure to welcome my friend, Melissa Roush, to the Breakdown. Break it down. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.

We've wanted to have you on for a very long time and very glad that we get to hang out this way. You're a busy lady. We were collectively busy for nine years of our lives together. And I went on to do a show. You've been working a night court. It's been a very busy time and a very exciting time. But we're very, very happy to have you here.

Jonathan loves when people were fans of me before I got to hang out with them. So I think we should go ahead. Let's start because we should start there. Because Jonathan always wants, like, people to talk about, like, what was it like when you met Miami? When I met you, I knew that you had been on Big Bang Theory before me. Like, you had started guesting. We started both guesting in the third season of the show.

But you, I saw you as like, oh, she's the one who, like, knows the ropes. Really? Like, this is going to be the person who helps me. Yeah, I told him. Oh, I never knew that. I know you only did one episode, but I don't know. That's so interesting. I never knew that.

Didn't I treat you with great respect and reverence? There was, yeah, there was a bit of a like, okay, that's the big man on campus. Reverend when we sat next to each other. I sat next to you. It was your, you had, you had already been on it, though, right? Because didn't we first?

Okay, because we weren't always on the same, right? We weren't always on the same episodes. Yeah, I think you had done, like didn't you end season three? Am I right about that? I did the season. finaly of season three, and then we were both brought on, you know, again, we were continuing

to guest in season four, and then we were both offered contracts to be official in season four. So it must have been season four that we met. Yes, yes. And I remember, because I remember watching you on that and being very excited that you were on it. As a fan, Jonathan, get ready. It was a fan. All right, let's go there. And I also want to know, Jonathan, if you were a fan before you met by him.

I want to know that. Have you spoken about that story? No, we haven't actually. Like I knew that her show existed. I had watched Blossom, but it wasn't like, you know, a go-to show of mine growing up. Okay. You also have an older sister. You have an older brother.

Jonathan's younger than me. But yeah, you were busy doing other teen things rather than watching me. Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And then turning it off when I came on the screen. Okay, yes. So I was sitting next to Mayam at our table read and trying to decide the entire time, at what point do I tell her that? I grew up being such a huge fan of Blossom.

Like, I'm talking, like, pretty hardcore Blossom fan, dressed up as her, like, had a Blossom hat, reenacted the opening of Blossom with my childhood best friend. Like, pretty, pretty hardcore. So every episode loved her in Beaches. Beaches was also one of my favorite movies. So, like, it was a big deal that were you sitting next to each other. So I was like, do I bring it up immediately?

Or do I wait? so that she doesn't think I'm too thirsty and then we become friends and then I sneak it in casual like what's worse? What's worse if like after like is it a bait and switch that I'm like, eh, I'm cool. And then all of a sudden like, I got to tell you I'm a big fan.

So I opted for early. So we left the table read and we like had a little bit of small tuck of the table read. I think we said like good job. And then our dressing rooms were both upstairs. So because I have no chill, on the, I didn't wait a second, on the walk and did the dressing rooms.

I sort of like did a quick step to like be next to her. And I was like, I'm so excited to be working with you this week and then just launched in to what a big fan I was. And she was so kind and so nice. And for what could have been a really awkward exchange because I was basically like accosting her behind the stage. She was very kind and very gracious.

and didn't make it weirder than I was already making it. Did you have the same recollection of that? I have a vague recollection of that. But I also know that at least probably half a dozen times in the years since then, you've inadvertently apologized for how you interacted with me that day. I'm like, I don't remember there being anything that you needed to apologize for. So, okay, hold on. From Melissa's perspective,

you keep your cool, you get through the table read, you accost her, which is phenomenal. She can't get away. You gotta get, and you have to like divulge this information. Otherwise, you can't really be true friends because you will have hit it. So I think that was the right move. Yeah, because then it's like a bad 90s rom-com. Like at what point do I reveal this secret that I've had this whole time?

And I'm not who I said I was. In the 90s version of it, she like finds your memorabilia that's in your dressing room? I think there was photos. I think there was photos that I eventually saw of you in a blossom hat, I think. Yes. Yes, you did. There was some indication that this was. And also, there's another funny blossom connection. So the thing that I most remember about like starting work on Big Bang theory is that I had a, you know, a nursing child and a toddler. And I was balancing this, what felt really impossible. I was, I mean, I continued to pump. Like, I was literally, you know, I was a pumping mom for at least a year. For me, like, I felt like this real oddball. You know, I was the first one on the cast to, like, you know, venture into, like, adult, married kid life. And so I really felt like, oh, my gosh, I'm this, like, person who used to be on television.

And then, like, I left. And, like, that's supposed to be cool. But I don't know if it is. And here I am, like, pumping and, like, feeling like, do I belong here? You know, like, really, that was. that was a thing because also, and Melissa, you can vouch for this as someone who eventually went on to have children. Like, if you don't see a model for that,

like sitcom actors with infants who are nursing and toddler, you don't have an idea. And also, like, I didn't have a nanny. Like, it wasn't the kind of people were like, just bring your nanny. It's a set. And, like, that was not going to be what my life was like. So I just remembered feeling really happy

that we had some, like, connection that was beyond, like, that every time I opened that lady's dressing room, like, I'm looking at her nipple. Well, you did. You had a sign on the door letting people know that that. I did. It said, mom at work. And it was a cartoon of a woman pumping. But yeah, several people saw my breasts. Melissa might have been one of them. It just like sometimes would happen. Which is why it was good. I told you I was a fan up front because how weird would have been if I saw your breasts and then told you and you would have been like, this is what you were

angling for the whole time. That's exactly why I did it. I made the brain. right choice, even though I regretted it and didn't know if it was the right move. So what was the regret after? What was the regret after? So you leave that scene, then what happens for you? Then it was like me going to my dress. I'm like, should I done that? I made it weird. I made it weird. I made it weird. And then I revisited a bunch of times thinking that's going to make it better. It doesn't. But that's sort of, I think my brain sort of works that way. Like, I will think about interactions we've had 20 years ago. Like, I will think about interactions I had in high school. That was, that was wrong. I wonder if they're, I wonder if they're thinking about that now.

But it's not that you were, it's not that you were poorly behaved. It's just that this is what your brain does. Yes. Yeah. It's just like a, like a say, not so much a second guessing, just like I think a bit hard on my, maybe. That's, that's a bit of what it is, right? Because generally speaking, I find you very polite, very professional, very appropriate. you do have, you have a vulgar potty mouth streak, but you usually keep it pretty well protected. I do. I honestly, like, I feel like, because obviously I have kids now,

I'm not going to, you know, go around dropping F bombs night and day. But yeah, I would say I do like to throw around an F bomb here and there. Before kids, when would that come out the most? I would say, I mean, really just like everyday conversation. I had a bad habit of like if I would call friends of mine with kids and I'd just let me know if I'm on speaker because without fail I would always be calling a friend of mine on speaker and be like, he'll never fucking believe what happened.

They're kids in the car. Kids! My high school friends that I start, when I start to speak to them, it divulges into much more foul language. You talk like you did when you were in high school. Yeah. And my son who when he was about two, he would like drop a toy and say oh fut

and I was like okay I got to clean this up did you say the F word as Futt no I said it normally but he couldn't pronounce it properly oh got it and you had the cutest child on the planet it's like oh that is really cute for me like the jersey like if I'm back in Jersey or because I'm from there originally or around people with the drink then it sort of like is in the

the Jersey particular that just is a part of It's almost a part of the accent, I think. Can you talk a little bit about kind of where you're from in Jersey? And I think people probably have already noticed that you don't have the Bernadette voice that, you know, obviously you were specifically known for and that, you know, our writers would also highlight, you know, the specificity of the voice that you would do. Talk a little bit about sort of like where you're from and, you know, what, like,

are you an industry kid? Did you come to it later? Okay, yeah. So I grew up in Jersey, in central New Jersey. And when you're from Jersey, you have to specify where in Jersey is from because the accent varies based on the location. But yeah, didn't grow up in the industry, but always was fascinated by it. And my brother and I would put shows on in our basement all growing up and just really, really wanted to put on shows for everyone. And I was really obsessed with comedy specifically.

I remember like watching Star Search and like what is this? Like the impressions just blew my mind. And that's really like where like my fascination with comedy sort of sparked. And then I started like begging my parents to let me do stand up, which was like I'm using quotes,

but stand up because it was really maybe like my next impersonation is. And yeah, then I would try and do it. like local talent shows and things like that. But it was never like on really like a professional level by any means. But I think my parents would have been surprised if I didn't go into the entertainment industry because I just was always trying to like get on stage in any way I could. And then growing up in Jersey, there was the proximity to New York City.

So like going to see Broadway shows and stuff was always a major staple of my childhood. Who were the comedians that you most liked? You know, you have a very strong, obviously, you have a very strong, you know, comic streak, which, you know, to me is reminiscent of a lot of great female comedians. Did you resonate more with a certain type of comic? Or did you like men and women equally when you kind of thought about comedians that influenced you? It was a mixture of both. I think, you know, I loved.

Carol Burnett was someone like who I, immediately when I saw episodes of the Carol Burnett show that blew my mind. And I was, I had the Carol Burnett show on VHS that I was watched over and over again. And then like, I remember stand-up-wise, I loved Robin Williams and would be Goldberg again. Comic relief was a huge one for me. And, you know, working with Marshall Warfield recently. I remember her comic relief set and loving her on that. And yeah, I think it was, I think it was sort of a mixed.

of just like who was who was making me laugh at the time. But there was a definite, like, whenever you saw a woman on stage doing stand-up, there was, you know, oh, we could do it too. Who did you impersonate in the early years? Oh, goodness. It was, um, Pee-Wey Herman, was a big one, Paul Ruhman. Don Knott's from Three's Company. Oh, yeah.

Tracy Olin. Who else? Shirley Temple, another one. Yeah, those are mine. It was in my impression. Miami-Bialx breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't get anything out of the experience that was useful.

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Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code break. Head to Superpower.com. Use the code break at checkout for $20 off your membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention my ambiolets breakdown to help support the show. Did you have a thick Jersey accent growing up? Did you have to get rid of that and modify it? Like, when did that transition?

Yeah. So the Jersey accent lasted for many years. It wasn't until I went to college. I went to acting school in New York City and I remember my first day of Shakespeare class and I mean it was very thick I was like, Moly and Swalk and Coffee Romeo, Romeo, we have for at that

like and I remember the teachers you thought about losing that accent I was like, what accent? There's no accent. And then they took me to a boy, they were like, you are going to the voice and speech department for the remainder of your time in this conservatory program and I went like hardcore voice and speech classes to get rid of the accent.

It took a while. It still comes out when I'm tired. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. This is a world I hadn't really thought of. So they make it go away? It can't come back. I mean, it comes back.

If I'm around my parents immediately. What are you talking about? It comes out big time. But, yeah, I completely sort of relearned my speak properly. Exactly. I had no idea. Like, I honestly thought everyone was speaking incorrect. When I heard people say the word wool without an AWL, I thought they were insane.

Well, I'm always fascinated by people who can do accents. Like you hear people, you know, from the UK or from Australia and all of a sudden they're playing an American role or vice versa. But for you who like had a natural way of speaking your entire life and then consistently now doesn't don't, you don't have that. I wonder like when you fall back. So obviously when around your people, your parents and people you grew up with, but like, do you ever find that you fall back to it like if you're annoyed or angry? When I'm upset.

But also if I'm just in, and I wasn't even raised in New York, but I was raised to speak by my parents and corrected to speak what they considered correct. But if I'm just in New York, like it's just, it becomes more natural. But if I'm here and like someone annoys me or angers me. the neuroscientist, I should probably know why this is. Like, that is the language of anger and frustration. Is it something based? Something based that comes out. That's so interesting. Right, because your family's all from York, right?

My parents are from the Bronx. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely, I mean, forget it. And there's also like a volume level of the East Coast that I remember like the first time my husband came to my family's house and he was like, why is there, is there, Why is everyone shouting? There's just a shout. I'm like, no, that's how you just scream from room to room for everything.

Like, ma, are we going out of dinner? Ma! Like, everything is just room to room. But also that's partly, you know, in, I mean, this is not uncommon for ethnic families in particular and your family's Eastern European, you know, at some point.

Like, the way that you get heard is to use volume. And you'll often hear, you know, I mean, there's a lot of, you know, gender stereotype jokes about, you know, Jewish men and such. But, like, if you do not raise your voice, you often will not be heard. You say I sound more Canadian around my Canadian people. You sound very Canadian around your Canadian people. So I lived in L.A. for years and I've been in the U.S. for many years.

And I was probably here for, like, five or five plus years. And I was at Trader Joe's and, like, just at the checkout counter. So, like, this wasn't a long interaction. And the cashier said, where are you first? and I was so upset. So when people think about the Bernadette voice, was there ever a point that you thought of having the character speak in your normal register, which you are speaking in now?

Or how did that specific, you know, pitch of Bernadette's voice come about? At the audition, I hadn't planned on doing it. And then, you know, it was just for a guest star initially. And I was just very nervous in that waiting room. And there was so many people there. And it's like, I just wanted to try something different. And I had just been on the phone with my mother, whose register is very close to Bernadette's.

And there was something a little bit Bernadette, a little bit like my mother in Burd-N. They're not by any means very similar. but there was just in the sides that I was auditioning with that day in that material. It just, it was a little bit reminiscent of like there's some characteristics that just reminded me of my mom. So I sort of did a little bit of an imitation of my mom without the Jersey accent. Like birded it very much in those, in that initial audition. I felt like I was imitating my mom a bit.

But funnily enough, and this, speaking of Jonathan's accent, I think in trying not to do the pitch, but not do my mother's accent. I was over-correcting, and I actually said, a boot. And after, no, this is my callback, actually. And Chuck said to me, are you from Canada? And it's like, I'm not. I'm so sorry.

I don't know why that word came out that way. And he's like, yeah, that's funny. He's like, no, this is great. Let's just do it again for fun. Did it again. But I think it was really just the over-correcting of I had always imitated. to my mother, but I never imitated her without the East Coast accent in it. And then I went,

for some reason, went Canadian. And fortunately, they didn't hold it against me. This is a question that I sort of know the answer to, but I think it's something that people wonder. Was it hard, like physically hard to keep your voice in that register? Because we were on for a very long time. And it's not your normal speaking register. What was that like sort of did it take a toll physically? You know what's so interesting about that register? I tend to like my voice can fry out from time to time or, you know, get laryngitis. And the amazing thing about Bernad's voice is because it was that higher placement, even like if I was sick or if like my voice was starting to go,

I was always able to get into that register and it wasn't really an issue. Whereas like some other jobs, like they would like give me like a steroid shot or something if my voice was going out. But with Bernard and I was able to sometimes, like, skate by with just the placement, which was nice. When I came on to Big Bang Theory, what I knew about you was that you at that time had a recurring role on true blood. Is that right? Yeah. Oh, that's right.

I think that was the timing. How many episodes did you do of that? That's a good question. And I think there was like maybe I can't remember exact four. A handful, I think. Yeah. It was so fun. And it was sort of in that time.

Because really, before I got the guest star for Big Bang, I was really struggling big time, sort of, you know, doing some like pilots that wasn't picked, weren't picked up, or I did a show that I shot like half a season of it and they never ended up airing it or just like in the grind of auditioning and not getting cast. And then truly like right before I got the guest on Big Bang, I had been at the unemployment office, like, so scared about like where that next paycheck was going to come from and how I was going to pay my rent. And then I did a couple episodes of Big Bang.

And then there was sort of like a break from that. And then I did a couple of True Blood, which was so awesome. But it was very much like waiting by the phone, like waiting for an audition to see what was going to come next. And I was so, so grateful when I got True Blood in that time. And it was just a really, really fun experience. And what did you do? Did you have a day job while you were kind of auditioning? You know, a lot of actors are waiters. And you obviously moved out after you finished conservatory, as it were, you moved out to L.A. What were your days like besides auditioning? A lot of crying in my car. A lot of, like, just major fear that it wasn't going to work out.

I waited tables for years. I waited tables through high school and college and then after college. I started when I was in New York. I worked at a sports bar. I was waiting tables there. And because of my height, you could barely see my head above the bar. You just see a baseball hat like bopping up and down. And I would go from like waiting tables to go doing like open mics and stand up at night

and trying to like. get paid to do stand-up, but I was really, and eventually that happened, but for years, it was like, okay, I'll go and host a show and get like a sad meal that they would like give you if you hosted. They would give you like the leftovers in the kitchen in order for to host the show. I was doing that. I was doing like really anything to me. I was like dog walking, house sitting, babysitting. I worked in a law office. I was. I was doing a law office. I was doing like, really anything to me. I was like, like, worked in a law office as a legal secretary, like legal secretary receptionist for a while with no qualifications.

But it was my cousin's law firm. And I was told that I couldn't file for shit. I was really, really bad at it. Because I was also like working on stand-up at the time. So I would like hide in the file closet and like work on stand-up and eat snacks. And then they would like find like all the file. because this was obviously like before everything was like filed digitally and it was like an actual physical um file room and there would just be like like chito dust on the files and like my stand-up notes and like just chocolate stains on everything they're like you can't do this for paying you um i was terrible at that um and what else like i did um like a touring um political satire comedy troupe at one point and then I toured doing stand-up,

but it was really like waiting tables, mostly, that got me through for years. And I, talking about, like, beating myself up, I will still wake up at a cold sweat, being like, I didn't bring a Diet Coke to Table 10 in 2004. Like, I's still waiting for it. You also, in addition to, you know, the acting work, obviously, that you're known for,

you also write, and you're now, am an executive producer of Nightcourt. But you co-wrote and executive produced the bronze that you also starred in, which if people have not seen the bronze, I highly recommend it. It's very dark. It's very funny.

There's an insane, awesome sex scene which got a lot of attention when it came out. I'm just going to say that. Body double. It's a full body double. It's a body double. Sorry, I should say that. But I want to be able.

wonder if you can talk a little bit about what it was like to kind of write for yourself. And was that something you always kind of wanted to do? How did that come about? So writing really was always my way as, I mean, even like as a kid, it was just like a way to get my feelings out and express myself. But then like as an out of work actor for many years, I realized writing was like the way that I felt that I had some semblance of control in a time. I'm like, you know, same with stand-up. Like in a time when you're an artist who's not given the opportunity to do what you love, it hurts and it feels bad.

And you sort of can forget why you're doing it in the first place. And it's just so much rejection. And you're constantly feeling like you're being personally rejected from something. So when I first started writing stand-up, it was like my way of like, I get to perform every night, even if no one wants me for their show or their commercial or anything I was auditioning for. And then when I graduated college, my now husband, I wrote a one-woman show for myself, which was also sort of a way to get in front of an audience without having to beg someone to put me in their thing. And then the bronze was a similar path to that when we started writing it when I was on Big Bang and I knew I wanted to try something that was different from anything I was ever given the opportunity to play before.

and we just started thinking about just celebrity and how it's looked at in our society. And I had just started to have like, you know, a little bit of momentum with Big Bang in the sense that at that point I had become a regular on this show and it was the first time I wasn't looking for that next job. And I noticed when I was going back to my hometown in New Jersey before that, when I would go to like the local mall,

it would be, you know, a lot of, like, like, oh, we saw you on that thing. Yeah, you haven't worked in a while, huh? Huh. Yeah, it's hard. You're going to give up. You're going to move back. And it was, like, there was just, like, a major element of, oh, we're just looking down on you. And then all of a sudden I would get another job and I'd come back.

And the same person would give me, like, a free Wetzel's pretzel. And I'd be so excited. Like, oh, just because I did something, I did a thing. And then again, I'd be out of work. and it'd be like, you know, everyone's giving me the side eye at Claire's boutique. So I was like, what is this that this notion that like, okay, we're, we treat people differently when there's even a modicum of celebrity. So then the idea for the bronze was hatched out of that and the idea of a former Olympic gymnast

who peaked at a very young age and then was sort of the, the, um, the star of her small town. And then after her gymnastics career ended due to an injury, what that did to her psyche and what that can do to the mental state of a young girl. And then so it follows her in this journey years after she won the bronze medal. And it was, yeah, it was a great experience. You were so amazingly supportive when that came out.

And I'm so grateful to you for that. She actually reenacted the opening of blossom with me. to help promote the movie. It was so nice. I remember she came to the premiere and then after she's like, what can I do to help? And I got to say,

and I'll confess, I selfishly just always wanted to do the opening of blossom with you. And I was like, well, she's asked me if there's anything she could do. I'd love to do that. It will promote the bronze while we're doing it.

Where is the footage of that? It's somewhere on the internet. Well, and I really, I very highly recommend people check out the Browns, also because, you know, what I think is so incredible is, you know, both you and I lived in people's, you know, kind of consciousness, as did all of us on Big Bang Theory. You know, we lived in people's consciousness as like that character, you know, and we were in your house. And then when syndication happened, we were like in your house and your bathroom

and your car and the yard. Like we were, you know, kind of really ubiquitous to people. And I think what was really amazing about the bronze is like it really was. It was you kind of stepping out of like what a lot of people thought of you as. And I happen to find it very, very, you know, in particular, very moving, not just because I had that experience, you know, as a young person of having a lot of success and then kind of everybody wondering what's next. But I also think that, you know, your writing is really, really beautiful. And you captured so much of that tension. you know, of the expectations we have for ourselves and the expectations others have for us. I wonder also if you can speak a little bit to, you know, we obviously, we existed at a time,

you know, on the Big Bang Theory kind of before social media became the thing that it is now. And, you know, we kind of lived sort of through that. Like I remember when we would go to awards things, like when we first started being nominated for things and we would all get to go as a cast, like I don't even think we had like individual social media that you were like posting like now, it's kind of like everything you do you're posting. And I wonder if you have any sort of thoughts like when we started on Big Bang, that wasn't a thing. And then by the time we finished, like people like we constantly had like phones on us. Remember there was a time when we didn't even have like cell phones on set.

That's true. And it was so crazy. I wonder if you remember anything about sort of what it was like to be a public person that literally kind of came of age in front of the public as the internet. and social media was coming of age. That's so, you're so right. That's so interesting. I think I remember, I can't remember exactly when it was, but I think it was like after I officially joined the cast, like I didn't even have a Facebook page.

I had nothing. And I remember like representatives that I was working with at the time, like you need to do something. And like they helped me set up a page, but I didn't even like have a login for it. And I'm still like pretty much a lot of it when it comes to social media. But that's very true. And I, you know, it's interesting because I think about that even as it pertains to when I started in stand-up.

And there was like nothing. There was no social media. The only thing that we would have would be you would bring a VHS tape to the like club booker. And if you wanted to like watch your setback to like give yourself feedback, you would give your VHS and maybe even or like pay a fee for them to record your stuff. But I often think about that, like what that, and, you know, if I bombed, I bombed, the only person who had the VHS was me, which is now, I'm sure, in a box at my parents' house somewhere. But I often think how much more difficult that must be in a world in which at any point someone can take that video of you just trying things for the first time and learning. So, yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, well, and I think what I was also thinking about is, you know, when I was on Blossom, when I was a teenager,

there we weren't ever nominated for anything like we didn't it wasn't that that didn't happen I never like was on a carpet like that like I went to the Emmys once like with Don Rio I think he might have been nominated for something I don't know but the world was so different and I just a lot of my memories of Big Bang was like me and Melissa learning together like oh there's this thing called spanks oh okay we're going to wear those now or like false eyelashes what like that's crazy yeah even like, you know, hair extensions. Like I had been out of the industry for so long. And like here I was coming back into the industry.

And I just remember like feeling really like both tutored by Melissa and also we'd like learn things together. Like I remember it would be like, how do you keep your dress from creasing on the way to the awards show? I think there was one where you like, I think Winston like held your whole dress the whole ride. And then I laid down considering I'm barely five feet like I would just lay across the back. Because I kept on coming towards.

I'm like, how is this done? and I'd just be like a wrinkled bluff by the end. That's so interesting because I don't think it ever occurred to me that you were learning as well because, again, like in thinking like I'm getting to do this with Blossom, I don't, like it didn't, that didn't register for me. I'm thinking about like our first satellite media tour. Do you remember that?

They had us, there were things where you have to get up at like four in the morning and they, it was you and I together. doing that and I had never done anything that before. And then you and I had like a whole press day and they were doing, you know, a bunch of stuff around the two new cast members that joined. And I didn't like, I didn't know anything about just wardrobe. I can't remember. Do you remember.

I remember you were like, why do my breasts like so weird in every picture? And I'm like, why does my nose like like the, like the lighting was, we didn't even know what to ask for. We were so green. I will send you the pick. I can't. What publication was this? I didn't know that you're supposed to go to a stylist.

I don't know. But I bought this, like, it was literally, I went to the Beverly Center and bought a dress of Forever 21 for a big photo shoot, like a studio-led photo shoot with professional photographers. And I bought, like, a dress for 1999. And then on top of it, this is where it gets even crazier. It needed to be altered. And rather than taking it to a professional,

I duct taped the bottom of it myself, which I all remember this. I was like, well, that's what I've been doing for years. That's what I do because I couldn't afford to go to a tailor and get like my pants hauled. So I would just duct tape all my belongings. And that's like that photo shoot.

My dress is duct taped on the bottom. I believe we also went, this sounds insane. We went to the cell. the France. Yes, we did. And this was also like, we came on to the show. I had never seen the show. I was busy giving birth and crying and breastfeeding.

But we came on to the show when, like, the main cast members that had been on the show, they had done a lot of publicity. So it was like, oh, well, Melissa and Myam, they haven't had the opportunity to do this. So, like, we went on an aeroplane, two planes. And we were at, like, this, like, super fancy, like, Warner Brothers. press junket. Like Jennifer Love Hugh, it was, it was... Yeah, it was like a TV

Awards festival in France. It was something, and we had to bring... And I remember, like, planning with you because it was like, bring three black tie outfits. I'm like, I don't have one. Like, what? I think I even, like, I'm like, should you send me my wedding dress?

Like, should I just wear that and dye it? Like, does my Bat Mitzvah dress still fit me? I don't know what to wear. And again, like, I think of it so fondly now because things that now we know to do. Like I know to say to a stylist, I have a thing where I'm going to. I need three different outfits. I need jewelry for each.

I need shoes. But this I had like literally like jewelry in like a Ziploc bag. Like I had this expensive jewelry that they sent us with. But we ended up literally you like you hit the ground running. Like you landed. You had to like get into wardrobe to go to your first thing and they had hair and makeup. And it was it was bananas. It was very exciting.

I mean, I remember our first Comic-Con, like we went on a jet. It was crazy. This was a life also that, like, this was new to us because I had been out of the industry for 12 years. And this was like, I mean, kind of like our first big thing at this point in our life. And, I mean, I felt, I must have been so green.

I don't think it's even fully registered in my brain what that time was. But I agree. It was, I, it's, it's, interesting. Like I know we were paired for a lot of it. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that this was, I had just in my room like, well, of course Blossom has as gone and dined with the prince of Monaco, I've been tons of times. I feel like, no, I feel like at that festival, did they not introduce you as Blossom? Am I wrong about that? I feel like I have a memory of that happening. and you've been like, that was not supposed to happen.

That is true. I can't remember which event it was. I had blocked that out, but thank you for bringing it back to memory. Because they were fans or because they were confused? I think it was just like, oh, look who's here. It's Blossom. Like, you know, and they introduced me as that at one. Because you were like, you know, we had to go on stage and there was press.

And it was like all this insanity. It was very, very fancy. Just the other weekend. Someone screamed, hey, there's Blossom. Yes. It's all I can do throughout this interview not to shout it. I want to ask one more Big Bang Theory question before we. Circle back to her obsession with Blossom.

No. You know, we've had Kunal on the breakdown, and his episode was really, really special. It was, it's a beloved episode by a lot of our listeners. Did you know that he was a spiritual guru? I do, and I love that about him so much. He's incredible. He is incredible. we also had Simon on and Simon came on.

Another incredible human. Yes, he came on to talk about the movie that I made that Simon was in. Which I gotta say, I'm sure all the listeners have seen this movie, but it's so beautiful. It's so beautifully done. You did such an amazing job. You had a crying response. I did. You're one of the people who called and you were like, I couldn't stop crying.

I sobbed. I sobbed throughout it. It's just, it's so wonderful. you did such an amazing job. And Simon is, as always, so phenomenal in it. Thank you. And, you know, when I sort of, you know, you and I are both. We're asked a lot.

We're all asked a lot in kind of every interview we do. Like, why do you remember? And like, what was amazing? And I guess I'm curious, like, I'll go first, you know, in terms of like, sort of, if you were to ask me, like, what do I remember? What was it like? I think what I remember, and then I'd love to hear your take. Like, you know, people always ask me, like, what was your favorite episode?

And it's like, I don't think in episodes, you know, like, I remember certain things that were particularly fun. Like, I always liked doing, you know, like Penny Bernadette, Amy stuff. Like, I liked, you know, when we would go out drinking and, like, those were fun. But I more think about, and I hate to give people a downer of a response, but I more think about that we were together, you know, for a decade of our lives, you know, give or take. and I more think about like all the other things that went on in our lives that is nobody's business, you know, and that's usually what I say. It's like, you know, I know for me, like I got divorced.

My dad died. You know, like life happened for all of us. And while everybody thinks of us as these characters and these relationships and it was so funny and I loved it. And that's super important. And it's so valuable. And we were a very specific thing, you know, in television history. What I more than think about. It's like that was that was like almost a decade of my life that I spent, you know, with these people who I saw more than I saw my own family, really. I absolutely remember, you know, Simon making us laugh so much. Like, you know, he would do impressions for us and he just, he always had, you know, he and Jim always had like a very funny, you know, interaction on camera or off camera, you know. So I remember things like that, but I more think about like,

the people that we worked with are writers and, you know, like the staff and all the people that nobody ever gets to know about who put it together. I'm curious, like, what do you sort of remember as an overarching, like, this was what my life was like for those, you know, nine years? You know, this is, I'm honestly shocked by what you said because I fully believed we were those characters and I'm now devastated to learn that that's not the case. So I need a minute. No, I totally hear you on that. I think that's a really beautiful way to sort of think about that time. You know, I think for me, like, also it's, I definitely think about the relationships.

It was very much a family for that decade. And it was my first job where I knew I was going every day. And there really wasn't a minute where I drove on that lot where I didn't feel like this immense sense of gratitude. for this thing that I was going to. And yeah, I think it's very much about the people. I think the fun of those tape nights and that that electricity, and it really is what sort of made me fall in love with that medium and why I wanted to do it again.

But there was, it was just a very special moment in time that I really think about, the, like, you know, like you were saying the relationships, but the, like, that, if I had to, like, just zone in a one memory, I would say, like, just all of us sitting around eating, you know, the Chinese food. And, and then getting to, like, and doing a rehearsal of that scene where we're all together. And then getting the ability to then go and talk to, like, all the writers who would watch her run through. And it just felt like, I guess I would liken it to,

like if you, and I don't come from a big family, but if you had a big family and you get to gather with them at a holiday and then sort of like go to room to room and see everyone that you miss. And that's sort of what it was, whether it's like the crew members or the writers or that cast, there's just this nostalgia of, of like that family that I will forever hold so dear to me and miss. That's beautiful.

That is beautiful. I know a little bit about Call Me Cat, but does Nightcourt shoot in front of an audience or no? It does. Yeah, I was really excited about the chance to do that again. And similarly to Big Bang, that like electricity of tape night is just so special. And I had never done it before Big Bang.

And I remember my first tape night at Big Bang and just falling. in love with that medium. And it just felt like the theater world I had come from mixed with what I had fallen in love with about TV. And we didn't know when we were originally developing Nightcourt if, because we were developing it during the pandemic and didn't know what would be if there would ever be a chance to do a live audience show. But fortunately, by the time we shot the pilot, we're sort of coming out of things. And we were able to shoot in front of a limited audience. But then the first season, we were finally getting back to a live show every week.

And it's great. There's just a really special dynamic and relationship, I feel, between the actors and the writers and the audience on a on a multi-cam sitcom, which is really cool. For people who may not kind of know what Nightcourt is, I remember Nightcourt because it was the show. show I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch because I was too young and it was kind of it was kind of naughty I watched a lot of night court well I eventually I eventually watched more night court but also and this is just like a fun Melissa Mayam connection so after Don Rio created blossom and we had been going for a couple of years he created the John Laracette show which was a show that John Laracette who had been on night court starred in I actually played John Laracette's grateful dead loving daughter in an

episode of the John Larrakette show, which I did literally during Blossom. And I have very, very fond memories of working with John and have a lot of respect for him as an actor. So Nightcourt finished its first season. You were picked up for a second season. And it's an NBC show, but that means you can also watch it on Peacock, correct? Yes. Yes.

It's on NBC and then goes to Peacock the next day. But isn't that, that is amazing. when you share that with me that you work with John, it just made me so happy. Yeah. He's amazing. Yeah, he really, he is. And it's really, it's incredible.

And I think such a, such a wonderful vehicle and I'm very, very happy for your success as a producer and as a star of this show. And it really, really, really was a beloved, beloved and really highly regarded sitcom that is having, you know, this beautiful, I mean, this beautiful kind of, of second experience, you know. So very happy for you about that. Thank you. Melissa, it has really been such a pleasure to get to hold space with you like this. Some of my favorite times are the things that people don't get to know that we got to be sisters in and interact with for all those years. You're really an enormous part of my life. I do not believe

I would have gotten through those nine years with everything that I was dealing with and with learning to be a parent and working without you. I'm really. really, really forever indebted to you and just so thrilled for you. Thank you. I love you so much. I love you. Thank you so much for having. I have to say it is it having our dressing rooms were next door to each other. So there was a lot of just knocking on each other's doors. And we share, even shared our, they were adjoining for a while, wasn't it? We share, so we shared a bathroom. That's right. For the first, I think the first year. And then there was some renovation that happened and all of a sudden we each had our,

own bathroom and I thought, oh, she doesn't like to share a Pish Room with me? Okay, look, who got too big for her bridges? I did not initiate that. I did not turn it down. But it was supposed. No, I think, right. Look, you saw the beginning of this and when I turned down sharing a bathroom with Blossom? Out of my head? How did your love for Blossom continue?

Oh. You kept it at bay. Oh, we would talk about it from time. No, we would talk about it from time to time. I didn't hide it. Once it was out. I really, I probably should have at some point to, like, make it less uncomfortable for her. But I really went hardcore on it.

I mean, do you think like once a week? Is it possible? I brought it up once a week. Yeah, she has a tattoo of my face on her left ass cheek. It's weird. I do. Melissa, thank you so much. So wonderful talk.

This was truly, truly, truly, so much fun. And I'm so glad that I got to do this with you guys. So I'll be on again next week. Oh, yeah. Same time next week. All right, from our breakdown to the one we hope you never have. We'll see you next time. It's my and be all X breakdown.

She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or two. One fiction. And now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down.