Not Skinny But Not Fat - JESSICA WILLIAMS: SHRINKING, HARRISON FORD & BEING A TALL GIRL

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

I'm obsessed with Shrinking on Apple TV, and Jessica Williams is the perfect mix of funny, emotional, and relatable as Gabby, the therapist we all want in our lives! Today, Jessica and I dive into landing the role, working with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford, her OG podcast, returning to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, being tall, and more!Produced by Dear MediaThis episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome back to the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Hirsch, and I still can't believe that I get to chat with some of my favorite stars from my very own podcast where you'll feel like you're just talking shit with your best friends in your living room. Hi, everybody. Happy Tuesday. You know what's so wild.

I couldn't remember if I wrote down, like, what I wanted to intro this week, just in terms of what's going on. And you know what came up in my notes? I don't even know if I want to enter it because if I click on it, it'll, okay, if I don't click on it. I'm such a freak. So this is from 2019, 112, 2019, okay? I was going to call the podcast the Skinny.

Oh. So it's supposed to be The Skinny, and I said intro script, welcome to The Skinny with Amanda from Not Skinny but Not Fat. And I'm going to talk about everything. And then it says Ariel cuts me off because it was with my sister. And I'm your co-ist Ariel, A.K.K.A. The Cistager. Okay, okay, that's enough. And I'm here to share Ariel Koff's, we, the latest in celebs, web culture and Hollywood gossip and so much more. Here we go. Just so special. It's just so special. Actually, my producer of almost four. five years is leaving. And when she told me, I cried and I got choked up because she's been a part of the show for since I, well, I started in like 2019 and I then moved to Dear Media in like 2020. So almost the whole time the show existed. And, you know, part of our conversation and just

saying thank you to each other for the time that we had, my drama. I'm so dramatic. You know, one of the things she said to me was like, you know, I love how serious you are and how dedicated you are about your podcast, but you also do it in like a way that is chill. And like, to me, that's like, obviously like such a compliment and we exchanged such nice words to each other. But it was like, my podcast is my life, okay? Like it's just wild how I remember when I started a pot, it was like, okay, this is the next thing, right? Like, I have this Instagram. I talk about stuff. I should talk about it on the

podcast because, like, that's what you do. And it was 2019. So, like, I wasn't one of the first, first ones to have a pot, obviously, but it wasn't as saturated as it is today. And it was like, I remember when I got asked about it was like, yeah, well, my Instagram, like, this is my Instagram. And like, my podcast is like, you know, it's nice. And today, like, it, not that it's shifted, but like, it feels like, I love, obviously, share. everything on Instagram and having our community there and chatting and and oversharing and but like my podcast is like my craft like that's what it feels like to me like it's just what I think about it all day like whether it's going through guest pitches and seeing who's right

for the show or pitching out to guests or thinking about it and timing it and preparing for it and just everything like it becomes a little bit obsessive as everyone who you know has a passion for what they do like obviously you have to like calma but it's just so crazy just just that that came up for me the 2019 intro script of the skinny my producer christiana leaving and then made me really emotional because that's how important the podcast is to me and you know aside from her working on the show in terms of editing and everything like that she also just receives so many checks message just for me all day like should i do that should that what do you think about this guess what do you think about this guest what do you think about

this guy. Should we take this out? Should we include this? Should we change the intro? Should we do in a trailer? Should we like just bouncing off ideas all the time and just it's so fun to get to work with people that like care about what they do. And just, you know, I told her, one of the things I told her like before we hung up, I was like just, you know, like your messages are pinned in my eye message. That's how important you've been. And she was like, oh my God. And I feel like that's such a big thing. But that's how I sort of was like, oh my God, am I Craig? Like if you're watching Southern Charmin, And he's like, work is my life. Like, work is everything that I care about.

Like, I did look at that negatively when he said that. Like, okay, all you care about is your work. But to me, it's like, it's not like, my life doesn't divide into separate sections. It's not like work one, family, two, this, three. It's like it all is kind of intertwined and interwebbed. And I love it that way. You know what I mean? So it's not like, this is only work.

And I don't answer after, you know, know, no, like work is pinned because it's, it's not, it's almost like not work to me. I know that'll sound like a lie, but it's, it's not work to me. You know what I mean? It's just not. I love it. I love it. I love you.

Why am I emotional? Am I pregnant? No, I can't be. I didn't get my period yet. I didn't get my period yet. Now you all know. Now you all know. The body's just so crazy because with no, I was breastfeeding around the clock, got my period after

two months. Okay. I was like, great, Amanda. That's so you. You get your period all the time. I'm like, that girl with her period. That's what I feel like. And then with Lenny, it's like he's eight months.

I'm combo feeding what they call it. And I didn't get my period yet. It's like it kind of does make sense because I have told you guys that I feel like my body did get kind of more. There were more changes after Lenny than after Noah could be with age. It could just be that every, like my age, I mean that I'm older. It could be that just every pregnancy is different. I know. Sounds cray cray, but it's true.

Wild fact. Every pregnancy. is different. I'm also going through kindergarten like applications for Noah. Like, am I okay? Like what? Also, obviously I'm late to it because who could have thunk that by January, you like need to have a decision, know where you're going, know what you're doing. So very like me, I started with one way, ended up flipping last minute to a completely different way. And it's just like there's so much pressure on you as a parent to like decide for your kid where they're going to go, what they're going to do. But I also try to alleviate some of that. stress and say like I literally moved countries, moved schools, was all over the place. And I'm fine. You know, when those people say, and I'm fine. They're not fine. But like, I actually am fine. Like I went, first of all, I went to like public schools my whole life. And I bounced around. My parents, you know, got divorced in the middle of it. I went to Israel. I came back like all over the place. And I'm fine. No, but I really am. So I think it's just important to keep that in context when you are so

crazy about like what school your kid is going to go to just remember that like they'll be fine like wherever they go you know what i mean it's more about like us like we're looking for like what we love we're like this is great for me but no obviously you want to see your kid thrive but i just want to take the pressure off because i know that wherever your kid ends up going it'll be fine and of course like there's so many options nowadays and things you can do and anyway spencer just came up on my feed. Spencer Spencer. I mean, listen, like this also needs to be studied. I love how everyone's just really coming around and being part of this like campaign to get Heidi's songs to the top of the charts and, and just support this family after this loss. And listen, got to give it to Spencer for

doing everything in his power to have his wife succeed. It's so sweet. The only thing that I have that might be a hot take and my spencer might murder me is like spencer is a star you know what i mean like he needs to be doing something you know what i mean like i love that he's like a a husbandager a hubbager a husbander but like what are you doing spencer we need you we need you out there like he's has so much like star quality and has so much presence and charisma like he needs to be doing something like hidey's singing okay what are you doing because you you are so interesting you're so interesting to look at. February, we're in Feb.

Oh my God, we're in Feb. Oh, my God, take a breath. We're in Fab. So much exciting stuff going on for February in terms of television. I might be missing a few, but what I'm personally excited about, White Lotus Season 3, the running point with Kate Hudson, Summer House. Oh, my, geez, Louise, pregnant, Lindsay in there, and Alec and Hilaria's show. Do you die?

Do you die? So exciting month. speaking of shows one of my favorite shows recently you know recently i watched the season finale and i'm just obsessed with the show i feel like i it's one of the shows that i was most vocal about convincing you all that you drop everything you're doing and watching it and you guys know like some of those shows for me one of them is shrinking boop if you know you know i had the pleasure of having on bill laurence and christa miller i think a couple of years ago, a year ago, a couple years ago, obsessed creator of the show and his wife, who plays

Liz, just the best. And I've been wanting to have on Jessica Williams, who plays Gabby. I just think she's so phenomenal in everything she does, but especially as Gabby. Just like watching her as Gabby, like, I want to be best friends with Gabby. I like, give me all the Gabby. Just Gabby puts me in a good mood. And I have to say that Jessica Williams puts me in a good mood, too. So Jessica Williams is on the show today. I'm super excited. We talk all about shrinking, how she actually had one of the first pods ever. Okay. Unlike me, she started like way before everybody else. And she's just the best. And her energy is just so, so damn cool. Not surprising there. So enjoy my conversation with the lovely Jessica Williams. Oh my God. It's happening. Let me let me know. Oh, my God. It's my first

His name for his time. It was crazy. I think it was because of the rain. Oh. I was like a little thrown off. And then I decided to lie, which is weird. Oh, you want to make my podcast like nice? Okay.

No, no, I'm just going to move it. I don't want to just hear people talk about plastic. I just want them to talk about the interview. It's fine. I don't want to hear from them. I was my first time. Oh, can you move? Can you like move it just a little bit?

I can see it in a frame. This plastic that I put down. Give it to me. I'll get out. Yeah, sorry, Boo. Oh, my God. She has plastic. Like, I don't want to hear it.

I don't want to fucking hear it. First of all, it's very gabby of you. Thank you. The plastic thing. But I've had guests, yeah, that they were like, I don't drink out of plastic.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't think you're supposed to. I think it's like microplastics. It's a thing. I'm like, oh, because I have to research it.

Do you realize that like as babies? Yeah. Can you tell? No. It's a seamless, dude. You're so good. I'm scared of you now. That was like too smooth.

As baby. Maybe we drank out of hot bottles. Yeah, I don't think we're supposed to do that. I'm sure there's, like, moms that can afford it that are drinking out of, they're, like, doing glass bottles. Back in the dizz? Yeah. There weren't glass bottles. I know, but maybe there was, though.

You think? Maybe they're, like, really heavy glass bottles and breasts. The glass bottles are heavy, though. Yeah, but I feel like there's, like, a really nice, like, woo-woo mom store that has, like, glass baby bottles. Back in the day, you mean? No, now. No, now they're glass bottles, babe. So you have to preheat the milk, I would imagine.

Do you have kids? I do. I have two. Cool. I have none. I have none. But I do do. I don't know. I did IVF like for the first time in the last two months. Not IVF. The eggs freezing. Just egg freezing. Oh. I did the con. I mean, I was at an IVF place. It wasn't IV. But it is. It's like a form of. Yeah. Oh, I don't know about that. Wait, egg freezing. You have to do IVF to get them. No, egg freezing. Like, you just go to the IVF place. So now we're getting into semantics. Now we're getting to semantics. Now we're getting to semantics. I did have to go to an IVF place. Okay, but that's not IVF, babe. Twice. I guess, but it feels bad. You do a lot of the same things. Oh, yeah, you do that. It's like, it's like a big part of it, actually. It's a big, it's a lot of things to do.

Yeah, there's probably like women that have egg freezing, their egg freezing dinner, like, wait a minute, we're not going to knock on that IBM because we're going to call it something. We go call it something. There's a lot of shots. But it is, people don't understand. First of all, a lot of people post on Instagram, like their egg freezing journey and stuff, and it looks like, oh, I'm going, but it's a big thing.

Like the neat. No, dude. It's a lot. I mean, like, it's a lot. You're doing a bunch of shots at the same time every day. It's, you know, a lot of hormones. The shit's expensive. It's not guaranteed that it's even going to work. And you're still spending all your money on it. But it worked. Like, you got the things. Yeah, maybe. I mean, then it's maybe. Like I got, I did it twice. I did back to backgrounds and, like, got eggs. Wow. Because I have something called endometriosis, which is really bad periods. And I'm 35, which I've been putting off freezing my eggs for a while. But when you're 35, like, your IVF doctor is like, your, your eggs are. dying like you're like yeah yeah they're like you need to like this is it's going to be like bad from here and then basically the plan is for people that do egg freezing for either to at some point make the take the egg then you can make like an embryo yeah and then you make the embryo yeah and then you can impregnate yourself that's right or somebody else yeah or somebody else that's right and they can just carry it like where you which is also just science is amazing I know it's crazy

Do you picture, like, would you, what appeals to you more? Shit, I don't know. I just was like, oh, I guess I need to go stare off a mountain top and think about this thing. I don't know, because I want to keep working. Yeah, it's something that you just had to do, yeah. Yeah, so to put my head down and do it because I just want to keep working. But I'm a Leo, like, so I like, changed my mind a lot. I never know what I'm going to think.

So I just wanted to, like, be safe. For sure. So did you not work when you were doing that? A lot of women do. They have to. Yeah. Shrinking, we wrapped in June and we start next month filming again, so I had a break. which was really nice.

I love shrinking so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it. Do you know, well, I'm going to tell you something. No, I don't know, but I want to know it. Okay. I kind of inspired boop.

Well, you, how do you? How? How so? It sounds like I'm lying. So, yeah. Okay. Weirdly, very off target brand and audience. Bill Lawrence follows me. So weird, right?

Does he really? Has he been on here? He has been He has been on him Oh, that's why No, from before That's how he came on I love it

I love it I wonder if him and Krista listened to you all the time I don't have They came on together Oh cute But he follows me

And I say boop a lot Yeah And that's how Did he tell you that? He told me that That's cute I hope he's not lying Yeah

He has a writer He does make sure He does tell stories Okay I didn't know that Well it's so nice to meet The originator Of like pushing your husband Offcloth

I'm so nice to meet you And you were supposed to come on when you did Roadhouse with Lucas. And he ended up coming on without you. But he's obsessed with you. I know. I love him so bad. And I told him that you were coming on and he was like, oh my God, tell her, tell her.

I'm like, okay, what did I tell her? He was like, tell her I'm obsessed with her. Tell her, if you remember his that time at South by Southwest where we couldn't stop laughing. Yeah, he's a lunatic. That's like, I don't know if anybody's ever going to see this interview, but he was like, I don't know, he was just on one. Like, I don't know how to describe it. He was being so silly and he was saying the crazy shit.

And you won't. And he was just making me laugh. And, like, but we were, you know, it's like a day where you're just doing back-to-back, back-to-back interviews. And it's got probably like 100 views or something, but it's a very, very dumb interview. Oh, it's out there. Yeah, it's somewhere. But he was, like, just being so crazy. But I love him.

And he said that the, he was like that they were getting mad, like, whoever that outlet was at the time. Were they? I don't remember. I feel like he's embellishing there. I think, I don't think they knew. It was like a weird situation. But I feel like, you know, I feel like he's, like, adding, like, a little bit. Well, I love that friendship and I love the movie.

But when you came in here, because we have to other people, you were like, it's my first podcast ever. Those dumb, dude. I don't know why I did that. I don't know. I'm in a weird mood, I think. What's the mood? It's really rainy out. It's really rainy right now.

And I then slept, you know, at the hotel, got here, you know, this afternoon and was like, I've never done a podcast before. And I've done lots of podcasts before. You're the OG. You had a podcast before people had podcasts. I guess I did. You did. It didn't feel like that.

time because there was always like Mark Maron's podcast, you know, that feels like OG. That's like OG. Yeah. But yeah, I haven't for about five years. Why did you stop? It's different now. It's going to be, do acting. Like, it's hard to do podcasts and like, yeah, because it's a full-time job. Like, you know, now podcasting is like you have to really, there's so many now. You have to really like work on it and produce it. Right. But and then also, it's like when you're a daily show correspondent, it's hard not to be seen as a correspondent. Like, it's like you'll get offered a lot jobs to host or like comments on the red carpet or like these stuff like that when you're like talking and it was like okay but I want to be an actor like so you knew that that I was

interested to know so you knew because you were on the daily show yeah straight out of college yeah so then you're saying you did get offered hosting gigs red carpet gigs sure yeah and you what you turn them down yeah well I would do some it's nice money doing that but then I wanted to be an actor like I didn't want to comment on Jessica Chastain's dress I wanted to like wear like a nice dress. So you knew you wanted to be an actor, even going into the Daily Show job? I was always an actor, yeah. Oh, okay. I was an actor, but I did more comedy, and I did improv and, like, the comedy in a performing arts high school. And I grew up in L.A., so, like, the performing arts, if you do that, it's like, it's like, it's like a whole thing. It's the whole thing. Yeah. And you went to college. I went to Cal State Long Beach for a few years, and I did up by Citizens Brigade while I was doing college. So I did, then I did college part time. And then I got the Daily Show. during that time. And then I left college to move here to New York. So I did that for like eight years, I think. And then I left. Did you want to get the daily show gig or was it like? I just want

jobs. So you like were sending out. Yeah. I was just auditioning doing bit things here and there and putting stuff up on stage. And I just wanted a job. And you know, there's always like the Saturday night live of it all. And there's always like the daily show. Those are like two separate things you can do where you're like a day player on something really cutting your teeth. And and I got the daily show. And so. it was just kind of a no-brainer. But I was 22 then, which was crazy. That is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I think I was on there for five years. Maybe 22 to 27, I think. And you moved to New York like by herself. I did. Yeah. It was really scary. Like, it was really scary. Like, it was really, it was intense. Like, I'm a real, real LA girl. Yeah. It's like here. They're like, as soon as you land, they're like, watch out, bitch. And you're like, oh, yeah, you're right. You're like, oh, damn. Like, it's crazy here. But I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself. I can like, I feel like I can take care of myself because I lived here for 10 years. Oh, 10 years? Yeah, yeah. Because you stayed?

Yeah. Yeah, just about. Oh, wow. Yeah. Do you see you have love for New York when you come here and it's gross and rainy? I do, yeah. It's like I like all the weather. I mean, actually, I don't.

I hate the weather. Why am I doing that? This is like when Dakota Johnson was like, I like, I like limes. And then she like was like, I don't know why I did that. I don't like Lyme. And then do you know that she said that she's allergic to Lyme's? Is it really? I feel like that's another lie.

That's too far. Yeah, that's too far. No, but she said that. Yeah. No, she said that. So what did you just lie about? I said, I love the weather, but I don't like it that much. I hate it.

It's kind of ass. You like when it's hot all the time? I do, yeah. Really? I don't mind being hot. You don't like wearing that blazer and not sweating? No, I could do without it. What if I just wore this and then just like shorts and then just like, you know, just walked outside and it was fine.

Speaking of your shorts, like I love Gabby's style so much. Like how did you guys like decide on that together? Like the costume designer just knew that's who got. Gabby was. Yeah, I think when I was hired for the show, they didn't really know who Gabby was. They were like, we want to tailor her to the actress that plays her. And they were like, you know, we want her to be someone that people like are like, ooh, where did she get that? That was like the directive was where did she get that? And so Allison Fanger, who is our, you know, costume designer for the show, like, we did a lot of fittings and we always do a lot of fittings for Gabby and like try and make things fit just right. But the key is, you know, our bodies are like so many different sizes. proportions. And for me, I'm like a six-foot-tall, curvy lady. But it's like if you buy clothes big, bigger, if you spend the money to tailor it, you can always take it down. So for Gabby, we buy clothes like big and then we just tailor it all. Well, that's not so fun for the normal of us all. I know. It's expensive. I just want to tell you guys that that's what we do on the show.

So it doesn't seem like Gabby's just getting these off the right. And not only on the show, but celebs that we see in even like cool streetwear where you're like. How are those sweatpants falling exactly on her hip, but also big on her on the butt? Yeah. No. Like, yeah. It's, like, weird. Sizes are, like, just suggestions.

It's, like, a weird force thing that we're all supposed to. But you do. You have some, like, like, a lot of things that Gabby wears are, like, okay. Like, yeah, I just never want people to think, like, when they're looking at my page or anything that you can just, like, go out and buy it if you, like, kind of can't. I want you to know that it was, like, created, tailored down to. Yeah, like, those bike shorts were, like, the floral bike shorts were, like, like, Sown on. Yeah, that's like the, yeah, we like tried a bunch of different shirts. Do you ever take anything home?

Yeah. Yeah. It's nice, you know, because clothes, like, they're meant to be worn, but a lot of times when you shoot something, I think they take it all and put it in a vault somewhere, which seems like, use it for some, something else. No, they just keep it in case they want to do reshoots or something, but, like, clothes should be worn. So you take them home?

You should be lived in. I do. I have too many clothes. Like, I have a, this, my guest bedroom is just, like, clothes that I've gotten, which is, like, it's, like, too much. But if I find something, that's my size, I'm six feet. Like, I want it. It's hard for you to shop.

I want it. Hell, yeah. If you're tall, dude, it's an ass out there. Really? Yeah, I ain't got no love for the tall girls out there. So what do you find, like, well, they have like the long option, right? Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes.

And that works for you. Yeah, sometimes. You're six feet, six out. Yeah, yeah. I'm a solid six today because of my heels. I'm like six two, six three. But yeah, like sometimes, but a lot of times, no, I'm a size 11 shoes. So I've got like bigger feet.

You know what? Is everyone in the show? Tall? Yeah. Yeah, everybody's tall. Okay. That's the thing. God. Nobody's short. So you don't look mega tall. No. Because I think they say it a lot. Like, I think they wrote it in. Like, I think Chris's character, Liz, calls me a tall slutty coward. I love your friendship with her. Yeah. We'll be right back after the break. Who doesn't love good things in life? I love good things. I love luxury. But you know what I love more than luxury itself? getting luxury and more affordable prices.

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hair. Nutraful.com. That's spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com. The promo code is not skinny 10. NutraFol.com. promo code not skinny 10. We are Aaron and Sarah Foster. We have a podcast. We're here to basically ask you to listen to it. We're just trying to help you guys not make the same mistakes that we've made in life. We made a lot. Especially me.

I really went down some dark roads. I'm trying to save you guys from that. Our podcast is called The World First Podcast. We are technically the sisters behind the nobody wants this podcast. It's inspired by us because you wrote it. Yeah, that's true. But when I write, I am inspired by myself. time. Right. That would make sense. You inspire you.

We're going to wrap this up. Okay. Guys, go check it out. World's first podcast. And we're back. Well, tell me about getting shrinking because it's like such a favorite show of mine. Everyone's obsessed with it. It's so good. All the characters are so good. All the relationships are good. So good. Like, what was it like for you to get this role of Gabby?

It was really cool. It was really quick. Like, it's one of those things like, you know, you audition. Like, most of acting is just people telling you know. That's like, like 95% of it. And then the other part is like acting. It's such a small part, especially like if you were at the place that I am and that I was in my career, you know, six-foot-tall black lady looking for a job, more of a comedic bent. There's like not a lot of jobs.

And so for that one, like it was a really easy meeting. It was like an hour long. It was a Zoom. It was with like Bill Lawrence, you know, Brett Goldstein, Jason Siegel and Neil, our head writer. And, you know, it was just really easy. That was the first meeting was with all them. Yeah, yeah. It was a little sausage fest, but a lovely one, a very, very kind one.

But I remember talking to them for a long time, and I just really got along with them. There was no, like, forced thing. Then I got off the call and was like, well, it felt really good to me. And, you know, whatever happens, like, good luck, you know, with the project in my head. I was like, it was cool. And then the next day, I got an offer pretty quickly, which was really nice. So it was really easy. And the role, like, itself of Gabby did it, like, spark interest in you for a certain reason, where you're like, oh.

I just love that I got to, like, we got to work together to make up Gabby. Like, that felt really cool. That is cool. Because sometimes people tell you, yeah, on a job, and then they want you to fit into this mold, or they want to cap your performance. But Bill was very clear that, like, they wanted me to add as much as I wanted to the character, you know. And of course, always in service of the story and in service of the writing, because we have great writers on the show. But, like, to really, like, you know, put myself into it. And that's like, it's nice when people trust you enough to give you yes, and they're not giving you a bullshit yes, which is like, yes, but under these.

Right. Because you can give them the best performance ever, but they can still cut you out of it. They can, you know, not put the funny, weird stuff in there. Everyone has to be on the same page. So Gabby is the product of, like, great writing, great directing, you know, great editing, really nice people at the top being like, oh, oh, thank you. But being like, oh, we want to make, we want to make the show sing. We want to have this actress like saying. So you improvved, you improved a lot.

Yeah, a lot. That's so fun. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Came up doing. Yeah. A lot of sketch, a lot of improv. And I like comedy.

So they let me improvise a lot. Like, they're always like, you know, do the script. And I'm like, yeah, of course, the script's great. And the show would be great if we just did the script. But I always want people to feel like they're watching something that's like alive. Like, I want people to feel when they're looking at me that something's happening and that I'm there. And they don't know what I'm going to say. I feel like if people know what I'm going to say, that's not quite.

what I want for Gabby, because she's very, like, alive. Yeah. And on the show, like, we're like a band. You know, everybody's playing their own instruments well, you know, when it's going well and everybody's your favorite character, hopefully. And so for her, I want you to feel like things are happening in real time. And, like, there's like a vibrant, like, she's alive. She has an aliveness if that makes sense.

She's so alive. Oh, thank you. I love her. But podcast didn't really help with that. Yeah? Yeah. It's like trying to keep the same. You know, when we were talking before and I was just kind of lying for no reason, which was weird.

I think I need a nap, dude. I think I need that six o'clock martini. Yeah, and I was, but like, I think, you know, we transitioned like seamlessly from talking to doing the podcast. That's the sweet spot. It's like, if you're like, you don't want it to be like action and you're like, and then we became. It's like, no, like you wanted to feel like, like, the better I get, the more it just feels like I'm talking and we're like recording it. Like, you just kind of ignore the cameras. That's so nice.

feel that way because I can imagine like you're like, okay, I have to stick the script. Like, when can I improvise, like, yeah, I always trying to go in. Like, I, you know, I memorize the script ahead of time. And then I try and know places that I can pull over. Like, I like to have alternative lines for different things. And I'm also not afraid to fail in that medium. Like, I'm afraid to fail in a lot of other things. Like, but when I'm acting, I'm not as afraid because, like, who cares? You know, just don't use it. Yeah. So, It's like being willing to make an ass of myself is the thing. And they're all obsessed with you.

Oh, that's nice. That's nice. Jason Siegel said you're his Paul Rudd. Yeah, that's crazy. That's crazy. Do you see what Harrison Ford said about you? The Yoda thing? Yeah, that's crazy too.

I don't know why I did that. It's really weird. It was so nice. She's completely unrestrained in her imagination, her capacity to improvise. She gets where the jokes are and she doesn't require a lot of talk about it. With her, I think of Yoda. There's no talk, only do. Why would he do that?

That's so nice. You know, it makes me blush. Like, black people definitely blush. I mean, the Harrison fucking Ford. Yeah, why is he? He never wants to talk about Star Wars. Why did he bring up Yoda? Like, on the Sunday, like, L.A. Times paper, like, he didn't have to do that.

It's so weird. Wait, did you have to tell him that they were going to call him? No, they don't ask me that stuff. Like, my team does. Could you imagine if I had the text him and be like, dude, they're going to be like, what the fuck? Like, why? If you had sex and be like, hey. God, I would never waste having his phone number for that.

Is he saved as Harrison Ford? Yeah, for sure. Just like that. I don't know what I'm supposed to put in there. Like, do you put alternative names in your phone? No, it would just feel weird. It would confuse me also. It would just feel weird.

It's like Mr. Ford. That's too much. But was working with him like, what was the most insane? Because Bill Lawrence, like, created such amazing shows. I'm sure we've all seen them scrubs. Yeah. Etter, et cetera. Yeah.

Jason Siegel, like such great people. Yeah. Red Gold scene, Ted Lasso. Yeah. Like, it's an exciting group. Yeah. It's really special. Like, I can't believe all of it has come together in, like, especially between the first season and second season, we had a writer's strike.

And we had a long break because we were supposed to go, like, as soon as the writer strike happened. So for people to finally see the second season and for people to love it as much as they do, like, it's really, like, tight. And you're saying you're starting to film third? Yeah, yeah, next month. We should start. Like, hopefully everything goes well. Did you read this script? Like, I know.

I'm like the last to know. I'm like really just out here, like, wait, what do you mean the last? The actors, like, we're last on the line. Like, we're the ones that, at the end of the day, like, I know why we're so nuts. Like, we're nuts because we have, like, everything feels out of our control. So when you hear actors are like divas and pulling, like, weird stunts, it's because they just feel bad. Like, we're the last in line. There's always someone hotter than you.

Like, they're always, like, you know, we have to audition for stuff and it feels bad. Like, you're fully replaceable and you don't know if you're going to be in the damn thing. You know, you don't know until you see it. You really can't tell people you're going to be in something. because sometimes you just ain't. Like, sometimes they're just not in it, you know? What you mean? You can cut out of shit all the time.

Have you been cut out of something? Yeah, everybody has. So you learn really early on, like, don't tell people you're on stuff until you watch it on TV. Like, we don't know. And then when stuff comes out and it's bad, like, people are just going to tweet at you. Like, they're not going to find the producers. Right.

They're going to be like, hey, like, they're going to find you wherever you are. Well, it seems like you, are you picky with stuff that you choose, though? I am. Yeah. Is it because of that? Yeah. tweeting? Yeah, the tweeting, dude. Everyone hurts my feelings. Every day is an exercise in how I can get through earth without people hurting my feelings. But really, do you, how do you, because it, like you

said, it's such a hard industry, but you still, like, say no if things are shit. I have to, yeah. I feel really embarrassed if I, I don't want to, like, make people cringe. I want people to trust me when they watch something that I at least thought something and it was good. I don't want to tell the story. Thank you. I don't want those stories about perfect characters. I don't know why people get mad when characters make choices they don't like. So you want to watch stories. Like you want to watch stories about people that like aren't just out here doing some wild shit that you don't agree with. Like you want to watch a character that's just going to do stuff that you agree with. That's weird. It's like just live your life then, you know. Stories are about like conflict and it's about, you know, putting yourself

in other people's shoes and watching stuff that you didn't think of but being taken on a journey. You know, I want to play women that are complicated and really interesting. I love that Gabby gets more complicated this season even. Yeah. It's like, give her some, give her some stuff to do. Like that she was like dealing with shit and her mom and like her sister and that's good. And all this stuff. What about

because like would you want her to end up with Jimmy? Like why is no one shipping that on the show? No. Why is no one shipping it? There's no like buildup. Like the Jimmy thing was just such a like smash of, you know, like when you watch like Gabby with like Damien's Jr.'s character

Or like Jason and Colby smoulders and you're like watching like romance happen and like percolate right you can tell the story where that's happening and you're like oh there's like there's like you're building warmth you know with gabby and jimmy like they like didn't build any there's no warmth you know for a reason it's like but maybe it's because i love them separately yeah yeah like i'm like oh but and she loves the daughter yeah she's the god mom but it's like also just like fucked up a lot of it's like you know it's a lot of times you would see two white people together it's like all right i guess let's do those white people together, I guess. You know, let's see with the, you know, there's no world in

which that chip in. I don't know. I don't, you know, Bill. I didn't, you know, like, asking me, you have Bill on already. Like, could you imagine if I was just, like, talking about the plot? Do you know how, like, bad that would be for me? It's like, they actually write you in as getting together next season. They're like, oh, we listen to the podcast. Like, Bill's like, yeah, like, that freaking guy's going to be like, oh, right. He's actually in love with, with Jimmy, and he's now with, well, not, I don't know if everyone watched that episode, but seeing Robin all of a sudden. I know. They're so great together, though.

That's so smart. I know. It's genius. I know. They're gorgeous together. Gorgeous. But again, it's like, my only job is to show up and do my lines like every day, you know, actors, we don't, again, like, it's so out of our control, you know. But we're the ones that people are like, it should be this.

Yeah, yeah, you're like, yeah, okay, like, all right, I need this, I need this money. Well, you were nominated for an Emmy. I was. Which is huge. Yeah. And the show, well, Jason and Harrison are nominated for Golden Globes. Michael Yuri got nominated for a Critics Choice Award this year. Damn.

I know. The only thing that I, because I'm like, I'm not a half glassful. I'm like, happy less empty kind of guy. Yeah. So I'm like, but the show wasn't nominated. Show wasn't nominated. Yeah. Mm-mm.

I don't know. I feel like people were like catching on to shrinking. Like, it's still like that. They are. Under the radar show. They are. Yeah. And that's why I was like shook.

And then we were all kind of like. It's annoying. It's annoying that it wasn't nominated this year. It's okay. It's not, you know, it's all like, it's good if you get nominated, but it's also just not. It doesn't matter. It's like so external that praise is so external. Yeah.

It's like very easy to get caught in a trap. And I have to work on. I do therapy every week, you know, and I, it's a trap. Yeah, yeah, for a long time. Really? Yeah, this friggin society, yeah, it's crazy. Can we run around your. No, but keeping up with it.

Not working on the mental health. But keeping up with it as hard. It is hard. Some days I don't feel like it. Like last week I got on and I was like, I forgot. You're doing Zoom. Yeah. After COVID, yeah, no one's going back.

My dad was like, we ain't got this person. I mean, the craziest one is when they do Reiki, like, over a call. Have you ever done that? No. It's nuts. That's a different conversation. Over Zoom? Yeah.

Yeah, over the phone. Wait, is that not like stuff on your body? It is. So who's doing it? It's a lady on the phone. Well, now I want you to do it because I want to see, like, I want it to expect you? Yeah, you can feel it. Stop.

Yeah, it's weird. Well, I would probably do it over the phone more than not over the phone. I know. Do you know? Like, I would do it not going more than I'd go. I know. I mean, I'm easily suggestible, though. Like, I want to believe, like, hashtag X-Files.

Like, I want to believe. Like, I want a fitness trend. Like, I want to do it. Like, I want to do. I, like, want to do stuff. I want to go to, like, a new experience. Like, I want to go to, like, not scary farm. No, but, like, I always want to go.

Like, I want to go to. Oh, you're down to go. Yeah, I want to go to a Guy Fiery restaurant. Like, I want to do everything. Like, I don't really discriminate. Really? Yeah. But are you going to keep doing it as a question?

No, but I want to try it once, you know, if I like it. Okay. I'll do any, I'll do like nonsense. But the therapy every week. So you show up to the Zoom even when you're not in the meeting. My question is, even when you're not in the mood, I mean. Oh, yeah, I got on it. I was like, look, I forgot this was happening.

I'll pay for it, but I don't feel like talking. Stop. And she was like, okay, well, how was your week? And I was like, oh, my God. And I had the crazy, and I liked, she had to tell me, this is our time at the end of it. So it's like, you know what I don't like it. How rude when they say that. Yeah.

She wraps up really nice. No, I know. She's not abrupt. That's an art, by the way, the wrapping up. Like mine used to do, because I don't go anymore. She used to do like, let's say I'd be like, and then my sister was so annoying. And she'd be like, no. And listen, we'll talk about how she's very annoying.

We have to go, but I'll just say that like. That's nice. Yeah. She'll put it in. I like all those words. Yeah. Keep going for a second. Yeah.

She's padded it. Did you get any info from her for Gabby? No. No. I just know therapy because I, again, I've been doing it. But also, like, a lot of the jobs that I get, I get cast as teachers a lot. Like, it's weird. I always play a teacher.

Like, people want me to give them advice. It's a podcaster. So I just. In Roadhouse, you were, like, the manager. Yeah, I'm like in charge. You know, I'm like, I got a handle. Like, I guess. But meanwhile, like, I need a nap.

I think. Is that crazy? Well, you do have this, like, this vibe. What is it? Like you're not an idiot, you know? Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Oh, thank God. Yeah. I would hope. Yeah. You have that vibe. Like, you know, you know what's up, you know? I hope so. Yeah. Yeah, I just want to like, I don't, I don't like bullshit. I don't want, I don't want, like, smoke. And then I think when you get in your 30s, like, it's just the wisdom of getting older. Oh, I love that. You just get, you're, you're tired more for a reason. So you have to, like, trim the fat of,

like, nonsense. Do you like, being in your 30s? I do. Yeah. It's tight. I love it. You in your 30s? I, okay. I don't know where you. You're thinking 40s or 20s? I was thinking 30s. Oh, okay, yeah. I'm in my 30s. I'm older than you. Yeah, okay.

In what way? Like, how much older? Like, in one year way? One year way to 40? No. 36? You're 35. I'm 36.

Oh, great. Yeah, you seem perfectly 36. Okay, I don't, okay, I'd like 23. Why? Just a love. Just love. Dude, no way. Yeah, that's true.

I might be hotter now. Okay, it might be hotter now. Okay, it's the last time you talk to a 20, you are way hotter now. Are you kidding me? When's the last time you talk to a 23 year old. they're stressed they're stressed like they are stressed like the one 23 year old I talk to all the time is Lukita Maxwell who plays Alice and she lives by me and she's my baby woman like she's your baby woman like she lives by me I see here she's always down to come outside she has the energy to

come outside she like goes outside is this shrinking what do you mean come outside like if we're in the neighborhood if I'm out I'm always out in my neighborhood I'm like girl pull up I'm having like you know you know I'm having a martini come pull up like like is she like She's a last minute pull-upper. Yeah, it's my favorite kind of person is a pull-up. Okay, so she's 23-inch dress? Yeah, she's like, you know, she's also, they're all, they're all like, who am I? Like, I'm 23, which they should be.

That's the beauty of being 23, but like, dude, being in your 30s is so tight. Yeah, it is. It's sick. Like, you know who you are more. Yeah, you're like not going to hang out with anybody you don't like at all. Right. Hopefully you're done with that, you know. Yeah.

No nonsense. You do, hopefully you get paid a little more at your job a little more. I mean, we're millennials, so, you know, there's not a lot of jobs. And it's hard buying a house But hopefully in your career You kind of have more of a sense Of what you will and will not do Because you already did all the bullshit

Of like, you know, in your 20s So are you giving her Lukita? Are you giving her advice? I try to but you know Wisdom is like you get advice from everybody really Like really like I learned so much from her Like I'm picturing you on the bench with her

Like Harrison Ford No Okay I'm too silly I'm auntie I'm more auntie vibes Like you know I'm like full time auntie like no

Are you an on for real though? Yeah You have like four For needs and nephews? Yeah. Are you good on? Kids? Probably not.

My sister says probably I don't come over enough. But I think so. I'm like, I'll play fight with them and they're funny to me. I talk to them like their adults, you know? I get them gifts. You know, I hope so. Talking to them like their adults is the shit. I know.

It's like we're going to, you know, everybody's going to change you like, I know you need to. I know you need to talk about, you know, Paul Patrol like an adult. You're going to tell me about Paul Patrol. We'll be right back after the break. Okay. This is a PSA for. anyone who rents. If you haven't heard of Bilt, you're about to thank me. Earning points on rent can now be a reality for you when you pay your rent through Bilt.

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like went from frenemies to like. Yeah, seeing people be enemies is boring. You as friends is just gold. Yeah, it's nice. And the vibes are all so fun. Yeah, you kind of don't, I mean, maybe you see that that relationship more on TV, but you definitely don't see like Gabby and Paul a lot on TV. Like, I don't know if Harrison's ever had that many scenes with like a millennial black lady before, you know, in his whole career. And he's obviously obsessed. Do you feel that he loves you or were you shocked by the L.A. Times thing? Both. I was only shocked by the Yoda thing. It was actually really weird that he, this guy literally talked about yoga like on his own free will. A Yoda. That's weird. Did you give him shit for it after? No, I'm never going to talk about that. But I know it was like a big

deal to me. And then I just never read it again. But it's definitely in my head. Yeah. And he spoke about it. You know, I don't know if you ever seen him do an interview where people about Star Wars. He's like, He's, oh, he gets, he, like, can't. He, like, can't even have it. Oh, wow. Oh, so it's a really big deal. Why would he want to talk about it? Why would he want to?

It's like, it's like the thing that everyone asks about every single day of his life. I know. He's over it. Why would he ever want to talk about that? He's over it. I don't like when people ask me about what. Oh, my God. I want to ask you, tell me.

Being tall. Who asks you about being tall? That's, like, everybody. Like, you know, but it's like, it gets boring. But you brought it up like three times. I'm just saying. I'm allowed to talk about it. It's like saying the N-word, like, I can say it, but not everybody else can say it.

So, but you're saying people are like, high, you're tall? What's up? Most times. Yeah, and it's like, I'll talk about it. But it's like, all right, I know, I know. Do you love being tall? Now I do, I guess. Now I guess.

I mean, I brought it up first. No, you did. You know, it's fine. But how, okay, for the tall thing, since we're on it. Yeah. Dating and stuff. Yeah. Do you care?

I do. I do. I mean, there's a lot to me. Oh, okay. So, like, they need to be taller. Six and over. I'm six and over baby They can match you then

Yeah I guess You don't love it You don't love it You don't love it I like my baby Like when I get in a chair Dude When I get in a chair and like my feet are swinging

I'm like I am so cute right now I want my feet swinging girl Like there's a world in which you'd want to be short Yeah it's cute Really More clothes yeah More clothes

How tall are you? I'm 5'4 Oh my god how nice Do you feel Do you feel boopy? Do you feel boopy? I do feel booby sometimes Yeah

I do, like, next door, like, when we take a pick, I'll feel probably cute. Yeah, yeah, that's nice. I feel, you know, on my great days, which is most days. But I also want to be tall. That's nice. It's nice. I feel statuesque. Like, I feel like, and I didn't understand poise in my, like, when I was like a teenager and I was tall, felt more like olive oil.

Like, I felt like, you know, like, oh. And then in my 20s, you figuring it out. And then my 30s, when I, now when I see a tall woman, and I'm sitting, I go, wow. she's tall and she looks so like elegant like it looks like you know and then I stand and I'm the same height as her or she's only 5.11 and I'm six. I don't know that's what it's like when you see me. Oh wow. But I only know it and I'm sure tall women do this but I only know it because I'm sitting down and I'll see a tall woman walk by or I go to basketball games a lot and I go to Sparks games and like what are sparks? The Sparks are our LA women's team and I like the Liberty. I love

the Liberty too which is the New York team. But when I go I'll look and be like, like, oh, these are, I'll feel so cozy. Like, I'm like, oh, these are my people. So when I see tall women, they can talk about being tall. Did they? It feels really cozy. It's because you were tall, were you ever inclined to play basketball because of it? I tried, but it wasn't for me.

Like, I didn't like the yelling. There's a lot of screaming in sports, actually. And I'm a really sensitive person. And so when there's like screaming. Like they yell at each other. Well, no, the audience is like, yeah. Oh. Boom.

Like that. It's loud. It's really loud. And so for me, like, I'm so sensitive. Like, I can't drown that out. So I'm, like, more scared. Like, I remember trying it when I was in the second grade and just being, like, scared. Because you were already tall.

Well, just doing basketball. Like, yeah. And I was already a bit taller than everybody in my age group. But, you know, second third grade, you know, giving it a try. I just remember being so scared because everyone was screaming. That is overall. And I don't think about it. Because what if you're doing a comedy show?

It's different. It's like, they're laughing. They're like laughing. And I'm like, yeah, cool. That's like, I'm like, I'm like, mm-mm, that's like crack. I'm like, like, give it to me. Like, that's, like, that's my high is, like, people laughing. Wait, so you're saying you were doing it in second grade and you remember feeling what?

Scared. Like, I was, like, really scared of the yelling and the screaming. If I'm supposed to focus on all these people moving, like, that's, like, a really amazing skill to have. Right. But with doing live shows, I'm in control. And then our podcast, our format was we would record them live, you know, in a venue. Oh, all of your podcasts were live? Yeah, we would do it at the Bell House.

Oh, so that's a huge production. We would do it at the Bell House. And then our comedy specials we did at the King's Theater in Brooklyn. So that's like, that's like a big insane house. Yes. But yeah, it's like, but you do it. You know, you do it so much. People are like, I don't know how you podcast.

You know, you just, whatever your craft is, you know, you hone in on it. No, but the fact that you had to do it live with the whole production. Yeah, yeah. And an audience. Yeah. Yeah. We would shoot some of the headers and bumpers like in studio. We did WNYC, so we would shoot that in studio.

But yeah, we would always do it live. Our guests were live. We would have our standups and stuff were live. we were talking and figuring it out live, you know, it's like... Was your co-host bummed when... Did you kind of leave because of acting? No, I was very mutual. I don't think she was fine.

I think we're both doing like our own things. It's like a full-time job. And that show is a full-time job because it's live. It's not like a studio thing where you can just kind of patch in. Right, exactly. Yeah. And I think our last thing was in 2019. So, you know, the pandemic happened right after that.

I don't know how that would have gone. But it's so cool that you can say that you were like a huge, you had a huge pod. I guess I forget about it. You forget about it. I do, yeah. It's like a past life. Yeah, well, it's a daily show too. Like, yeah, it was concurrent with the Daily Show halfway through.

And then after the Daily Show for a little bit. And then I just started focusing. And then I took some time off for like a year. Do you pop in at the Daily Show? You did a poppin. I just started, yeah. And then John's going to stay. So I plan on doing a lot of pop.

I never thought there'd be a world where I could be like an actor and do corresponding at the same time. But now that I'm on, because remember I told you like, you know, kind of quitting that correspondence stuff so I could be taken seriously as an actor. But, you know, maybe there's a world where I'm acting and still playing Gabby and being a correspondent, you know, would be really cool. I don't see why not. Yeah. Especially now. It's like people can see the work. Yeah. You know, you have something you can turn on and be like, oh, okay, she's an actor. Oh, she's a correspondent and it asks with me And I just love working with John anyway

And you love doing it Could you stay in touch with him all these years? Hell no, no, it's like Harrison Ford's like You don't need to talk to me I don't need to talk to I don't need it I don't need it I don't need anything from them Like no check-ins like no like

No, I don't need it I'll see him on a Nick I'll see you at a Knicks game I'll see you know watching it But it's like no I have my friends Like I have friends that I talk to I don't need to talk to either of them I have my friends again They have their life

Like they need to go do that I feel like so many people want stuff from them You know? It's like I don't want to be a part of any of that. But like you love each other. Of course. Yeah. And coming back and doing this together is probably going to be a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. I love both of them. I saw her. I hadn't seen Harrison a long time. And I saw them last week. I love how you're you're lumping them together, Harrison. Yeah. They're just these guys that, no, really, they're just these guys that are like big stars, but they're kind of inaccessible to the general public. Like they don't do interviews a lot. And they, they have lives and they have hobbies and they like keep to themselves. It's a certain kind of actor. It's not someone that's trying to like... It's not celebrity, maybe. Yeah, that's like trying to get papped or something.

Like, I like actors like that. I want to be one day an actor like that. They try, like, you know, they try and have balance in their lives, and I feel really lucky to be able to work with actors like that, really. That's like the dream, really. It's like, you know, a sweet spot, I feel like. So with those guys, especially, I try and be very, like, you know, cognizant of not trying to seem like I want something from them.

Yeah. And that means not forcing a relationship and just loving them when I work with them. And I saw Harrison last week and I hadn't seen him in like five months. And when I saw him, he was wackadoo because we were like, we were doing a panel. And like for some reason they sat me in between Ted McGimley and Harrison. And both of them were just being wackado. Like they were like on one, both of them. And I just missed him.

I got a little misty, especially since I have so much estrogen from this damn egg retrieval IVF stuff. And like, I was like, oh, I really missed him a lot. And it was really nice. And so I turned and I was like, I really missed you. And he was like, I missed you too, you know? And that was like, that was just enough. I don't need anything from him, you know? You need to be like, you are getting missing.

Yeah, yeah. Stay out of my eyes. They weren't going to see that from wherever they are. Stay out of my eyes. It's really, I'm a crier, though. I'm a cry baby. Stop. Yeah, that's why I don't be going outside that much.

I don't try to. Everything hurts my feelings. It's crazy. Is that a Leo thing? Because you mentioned your Leo? Really? I thought Leo's more like strong. They get a little thing in their paw, like a little thorn in their paw.

And they're like, we're babies. Fire signs are babies. So like Leo, Sadges and like Aries, we're like, what's your rising? Aries. So I'm a Leo son, Leo, moon, Aries rising. So it's all fire. So it's a sun, Leo moon, Aries rising. I'm a Gemini son.

Yeah. I just found out my moon and rising. What are they? These are critical. Oh, cool. Sag. Sag. I'm a sagatarius.

This is crazy. Because I just learned it. Yeah, okay. I'm not in the world. Sadge. But to be like sad, that's kind of like, that's a little like ignorant. Like, I want to know everything about it. It's a little egg.

Like, that's a little. Okay. Sadge. Yeah, there you go. And cancer. Okay. Rising. You got a lot going on in there, huh?

So, Saj, are they the like? Sadges are nuts, dude. My best friends, two of my best friends in the whole world are Sagittarius's. And it's a really good match with Leo's. Like, fire signs are great together. Would you want to, like, romantically be with a sad. Yeah, they're, like, good for that.

Like, you, Leo's are good with Aries and Sages, I think. But, like, it's, like, who, like, who, what's your husband? Taurus. Oh, okay. My dogs are Taurus. He's kind of like a dog. Is he? Yeah.

In what way? Like, loyal and patient. And I heard that Taurus's can go both ways depending on the date, but he's a match. Like, I would tell someone, like, if you're a Gemini, like me, go with a tourist like that because it works, you know? Cool, cool. But people have told me tourist stories that are crazy. Oh, my dad's a tourist, too.

Like, it's crazy that I brought on my dog first before my dad. No, me. Yeah, I was like, oh, my dog. No, it's crazy that you're talking about your dog's sign. Like, I never heard someone do it. No, I needed to know. I didn't know. And he is.

He's very, like, layinality. Oh, his personality. Oh, he's like very laid back. Oh, see? So tourists is are laid back. They are, yeah. Oh, okay. So it's a thing. Yeah. They're tourists. Wait, so you grew up, where in California? I grew up in, like, outside of L.A. So it would be like not Manhattan or Brooklyn, like here would be like Satin Island or something like or Jersey. Oh, stop. Yeah, the area is like 20 miles out of L.A. That's where I grew up. It's the South Bay area. It's called South of the Ten. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it's great. So you're California, girl. I am. Yeah. And wait, shrinking or shooting in Pasadena for Realzee's the other end of the 110. So where I grew up is the south end. and shrinking the other end. So, yeah.

Sadina's cool. Isn't it? It seems cool. Yeah, it's nice. It's not cool. It's like, it's nice, right? It's not cool, though. It's like cooler areas are more like Highland Park.

Wait, so what's cool? Los Feliz. Hmm, kind of. I mean, I guess. It's not cool anymore. It depends on what kind of cool you want, right? Like, so there's like cool. Like, there's Williamsburg, I guess, which isn't that cool to me.

It's not cool. I mean, it was cool. The Silver Lake's on the way of Williamsburg and that there's like now, there's now like an Apple store. something, you know, where you're like, that's weird. Like, and I lived in Williamsburg a long time ago. Oh, you did? It wasn't like that, yeah. But Williamsburg now is a completely different place.

Silver Lake is now similar to that, I would say. But, like, cool to me is like, like, I like malls. Like, I like going to them. I like one of the movies at a mall. But I still want to go, like, you know, I want to see, like, people of color still. I mean, my people, like, and I still also want to, like, go to an art gallery. You know, I still want to do that. I want to be close to things, but I don't need to be in the mix.

I don't need to be in Silver Lake. to be able to drive this little, but I still, like, want to go to the Americana at Glendale. Like, I still want to go to the mall. Still want to go to the mall. Like, you want to go to the mall's shop? Yeah. Damn. No, and go to the movies.

Like, that's where you go to A&C. You can get, like, laser seats and stuff. Like, I want to go see the fountains shoot up in the air. Like, that's cool to me. Like, I want to have access to stuff, but I don't want to be in the shit. Like, I want to be, like, off the beat out. So New York isn't really for you because you're in the shit kind of everywhere you go. Kind of, but there's parts.

Like, I like Brooklyn. Like, I lived in Brooklyn for a while before I left. And there was, like, pockets of it. Like, I lived in Clinton Hill for a while. Clinton Hill's really different now, too. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're right. Like bed style, like where you could still go to stuff. And there's still great bars at that time.

And there's still people of color. But now it's really different. It's always changing. It's just wild when I meet people that are, like, in the industry, and they're actually from, like, L.A. I know what I mean? Because everyone kind of, like, moves there. Yeah, that's why it makes me mad.

And people are like, I hate L.A. Like, it's like, everyone's so fake. And it's like, yeah, because you're, like, going and dropping in West Hollywood, you weirdo. Like, that's not L.A. L.A. is big. It's really big, you know? Where I grew up, it's like so many people are not in the industry. It's like very multicultural.

Like, not everyone's trying to be an actor. No, it's like laid back and cool. You go to the beach every day. You got bomb-ass food. Like, everyone's really laid back. You know, it's like beach culture. It's like. And where you live now, it's beach culture?

No, Eagle Rock's not by the water. But where I grew up, like the South Bay, it's like kind of like middle class. like working class by the water, which is a really nice way to grow up. That is a nice way to grow up. Did you always know that you wanted to do comedy? Yeah, I knew when I was really young. Like, my grandma was like my favorite person and she would, when she babysit me, she lived in the Valley. She watched like Saturday Night Live and she'd watch Matt TV.

She'd watch. Matt TV. She'd watch adults swim. I do remember Miss Swan. Stewie, the big baby. What was it, Stewart? Just wild. Like Miss Swan?

Yeah. Like that would not happen today. No way, dude. No way. A lot of that Mad TV stuff was it's edgy. Like it's canceled as much. I know. It's so funny.

Like context matters. Like when you have like, you know, it's up to, it's not up to me, you know, to say culturally what's okay. Yeah. I could only say what I saw. Yeah. And what I was watching. And I like all kinds of comedy as long as it's not like punching down.

So yeah, Ms. Swan could not happen today. It's like, I don't think that that's a woman of that race doing that race. You know, that's like not good. That's not good. You know? It's not good. I watched everything. And my grandma watched everything for better or for worse.

And, like, you know, she just had a really good sense of humor. And she had, like, a really, like, kind of, like, bad. She wasn't, like, someone who grabbed her pearls. She was more, like, a Vegas, like, lived a hard life, like, drink and swearing kind of lady. So she was, like, my favorite person. I thought she was really cool growing up. And so I knew I always wanted to do comedy and audition for, like, you know, high school, middle school comedy stuff. And I got it.

And it just made sense to me. Oh, wow. You got like gigs. No, I would get parts like in the musicals and in comedies. And we would go do drama festivals. And she would come with you with your grandma? Yeah, she did in the beginning. She passed when I was in 10th grade maybe.

But, you know, I knew that was sort of always what I wanted. I knew my brain was really quick. It's really sensitive and it's really quick. So I knew like that was kind of what I wanted to do. Like think on my feet. There's kind of a thrill of it. I mean, you do it too. It's like thinking on your feet when you do podcast.

And you really have to, like, focus on the other person and, like, be there with them for an hour, you know? And I like the thrill of that. You know, I like the thrill of maybe we're going to fail, you know, maybe, you know, the joke's not going to work. It's not going to land. And there's something really exciting about that to me. So were you doing, like, clubs? No. Were you doing stand-up ever?

No, I never did stand-up. I did something about comedy sports in high school and in college. And it's like, whose line is it anyway? It's like theater games. It's very dorky when I did it. Were you dorky, though? Yeah, I'm very earnest. I'm a very earnest person.

Like, I'm not, like, a cool person. I'm, like, very sweet. I am very sweet. Like, I'm sure I seem like, I'm, like, I'm, like, kind of, like, always in charge, you know, in scenes because I'm, like, a very sweet person. It's, like, a defense mechanism. And you're living in New York.

It's, like, it changes you. I feel like. So I did that, and then I did up by Citizens Brigade. Yeah. And I did that, and I did sketch there. And then I got the Daily Show from there. And that's. That was a trajectory.

Yeah. Yeah. And now you're back. I mean, 10 years, right, 22, 35, you're about to be back. Crazy. Yeah. And the way the world turns. Yeah.

I love that. Thank you. And I think you could do it all, by the way. Appreciate it. Okay, we talked about everything. I can't believe it. I can. You know, you know, I was podcasting.

No. But I want to know. Thank you. You're welcome. I want to know what else you want to do next because you see yourself like directing. Now that you're saying even that you're like in charge in a scene and stuff, Did you see yourself, like, taking more of that role? Definitely. One day, I could see myself directing.

Yeah, I think a lot of directing is about knowing how to speak to actors and having, like, a point of view and framing. I mean, yeah, one day. I want to do that. I like being, like, a multi-hyphen and not locking myself into anything. But, I mean, the main thing is I want to have a really nice full life. Like, I want to work, but I don't want to live to work, you know? I want, like, to work to live my life. Like, or, I don't know, is it reverse?

I don't know. Is it the same? Is it the same? Is it the same? Dude, I don't know. But I think I want to have really good work-life balance. That's, like, really important. You know what I think?

What? You know, that you're such an intentional person. Oh, really? Yeah. That's a really nice compliment. Like, I feel like you have so many intentions. Like, you know what you're doing. You know what you want.

You know how you want it. You know, where, like, I feel like I'm kind of jow. I'm kind of jow. What are you talking about? You have a really successful podcast. No, but like, thank you. This takes a lot of work. No, but I want, like, the intention.

It feels, can I just tell you something? I feel like you're like. like doing the thing where you're like doing, you're in it and you don't realize it, but you're like in it. You're like, you have a very specific voice and you have a really successful great podcast. Thank you so much. Doing it, you know. You're going to get me missing. Yeah, no, I'm not.

No, are you a crier? I am. Are you? I am. That's nice. I am. I like it. It's nice.

Also after the pandemic, it's like, why, who cares? But you're so cool. Really? Thank you so much. And I was telling your publicist because she came in and I was like, oh, my God, yeah, we did it through a podcast. Because so many times with the podcast, I don't know if you remember, you had one, but like the way things happen, they happen differently where I can come to you. And this was like me being like, I want Jessica Williams in my podcast. So we like reached out to your publicist and we made it happen. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. So I'm so happy. Thank you. Thank you. Well, everybody, if you're not obsessed with shrinking, you know it's my fucking favorite show on TV. So go fucking catch up now because season three is about to start filming. And you don't want to be late on that. so thank you for listening and thank you for your time i appreciate it thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of not skinny but not fat follow me on instagram at not skinny but not fat

subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any episodes rate the podcast that you love so much on apple podcast and write a little review if you tell me you did i'll give you a big virtual smoo too much for listening and i'll see you next tuesday Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.