Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Anjelah Johnson | Bon Qui Qui, Comedy Fame & Her Days as a Friends Extra!

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

#881. Before she was selling out theaters, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes was a Bay Area girl chasing signs from the universe — like making the Raiderettes squad or landing a role as an extra on Friends. In this episode, Anjelah takes Kaitlyn through the ride of how her comedy career began! She shares how a simple stand-up class birthed her legendary “Nail Salon” bit, the behind-the-scenes chaos of writing and filming Bon Qui Qui for MADtv (and why she was fired), and the moment her sister’s unwavering belief kept her from packing up and quitting comedy altogether.The two also dive into Anjelah’s wildest fan encounters, her pregnancy journey, and what it was like to be a regular at Central Perk before becoming a household name herself. This episode is the perfect combo of comedy, heart, and everything in between!If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE!Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals!Boulevard: For a limited time, Boulevard is offering new customers 20% off your first year subscription. Learn more at JOINBLVD.com. Figs: If you're in healthcare—or shopping for someone who is—you can get 15% off your first order at wearfigs.com with the code FIGSRX.Progressive: Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (3:31) – The stand-up class that changed everything: how one joke turned into her iconic “Nail Salon” bit and launched her comedy career.(7:45) – Behind the scenes of Bon Qui Qui: the chaos, the sketches, and the shocking reason she got fired right after it went viral.(15:00) – Her pregnancy journey revealed: from natural conception to the unexpected twists along the way.(29:43) – From San Jose to Central Perk: how she became a regular on Friends — her dream show — before anyone knew her name.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode of Off the Vine is brought to you by Boulevard. For a limited time, Boulevard is offering new customers 20% off your first year subscription. Learn more at J-O-I-N-B-L-V-D.com. Figs. If you're in healthcare or you're shopping for someone who is, you can get 15% off your first order at wherefigs.com with the code FigsR-X. And Progressive, visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. You're listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow.

Hey, Vinoes, real quick, if you are listening right now, which obviously you are, or you wouldn't be hearing this, can you hit the subscribe or follow button on whatever platform you're on? Please, that one simple thing helps more than you even realize it allows me to keep growing on this podcast and making these episodes the best they can possibly be obviously for you. That's the only favorite I'm going to ever ask, okay? It truly means the world to me. Thank you.

Now let's get into it. Hey, everybody, welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow, and today we have, how funny was she? We just had a full session giggles. We get to learn all about her time as an extra on friends. I'm sure she did not come here to promote that part of her business, but I was like, wait, can we focus on what it was like to be on the set of friends? But she has made such a career for herself 19 years of touring.

She's been on Mad TV. You definitely know her from certain skits. She's now on her family reunion tour, and I just think you're going to sit back. You're going to leave this conversation feeling good, and that's what she wants you to feel when you leave her tour. And I really do. I feel really good after that. So please welcome Angela Johnson.

I want to go back, back to like growing up because you grew up in what, the Bay Area. Yeah. Yeah. And were you, I always like to know people's like how it started for them or like what they were like as a kid. Yeah. Were you always into comedy or was this something that kind of developed over time or what were like?

Developed over time. Although my whole family is funny. My dad is hilarious. My grandpa is hilarious. He's always playing. Yeah, practical jokes on people. His big practical jokes were he lost his pinky finger in some sort of accident growing up. He had his pinky finger missing and he would pretend to pick his nose in public.

And he'd go like this and he go like, huh, like that. And then I'd be like, Grandpa, I don't know which one's creepier. You picking your nose or pretending you are with your nub. Yeah. Why do all grandpas have a nub? My grandpa also was missing a finger. Really? And he also made jokes about it.

Oh, funny. It's something about that generation, I guess. That's just their humor. Actually, I'll never forget my mom always wanted to play or do April Fool's jokes on us. And one time she just broke a spoon, like the handle of the spoon. And she shoved it up her nose. And she pretended that the spoon was like all the way up here. And I was like, mom, that was actually traumatizing for me.

Oh, my God. Like that was not funny. I thought you, like I thought a spoon was in your brain and that you were going to die. She came in all dramatic like, oh, no. And then we were like, oh, my God. Like, it wasn't funny at all. I know. Yeah, I was three.

I was, no, I seriously, it was five. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's, that's, yeah. She was so theatrical and I was like, but I still have a sucker. And I still remember it. I was like, oh my God. But I just love, I love hearing like if things run in families or if you developed it, if it was a coping mechanism, if it was something.

All of the above. Yeah, yeah. That makes sense too. My dad was funny. My siblings, they're all funny. Our text thread is hilarious. but then also I did develop it like I didn't know I was funny outside of my family yeah until I took a joke writing stand-up comedy class I want to do that now in my life

you could still I didn't even know that was a thing you could totally do it oh yeah I took a joke writing stand-up comedy class and although I did mine for free at a church oh I don't know if they still offer that but um I'm sure comedy I'll look into it um so yeah I took a joke writing class and then in that class I wrote the nail salon joke money which ended up blowing up my spot years later and here I am like 19 years into stand-up comedy and I'm still laughing about that and that joke is still the one and I wrote it in a free class really at church yeah oh my gosh that's my mom showed me that that was what was that YouTube when like YouTube yeah when it's brand new

how many views did it get on YouTube so it was like from January to February did like four million views and at the time that was super super a lot like now what 2007 yes yeah now it's like you know if you don't get four million views in the first day you're like yeah nobody liked it oh my god I know yeah I know so at the time that was like way mucho mucho that was a lot and then it was my space days so my my space page started blowing up I started getting messages from people like all over the world like hey when are you coming to perform in Australia when are you coming to oh my gosh crazy The Philippines, one are you coming to, like, all over the United States.

That's cool. At the time, I only had like 12 minutes of material because I just did this free joke writing class. I wasn't really trying to be a comedian. It was just like a free class that I took. I wanted to be an actress is what I wanted to be. And so I took this free class. I did that.

The joke blew up. And I kind of had to write more material because people wanted to hear from me. So I was like, well, I guess I better write some more jokes. And then that's kind of how it started happening for me. What's your favorite joke that you've written? or say favorite bit you know i feel like my favorite joke is always whatever my new joke is yeah like it's the new hitter it's the new story that i'm telling that i can't wait to say this punchline and then when i start writing my new hour then there's going to be a new favorite you know what i mean

yeah but i mean of course i have to honor like the nail salon joke is my stairway to heaven is my it's my hit it's the one that 19 years later i still have to tell people and share with my audience. And I say have to, but I, I love that I get to. Yeah, yeah. That I have something that people have resonated with so much so that when I do that joke now in my show, I present it kind of like an encore, like a thank you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because everyone wants that. Yeah. It's like, name like the most famous singer that's out there right now. Like Taylor Swift, it would be like her being like not singing, shake it off. Like they're like, do the thing. Yeah. Yeah. That was not a good example, but you know what I mean.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, it is. That's so funny because, yeah, even still, people might meet you and go to your show and then not even realize also that that's what happens all the time. Everyone knows it. Happens all the time. I'll do my whole show. Somebody invited them, whatever.

They're having a great time of my show. And then I start doing that joke and they go, oh, you're that. This is the girl that does that joke. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It's so good. And I feel like, I always like the idea of building out. a character. Like, what was your mad TV character's name?

Bon Quigley. Yeah. Like, when you, because you were on mad TV, which is so iconic, I used to love mad TV. And, like, when you're coming up with a character, do you go into a writer's room and have to pitch it and, like, do a whole bit? And then, like, what if they're like, that was terrible? Well, so what happens what in this situation, what happened was, um, we, we were all in a writer's room and everybody, there's writers for the actual show that are writing sketches. And then all the cast members also get to write their own sketches and pitch them okay so the way you pitch them is we do a table read and all the sketches that everybody wrote are in this binder and we read through everybody's sketch and you you cast people in the table you're like okay oh funny kick and michael key you're

going to read this jordan peel you're going to read this like everybody's going to read this right and um so they go around we read everybody's sketch and then the producers pick which ones are going to make the episode. And so I pitched the Bon Quikwee sketch and wrote it out and they picked it. And then they had me sit with one of the writers to actually like clean it up, you know, because I have never written sketches before. Right. So they had me sit with one of the writers to like make sure I had, you know, some good structure to it and everything. And then we ended up filming it and it nobody expected it to do what it did. Really? No. I got fired from the show after that. Oh. Before. So what happened was it was the year of the writer's strike in 2007.

Yeah. Or was it 2008? No, I think it's 2007. There was this writer's strike that everybody knew was coming. So all the writers are like pumping out scripts and trying to get as many scripts out as they could before we went on the strike. And during that time, I wrote the Bon Quiqui sketch. I pitched it. They picked it. We filmed it. And then we went on the writer's strike. And so we stopped filming. Every show went off the air for a while because we're, well, not off year but like we stopped filming because there was the strike yeah and when they came back from the strike there was budget cuts right and by budget cuts i mean me so i got like over the show so i only did four episodes do you that's so crazy actually i did not know that yeah do you believe that

every no turns into a yes like art did something good come from you getting fired from that my touring career yeah like i started touring immediately and i was able to like audition for other shows and stuff like that. And everything 100% happens for a reason, I feel. And I think along the lines of what you're saying, like no is turning into a yes. I feel like you get your no so that you can find your yes. You get on the path to your yes. And then this yes turns into this yes. And this yes turns into this no. And then it's a constant journey. That's why they always say it's, it's about the journey, not the destination. Right. Right. It's everything that we're learning and experiencing because once you arrive then you're done you're dead right you go to sleep and you

don't wake up you just you don't wake up yeah that's like the comedy i feel like journey is a grind too like do you tour like outside of the u.s too because people know who you are outside of that yeah a little bit i mean i've done australia i did a show in japan guam saipan wow but i would love to grow my global audience yeah but as of right now it's mainly the united you're like but look i'm the girl who did that one thing yeah guys knew me in the Philippines. Yeah. I want to rewind for a sec because I thought of something like for people who don't understand like SNL, Mad TV, like what goes into it from start to finish from the writer's room to pitching to like now you got like art department getting props and everything to like

getting on stage. How long is that process? What does that process look like? I don't know how it works on SNL and honestly I don't know exactly if this is how it usually is done with Mad TV because the way we did it was we were trying to move quickly because of the strike. Like everybody knew the strike was coming. So when they told me that they picked my sketch and we were going to film it, I remember going to the hair and makeup trailer and they were just trying on different things. Do you like this? Okay.

Do you like this? Okay. What if we put this right here? Okay. What if we do the bow and then this right here? And so you're just kind of like playing around with it and looking in the mirror and then being like, okay, I think she needs some side. burns okay i think okay what if we did and you just start playing around with it and we're like okay

this is look we're good all right let's go that's crazy i feel like those kinds of shows are such a whirlwind because then and then after it's done it's on to the next you know what i mean who's the first person who really believed in you as a as a comedian as a comedian i mean i always say my sister is the one who didn't let me give up oh cool for sure because there was uh a season in my life was right before this nail salon video blew up. Yeah. Where, you know, I had moved to Hollywood. I started as an extra.

I was an extra on friends. Girl. Stop it. Like in the coffee shop? What were you doing? Honey. Honey, I was a regular at Central Park. Drink of my coffee.

Believe it. Oh my gosh. Fun. Yes. I was a regular. I was an extra for season 9 and 10. I'm going back to watch this tonight. You could go in their series yearbook in the pictures.

You can see me in the back. That's so cool. There's been times where people, have posted on Instagram that they're watching friends and then they see me in the back and they go, is this you? And I'm like, yeah, girl, that's me. Yes. Okay. Can we come back to that? Yeah. Because I would like, I have questions. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I started as an extra and then I had like a couple breaks here and there. You know, booked a commercial, like a couple print ads, things like that. And then I'm done being an extra. I have no job. I'm on unemployment. My unemployment checks have run out.

and basically like everything in my life was saying like you tried yeah but it's time to go home yeah like you have no money you don't have no agent you don't have any opportunities let's pack it up right and the only reason why I stayed in L.A. because I'm from the bay the only reason why I stayed in L.A. is because my sister would send me money to pay my rent she would send me give certificates to the grocery store she was like don't give up you're right where you're supposed to be don't give up. Whoa. And then that as well as like I felt in my spirit that God was telling me, not yet. Like I'm not done with you yet. I know everything looks like you're done. Yeah. But I'm not done. And so I stayed and I waited and next you know the nail slum video pops off.

Oh my God. A couple months later, I end up booking Mad TV. A couple months later I start touring nationally. So it's like from January 2007 where I had nothing to my name, no money. no agent, no auditions, to the end of the year. I'm on this hit television show, Mad TV. I'm touring as a comedian. Like, my life had completely changed us in that one year. It's so crazy to that you had a feeling, too. I've had that feeling, I think so many of us ignore that feeling,

but I had that feeling too of like, okay, now what? Because I'm, like, I had to give up as a dancer. And then I had to follow somebody else's dream. And then even, like, at certain parts in this career where it's been, like, a dream for me, I'm like, okay, I still feel like there's something. Everyone's like, when are you going to, like, slow down and have a family? I'm like, I still feel like there's one more thing I have to do, which is interesting, which now I'm starting to believe, like, I'm 40.

I can do that with a kid too, whatever, you know, I don't need to. Do you want kids? Yeah, I do. I do. I have one. Were you 41? Yeah. I didn't want kids.

Oh, God, I'm meant to talk to you right now. Yeah. My husband and I did not want kids. My career was my baby always. It was the thing that I dreamed about at night. It was the thing that I thought about as soon as I woke up. I never dreamed about being a mom that was not anything that made me, like, happy. It wasn't anything that I wanted.

Not that I was, like, super against it, where I was like, oh, time of tubes or whatever. I was just like, top of tubes. Yeah. It was just not something I thought about. And all my friends would always tell me, all my friends had kids, and they would always tell me, like, how rewarding it was. And I was like, nah, like, this is what I want to do, like, my acting. and whatever. Then COVID happened.

Yeah. And everyone was home and there were no auditions. There were no tours. There was nothing happening. And I had this feeling of if I never go back to acting, if I never book another gig, if I never tour again, I think I'll be okay. Yeah. I did it and it was fun and I think I'll be okay.

And I never in my life thought that I would get to a point where the thing that, thing that I thought was so important to me, I was okay saying goodbye to it. And the thing that I thought was so fulfilling, turns out it wasn't as fulfilling as I thought. And I was like, oh, shoot, did I mess up? Should I have had kids? Yeah. I don't even know if I have any options. Right. I don't even know if I got eggs. Yeah, because we're told that like, that's a geriatric pregnancy, which sounds so much worse than it is. Yeah. So I was 38 at the time. Yeah. And I was like, well, let me go with the doctor and see if I even have eggs because I've never looked into it because I never had a desire.

Right. And ran all kinds of tests. And they were like, yes, your levels are like, you still have some stuff going on, but it's low. Everything's low. So you got to hurry up, whatever you want to do. So I was like, all right, let me save my eggs, at least. Let me do that.

So I started going through the process of saving my eggs. Like freezing them? Yeah. Freezing my eggs. And then as I was going through that process, I kept getting more bad news. And it would be like, okay, you have. 12 eggs. I'm like, okay, that's a good number. And then every week that I would come back for my ultrasound appointment, they'd be like, okay, actually, you only have eight. Okay, you have six

eggs. Okay, actually you only, then when they go into extract them, they're like, okay, we got two. So I'm like, oh, that's interesting. My friend over here got 16 eggs, you know, and I'm like, all right, so now I got to do it again. Yeah. And then I only got three. And so as I kept going through this process, they were just like, I don't know that this is for you. Like, we just want to prepare you. This may not be for you. Right. And the more they would tell me things like that, the more I wanted it. Of course. And the more I was like, okay, I'm not actually saving my eggs anymore. Like, I'm trying to get pregnant now. Like, now I'm trying to get pregnant. And then through that process, I found out I had fibroids, which I know you talked about your fibroids.

And I always knew I had fibroids from when I was like in my early 20s. And at the time, she told me there was like the top of a pencil eraser like it was real small I didn't realize fibroids continue to grow yes I didn't know that so this whole time here I am in my late 30s I thought I had this little pencil eraser fibroid in there like a great fruit yeah it was huge and it was right where like if I wanted to get pregnant you had to remove it that's same with me yeah so they're like this has to be removed if you want to get pregnant yeah so then I had to go through the whole process of like getting my fibroids removed. So then I go into get my fibroids removed and they have to do myomectomy surgery and they're

like, okay, if we do this myomectomy, you cannot go into labor. You have to have a C-section because they're about to damage my uterus in a way that like if the labor could like rupture my uterus and there goes your baby floating up into your chest cavity. So they're like, you cannot labor. You would have to have a C-section. I'm like, all right, that's fine. I can't even get pregnant if you don't take it out.

And you're telling me the only way to do it is the myomectomy. So they prepared me for this like three to four hour surgery myomectomy. And they go in there. I end up being under for nine hours. Oh my gosh. Because they found endometriosis everywhere in my body. You must have just had the most painful periods of all time. Painful, but I feel like my sisters are worse.

Like her periods would take. She had a con sick for work. So she must have endometriosis worse than I had it. but I mean that's how our medical system goes she won't be able to go check you know the whole thing so anyway they go in they end up taking out all this endometriosis out of my body and I go to do my egg retrieval again and they only get three eggs so I get a total of five and these are five that you don't even know if they're good right okay so then we go to combine them with my husband's sperm to make embryos yeah and when we first started their surprise

process. We're a couple years in now at this point. When we first started the process, they test us to make sure like where our genes are compatible, you know, that whole thing. And then they test his sperm and it's like billion count sperm. Like he has healthy sperm. It's great. When they go to combine his sperm with my egg, they realize his sperm is at a zero count. Why? It's not even that they're dead. It's that there's none. There's no sperm. And we're like, wait, what do you mean? So then he had to go to a specialist to find out like what's going on. We started this he had billion count sperm how you tell me he has zero count turns out my husband was on testosterone supplements and those testosterone supplements were telling his body not to make sperm because testosterone

makes your sperm right there's but you're putting in a foreign testosterone so it's like oh we got this don't worry about it so we don't need to make any more sperm so they he he was shooting blanks basically whoa because he had been taking testosterone supplements so then we had to wait and because the life cycle of sperm i think is like 90 days or something like that so that this is a whole science episode now yeah i know i'm learning so much and not even like a good accurate science it's like a home girl science episode so i think it's like 30 or 90 days and not quite sure but anyway so like he had to wait and um so we had waited and we had to wait for his sperm to come back and uh finally when his sperm came back they do the combination whatever we only get three embryos the three embryos go off

to testing and we find out none of them are viable no yeah and so they're like you guys start over and do it again oh my god you had to go through the whole egg freezing i was like i don't want to do this again when am i going to do this because at this time i'm also my book had just come out i'm on a big huge hunter city book tour stand-up tour like it's a whole thing that i'm doing i'm like when am i going to have time to do this again. And I had one month off in that year, it was the only time I took off in that entire year. So I was like, okay, come November, I'm going to do it again. Yeah. I'm going to do it one more time. It's a big job. Yeah. And if we don't get any, we don't get any. Right. This wasn't meant for us then. So at this time, this is probably like spring. And I'm also shooting my hour special,

planning to shoot it on October 1st. And so I'm like, okay, you know what? I'm just going to focus on my special. I'm going to get my body right. Get it tight. I started exercising. I started like giving myself like healthy boundaries. I'm not eating after, you know, 8 p.m. or whatever. I'm not drinking alcohol. I did a whole like cleanse and workout and like let me get it right, get it tight for my taping on October 1st. Yeah. I didn't realize that I was also getting my body ready to get pregnant. Yeah. Yeah. So what ended up happening was I got pregnant naturally right before November. I'm obsessed. I love those stories. No way. So I ended up getting pregnant naturally,

had my baby. She's now two years old. She's so cute. What a blessing. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, God, I love timing of what's supposed to be. But like that's just so, it's so crazy to me that bodies do that where you can try and you, like how many

stories have I heard where people go and adopt because they can't get pregnant and then they adopt and then they get naturally pregnant because the stress is gone or they've, you know, like just let something go. oh, you got your body healthy, you figured out the other things and got naturally pregnant. Yeah. Damn.

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But MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. I want to talk about friends. Yeah, let's do it. Because I'm like, being an extra on friends, when I was younger and my parents, well, I guess I wasn't that young.

I was 17, 18 when my parents divorced and my mom was like, I'm going to move to Vancouver, which was the big city in Canada. She's like, and I want to be an extra. And I was like, that is the coolest thing ever. And then I would always think like Vancouver was the big city to move to. Once I went to like, you know, L.A.,

I went to Disneyland and I saw something about like the Disney lot. And I was just like, imagine being just an extra on like one of your favorite TV shows. Was friends one of your favorite TV shows? How did you get in there? Absolutely. This is a great story. Thank you for asking. I can't wait.

So, okay, I was a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders. Yes, which I love. And even the fact that I was doing that to get back a little bit further. So I always wanted to be an actress, but I would never say it out loud. I was embarrassed because it felt like very far-fetched. Like I might as well say I want to be a princess. Yeah. You know, like that's what I felt.

And I would like, where do you be an actress? San Jose like you don't what do you how do you even do this and this is before Google yeah like this is aOL dial up days right so at the time I had a friend who was a friend of a friend really is my cousin's friend um she had moved to Hollywood and became an actress and a dancer and she was like an in sync music video she was in a Ross commercial and I was like oh my god I know somebody famous and I talked to her one day and I was like hey I want to do what you're doing and And she was like, okay, well, if you move to L.A., I'll help you. Yeah.

I'll help you get started. So now this far-fetched fantasy was becoming more of like an attainable dream. Because now somebody's telling me they'll show me how to do it. And I've also heard you say like, and you say it out loud. And that becomes a thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It's, it's, your words are very powerful. And so at the same time, I had another friend who I cheered with in Pop Warner, like since I was eight years old. I ran into her at a nightclub. Girl, we were on a dance play. Like, hey, how you do it? And she was like, I'm a cheerleader for the Raiders now. And I was like, no way. She's like, you should come try out.

And I was like, no, it's not really my thing. And she was like, you should definitely come and try out. So basically what I did was I said, you know, I'm going to go try out for the Raiders. And if I make it, if I make the squad, I'll do it for one year and then I'll move to L.A. Like, I'll take that as my sign that I'm supposed to move to L.A. And pursue the entertainment industry. But if I don't make the Raiderette squad, then I'm not going to do it. I just know that L.A. was not for me.

Because it was such a big decision. I'd never lived outside of my mom's house before and then to move to Hollywood. Right. So I was like, all right, I'm going to try out. So I go to the Raiderettes audition. By myself, I drive there to Oakland. There's like 700 girls at this open call edition.

It's wild. Long story short, I ended up making the squad. And we went to the Super Bowl that year. Cool. The best year to pick to be a cheerleader for Oakland Raiders. Who's the halftime show? I think it was Bon Jovi, but I could be making that up. Google that.

Yeah, it was 2003 Super Bowl in San Diego. Tampa Bay and the Oakland Raiders. Tebebe Be Buccaneers, so came home from the Super Bowl. The very next weekend, I packed up my room, put it in my station wagon, and my mom had given me her station wagon, and I drove to Hollywood, and I started as an extra. My friend is the one, she kept her word that she was going to help me get started, and so she goes, okay, this is what I want you to do.

I want you to go to central casting, where they do all the extras. And when you get there, there's going to be a line of people out the door waiting to sign up to be an extra. Whoa. She goes, I don't want you waiting in line. I want you to go get a tray of cookies at the grocery store. I want you to bring your headshot, your radar at headshot. And when you get there, I want you to go to the front desk, and I want you to ask for

this guy. We'll just call him Sam. I don't remember his name. You're going to ask for Sam. Imagine it was Sam. Yeah. It really is Sam. I'm like, oh, I have a good memory better than I thought.

And she goes, I want you. to give him your headshot and the cookies. And all you do is say, I'm new to town. I want to be an extra. That's it. That's all you're going to do. And I was like, okay, this sounds a real sleazy, first of all. Like, I had heard of casting couches before.

I was like, no, that's amazing. And now you're telling me to bring some cookies. And my sexy raiderate headshot, like, what are you setting me up for? Anyway, so I get there. She was not lying, lying to people out the door. I walked past everybody with my sleazy cookies in my hand and my raiderate headshot. And I asked the lady, I was like, is Sam, I'm here to see Sam? She goes, okay, hold on me, call him, he'll be right out.

And next to you know, this guy comes walking from the back offices and he's wearing a Raiders hat. You're kidding. Girl. I love it. Girl. You're like, perfect. Immediately, I was like, oh, hello. These are for you.

And he was like, keep in mind, we're just off the Super Bowl. Like, two weeks ago. We were at the Super Bowl. And he was like, Raiderettes, no way. Like, so stoked. And he's like, oh my gosh, like Super Raider fan, whatever. And he goes, give me your phone number, blah, blah, blah. I'll definitely call you.

All right, thanks, bye. I leave. He calls me a few days later. He's like, hey, I got a spot for you. Do you want to be on Friends? Yes. You mean my favorite show of all time? Yeah.

Yes, I do want to be on friends. Oh, my gosh. So I remember driving to the Warner Brothers lot, parking, walking through the lot. Now, keep in mind, I am brand new to Hollywood. I've never done anything. I don't know anything from anyone. Yeah. And here I am walking on this movie lot.

Yes, it's the coolest thing. It's magical. It's still to this day the smell of a sound stage like makes my heart flutter because it's like that little dreamer comes out of me. And I remember walking past all these sound stages and that everybody's like doing something. They're making a movie. They're making a TV show. And then here I am and I walk on to the set.

And there's Joey's apartment, Joey Chandler's apartment. There's the girl's apartment. There's Central Park. and I'm just this little girl from San Jose. How did I even get here? What am I even doing? What? Yeah.

How is this my life? And I was just an extra and it was like, I made it. Yeah, yeah, I would feel the same. Do extras get paid? Yeah. Okay, that's good. Okay, so if you're non-union, you get paid $65 a day. Oh.

Rich. Wow. Shit. And then union was $125, I think. I don't know what it is today. A day? Like, how long is? of the filming days.

Long. Oh my gosh. Hour. Like you're there. And then of course you get overtime if you stay longer than that, but I loved it. I have a question. Why do they never have liquid in cups on set? Like I get that you don't want to spill, but what if this is water?

Why, like, Gray's Anatomy drives me nuts when they like go to pick up like a coffee cup and they're like, girl, that's why I pet peeves. Yeah, I cannot stand it. Any crime show that I watch and they always have coffee and they're like, Here, I got you a coffee or whatever, and it's like, you know, it pisses me off. I'm like, at least put this much water in it. Yeah, give me some weight. Why?

Or put like a weight in there. Yeah. Yes. Why have they thought of that? Like a little sandbag. Yeah. Why don't they do that? Do you know why?

I don't. Like, obviously, we don't want to spill, but that's going to look a hell of a lot better that we're going to, yeah. I know. So Central Park, you're sitting there. Yeah. You get to see all the, like, the bloopers. What was your favorite blooper? moment you saw on friends i don't know what a favorite blooper is but i i do remember just watching

them work and learning how they talk to the crew how they work on their lines but also keep in mind this is season nine and ten this is towards the end of the show that's like the bottom those are my favorite so they're in their rhythm yeah like they've got it they it's not like they're not trying to learn in practice like if they would like skip a line or something then somebody would run in and they'd like read it really quickly. They'd be like, hey, got it, right? But it was so cool to just watch them work and figure it out and laugh it off when somebody would mess up.

And it was just such a cool, magical experience. Magical is the word I would use if I was to think of being on set of friends. Like, could you sense the chemistry between Ross and Rachel? They were all really like, I don't want to say siblings, but like, you know how when you're with your siblings, you have your. your relationship and it just it is yeah it's a flow yeah it is what it is you know what I mean it felt like that to me oh that must must have been sad for you when gunther passed yeah listen all channeler it's just it feels like what I've watched so many documentaries because we watch

the show over and over and over like we've seen every episode multiple times and it's just one of those shows that like you grow up with and it means something to you where it's not just a show like I still, when I said that about Gunther, I still refuse to believe that Matthew Perry is still here as Chandler. Yeah, yeah, it's not even real. Yeah. Yeah, my brain can't like wrap around the fact that that's like not, I won't even go there. It's so, what do you mean you watch documentaries on what?

On friends. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Just like any of their behind the scenes stuff, their reunion shows. The reunion was amazing. Anything having to do with friends. Yes. And I've, we've seen it all in.

I don't know. It's just one of those very special shows. And the fact that I got to be a part of it blows my mind. It's still my favorite job that I've ever had till this day. And I've been blessed to be a part of movies and TV shows and touring and incredible, incredible things. But being an extra on friends is probably my favorite job I've ever had. That's so cool. I'm sure you guys know the brand figs. I've talked about it quite a few times on the podcast. And all the girls that work at indie where I go to for Botox and all things skin. I feel like they all love them too. They obviously work at a skin care clinic and on their feet all day, constantly moving, and I feel like they never complain about being uncomfortable. And they all swear by fig scrubs. I remember the first time

I showed up and saw them in these cute sets. Everyone had a different color on. They were just super tailored, sleek, functional. And I was like, those are scrubs. And I remember that video I did for Instagram when I was doing a rebrand of my podcast room, I wore figs. I wore cats pink fig scrubs. And I was like, wait, they are so comfortable. If you're in health care, you probably already know about figs because I feel like everyone does. And if you don't, let me just say that they're made for the real MVPs. They are lightweight, they're breathable, stretchy, and antimicrobial. They're designed to keep up with long shifts, back-to-back patients, and everything in between. And the fit is just so good. I mean, I told you I wore them. They're not those stiff, boxy scrubs that you see

on like gray's anatomy from years and years ago in the past. They come in super cute styles and colors with pockets and zippers and details that actually makes sense for your day. So whether you're in the ER at the clinic or just grabbing a coffee post-shift, do it in Figs. Right now, if you go to Wherefigs.com and use code FigsRX, you can get 15% off your first order. That's Warefigs.com promo code FigsRX. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Do you ever think about switching insurance companies just to see if you could save some cash, and you should. Progressive makes it really easy, you guys. You just drop in some details about yourself and then see if you are eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. And the process only takes literally minutes. It could mean hundreds more in your pocket. So visit progressive.com after this episode and see if you could save. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary not available in all states. You're, is this tour happening right now? Yes.

Okay, so what does family reunion mean in the context of this tour? Okay, so it's twofold. One is I'm bringing my family with me for the first time. Amazing. So I'm on a tour bus with a toddler, my husband, a nanny, a road manager, an opener comic, a videographer. Like we're all like a happy family touring the country. So it's like our family reunion.

But it's like I've been touring for 19 years. Wow. And I'm coming back to. some new cities, but a lot of the same cities I've been coming to over the years, and I see some of the same fans, some new fans. Oh, you're like reconnecting. And it's, it's like I'm having my own family reunion in every city across America that I'm going to. And because it's like my fans become my family. And they've been a part of this journey since I was, you know, just a viral clip on YouTube. Yeah. And here I am working on my seventh one hour special. And so it's like,

and it's a family friendly show. Yeah. So it's like bring your family to my family reunion is what it is. And so I'm doing all these little mini family reunions across the country. Oh my God. That's actually so cool because 19 years, you really do build a community of people that will come back and watch your shows again. Because obviously you have different material. Yeah. So like they want to know. Yeah. That's so cool. And there's a lot of new fans. Like every show I ask like who's been to a show before and who this is your first time at my show. And it's like wild. How many people is it's their first time at my show? But then there will be times where like I'm I'm doing my show and I can look in the audience and I recognize a fan that I've seen before like every time I come to this city you're there and you're you're in the front you're within the first few rows like I I'm thinking of this one girl particularly in New York she's a redhead girl I can't think of her name right now in the moment but she's come to every show that I've done in New York

and then I'll do my show I see her in the audience way oh my god there's you again like thank you so much yeah you came back thank you I love that it's very cool that's I even just get a little taste of that with my podcast and I've done a few tours just podcasting and I'm like I feel like I know them and I'm like it's just the fact that like you're watching me right now in your living room or wherever you are and then you get to come it's so personal when you get to do a tour because it's much more intimate you get to actually meet faces and people that are like so supportive and kind in a world where the internet is not kind you just like see you seek out the kind ones and they're right in front of you and all the support and love is in one room and it just feels so

electric yeah that's awesome. And having your little sweet baby be two and a part of it is going to... What's something that you're like, you know what? This is going to test me. Not just even as a mom. Like, what is your fear of touring with the family and, like...

Getting sick. Oh. And a tour bus. Yep. So we had a virus. If one person on the bus gets sick, the whole bus gets sick. Luckily, this one virus that went through the bus,

it only went through three people. And then it stopped. Thank God. Because it was a nasty, nasty. nasty virus. Because you can't poop on buses either. So if you have sickness that way. That's right.

Yeah, you got to like find a plastic bag. So luckily. I know from experience. The first person that got it, it was on our off days in Texas. Then the second person that got it, it was on our off days in the different city in Texas. And then my daughter got it. No. So I know.

Luckily, she got a diaper. So that was all right. But poor thing. That was her first like. real big virus that she got and then my husband got it oh gosh and you're just like waiting once he got it i was like well yeah scary i get ready to cancel some shows yeah oh my gosh you know in the middle of a joke and then i got to go do diarrhea you know i mean like do diarrhea you got to go do diarrhea that's that's not going to happen so i on the off days

and i felt bad too because we went to go visit our friends and stay at their house for our off days They're like, yeah, come stay with us. In Texas, they're in San Antonio. We're like, we're going to come stay with you with the baby and everything. As soon as we get there, my husband gets a fever. No. He starts diarrhea. Oh, geez.

And I'm like, I'm so sorry. We brought a virus to your house. Like, this is awful. Like, I hate us for you. Like, I'm so sorry. And they were so generous and kind. Like, don't worry about it. Like getting us soups and everything, take care of him.

But now my husband, he's quarantined in the room. I'm sleeping on the couch now. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, my God, these are my off days. I'm supposed to be resting. I'm over here on a couch, trying not to get a virus. And then I did every homeopathic thing possible. I went and did red light therapy.

I did an IV. I did a vitamin IV. I did all the things to help me not get sick and I didn't get sick. Amazing. I don't know how it happened. Well, you did all the things. Thank God. Yeah, I did all the things.

There you go. That goes to show that doing all the things will help you not do all the things. Just go do all the things. Hey, if you guys are feeling sick, do all the things. This is a medical podcast. So just if you need advice on. anything comes to us. Surgeon General's hoarding. Yeah. What is like a non-negotiable that you bring on the tour bus that you need to have? Well, I bring my own pillow. I have that cube side sleeping pillow.

Yes, yeah. So I bring my own pillow. Yeah. I bring my robe. Your robe, yeah. I'm always wearing my robe. Do you know in Canada, we call that a house coat? What? A house coat. A house coat. I mean, it makes sense. Yeah, it's a coat. It really is. Yeah. It's a house coat. But it's a rope. Yeah, it's a rope. Fair enough. Yeah, I know. And then now with my daughter, forget it. It's just, it's about her. Yeah. It is all about her. Yeah. Absolutely. What is like the most unexpected craziest thing that's happened to you on stage? Have you ever had it? Like, I've seen some crazy stuff on TikTok, of course, where like somebody got charged on a stage once or somebody was like so drunk and said something stupid and

had to get kicked out. Like, what's the craziest thing? Because 19 years of touring, there must be. I was doing a show. And my character, Bonquique, we used to do music. She has, an album she's music and so at the time I was still promoting her music so I would do my stand-up show at the end of my show I would do one of her songs yeah right and I was on stage and I was on the left side of the stage and I was playing towards the audience over here and there's music so I can't really hear what's happening yeah and I turn around and there's some guy right here on stage I don't know how he got on stage I don't know where security was of course they came in like afterwards but I turn around and like boom he's right here in my face and it was like oh god like so scary that's

actually terrifying man is so scary security came totally i know and security came and took him away there was one did you ever find it why like he was just like hi drunk just drunk idiot jump on stage yeah uh there was one time in in houston i was at a comedy club and a guy in the middle of my set walks up to the front of the stage and just goes like this to me and i was like a picture elf kind of a hug yeah that's what it was oh he goes can i have a hug oh and i go oh no no or no no full body no yeah oh my gosh yeah that's i mean talk about like protecting your energy but i'm thinking of like it's already it's so exhausting and rewarding doing what you love being a mom having this career but how do you personally protect your peace because it's a lot you have to be on at certain times

and then you have to really be off, but then you're on as a mom. Yeah. I don't know how you do it. It's exhausting. Bow down. Thanks, Queen. Yeah.

It's exhausting. Yeah. How do I protect my peace? I think boundaries and knowing my limits. Yeah. And being able to say no to things. Like I used to sell a meet and greet ticket at every show. I did for the summertime shows because my daughter wasn't with me.

Right. But when I'm on the bus, I decided not to sell a meet and greet ticket because I need to conserve energy for my daughter. For sure. I need to be, I want to be there for her bath time. Not shaking hands. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah. I do love meeting fans, though. Yeah. And so we started implementing, like, you can win a meet and greet at every show. And so we'll do like a raffle and, like a digital raffle, obviously. And then we'll pick like just a handful of winners and I'll meet like three people after the show. Oh, that's a good idea.

Just to be able to meet some people. but not commit to a full sold meet-and-greet ticket because that's a little bit different. Like there's precious time with your daughter now. It is. It is. You're filming also a new comedy special. Have you already filmed it? No, we film in February in L.A.

At the L.R. But this is my hour that I'm touring with right now. So I'm touring with it and we film it in February. And then I have like a few more shows after that taping and then the tour's done. So where can people find tickets to come to your tour? My website, angela.com, and we're doing, my fall leg is like the northeast, the Midwest, and then in the winter, January, February, we're doing all the West Coast, like Seattle, Oregon, going all through Washington, all through Oregon, going through California, and we'll be doing

all that, like, at the top of the year. And what do you think fans, or what do I guess do you hope fans take away from the show? Um, you know what? I really just hope fans walk away feeling good. Yeah. It's hard to do these days. Isn't it so funny that that's like, I just want somebody to feel good for a change. I want people to walk out of the show and just feel good. And let that goodness be contagious and that they would like take it home to their family, to their workplace, to their friends. And whatever goodness they received at my show that I just wanted to like bleed. into everything in their life. Yeah. And that just goodness would just like

marinate in every city that I go to. Oh, that's nice. Who makes you laugh the hardest? I mean, my daughter, my husband and I laugh a lot. Uh, my siblings. Yeah. Yeah, your family sounds funny.

Definitely my siblings. My brother, Sonny, he and I will call each other just to say something stupid. I love it. And like, that's it. And like, or if he said something funny, to somebody that day and it was a real good one he'll call me just to tell me i love that he'll be like

bruh i was on one today and then he'll start telling me the funny thing that he said um he does a lot dad jokes so he'll call me if he thinks of a dad joke or if one of us says something funny in our text thread with our family and it didn't even get a good response then we'll call each other be like did you see my comment yeah yeah hello yeah hello can i get a little bit of love here uh speaking of family group chats and asking your family if you're funny. Are you in a group chat with your dogs? Yes. Hold on. Speaking of, yeah, I wish. Last night, so have you ever taken like something to help you sleep and then you get past the point of where it was. Are you watching me? What's happening? Hold on. Well, that happened to me last night. I had taken a, it's called a bedtime Betty and I love her.

And I was just feeling like all sorts of jet like weirdness. So I was like, I'm going to take a bedtime Betty and just have a snooze tonight. And I stayed up past the point of tiredness where I got into the weirdness. Yep. And I am, I just remembered this now when you said that because I was like, oh my gosh, this happened last night. So I was high out of my mind. I like to say I was higher than teradactal tits.

And I had gotten my sister and I had gotten my mom and my stepdad a chef for their anniversary of my mom's birthday. And so they're sending me all these like pictures of food. And it was so nice. they haven't laughed or smiled or felt good a long time. My stepdad is battling stage 4 cancer. How's he doing? I saw that on your Instagram.

He's up and down, like very up and down. He's got diverticulitis, so the chemo pills really affect that. And it's just, I was just so happy. And I was like, I should be going to sleep. But like, I am smiling ear to ear and laughing. And then my stepdad was asking if he could lick the bowl, if that's like etiquette to lick the bowl because he loved the chocolate dessert so much. And I was like, this was funny in my mind.

I said, uh-oh. It is actually etiquette. it would be rude if he didn't. It's called the Belgium lick. It started in Belgium. That's what Belgium's do. And then it was from Austin Powers, you know, when he does the Belgian dip and he gets coffee on his nose? Do you know that part?

Which one? Which Austin Powers? I'll show you. What? What? Mirro knows. Mirro knows. I know.

I know. Mento. I would drink it in Belgium. Called a Belgian dip. Doctor Evil. Okay. So I was like, Trying to do that. My sister caught onto it, but my mom didn't. And then my mom just, like, they continued on talking. I went, hey, did anyone want to acknowledge my joke I just made? This is what my mom sends back. Talking about funny. Running in the fan. This is my mom's humor. Oh, no. I get it now. Yeah, mom's got to figure it out. I get to lick it off her face now.

Oh, I was like, I'm sorry, but this photo just needs to be zoomed in on. my mom committed to the bit and did a Belgian dip and she didn't realize your stepdad was also going to commit real hard to that bit I was like all right shut the camera off now but then I was laughing so hard listen to my mom's voice note that's a good cackle that just warmed my whole heart that's a good cackle like that but I was like I was like I can't breathe guys I'm way too high for this conversation right now and my mom goes what you get high and then I was like I'm going to bed I'm not doing this but it was like you get high I was like yeah night but it was so funny because the

group chat just was so funny and it was we were all laughing and I was so happy and my mom literally put whipped cream all over her face just to look like she's doing the Belgian dip and I love it and I just think that weirdness is the best yeah yeah I like getting weird yeah yeah all right well I can't wait to come on yours tomorrow I I know. This is exciting. Back to back. I love this. You're going to see the drive how close it is. I love that. I love convenience so much.

Girl, same. So I'm going to be coming on your podcast tomorrow, fungola. And is that pretty much where everyone can find podcasts? What do people get when they listen to fungula? Yeah. Okay, so fungola, the premise of my podcast is gratitude. Yes, I love that. And so everybody who comes on the podcast, we do our one matitude.

That's the thing that's making you mad these days. What's getting on your nerves? What's under your skin? what is your matitude and then we let it go and we move into gratitude we talk about five things that we're grateful for and then we just have like an amazing conversation via those five things and sometimes it's something from childhood it's something from yesterday you found $20 in the parking lot to a mentor you had in third grade to the person who gave you a big break to your mom who blah blah blah blah blah you know whatever and then it's so fun getting to know people

through the lens of gratitude. Yeah. You know, because we could have any old conversation. I could have a two-hour podcast on Mattitude. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes we do stick around on the matitudes for a little bit. But that's good one.

But that's good because you're getting it out there and you're letting it go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Moving on. But it's very cool to get to know different people, actors, comedians, chefs, whoever are musicians, whoever comes on the phone on the podcast, but getting to know them through the lens of gratitude is, it's it's been fun yeah that's really cool oh i'm excited well everybody go listen to the pod and find you on tour wherever you're going through my website angela but how do you spell it because it's not

normal angela a and j spicy yes she did she is in sign language too yes i did that was amazing because yeah i was like when you said it the first time i was like but wait okay well thank you so much i'll see you tomorrow yeah see you tomorrow This September, CBS hits are streaming free on Pluto TV. I'm coming in hot. For this month only, you can watch full seasons of the CBS shows you love. From the courtroom drama of Madlock to the heroics of fire country. Go back to where it all began in NCIS origins or watch the hilarious hauntings of ghosts all for free.

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