Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Jane Krakowski

Episode Date: August 21, 2022

Jane Krakowski has been working steadily on television, in the movies and on Broadway since she was a teenager, breaking out with a Golden Globe nominated performance on the series Ally McBeal. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist gets together with the actress to talk about a career that has taken her from that memorable role to 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and a Tony Award on Broadway. (Original broadcast date: August 15, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Perhaps you can hear the excitement in my voice today because I've got a conversation with one of my favorite people on Earth, the great Jane Krakowski. She's incredibly talented. She's incredibly funny. She's incredibly charming. And we've got a good long talk with her for you today.

She's got so much going on. I'll try to remember it all. She's hosting Name That Tune, a new updated version of Name That Tune. with Randy Jackson leading the band. She stars in a pair of Apple TV Plus series, one called Shmigadoon, which plays into her theater and musical roots, where basically the plot is this couple wanders through the forest

and happens upon an entire world. They can't escape from where everyone is living in an old Broadway musical. Need I say more? She also plays Emily Dickinson's mother in the Apple TV Plus series Dickinson. She's got so much going on, as always. You've known her since she was a kid,

She starred in a soap opera when she was super young, got nominated twice for Emmys. She was Cousin Vicky in Vacation, one of the great movies of all time, and one of the most memorable characters in that awesome movie. Then she's in Allie McBeal, 30 Rock, the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She's done so much in her life to say nothing of her career on Broadway, where she won a Tony Award in 2003. She truly does it all, and she's just so fun to be around and so fun to talk to. We got together at a rooftop.

bar and restaurant in New York City, kind of a garden on a nice breezy summer day. You're going to hear some background noise, as you've gotten used to on this podcast. We're sitting outside in New York City, so there'll be some fire trucks and some garbage trucks backing up, maybe some light crime out on the streets. Who knows what we're in for? I think, though, you'll enjoy this conversation again with one of the all-time greats and just such a fun person to be around. It is Jane Krakowski right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Hi, really? Hi, Jane. How are you? It's so good to see you. It's so great to see you unmasked.

In the flesh, in person. My hero, unmasked. In a garden on a rooftop in New York. Just the way we always get together. I like to close all places that we're going to be in together, Willie, just, you know, to see whatever comes up. Probably wise. You never know what's going to happen. You never know what's going to happen. This is the latest I've ever seen you. Let's be honest. I usually see you very early in the morning. That is true. We've co-hosted some Today Show together over the years. Great highlights of my career and life. We were just talking about your entrance for people who may not recall.

The first time you hosted, I was saying some of these celebrity guest hosts, it's a thing, and they're a little nervous, understandably. It's a fish out of water. And I said, I think Jane's going to be okay. And then they say she's got a little entrance plan. And I'm sitting at the desk, good morning, it's Monday morning, guest hosting. And you come in on roller skates. And by the way, full roller skating skills from some.

Somewhere deep in your New Jersey childhood. Oh, yeah, that's it. You nailed it right from there. Jersey, yeah, we've probably been at the same places. Yeah, you brought it out. You brought it out and me. Yeah, so you always bring it, I guess, is what I'm saying. So we're talking about this time at home, this last year and a half.

Yeah. You've actually been working a lot. Like, you've been at home with your son, but also you're in Australia shooting in that, too. Like, you've got all these things going on. So what was that balance for you of time at home and work? Right. Well, I mean, in the beginning, it was obviously all. all shut down. And it was just solo me and my son at home. And it was an interesting time for me.

And I'm sure you feel this way about your kids, but we learned a lot about our kids that we didn't know. I mean, to me, I think the thing I like the most besides knowing that I don't know anything from the third or fourth grade anymore, that was eye-opening for me. A little depressing. I had the same experience. It was. It was a little rough. But then I eased into it and I got into the joy of actually relearning everything with my son and finding joy in that. But I loved seeing how my son learns. And I learned a lot that way. And, you know, we apply to all these schools, you know,

because I talked to you a lot about this when I was first applying my son into the New York private school system. And you write all these letters, but you don't really know who your kid is educationally or where they're going to be gravitated to. And these two years at home really taught me who my son is and how he learns, what ignites him, all the stuff that we write in those letters that, you know, you don't really know when they're four or five. And so it was very interesting to learn all of that.

And where he's, you know, what his strengths and weaknesses are. And you hear them in the parent-teacher conference, and I'm sort of like, well, I don't know. My kids not like that at home or whatever you say. Whatever we justify it in our head. Right. And then being his, you know, co-teacher for a year and a half, almost two years, I was like, oh, yeah, you're right. He struggles there or he needs more attention here. And so that was really eye-opening for me and a great lesson.

and yeah, I feel very lucky that he is a honed personality at this time. Did he like having mom at home helping him all the time, or was he like, okay, I love you, but a little space here. No, I think we both kind of loved it. I think we really enjoyed it. And like you, my hours start very early, so there's many hours that I would be gone before he wakes up or, you know, he'd wake up and start school or get walked to school by our nanny or whoever was with us at the time.

or when doing a Broadway show, getting home after bedtime. So this was a joy for him and a joy for me. You know, it was hard on New York and as a New Yorker. It still makes me tear up. I got so sad, like hearing the sirens ring and having everything shut down. If you ever told me in our lifetime that New York could shut down and not be 24-7, I would have never believed it. And then, you know, we would go out every night at 7 p.m. at bang those pots.

And I felt this emotion that I'm feeling right now, I feel that overwhelming emotion to say thank you to these people that saved New York from the break and saved New Yorkers. And so now we're in a time where we've made it through. New Yorkers are so hardy and so strong. We're, you know, largely vaccinated, which is so wonderful. And now I'm excited to see New York come back. So much a part of it for me is having Broadway come back. And I find it synonymous with having New York come back. So I'm excited that work is slowly coming back for us, that we're seeing each other in person,

that my son will return hopefully to the classroom. Please go back to school. And hopefully New York will come back better than ever. And because I believe in New Yorker so much, I know it will. Talking about Broadway, the gala that you hosted, the Roundabout gala a couple of months ago. That was amazing. You were up there for like an hour doing your thing, right? But the idea was Broadway is the symbol of New York City for a lot of people.

It's the energy, it's the life, it's the creativity, it's the people who come from all over the world. How excited are you to see Broadway come back this fall? Well, that night in particular, it was a gala for the Roundabout Theater Company, which is, I sort of, I call like, my hometown family theater company in the city because I've done so many, I think I've been in four Broadway shows for them. And I think of them as my hometown New York theater company. And it was a magical night. It was the first time we could be out. We were out in Central Park, one of the most beautiful parks in the world. They built a beautiful stage.

I was singing with the New York City Pops. My friend Titus Burgess came and sang many, many songs with me. Tina Faye introduced me. Alec Baldwin made a cameo in the first number. Adrian Warren also did a duet with me. So everybody, like, said yes. And that made me so thankful. to my really talented, amazing friends,

that they all said yes and showed up, not only for New York theater and Broadway coming back, but for New York and for live performing to be back. That's what was so exciting about being there that night. And I was nervous. I rehearsed my butt off because I was like, wait, do I remember how to do this? I may have forgotten.

And the voice was a little more wobbly than it usually is because I hadn't sung as much over the time of COVID. But the spirit in the room was amazing. And by the room, I mean Central Park was amazing. And everyone was there with the right love and spirit and to be supported by the New York City Pops and hear those orchestrations. And, you know, I was doing my best, but then my friend Titus Burr just came out and sang people standing absolutely still.

And a standing ovation happening, you're like, yeah, yeah. That's what it's all about. That's amazing. And Broadway is such a bellwether for our city, right? I mean, it feels like if Broadway's back, the York's back. It does feel like that. We hope those theaters are full this fall. I'm so excited.

I mean, I'm going to be there on the... I already was lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen. Did you get to go yet? I saw it before COVID. Isn't that unbelievable experience? I got luckily invited to the dress rehearsal night. And it was my first night back in a Broadway house since the pandemic. And it's going back a little bit.

But I was meant to go to the opening night of six the day Broadway shut down. So I was like, you know, getting my outfit ready and calling my best friend. saying, so the show's at 6. I can't wait. It was at 6 p.m. as well as it was called 6. And I was like, I'm so excited. And she's like, I don't know if people are going to go. Like I was like, what? What are you talking about? It's a Broadway opening. She's like, I'm not sure. I said, well, let me call some people and see if it's still on. And obviously, it was shut down within the hour and my heart broke for all of those girls making their Broadway debut that night. But to be back in the theater for Bruce, it was my first time being back in the theater.

in a Broadway house on that dress rehearsal night. It just, I got every pang of loving Broadway, loving what I do that I had as a young, young child, like wanting to just, dreaming of just being able to do this. I sat there going, and the back, you know, the set, there's really no set, it's the back wall of the actual theater, which I love that stuff. And I get all those chills, and I was just like, oh, my God, yes, yes.

Like, I need to be up there. I want to see every show. I'm going to be like, so it still all lives in me, and it's part of the original dream, a part of the original goal of living within a proximity of Broadway and being inspired by so many Broadway shows as a kid that made me want to be in this business. And then I still feel that same excitement and butterflies and thrill, seeing someone else do it as well as me getting a chance to do it in Central Park for everybody who was, my richest fans who were able to come and support the Roundabout Later Company.

You got to have rich fans, too. That's important. It's good to have some rich fans. That's important. Yeah. So did that give you the bug then, the Broadway bug again? I mean, you've won Tony Awards, you've been nominated for Tony. You've had a great career on the stage.

Do you want to get back up there? I don't think the bug ever goes away. I've got to be honest. The bug is always within me. Yeah. I find it like my home base. I find like when I get to do a show on Broadway, it ignites all my tools and everything, sort of the original concept in a way, right? The original, the OG of who I am. And then I feel it informs

my other performances. I feel like then I'm ready to be better in a TV show or try harder at a movie or so I, or bring more characterization to an animated job or whatever the, whatever the request is. I find that those fill my soul to then inform everything else that I do. What I feel lucky about is that I have been able to use those original skills in so many places where you wouldn't expect it was the demand. Like on the Today Show at 9 in the morning, you wouldn't think I'd bring my roller skates. And sometimes it's not forced on you. Sometimes it is just part of the actual job description, or people have written me roles where they can use all of those skills. And I love it.

I love that still at this time in my career, I'm getting to pull out my favorite bag of tricks. or find some new ones. Well, it's a good segue into your Apple TV Plus series Shmigadoon. Yeah. Which incorporates elements of Broadway because this couple

is walking through the forest in the woods and they happen into a universe that is, I think, a 1940s era musical production. Right. It's like the music man or something. Yeah.

So first of all, great concept. Love it. So where do you fit into that story as the countess? Well, let's just go back when I first read the script. I was like,

okay, I'm the key demographic for this show. Like, I'm the lady who's going to watch it at home. Now, how can I also be in it? So, I was, because it came from the Genius Mind of Broadway video and produced by Lauren Michaels, I was asked to do some of the early readings of it before, as they were still crafting it and figuring out what it was going to be. So this is a project that is so near and dear to my heart, and I feel like I was lucky enough to be a part of it from the ground up. It's written by the loving, loving musical theater, loving heart of Sincopal, who is one of the most infectious, happy, joyous people I've ever worked with and has such a true love of musical theater. And you could tell it's infused in every moment of Shmigadoon.

I play Countess von Blurkin, who is very reminiscent. All of our characters are reminiscent of characters that you know from 1940s musicals. Mind is very reminiscent of the Baroness in the Sound of Music. Yes, right. So she comes from a jaunt, I like the word jaunt, a jaunt in the city, and she comes back to find the doctor taking up with Melissa, who is the people who are not from Shmigadoon who are coming to find true love to be able to get out of Shemadah Degu. Cecily Strong. Sezely Strong. Kee and they're hilarious. I actually, I loved that it is a loving parody of musical theater, but also has such a witty, humorous sensibility tacked on to it.

Because it's sort of like, you'll like this show whether you like musicals or hate musicals, because both sides are being represented. And I kind of love that. Because that all lives in Me Too, even though I'm truly a huge musical theater fan. But the sensibility of like saying, like, with Cecily, the music for my song starts just, wait, you get a song, you're kind of a minor character, and I just start singing. We don't have time for that. This is my number now.

And there's some eye-rolling at the theater of it all from the other side, so you're right, you do get all these of it. And as I said before, it is like a modern all-star cast for Broadway, between you and Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming. I mean, I could go on and on and on. It's an unbelievable cast. Yeah. Well, we also filmed this show, this wonderful little gem of a series during the pandemic.

It was right when filming was being. allowed to happen again under great restrictions. We all went up to Vancouver. We quarantined for a very long 14 days, which doesn't sound long, I know in hindsight, but in these rooms, it can be very, very hard. We would rehearse on Zoom if we could. We would, I mean, I got basically maybe an hour rehearsal with a choreographer wearing masks and face shields, and we rehearsed on two fold-out chairs that was meant to be this convert. car that I do this amazing number that Cinco wrote for me. And choreographed on these two folding chairs with spacing and social distancing. And the first time I met Cecily in person was when they

called action. And it was the first time we were not with our masks and not with our face shields and everything else that goes into it. So the show was made with so much love that everybody really wanted to be there. I think so much of the heart of Shmigadoon is that we were able to actually do live musical theater when there was no live musical theater at the time. And it's going to air now at a time when musical theater probably hasn't come back to your hometown yet, but hopefully will very, very soon. So I wasn't lying when I said you're busy. So there's Shmigadoon. We've got a new season of Dickinson. Yes, which I'm so excited about. Which is a really cool show. For people who haven't seen it, I think season three right coming up.

Season two is out now and season three is coming out. It's coming up, right. Where you play Emily Dickinson's mom. Yeah. But it has this sort of modern energy with current music. Yeah. How do you explain the show to people who might be interesting and checking it out? Well, I think Dickinson is such a cool show.

It's so well written by Elena Smith. And the show is really her creative, like, mind genius of what she wanted to make. I read it and was like, this is so creatively interesting to me that I just want to see how it's going to be done. so I want to be a part of it. And it's, it's, it's been really interesting because the show lives on many levels. It is, it could be completely funny, and then the next minute be completely heartfelt

and beautiful and, and poignant. And then Wiz Khalifa comes on, and they're singing, we're twerking to a rap song. So you just kind of got to go with it. But I, I was, my mom was a huge fan of Emily Dickinson. And she taught me some of Emily Dickinson's poems when I was a child. And so when I first saw the script for Dickinson, it started with a poem my mom had taught me to memorize when I was a kid, which is I'm nobody who are you, a very known one and a very famous one. And I was like, oh, wait.

Then it said it burst out to like a rap song. I was like, oh, this might be the blending of all world. So I want to be a part of this creatively. I'm so excited about season three. I feel like each year, the show, each season of the show, finessed its way into something special and beautiful. And I hope people find it. I'm not sure if anybody is watching Dickinson or who even knows where it is. It's on Apple TV Plus. Yep. Get that in. But it's daunting to do comedy, especially you know me. I like to do physical comedy in a corset.

Filming for 12 hours a day in a corset. Hard to roller skate in a corset, for example. You know, there's a modern twist. You don't know which days I may have had the modern under my skirt. But it's been a joy, and I am really proud of the ultimate product of what it is, and especially season three, because I feel like my character really got to grow and blossom in season three. And it really comes back to sort of almost the playwriting sensibility that Elena Smith started as a playwright. And I think season three really brings the show of Dickinson back to that heart, again, because we were just outside the restrictions of a pandemic and needed to film with fewer cast members. smaller rooms and smaller locations. And so I actually think that became an asset to season three of Dickinson.

So what is it when you get a script, Jane, that you see and you go, oh, yeah, that's it. I mean, you just sort of describe Dickinson. You just describe Schmickadoon. There's always something there, it seems like, that turns you on and say, I want to be a part of that. I'm sure it's different project to project. It is. It's different project to project. It's just something special that gets ignited in me, I think.

Like, I feel like, ooh. And a lot of it is, there's excitement. And fear in it. There's both. Right, right. Fear is always good, I think, because it can push you to try something new. And that when you're not sure you can pull it off, I think it triggers me to want to try. You know, it's interesting.

It is just this thing that, and I'm sure other actors have said this to you, too, that you've interviewed. But I'll read a script when I was really wanting to do it, but I don't get that feeling. And I'm like, oh. And I'm like, I guess I'm not going to do this one, or I don't feel, it's not doing that to me. And so it's just an inner instinct of either the challenge or the excitement or what you, you just get that vibe inside. There's been so many scripts that I think I've wanted to really do, and I'm like, I'm not going to get this one. I don't have that buzz or that thing inside of me. So you like a challenge, clearly, something that, I don't know, can I pull this off when you read the script?

Oh, yeah, yeah. I like that. It's not there. I'll try to make it for myself. Let's make this harder. Let me try to make this harder for myself. It's one of my gifts. So we've talked about this before, but name that tune has been so much fun to watch. Yeah, yeah.

And that's just you being you, which is actually a character you don't play very much. Right. Which is to say, like. Which might be for the best. Here's my small doses. But you get to be funny and you get to do little singing and dance and you get to be you, the person that I know. Well, that's very sweet of you. So how much fun is that show to do?

So much fun. And I grew up watching, name that tune. And I grew up in a very musical family, you know, parents who did community theater and my dad was in a 50s duo group. So we would, you know, yell at the television every time we could see how many notes we could get it in and try to get the songs and try to, you know, compete against each other in a friendly family way. And so, yeah, when it came to me, it was such a gift.

It was at the height of the pandemic. they flew us to Australia to film it because we could with their with their restrictions we were able to have a live band live audience and it was my first time you know hosting a game show so to speak and it was all joy it was a challenge because I'd never done it before it was a gift because we got to go to beautiful Australia and film the show I'm in love with Randy Jackson Randy Jackson is such a cool guy, a great friend, and an amazing producer. He is really, really a smart guy. And considering everybody in the network was in California watching our live tapes at like five in the morning,

and it was me and Randy as the only Americans in this entirely Australia production, it was really wonderful to have Randy as a cohort out there and using his sensibility and long-standing experience in that world from American Idol with all that. And he taught me a lot, and I'm very grateful for his friendship. That's got to be a really cool thing to have grown up watching something, and then to be in a position in your life where then they ask you to be the person to recreate. Are those the sort of prospective pinch me moments along the way? Yeah, they are.

They are. And I've had a bunch of those with Broadway, too, because as I briefly just mentioned, my parents did a lot of community theater in New Jersey. That was their hobby outside of their professions. And I grew up very modestly middle class, and they couldn't get babysitters all the time. And so they would take me to the community theater with them. And from the time I was in a crib, I was backstage at this community theater.

And I'd watch my mom make costumes for a show or be in a show, or my dad produce a show or be in a show. And I've had many of those shows. I've come to be in on Broadway, a few of them, because I haven't been in not made Broadway shows, but a few of them. And those moments are the moments where I think, wow, how did this even happen? Like, how did I see my dad, you know, and my mom be in a show in community theater,

and now I'm opening it on Broadway. And those days are never lost on me because I'm so thankful to the support and creativity that my parents infused into our lives as a child. And still loving it now, like this many years later. I've been in this business a long time. And I still love it just as much. And coming out of the pandemic, I am so grateful for what I do. And I love what I do.

And I had a bunch of jobs come up right after the pandemic. And we were at Label to Film. And I couldn't be more grateful for all of them because I was so happy to go back to work. I was so happy to be asked to still do what I love to do. And so I think each one, each project that we're talking about right now has special meaning to me because of that especially. And I haven't, I, I'm so thankful that I recent, my first audition, I was eight years old. I waited outside of a Broadway theater at an open call that I circled like in backstage magazine. I got my chance to sing my 16 bars for an amazing woman named Graciela Danielle.

She plucked me out of like 500 kids. I don't know how many kids were auditioning for this. It was adults and kids alike being picked. And out of the 500-something kids, she chose me. And she gave me my first yes. She gave me my first open door. And I got to see her just recently, like two weeks ago. And she's being honored this Tony Awards for her.

She's getting a special Tony for her immense, terrific, creative body of work in musical theater. and in the Broadway theater alike, because she's done plays and musicals too. And I'm so happy that she's getting on her because she gave so many people their first yes. She gave so many people their opportunity for me to still do what I love.

And so I got to see her just a few weeks ago. And I started crying in the room because I was like, I've never gotten to thank you. And the last time I was nominated for a Tony, my whole speech was going to be about her, but I lost. And so I was like, you don't know this, but my whole speech was going to be about thanking you for letting me be in this business and giving me my first yes.

So I'm just going to tell it to you now. So you gave her the speech? It wasn't really a speech. I paraphrased it this time around. We'll get you back up there at the Tony's, though. You'll get your chance. You'll get back up there. I mean, this is part of the reason people love you so much

is because you're so real and there's gratitude. I can see it. You can see it in your eyes right now. It's even more immense at post, you know, a pandemic where the world shut down and we all could have died. That's true. But yes. But I think generally speaking,

are not a jaded person. You don't take all these things in your life and career for granted. Not a step. Not a minute of it. I'm so thankful. And as a mom of a 10 year old, I hope my son can find what he loves to do and I can nurture it and say yes and go and go so he can find that for himself too. Because it's a, you have a life well lived series, don't you? It's a life well lived when you can get to do what you love to do for your whole life. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Jane Krakowski right after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast, now more of my conversation with Jane Krakowski.

So you were talking about your parents in Jersey, working in the theater. It seems to be completely inevitable that you were going to do what you're doing right now, which is to be on stage and on screen because of all those influences you just talked about. Was there ever a moment along the way, where you were going to like be an accountant. Was there ever anything else on the radar for you? Or was it like, this is who I'm going to be? Well, you didn't see my grades, really.

So I knew very early on I needed to hone my personality. No. Did I think about anything else? Not really. I mean, I grew up with a very practical father who always was worried about the rainy day for me. And so, yeah, looked into other things. You know, I thought for a while I wanted to be a lawyer. That was never really going to fly. I guess there's some other things I thought I would want to do, but I was lucky

enough to get a yes and to get to get in. And yeah, and I, as I say, I just feel like I've been lucky enough to be able to be challenged by it all these years to still love it, to still be ignited by it all. And I really am. There's been, I mean, there's been years where I didn't get work and times in our career where we're hireable or not hireable or the right musicals aren't being done or you're just like two inches too short to be opposite to the leading man or many, many weird reasons that we don't get jobs and show business. And those can, those can knock you down. But I don't think there was ever a moment I really wanted to do anything else. And things happened really quickly for you. I mean, you're on a soap opera.

where you're... How do you know all this? How much research did you do? It's all piped into my ear right now. Tiny earpiece. It's the world's tidies. It's tiny, yeah. You're nominated for a couple Emmys.

You're in vacation, cousin Vicky, everybody loves. Like, you were getting good stuff early and doing good work. Yeah. You were on Broadway and Starlight Express. You were 18 years old when that happened. I was still a senior in high school. You were in high school when that happened. So what was that like to have all this?

a lot of it really high profile stuff happening at that age while you were still in high school. Exilarating, I guess. It's funny when I look back, it doesn't seem like it was fast or like a lot coming. I'm a mildly competitive person and most competitive with myself, really. So I think every time, and I know my family felt this way, every time I got something, we'd all be shocked and surprised, like, wow, okay. Okay, let's go do that. You just got a Broadway show.

That's okay, I guess we'll learn how to do a Broadway show and go do that. So, okay, so there are a bunch of great roles that you're associated with on TV. And you tell me if I have them right. What do you hear about the most? Allie McBeal. Yeah. 30 Rock, of course. Kimmy Schmidt.

Yes. Just Jacqueline's an incredible character. That's very sweet. And you've said, you enjoy finding the humor in monsters. Yeah. Make comedy out of monsters. And when I read that quote, I was like, oh, yeah. That's Jacqueline, that's Jenna a little bit.

That's something you do really well. I don't know if they're necessarily a little monsters. I clearly exaggerated for a quote of sense of humor with a sense of humor. But I think I love finding a sense of humor in flaws in people. And they could be flaws in all of us, whether we come off that way or not. But I love heightening them to a place of humor. And I think definitely all those characters had that. And I've also been on shows that were written by some of the greatest writers in television,

or just say the greatest writers. So you can't take that out of the equation. And it brings me to, I think, what I love most about what I do. And I feel this way, even with our conversation today, really, that it's the collaboration. It's the joint conversation. And I feel like every job I've been lucky enough to do is been with people who, who that collaboration has made me better. That collaboration has made me grow.

That collaboration has inspired me. And that's what I feel so thankful about coming out of the time we just went through and getting to do those jobs was I was so thirsty for the collaboration, completely thirsty for the audience. But I probably have that at all times. I'm going to say. I don't really. But you know what I mean.

But even just seeing you here today, you know, it's not the same on Zoom. I don't get to feel your energy. You know, I'm such a huge fan of yours. I adore spending time with you. But having a conversation with somebody is wonderful again. Yes. And getting to do these jobs and collaborating with some of the greatest comedy writers that there are of this generation is a collaboration I am, you know, so thankful for. And I think it absolutely influenced my sense of humor on camera and off.

I've raised a very sassy 10-year-old on that sense of humor. which is not as successful in a 10-year-old with a little Tina Fey kind of quip coming out of his back. I think we have that we were talking the same problem in our parent-teacher conferences. It's funny, but let's just dial it back a little bit. Read the room. Yeah.

Read the room. Yeah, yeah. Well, but I mean, I think Allie McBeal, is it fair to say, I don't know if it's surprised people, but it's maybe your first experience was something that huge, where, oh, this is a cultural thing

that people are talking about the next morning and you were in the middle of some event that was happening in the country. Right, right. Yeah. It was my first TV series. And I was very good friends with Callista Flockhart from just the New York theater scene. And we had both flown out for our final screen tests together. We actually shared an agent at the same time, too. So he booked all of our flights together. And we, this is sort of, I summed this up as sort of kind of what the whole experience kind of felt like. We flew out coach. We got the jobs while we were there, both of us. And we flew back first class. There you go. Warm, fresh cookies and all, which was a first for me. And it sort of explains the whole experience.

Like, we went in, none of us had ever been on TV. We were all, like, a lot of us were from New York. Courtney Thorne Smith was the girl who had all the TV experience, and we went to her for all the questions, and, like, how does this work? And do we buy crew gifts? Is this right? Is this within sag regulations? I mean, all the things we just didn't know.

She was sort of our leader. Yeah. And I remember the first day I realized that Ally McBeal was a hit was I was driving home in L.A. traffic and from a work day, and people were analyzing it the next, after the day after the episode on the radio. And I don't even know if I knew what a water cooler show was. I'm sure that was a phrase prior to that, but I'm not sure. But I was like, oh, we're on that show. People are arguing about Allie McBeal and having a conversation about the topics.

And that was the day I realized that it was out there, you know, it was, it was something. And it was a great experience for me in general. Again, it was a very specific sense of humor, a quite exaggerated character that I adored. And I think what I like about the characters that I play, even though they're flawed, I love them, right? Yeah. I have radical compassion for them all. And I think that is something I'm so happy I am fusing my characters. And now I want to infuse that everywhere in life.

I think we're at a time in life where we all should have radical compassion for each other. And for everyone we meet on a day-to-day basis. Amen. Especially now we feel that, don't we? I do more than ever. Yeah. More than ever. But yeah, Alan McPhil was a really unique show.

I mean, he had a very, it was a, the first dromedy I think I was aware of. Or at least I know we got coined with that genre label. Did you feel your life changing? Just in terms of going into a restaurant, people know who you are. Okay, oh, you're from Allamee Field. Was that the first time that started to happen for you? Yeah, for sure.

And did that feel strange at all? It felt strange, but exciting until it didn't, right? Until it backfires on someone. And I didn't really get the negative experience. of that during that show, and maybe because I was more of a supporting player, I think Callista experienced a harder route with that, because she was one day America's sweetheart, and the next day everybody criticizing her, and I think that was very hard to go through. And I don't want to speak for Callista at a school, and you should talk to Clist's about that.

But I think it was definitely an experience where our lives all changed. And I remember the first year we all got to go to the Golden Globes. we were invited to go to the Golden Globes and only 12 episodes had aired. I mean, our lives had changed. And we all were like, okay, so I asked everybody to come over to my rental apartment before. And we all, like, had a glass of champagne and got into the same limo. I was like, it worked for the friends. Maybe this will feel safer if we all go together.

It's like the prom. It was like the prom. We didn't know all those pictures outside of my apartment building. And we were all, like, suddenly going to the Golden Glover. and it was a great joyful memory. And so, but when that series wraps up, there's something in your mind, back to the Broadway theme,

I want to come back to New York. Yeah. And then, boy, does that work out well for you. God, you have really done your timeline and everything. Of course. No, no. It's all kicking around up here. Well, it's you too.

Come on. That's so sweet. But you write something told you that it was, TV was fun. We did a successful show. Right. Back home to the stage. Yeah.

At which point you won, Tony. Very sweet of you. Yes. I'll slip you the 50 when we're done. I was missing New York when I finished Dally McBeal. And Alameeville went on for five seasons. So I was five years living away from New York for the first time in my life. And I really missed it.

And I was like, well, you know, you go somewhere for a year, two years. It could just be a temporary move and you know you're going to come back. Five years felt like so much time I actually wasn't sure where my home. home base should be at that time. But I knew I wanted to come back to New York. So I put all my L.A. life, my rented L.A. life into a storage unit and came back to New York and auditioned for a show called Nine. And it became my home coming back to the Broadway community, but made me one of the most

satisfying and wonderful creative experiences as well in my career. And yes, a lifelong dream came true that I want to tell you. for that show, which I still don't, you know, I'm still kind of wowed by that, by that fact. When they call your name, does it all come back, the parents taking you to the theater and the crib, that whole road that got you to that stage? When they called my name, I went blank. Like, I think I had a moment of an out-of-body experience, which I've never really talked to other actors about if that's happened to. My speech is awful.

Please don't play it on the show. Because I'm literally like, I can't believe what just happened to me. And I so admire people that in that moment can whip out that great emotional speech. And I think it seemed like too far of a reach. Like that would never happen. And I really did go into like some loss zone. We're going to play it in its entirety now. Please don't.

It's so not good. And it was also a crazy moment because it's one of those great like live Tony show moments because we had just done our number. They timed where we did our live, you know, musical number of representation from the show 9 right before my award was up. And so we had to do that crazy quick change, like right off to the side to get back into our... So you had time to do that. You're in the way. ...dollower clothes versus our bar of costumes from the show. And I'm literally...

Two of the other nominees were also from 9. So I was holding Cheetah Rivera's hand and Mary Stewart Masterson's hand. And it was like being backstage at Miss America. Like we're all holding each other head. Like, well, who's going to get called? And we're not sure if the lipstick is on or there's a wardrobe malfunction and my, you know, my real clothes now or what was going to happen. And I think because I was standing next to two amazing, dynamic women,

Cheetah Rivera is one of the heroes that I saw in all the shows that I was coming to see with my parents a eight years old. And then they called my name that I literally went into some other weird alternative. Because it doesn't feel possible. It didn't feel possible to me. It didn't. And what it meant to me, I guess because that community means so much to me. And part of the OG thing that I wanted to do,

that it seemed too far of a reach. But I'm so thankful for that experience. And, yeah, it was great. And then I sort of made New York continue to stay being my home for the rest of my career. And you were able to do TV in New York, which is nice. 30 Rock, you just go across the river. Yeah. I don't know what good juju was on my side the day I met Tina Fey and Robert Carlack.

I remember I wore shorts to that audition, which was a miscall. And I wouldn't have known it was a miss call. But then I remember Tina writing a joke about women of a certain age still wearing shorts. Actually on 30 Rock later, I thought, oh, okay. I still got this job somehow. I don't know how because I wore short. Was that a choice or was it just how? that day. It was just what I would wear at the time. Anyway, the point being,

yeah. Shorts aside, shorts aside, it was a day that changed my life. I went in to meet Tina Faye and Robert Carlock. We had, you know, talked for an hour or so about the character and what 30 Rock was going to be. And I luckily got that job. And then I was blessed with seven seasons of one of the greatest jobs of my life and the greatest writing of my life and then four more on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which is kind of incredible. And I hope a lifelong friendship with all of the people that were part of those shows. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Jane Krakowski right after the break.

Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast, now more of my conversation with Jane Krakowski. Did you know Tina before that audition? No. Not at all. I mean, of her. Right, right. I watched John S&L and stuff like that, but no. You guys just seem like such kindred spirits.

I don't know why. I just feel like you would know each other. Just smart, funny women. Well, I'm really glad to know her now. Yeah. And I'm so thankful for her friendship. And the comedy gold she bestowed on me and all of us. You know, it's a moment that when there's not a day.

And I believe everybody in our cast would say that. There was not a day that we took. that for granted, that entire experience, every moment of the seven years that we were getting to make this show, that we could come to the Today Show and use the Today Show as like part of our fictional world was crazy and awesome. Yeah, there wasn't a day that went by that any of us took ever granted. We were so thankful that we were still on the air. I mean, every year we would remember the day that we were either going to get picked up

or not picked up, and we would all, like, you could feel the energy and the roots. on that day of filming when we knew it might be pronounced. And every year we were not sure whether we would get another season or not. And we all really wanted more seasons. And we luckily got seven of them. And it was a golden time, a great, great time. And you could tell in Jenna that you had studied a lot of people that you'd worked with, perhaps, in your business and brought it all to that performance.

Perhaps. What did you want to say about Starlets and the business? with Jenna. I was not making any commentary. Like I told you, I have radical compassion for all my characters. But there couldn't have been, you know, a greater character to thrive and get the chance to flourish in that particular style of comedy, which I greatly enjoyed doing. I mean, you know, I could poke fun of myself a lot of the time and, and others that I had experienced. That show, I was telling you, my kids have been watching all your shows. During quarantine.

So this is this new generation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the show holds up. 30 Rock really holds up. So glad. Absolutely holds up. And it had some edge to it that we were saying like, you know, today, it might be a little more difficult to pull off. I think so.

I think so. I'm not sure. Well, certainly that 30 Rock couldn't have been, couldn't be made today and wouldn't be made today. And it shouldn't. It lives in this time. And I did experience what you're saying, like a whole new generation of people coming up to me saying that they watched over the pandemic. and that's awesome. I'm glad that younger kids are seeing it

and, you know, future comedians are being exposed to it because, I don't know, there was some great downlines from that show. Yeah. Yeah. And Kimmy Schmidt's another favorite in our house. Our kids watch on. I think it's your first scene maybe when you're considering,

or I guess you're hiring Kimmy. And you say, no, you say something like, I need you to, you list off all the things you need her to sign. Yeah. Yeah. at the end of it is a DNR. And you just sign an NDA and a DNR.

That's right. With no explanation. No explanation. I still know that speech because I... Do you? It was so character-defining, I thought, to be honest. Right. That's why I remember it.

She comes in for her first interview and she says she opens up her million-dollar refrigerator that's completely see-through filled only with diet water. And she opens her, she says, would you like water? And she offers Kimmy a water. She says no, and she just throws me a little open water. Right. And I was like, oh, I know who this girl. which I'm not sure

has nothing to do with my background. Then she goes, do you know the braid hair? She says, yeah. She goes, okay, great. You'll have to meet the horses first. And then she says, all the stuff that you said.

She goes, yes, wake me up at 10, but don't get me up. No, no, get me. Sorry, I take two. Get me up to 10, but don't wake me up. Which I'm going to be honest with you still to this day. I don't know what that means, exactly.

But it works in that character. It's all good. That's got to be, when you read a character like that And you know you can just let it all go. And anything goes that comes out of her mouth. That's got to be so fun. It's an actor. You know, Tina likes to use all the skills you got, you know?

And so, you know, with Jenna, when there was a reunion, she was going to her high school reunion, she said, Jenna, did you have a high school reunion? No, the boat I was educated on sake. And Alex says, Jenna, I'm going to Tupac here. She goes, okay, let me pee first. She took it the wrong way. It's the best. They're the best. And how cool to be associated with those shows that will always be considered.

I'm honored. Yeah, I'm honored to be associated with those shows. And I know it's going to always be part of my comedy cadence for the rest of my life. And I'm thrilled that I had that opportunity. I also have to say, like, we, I'm sure this wasn't what we were going to talk about. But I've been thinking a lot lately about how TV has changed. Yep. I feel like 30 Rock was such, well, Allie McBeal and 30 Rock.

were sort of more of the old-school ilk of television before streaming. Yeah. Where we did 24 episodes, if you were lucky, sometimes 22, 24, somewhere in that range of what the demand was. And we would, you'd feel the world watching it with you, week in and week out. And we were making it as the world was watching. And that was a really, now I realize, that's of a time gone by. Yeah. Because now we drop all of them, people watch them in their own time.

You don't feel the same, like we're talking about with Ally McBeal and hearing people analyze it the next day in the car. It's not the same thing with the streaming drop. What I love about the streaming drop is that there's room for a lot more shows and a lot more art and a lot more eclectic material to be done. Things that wouldn't get a yes on network TV can now thrive and soar on a streaming venue. So there's good to both sides. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know that I guess that is true. is it where there are so many shows also.

Yeah. Have you seen this? Have you seen that? No, I can't even keep track of it all. But if you get a good recommendation for a friend, you'll go watch it. But it's not that day after a water cooler thing you were talking about. I feel like I sort of straddled a time period where I got to experience both and hope to continue to. Okay, before I release you from This Is Your Life, you've done so much what's out there that you have not done that you still see on the horizon. You got a lot of career in front of you.

What's the thing that you've kind of always wanted to do, but maybe because you don't have the time to do it or it didn't work out? Oh, my gosh. I mean, what happened you done? You've done everything, right? So maybe there's... There's so much I haven't done. There's so much I haven't done. Back to Broadway, maybe, right?

Oh, absolutely back to Broadway. Okay. I'm trying to think of what... I actually... I don't think this way, and I think this goes back to my parents. raising me with such a practical sensibility like that I'll never work again. And I think every actor has a twinge of that in them, like when one job ends, said, oh, God, this may be it.

And I certainly felt that after Ally McPhil coming to New York and auditioning for nine. I thought, wow, that could have been like the high point in my whole career. Sure. So that lives within an actor, I think. I think that's a little bit healthy, by the way. I think we all have it. Yeah, right? What if you took everything for granted?

Yeah, of course, I got another job. I think it keeps the edge. to some extent. I feel like right now I'm so thrilled by getting to work with people I really want to work with. I've been so lucky, Willie, to work with people who are so great at what they do, like some of the greats in what they do. And I hope that that continues. I'd like to be more selective, I guess, but I'm blowing that in the wind.

I'm saying yes to everything. Post-pandemic, I'm like, yes, let's try it. I've never done that before. It's a time of yes, and that's kind of fun and freeing. And some more animated. You got my little pony coming up in September. You got it. You're doing it all.

Yes. Yes. Well, I'll let you roller skate out of here. This was a joy. I should have brought them. I should have brought them. We're going to find that clip. You know what we need to do.

I'll tell you what we should do. You know, you know I've wanted this for a long time. What's that? The Jane and Willie Show. I know. How do we make that happen? Not going to get a time slot 9 a. 9 a.m. weekdays.

Would be great. I've always wanted to do it. And if you say yes, I am in, Willie guys. Is it maybe as a streaming situation? Like a ticket. I didn't even think about it. To peacock. We could do at our own homes

at our own time. Yes, over Zoom. Like years after it's appropriate. Everyone's like, we're all back to work. Why are they on Zoom? But just like pretend that we zoomed it for some random reason. I'm in.

Great to see you. And maybe it may be an action film. Oh, I'm going to put those two out there. Sure. Together? Or is that just you? Yeah. Together, even better.

Yeah. It's definitely beyond Comedy Central. By getting into film? I'm selling it today. It's going to be a real quick no in the room. You look like a superhero. Quick no in the room. I'll tighten this up.

The guy from the news? No, I don't think so. Thank you, Jane. Great to see you. So great to see you too. I will not be holding my breath for an offer for that action movie, but I would do that Jane and Willie show. How much fun would that be?

My big thanks again to Jane for her time and a great conversation. You can catch her in Shmigadoon and Dickinson, streaming now on Apple TV Plus. And my thanks to all of you for tuning in again this week. As always, if you want to hear more of my conversations with all of our guests every week, be sure to click subscribe so you never miss an episode. And don't forget, of course, to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.