Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - Reese Witherspoon

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

We’re back, it’s Series 18 and as well as listening to us, you can now watch our full episodes on YouTube! We’re back with the one and only Reese Witherspoon! The Oscar winning actress popped round to Clapham for a roast with all the trimmings and we loved every minute. We heard all about her love of PG Tips, living in Nashville, becoming a Swedish Narwhal for her kids at story time, filming The Morning Show, what it was like being a mother to 34 piglets in Sing, drinking a green smoothie every morning and we heard the secret to the best cookie. What a total treat to have Reese kick off series 18 with us, we can’t wait to go cowboy boot shopping with her in Nashville! The brand new series of The Morning Show is now streaming on Apple TV+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to table manners, which you can now listen to and watch on YouTube. Hi mum. Hi, darling. We're back. We're back. With a bang. After a lovely summer. Yep.

She still got the tan. Still got the tan. That long lasting six week her tan. Yeah. That long last six. Sorry. Gradual tan that was. Yeah.

Darling, six weeks away. Yeah. Looking glorious. Looking rested. Yeah. Rested. Met lots of people who love the podcast. Nice.

In the sea. Gorgeous. In the sea? Or is it Liminari? I love that you barely get in the sea. So let's say sunbed, let's be real, mum. On the sunbed. Yeah.

And in the sea. That's nice. Well, we feel refreshed and ready to welcome a huge star today. Yeah. Season 18. Season 18. So we decided to give you Reese Witherspoon. Sure.

No biggie. I am really excited to meet her. Me too. She is... Do you think she's little? Yes. I think so. Petit.

Should we say to tea? Elle. Elle. Her name is Rees, but we love her for Elle Woods, don't we? Yeah, we do. Yeah, Rees Witherspoon, who is an Academy Award winner for playing June Carter in Walk the Line, business exec, producer, writer, founder of a big old book club. In my very favourite TV show. Which one's your favourite TV? Morning show.

Well, that's what she's coming on to talk about, which we're very excited to chat her about. Yeah, Reese is over, and we have her for lunch. You are on cooking duty today. Yes, I am. What have you made? Roast chicken. Can I just quickly acknowledge that I had one of the best roast chickens of my life yesterday? Oh, God. Rochelle Canteen in East London, you can do no wrong. You are consistently excellent. I took my husband there for his birthday and it's just one of my favorite restaurants.

I had a Sutton Who. Do you know Sutton Who is an area and it's apparently a... Sutton Who is where they did the excavation of the great big boat. Carrie Mulligan was in the film. Oh. Well, I had a Sutton Who chicken. And they did it. Oh, okay. It was out of this world. God. Anyway.

I hope it wasn't one of the ones that was left in the boat that they excavated. Well, so I'm all fired up for your roast chicken. So how are you doing your roast chicken today, Mom? Just roasted it. Oh, okay, cool. On a bed of vegetables. Which vegetables? Fennel.

Yeah. Carrot. Yeah. Onion. Yeah. Yeah. And some garlic. Gorgeous.

And then you're making a little ju. A little juo. Yeah. Which tastes a bit salty, but it will be fine. Put your jam that you put. Oh, the cranberry sauce or sorry. Yeah, I can do. Okay, great.

And I've done some steamed vegetables. And you've done some cochettes with garlic and lemon. And we've also got some garlicky potatoes. I hope she likes garlic. I hope she does too, Jessie. We have been lucky enough, thank you, Apple, to watch a bit of the new season of the morning show. You see, you've indulged yourself. I only allowed myself too because it starts tomorrow and I want to watch it on TV on the big screen.

That's really odd because surely they, oh, they stagger it, don't they on Apple with these ones? I would go as far as to say, I think it's one of the best seasons I've watched. It's really exciting and cutthroat. And of course, Rhys is starring in it with Jennifer Hans Day, but also Bradley Jackson, but she's also an exec on it. Is she? Yeah, she's her baby. It's so fabulous.

You know, you've seen Reese on the screen, but you've also seen some of the biggest TV shows and films, Big Little Eyes. Yeah. Her and Nicole Kidman, I think, produced. Little Fires Everywhere. Little Fires Everywhere. Daisy Jones and the Six.

My favourite. This is all her production company, Hello Sunshine. So she's like a very... She must read a lot. Yeah, she has the Reese's book. What she's reading this week. Oh, we'll find out. Reese Witherspoon coming up in table manners.

Reese Witherspoon is here with us, with a cup of tea, and we're thrilled to have you. I love some PG tips. Oh, you like PG tips? Well, I made a couple movies here when I was a little, like a young woman, and I got so obsessed with PG tips, because it's all they offer on said. that and some like old cookies you know the advertisement for PG tips was to be a chimpanzee they used to be chimpanzees

why? I have no idea but that was the advertisement no I hear you do like a little cookie in the afternoon don't you I do like a cookie Have you like sampled some British Every day

Like a cookie every day What's the cookie What's the cookie that I'm going to find in your house My 13-year-old and I are determined To make the perfect chocolate chip cookies so every day when he comes from school like every three days we make a new batch of chocolate chip cookies and we do it from a different recipe in a different book and then we measure is it more better is it more sugar what makes it a best cookie how near are you to perfecting the perfect chocolate

chip cookie and will you be coming out with a cookie yes probably it'll be the hello sunshine it'll be the sunny cooking surely I'm just going to make cookies and it's going to be a hobby and it's not going to be a business because I'm learning my lesson But everything is not a business It's hard when you're so good at it Some things are just a hobby But actually even if you fail on the cookies You eat the ones that you fail them

Yeah that's true It's a win-win situation Yeah And there's science involved Of course the science, yeah He likes the big crispy ones Oh not the chewy No I like chewy dense and chewy

So mine have more flour And his have more butter Okay Wow is he a good cook he is he just enjoys um well he enjoys making food my middle son loves cooking really he's really good at making steaks and mainly steaks does he live with you no he's in college he's in his last year of college oh goodness that's like yeah how can you look 12 because she was quite young when she had her oh my god i have a 26 year old daughter

Cricy. I know. I was trying to work out how old your children were because you looked so young. Yes, I was very, very young. You were very young when you were. Were you 23? I was 23 when I had my daughter. Yeah, right. Wow.

Yeah. So I'm 49 now, yeah. She's 26. It must feel very different, of course, but like having your son, who's 13, you said, like, it must be a very different experience from when you were kind of on set. I've seen some of your Instagrams, but it's like, you know, you were doing long hours, those babies were coming with you and they were you look like you're having a great time but I'm sure that it was pretty hard. It was really hard. Yeah. You live in L.A.? No, I live in Nashville,

Tennessee. Oh, you live in Nashville? Where my mom lives and my dad lives and my brother and my niece. And all your children are there? No, my daughter, my daughter lives by yourself in L.A. Yeah. And then my son lives in New York because he goes to school in New York. And then my littlest guy goes to school in Nashville. So that's kind of perfect. You've got one in every kind of place that you need to be like I mean the morning show premieres yeah I miss them but but I do shoot the morning show in L.A and so I get to see my daughter when I'm there it's not shot in New York parts of it are shot in New York okay so we probably do a month in New York and five months in LA I love Nashville and I have not been there enough and but I got I got completely obsessed with

that TV show Nashville as well and then I was like I just want to be a country singer it's really good it's really good yeah the creator Kelly Curry is a friend of mine and she lives in Nashville too so we just have the best dinner parties and really she's just so funny okay tell me about a typical Nashville dinner party what's going to be on the table oh okay is it still quite southern food i mean i would say so my grandma is a really great cook so she kind of taught me how to roast everything you know barbecue is a big deal in the south But it's probably same stuff that you guys would make, like rose chicken and fish, you know. Is the weather nicer at the moment?

Right now, yes, beautiful. It's really lovely in the fall. It's really lovely in the spring. Hot in the summer. It's unbearably hot in the summer. Like, you can barely breathe. It's so hot. So where do you go in the summer to cool off?

Oh, well, you know, Wyoming or come here. I usually come here for a couple of weeks. weeks. You like Europe. In the summer, yeah. Yeah. Just it's cooler. I know and you guys probably think it's boiling hot, but it's not compared to Tennessee. We thought it was so hot, don't we? People will turn to me in July here and go, oh, it's so hot. I'm like, oh, no. The hot, you don't know hot until you go to Nashville. But we don't have AC everywhere. That's the thing. That's an issue. So we can't like control it. So we're poor Will Poulter was on the podcast last, in the summer when we were doing the last season. And we were dripping. Everyone was dripping. Everyone was dripping.

We all looked completely. It was quite disgusting, actually. He was lovely. He was hot, though. So he was hot in every sense of the world. Yes. Okay, you're really cute. My mom would do the same thing.

She'd be like, wink at me. Yeah. He was cute. My mom has a total thing about that guy from Outlander. Which one? Do you know the Hogan? I don't watch it. Should I watch it?

My mother says it's fantastic and very sexy. It's kind of a fantasy. It's supposed to be hot as well. Well, your mother, I bet your mom likes Bridgeton. Sam Hogan is his name. Was he the one in, no, one day, Sam Huggan? No. That was Sam Claffin, wasn't it?

That was, no, and he was in Daisy Jones and the Six. Wasn't he? Which is fantastic. Oh, I love that. Yes. Oh, thank you for watching. I love it. Are you kidding?

So much. I love that show so much. Oh, I thought she was. Sublime. Sublime. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And you know, Stevie Nix, like, reached out and said, I want to meet Riley Keo.

She was so good. It reminded me when I first started Fleetwood Mac. And so I got to facilitate them meeting in Nashville. And it was really one of the most special moments of my career. It was just so good. Stevie told us all night long. Her stories about Fleetwood Mac and her relationships and her love affairs and just how everything about Daisy Jones reminded her of her early years.

Oh, it was like watching Fleetwood Mac, I think. It was amazing. While my dog sat on her lap. and she like had my dog and I was like oh my god I'm dying so what's your dog like my dog is amazing it's an L dog dog a what dog like oh like Elwoods no bit bigger it's um a french bull dog and she's little though she never grew so her name is minnie oh sweet she's black and white and she looks like a little tiny cow oh they're either bat pigs or cows aren't they're so cute and she knows when she goes to work i'm like minnie we have to go to work we're going to do

social media posts for Reese's book club today and she gets all ready and she's like she literally poses so she's like work. Oh works. Let's talk about Reese's book club because actually my university housemate actually got one of her books got chosen. No way. Before we were

innocent. Ella Berman. Love it. I know that you read a lot and you read with your grandma and she kind of would do the accents and the characters. She would act it out for me. Did you do that for your children? Yes. Do they appreciate it because my children don't appreciate when I do the accents. They say calm down. See, it's taken them now into their

20s. They remember me reading in the character voices. And I have one very famous character with my children, which is, it's a Swedish norwal. She's a Swedish norval. What the, like, novel? She's a norval, yeah. What book was this? I don't know. You just were doing it. But I do it. She's the lilt. Please do the Swedish novel. No, I can't. No, you need to now. I did do the Swedish Norval, and she comes to, she comes to visit the children. And I don't know, my children thought it was so freaking funny. So now they, you know, especially my little guy, I always talks about the Swedish Norwell.

See, my children damage your show. And I would make them laugh. Like, they thought it was really funny that I had these ridiculous voices. But it's actually what I remember the most about learning to read was that my grandmother did all the voices. And I thought she was so funny. And, you know, there's all these statistics. about literacy rates and children are just dropping like crazy, especially during COVID. It just

turned into a total screen takeover. And a lot of kids weren't reading anymore for pleasure. And I think a lot of that starts with reading to young kids and making a ritual of it, whether you read to them at night or just 20 minutes during the day. There used to be a program here in the UK called Read with Nance. What's that? I don't know, but they need to bring it back. A friend of mine who has this fantastic, his name is Pierre LaGrange and he has this like early childhood reader program called Mrs. Worthsmith. Okay. And he was telling me they had this program here where Nans, they would go in and read to kids.

Yeah, we do that in school. You do? Yeah, people go and as how I did. No. Did you? Yeah, I went to Honeywell. If you were a good parent, you went in. so you carried favour with all the teachers.

So you went in and you sat in the class and would sit and hear the... Because the teachers only heard you read about 10 minutes a week, so they had to help us going in. I just love this idea of... Yeah, reading with Nans. Maybe you should add it to the book club. I'm thinking about trying to start a program

or like a series where... I don't know, where Nans read to little kids. Who recommends books to you? Oh, okay. So I have a team of... probably three people who read the books first and they get them very early like probably a year before they're published and they all read it and then they decide whether or not they recommend it to me and then it goes to me so it's kind of like your own mini book club is like before yeah because

i've just started a book club with my girlfriends i feel like i'm at that age i'm 40 i'm going to be 41 it's like it's time for a book club yeah i saw romantic comedy is on the book club yes which is one of my favourite. It's our favourite. When's it going to be made into a film? Have you got the rights? We have the rights. Which makes sense. We have a script. Great. Who's playing the girl? We don't know. Yeah. Can we put in something? We can tell me. Ashling B. Ashling B. She's comedian Iris. She's desperate. She wanted to talk. She didn't know who had got the rights. And when she was on the podcast, she said, we all had just read it. It was just after summer, I think. Yeah. And she said, I love it so much. And I am perfect for the part. So we're just throwing her ring.

Ashing B, she's in films with Paul Rudd, she's fantastic. She's been with, she's brilliant. Great. So I'm just throwing that act. Okay, I love it. And if it happens, we'll be through it. I'm going to call my development executive immediately. Great. Thank you.

You know what? Can I say something about book clubs and why I think they're important and you're so right? Because first of all, we need to stop scrolling and get into the real world, right? Because I'm guilty of it too. Yeah. But when you read books and socialize the concepts inside of them, You're actually doing a community service of getting people together, you know, and we need to, we need to remember that people are super duper lonely.

People need to talk about things like love, loss, grief in community. Not a lot of people can afford therapy, and it's a way we synthesize the human experience and kind of share it with each other, right? Oh, you see, my book club wasn't like that. What was that? I left, too. Well, they didn't want to chat about feelings. and how it made you feel.

They wanted to, they treated it like a kind of further education class. I don't, I want to talk about how it made me feel. Right. And also, I'm Jewish. I cut across people and interrupt. And they hate that. Though we had to go in turn. And the one person in charge kept to say,

can we take it in turn, please? Oh, that's not fun. And I knew it was directed at me, so I wouldn't speak. Were you asked to leave or did you leave? I left. Okay. Right, we're going. This sounds like a very boring book club.

Come to my book club. I'll come in your book. It's much more fun. And it's in Nashville. Yeah, in Nashville. So we can go to a honky talk after. Yeah, honky talk after. Do you wear rhinestones a lot?

Oh. Do you have a big hat? For like what's Saturdays. And do line dancing. Well, I do know how to line dance. You do? You do? You can teach you how to line dance.

You can. It's so easy. But I do, I have tons of cowboy boots. I don't wear rhinestones. Okay. Have you got a cowboy hat? I really don't. That's more Texas.

Oh, is that more Texas? In my opinion. Okay. But cowboy boots aren't Texas. No, they are, but they're very Nashville. Okay. Maybe. We didn't wear hats.

We wore boots. Okay. You wear boots? And you wear a big belt. A big belt. Big. You wear jeans, big belts. Jeans or a tiny little cute skirt.

Yeah. And then, yeah. And then you can't. Some people wear rhinestones. Yeah. I'm matching Lendon. going to get kitted out in Nashville. What's that famous road that the, what's it, the, um, yeah, Broadway.

You go down to Broadway and then you can, they can dress you up and then put the boots on you. Oh, and then we go line dancing. Okay, and then we go line dancing. At the wild horse saloon. The wild horse saloon. It sounds heaven. And where do you, if you're in Nashville, where do you go to eat? I mean, do you.

Do you want my list? Yeah. Is Arnold's on there? Yeah, I love Arnold's. That's like a meat and three. You get your protein, which is usually something fried, fried meat. Yeah. And then you get.

three um soggy boiled vegetables but i think they're delicious they cook them in ham hawks and broth so they're very salty and delicious and so you usually do collard greens or green beans they all look the same yeah and then mashed potatoes with lots of butter and lots of milk okay it's delicious okay and where else where if we were having to meet in three you have to get hot chicken in Nashville. Oh, okay. So we have hot chicken, Princess Hot Chicken or Hattie Bees. And then they have like different levels of heat. So you can try, I'm not good with heat. Oh, it's. So would you never, would you never do hot ones? I was going to do hot ones. But it had to cancel. Okay. So maybe you will do it. Mainly because I had something I had to do the next day and I could not be feeling like

that. What like the ring of fire? I can't do that. No. That's not for me. I don't like to do a talk show and then it field the talk show the next day. Fair enough. Do you know what you're saying? I know what you're saying back. Was what the line done in Nashville? Okay. Actually, it was done in Memphis, Tennessee.

Oh, Memphis. And parts of Arkansas. Which Arkansas and Memphis share the Mississippi River, so you just cross over a bridge and you're not going to South. But Memphis, Memphis is really amazing with Beale Street. So if you ever go to Memphis, of course, Graceland, of course, of course.

Sun Records, of course. but Beale Street is one of the coolest places to hear the blues, the original blues, and you hear it, people there who really cannot believe they're not famous singing artists, like recording artists. Well, I feel like you've kind of been

in all these places that have music at the heart of them. You're talking, like, and weren't you born in New Orleans? Was born in New Orleans, yeah. So, like, you've got Frenchmen's, I mean, like, it's kind of, it feels like it follows you. It's like, I mean,

Wasn't Coleman Domingo in that Bill Street film? Yes. That was a great film, wasn't it? If Bill Street could talk. Yes, that was a beautiful. Was that about that Bill Street? Mm-hmm. Okay.

Can we go back to your grandma? Sure. Who you talk about so fondly. And your mom was a nurse? She's chicken. She's chicken. She's checking the chicken. Okay.

Yeah. Your mom was a nurse. My mother was a nurse. My dad was a doctor in the military first. So you talk about your grandma kind of helping to bring you are. Yes. And what are some of the, can you give us, paint the picture of a very memorable meal and who was sitting around the dinner table? Oh my gosh. My grandmother made the best food. So every Sunday, she would do kind of Sunday night dinner or supper. And we would go over there and it'd be

my mom and me and my brother and my dad and his brother and my grandma and grandpa. And there was a while there when we moved back because we were in the military when we moved back from germany we lived with my grandparents for a year or two years so i just i remember us like sleeping on the couch and then my grandmother would be cooking and she'd make honey coated ham so like sugared candied ham um sweet potatoes with you know marshmallows and um candied pecans on the top and green beans and mashed potatoes she'd make these like dough rolls like yeast rolls that were like um kind of puffy like a little loaf of bread okay uh lots of butter and always dessert she loved meringue pie so she could make the meringue really thick and so she'd either do a chocolate cream with meringue on top or a lemon

cream with the meringue and then she'd toast the top of the meringue i can't it was so bad she was an amazing cook she was yeah and she really loved it and She was your dad's mom? Yes, my dad's mom. What about the other grandma? She passed away when my mom was really young. Oh, so you never tasted that? No, but I was named after her.

And my mom always says I'm a lot like. Her name's Laura Jean Reese and Laura Jean Reese. Oh, so Reese isn't your first name? No, Laura Jean is my first name. Laura Jean. Well, that sounds deep south to me. They're all good. Yeah, we have these double names.

These Southern girls have double names, yeah. Oh, wow. Can we, we ask everybody what their last supper would be. And before we start eating a little bit. So the last supper, you can we go to a desert island or you can go back to the wilderness. Like, you know, it's a starter, a main, a dessert, and a drink a choice. So you can think about it. We can come back to it.

Oh, no. I already know. You've got it. Okay, fine. Right, hit me. Starter. Your mom left the interview, just FYI. This is what happens.

This is what happens. Lenny. No, she just This is the thing So then we take It's like Yeah, she's plating up So then we just carry on

Don't worry, she hasn't left She's just doing She's doing the work She's hosting a party Exactly So start her main Dessert drink of choice Okay starter

Well I mean Why not start with dessert Because you're dying Oh we're dying We're not going to You said last meal Yeah I know But I said

It can be your last supper If you want to do it like that. I'm going to start with dessert. Okay. I'm going to have a baked Alaska. Oh, delicious. I don't know how people make a baked Alaska. But it's the most delicious.

My mind, it's what baby Jesus ate. Because it's that delicious. It's really professional. Don't worry. It's like this is it. Welcome to our world. It's all right. You're killing it, Lenny.

Okay, so you're starting with Baked Alaska. Is there a particular Baked Alaska that you've tried, or has it been, well, you just always have it on the menu? I had it somewhere recently where I was like, this is the best one ever, and I can't remember where. But I had it with my little, my 13-year-old, and he and I were like, this is insane. Because it's some, like, I don't even know. Y'all know what Baked Alaska is, but it was like ice cream, but then something about

a hot layer and then meringue on top. It's delicious. So good. I love meringue. Maybe you could try and. make your cookie could be almost within incorporated within your bait to lasca if you and your son make it maybe it too possibly no i like that but i um i love a meringue too so okay we're starting with that okay and then where are we going after that then i'm have a pasta bolognese because there's

nothing better on earth i agree with you yeah mom she just went with spag bowl i love spanisha's that's what i have to have are you having a home-cooked one or are you having a home-cooked one or are you going somewhere for it. There's this restaurant in Los Angeles called Capo that has the most delicious one of a rat. Really? Have you asked the chef what they put in it? Because you know everyone's got their trick. No, because I don't want to have to make it at home because then I'll have to eat it. Lisa, I've done roast chicken, but you need to tell me which bit of rose chicken you like. Well, I kind of like the... Like breast? I like the leg and thigh. The leg and thigh. Thank you. This is delicious. Are you kidding me? This is beautiful. Thanks, Mom.

I promise I will help kind of with the clearing up Is there anything we can do to help? No, nothing, I'm on it. I might not look at this I am. She's a pro. Basically, this podcast was born out of the fact that my mum's always cooked for my friends. So that's kind of why we do it. I love that.

So, okay, so we've got Spag Bowl. Are you having any sides? No. Just Spad Bar. Why bother? No. No, fair enough. This is my last meal.

Okay, so, baked to Laster. Whatever, I'm Desert Island, I'm not going to worry about, you know, eating greens. Fine. It's fine. I think I'm done with that part of my life. Now, are we going to end with a starter, or are we just going to go back to a put? No, you know what I'm going to end with? Something I just had this summer in Florence, Italy, that is the most delicious thing I've ever had in my entire life.

What? An afigato, but with pistachio ice cream and pistachio. cream on the side of the cup. I've never heard of this and I'm into it. It's insane. That's, so on the pistachio cream, like, how is the cream, like, is it whipped cream? No, it's made like a hazelnut butter. So it's like a, okay, fine, okay.

Pistachio butter. So like what we'd find in like the Dubai chocolate? Correct. Okay. Oh, I have to have to buy chocolate. It is good, isn't it? With a little filo dough crispiness in the middle. My mom made it for a guest on this, yeah.

What? You make chocolate? It's easy. You like homemade chocolate. You got your little moulds, didn't you? I got a mole. Thanks, Mum. Do you temper your own chocolate?

Yeah, I did for that. Willie Wonka over here. I don't know how much you want, Rees. Reese, how much do you want? Well, a leg or leg in a... Yeah. You know, it's still early in the morning. Okay.

I'm going to... Okay, I'm not going to overface. You're making out that Lenny's really whole. and I'm kind of a... Thank you, darling. Thanks, Mom. I have the soft of vegetables. Thank you, guys.

This is beautiful. It does, Mom. It smells like... How much it is good. How do you make your gravy? This does look good, ma'am. Just with some wine? Wine.

Some cranberry sauces in that as well. Sweeten it up a little bit. Just sweeten it up. And did you do broth? I use the broth from the chickens. You do? Yeah. And it creates enough broth to make the gravy.

All right. Would you like some greens? I'd love some. Thanks. You're here for the, to promote the morning show, which is excellent. I am and thank you for having a song on our show, Jesse. Oh my God, I love it. You need another one.

I know. I love the morning show. I love the opening of a big little, like that was iconic sinking. That one was good. The Michael Kimanooka sick. It's iconic. That one was really good. Sometimes like...

Every time I'm in a yoga class, they play that song called Little Heart from Big Little Eyes. And I'm like, are they playing this because I'm in the show? Yeah, is it awkward? Whenever I walk into a bar and they're playing a Johnny Cash song, I'm like... Did they just see who... Or Sweet Home Alabama. Like, I have all these songs that I associate with movies. Can I add another one to that?

Yeah, tell me. This is the part when I say I don't... Sing, Rosita. Oh, yeah. That was iconic. Oh, you're a mom. So you know Sing. We love Sing.

And you know I'm, I see a lot of people don't know I'm in that movie. You're the best piggy ever. You in Gunther? I love that movie. It's such a great movie. I actually think the second movie was better.

I kind of agree. Yeah, that sounds... What was this, Jesse? Sing. Sing. Who is she? The pig. You were the pig.

The really hardworking mom of like, how many piglets did she have? Like, 34. So many. like really so whenever you feel overwhelmed just remember someone has 34 children and then suck it up and just be quiet it's so true yeah it's so true but that was really good are they going to do another one of them i don't know i hope so so if we were coming around to your house and we opened up the fridge yeah part from cookie dough maybe we'd find what would we always find in wreaths witherspoon's

fridge okay a lot of vegetables Like probably everything you've seen in here. Leaks, carrots, celery. So I make a lot of, oh, every morning I make a green smoothie. I put in spinach, romaine lettuce, an apple, a pear, a banana, and a whole lemon. Do you actually enjoy that? No, but you do it. I actually enjoy it.

I've been drinking it for 10 years. It's changed my skin, my hair. Oh, really? Oh, now I'm in. Okay, now we're talking, right. I'm telling you. You're going to reverse aging short. I'm in.

Eyes white, like everything. Do you add any like chlorophyll in those thingsies? No, I don't put anything in it. I just drink it because it's pure, you know, fresh produce. Okay. What's it tastes like? It tastes kind of more apple and lemon. It tastes like apple lemon juice, but it has like a little lettuce taste to it.

So you got to just choke it down. Does your son, your 13-year-old, drink it as well? Absolutely not. You make your children drink it. Sam does. He calls it. green juice. Yeah, we call it dinosaur smoothie for the four-year-old, so he will drink it. What do you put in the dinosaur smoothie?

Well, to make it green, it'll probably be like spinach or something, but we'll all bananas, you know, what else is in there? Whatever's kind of, we freeze the bananas, which I think is good, isn't it? It helps. Because it makes it better. Yeah. But Sam's usually a bit, they're more khaki than green, I'd say. They're kind of, he needs to put more of the green end. You know what I mean? They're like, they go a bit of a sad color. They're not vibrant. Mm-hmm. Okay, so we'd find fresh produce.

Great. In your freezer, which ice cream is in there? I really like this ice cream that they make in Nashville. It's called Baked Bear. And it's coffee-flavored ice cream with Oreos in it. Oh, wow. What? Yes, your face says it all.

It's that delicious. That's heaven, because coffee is our favorite ice cream. Same. Oh, my God. I love coffee. Do you know what's one of my favorite things that moms and daughters do? What? Talk about what they bought at the grocery store.

My mom would go, I just went to trade jokes. Have you been to Trader Joe's? It's just great. Y'all have Trader Joe's? No, but I love Trader Joe. She's like, I got these generous-napped cookies, and they only come out at Christmas time, and they are delicious. Really, you have to go get a box of these ginger-snap cookies. So I'll go down, get the box of cookies, and I'm like, Mom, they're okay.

They're like a little dry, but we'll literally have a conversation from the grocery store. And then she tells me what she bought. I bought half a baked potato, and that's why I have for dinner. And I put a little chili with it, and it was delicious. That's, I mean, I guess we are basically together for most meal times now. So we know exactly, but we do, how many times a day do you speak to your mom? Well, I text with her every day and then every Sunday we have dinner. And I make like spaghetti bolognay because it's, I make, I know I really make four things pretty well and that, that's one of them.

Do you have a secret ingredient in your spaghetti bolognese? well i always secretly try to put in vegetables but it doesn't my kids like i see the spinach in that and you can't fool me oh you put spinach in is that terrible yeah okay i won't do that but don't you put carrots and celery in i do so i grate the carrots and the celery and um and the onion yeah because it has to be really small because otherwise the child is gonna yeah they taste it mm-hmm yeah no that's that's basically it nothing's fancy and then um but also make a roast chicken or I can make a steak or a filet mignon something like that a what filet mignon how do you take your steak uh medium then what sides are you going to have with

your steak if you're out if I'm out yeah like a twice baked potato um like I like when they bake the potato then they scoop out the middle and then they make that and then I love that I do that it's so it's glorious and you add some art it's glorious and you add some art it's glorious it's glorious It's really good. Sour cream and chies. It's really nice. What's your own sauce that you're going to have? Sauce?

Yeah, like a peppercorn, a bernets, chimy cherry. Oh, I don't really eat any sauce. Not a condiment girl. I'm not big on it. Fair enough. No. That's okay. No judgment here.

Can I ask? Because not only are you and Jennifer Anston in the morning show and you are incredible, and the new season is amazing on Apple TV Plus. I've only watched, because I love it so much. Yeah. I've only watched two because I really want to watch it on TV Not on my iPad

I did, I've watched five I've got to the Chris Hunter episode Which is excellent But I just like watching it on TV I know On a big screen You know what my mother says When she loves a TV show

She's like it's like a little box of chocolate I know I don't want to eat too many That's exactly how I thought I said to Jessie One a week No I goge I binge

I binge and then I feel shit about myself Well then you just I don't have anything to look forward to. I know, but like, so you're not a bingeer with you. I wouldn't bench because I get too sleepy. I would say that I think it's almost one of the best seasons I've watched. Thank you. To be honest.

I think it's quite cutthroat. It's more exciting. I love all the different relationships. Old Corey is coming out as not the nicest person in the world. That's right. Wait until you get to episode eight. You're going to want to stab him with something. No.

Okay. we can't give away too much because then it would give away. No, no, maybe not episode eight, might be nine, but you're like, are you joking? But do you love Jen with her dad? With Jeremy Irons? Jeremy Irons. Can you die?

The casting is just... I can't. I can't. I can't. But like, who's idea was that? He's so funny. He's so funny. I was just like Jennifer and casting our show was brilliant,

Vicki Thomas, who casts our show. And he's just perfect. There's a really funny episode. where he does something really bad and she has to go get him and it's so funny I can't say much but there's somebody that comes back

and that's a great character that comes back and I'm happy because I always wondered where they went but I want to know because you and Jennifer actually you played her little sister in friends I did I just need to know did you ever try the famous Jennifer Anston

Kinwa salad on set that apparently she ate every day What the hell was that? Oh Dan what? It's the internet line to me. Did she have a, she has a famous cell? And I don't know, this is my, as we've got her haircut. This is, did you get her haircut?

Of course. Yeah, we all did. Yeah. But no, there's this, this is what my algorithms give me. Jennifer Anston's famous friend's salad that she had. And it was like really small cut up, um, veg. It looked delicious. I think it was Kim Wah.

I had this certain vinaigrette and apparently she ate it like every down set. Yum. But I, that's a lie. I would tell you. If someone said you've got to eat Kimmer, every day. I'd kill myself. I like him all. I hate it. It's like Frogspawn.

It's cooked wrong. Yeah. Probably is, but I don't like it. I mean, I wasn't going to go all the way to Frog Spawn, but I think it's like sand. Yeah, it's horrible. Well, you're not cooking yours enough and you're cooking yours too much. That's where it's both going wrong. And it looks so unappetizing.

Okay, leave it alone. And we'll stop about the Kimwhar. Anyway, fine. But everyone's hair was not Jennifer it was Rachel the Rachel yeah you used to go in and say I'm her like Rachel that's what you wanted I'm like it didn't suit me actually oh it wasn't good I got it down the road and it didn't look great on me to be honest I don't think it looked great on many people did it look good on her she's is she lovely yes she's so great and she loves to have dinner parties and she loves having people over and she's sort of the mom of the group and she's you know Greek by heritage

So she's very, and this is a generalisation, but it's a good one, very warm and welcoming, you know? You just immediately are at ease with her. It feels so exciting and inspiring what you set up with Hello Sunshine. And also, like, I was doing a bit of a dive in, like, the fact that you've got, like, sunny as a platform, which is about for Gen Z. Can you explain a bit more about that?

Yeah, so Hello Sunshine is our company where we make movies and television shows for women based on books written by women. And then we also do live events and we get people together to talk to experts and doctors. And it's a really great sort of continuing education platform for women. So we decided last year, why don't we do this for moms and their daughters? So now we've got a Sunny, that's our brand, and we're going to be doing books, podcasts, and also live events where you can bring your daughter, talk about all the things that nobody wants to about but you really need to address like social media the show adolescence it's your mom a big

feminist my mom yeah um because it's got the feminist edge to it you know i i would say my mom is very everything that supports women because she worked in women's health care for many many years and was in fertility and she also worked in prenatal nursery um so anything that concerns women's reproductive health or medical wellness is what my mom's biggest concern is. That's her passion in life is taking care of women's health and advocating for them, you know, when she just feels like people aren't educated enough about their own bodies. So she influenced you. Oh, for sure. It was really interesting. My grandmother was very academic and literary. She was a school teacher. And then my mom was very medical, nurse-oriented caring and service. So I'm kind of a blend,

between the two of them. And my mom grew up way out in the country and was sort of informal and has sort of country wisdom. And my grandmother was raised really proper. And so I'm sort of a blend of the two of them. How long were you living in Germany? We lived there for four years. Oh, I like Priscilla Presley. Yes. My mother loves Priscilla Presley. Does she? Does she know her? No, she wishes she did. Oh, okay. I just wondered if they met it. Maybe that's the next No, she's, well, your mother would, no, your grandmother would have been, how old is Priscilla, Presley, now? I have no idea. Well, she's Riley's mom.

Yes, grandma. Yes, that's right. I'm sure she must be the age. Yeah, she must be, yeah, your grandma's age. And she just has always been so put together. And I think my mother just really loves anybody who's sort of beautiful and enigmatic, like Princess Diana. Jackio, Jackio, Cape Middleton. You know.

Whilst you're in London, yes. Have you eaten anywhere? Great. Have you gone to the theatre? Have you got time? Do you need any recommendations? Oh, you're so sweet.

I'm going to go tomorrow night to see Sean Hayes in the last night of his play. Is that the Oscar? Yeah, good luck Oscar. Good luck Oscar. It's at the Barbican. Yeah, that's right. I love the barbican. They've got a good martini bar there.

I've never been there. I'm going to go grab with a martini and watch Sean Hayes be brilliant. Well, it's like this amazing brutalist architecture. Oh. And, but there is a martini bar in there. Maybe just pop in. You know what I really like to do here? I like to go to little restaurants and, um, I met this chef a few years ago, Ashma Khan.

She has, um, I think it's called jarjuling. It's over near the theater district. If you all can look it up. But she has this great Indian restaurant. That's just like homemade Indian food. It's really lovely. And she's so funny and so brilliant. She came to speak at my conference in L.A.

I loved her so much. I saw her speaking in another conference. And she only heard her to grandmas. And then grandmas cook the food. And she's like, because whenever I would ask somebody in the food business, who's the best cook you know? And they'd say, my grandma. So she was like, why am I hire anybody but grandmas?

So I love the whole concept. It's really beautiful. And then I love melt chocolate. milk chocolate melt oh melt it is good do you know what melt i do i got it as a hamper from my record label one christmas and it was very delicious it's a chocolate brand here i think it's in like west london maybe yeah west london and they haven't in selfridges and stuff like that i love melt chocolate ever since i made a movie here 18 years ago i've been obsessed with it so you're now going to get melt chocolate from everybody that's the thing people already know that i'm

obsessed with i'm obsessed with making chocolate so i have made chocolate brownies so i have made chocolate brownie But I don't think you'll have time to eat them So I'm going to give you one to take home Yeah, or some to take home But it's made with Obegene Okay Mom's very proud of them

Well, I think that might be interesting I've never heard of Obergine Is it a chocolate cake or a brownie? It's quite gooey Okay Yeah, I guess that's the Obegene I'm going to get them out of the fridge But I need to try it

I can't try it I made you go to all this trouble No, you haven't It's fine You tell me what you think of those. What did you have to do to an obergene to make it into a brown? Bate the obegene and then you... They're all looking at me like.

All right, I'm going to try it too, come on. Yeah, they're good. It smells delicious. Yeah, it's chewy. It's chewy. It has a chewy consistency. Don't tell me that's horrible. It's not horrible.

Can you taste its obegene? No. It just makes it... It just makes it... It tastes good for you. Oh. with some masses of chocolate that's good

I think it's quite good it tastes like a health food shop does it? For an obegene brownie it surprised me do you know what I mean

that's actually quite delicious but yeah do you guys have vegetarian or vegan friends who just try and pitch their foods do you at all the time so you're like I don't think so honey like I can't

I can't eat a date and you're telling me it tastes like a candy bar it just doesn't Jesse tells you can taste I will like an old date.

No, but you have, you've tried the date in the freezer with the chocolate and the peanut butter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm saying it's good. But it's not,

it's not Snickers. It's not five stars. No. No. But it like, it scratches an itch. Uh-huh. Exactly.

It's definitely not the meal replacement that I thought I was going to. Well, I think these are okay. I think they're very nice mom for an auvergine brownie. I'm very impressed and I would. And I love the little toasted almonds.

Yeah. And those, chocolate chip on the top and there's chocolate chip in there's chocolate chip please please ruse i couldn't see the chocolate chip well you can there the only thing i would say is they were quite gooey when i tried to cut them up but they're not anymore and i had to pull hollywood put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes to try and fill them up to make sure on those soggy pot yeah yeah um reese before we let you go yes can you give us a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere oh um banana pudding can you explain what banana pudding is please okay banana pudding

is banana pudding no i don't know but like scissor loves banana pudding i think you use that kind of not very authentic it's not made with cream you use that kind of mix and that bananas in we have this mix jello mix and you put you put cold milk like jelly we like jelly we Not jam, like, jello is like the wibble-wobble, wibble-wobble. It's not gelatin. It's not gelatin. So pudding is whipped up milk and eggs. Yeah.

And then you kind of, I don't really know what you do with it. But it tastes like bananas. And then they put these little vanilla cookies all around it. That sounds nice. And it's real delicious. And then you put fresh web cream on top. And that reminds me of childhood. So there's no base to the banana pudding.

There's milk and eggs. But there's like not a cakey base. So it's probably like custard, banana custard, yeah. Well, some people lay the cookies out so you get a casserole dish and you lay the cookies out and you put the pudding over it and then you put the cookies all around. That sounds quite nice. And then you crumble the cookies and then you put the whipped cream.

And then you kind of let it in the bridge to set. But you have to cook the milk and the egg so it doesn't get. And does this remind you, can you paint the picture of where you were having this banana pudding? I was at my grandma's house on a Sunday night and we were always there at 5 o'clock on Sunday afternoons and it was just she'd have out her chafing dishes and she did this whole presentation and it was just really nice Reese with this queen thank you so much for coming

over and being a great sport and yeah thank you so much for this such a pleasure such a pleasure you guys are so fun to talk to Reese with a spoon She looks just like she did illegally blonde She looks like her.

She's not only gorgeous. She was really lovely and warm and loved you, ma'am. Did she do you? Oh my God, she was just... She couldn't stop watching you as you were like shuffling around in the kitchen. Not surprised. No. She knows who her star is in the next... Of course, darling. Yeah. She loved you.

I loved her. I loved her too. She's so clever. Bright, brilliant, generous. I mean, look, we scratched the mere surfaces with Rhys because, well, we had an hour and we loved having the hour, but we could have kept going about books. I think we should go to Nashville. Yeah, and go line dancing. Go line dancing with her. If you like that. And hi-ya, we're here. We just want to go boot shopping rooms. And where are we going for dinner first? What was the name of the place? Prince's chicken, was it?

With the hot chicken? I don't know. Well, I have hot chicken. I'm going to get cowboy boots. Mom, I love Nashville. I've never been. Oh, it's the best. I've never met anyone from Nashville, darling.

Really? No. Oh. I've met trombone shorty from New Orleans. Yeah, very far away. Yeah. Okay. It's still on that neck of the woods.

Okay, sure. Anyway. Thank you, Theresa Witherspoon, for coming on the podcast, for opening up season 18 with such fabulous. And being so fabulous, yeah. Yeah. The morning show is out on Apple TV Plus now. Yeah. It's really good.

It's so good. I'm in five episodes and it's absolutely brilliant. Brilliant. We are definitely trying that affigato with pistachia and pistachio cream. Perfect. Gorgeous. Because coffee goes with pistachia. She's our kind of gal, isn't she?

Yeah, she is. I think she's everyone's kind of gal. I think she is too. Thank you, Terese. Thank you to everyone that's listening. And we'll see you next week. I'm going to be able to be.