That Was Us - Susan Kelechi Watson and Us | Beth Pearson

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

Susan Kelechi Watson, aka Beth Pearson, is in the house, which means so is R&B! We hear about everything from her audition process to the behind-the-scenes efforts that went into portraying and building Beth's backstory. Join us as we reminisce and rediscover the anchor that is Beth Pearson. Pantry wine optional. Follow That Was Us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, and X! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, we're back. That was us. Your host, Mandy Moore, Christopher Sullivan, myself Sterling Brown. And we have a special guest in the house today. Susan Kalerjee Wants up. What up Sue? What up, y'all? How are you doing? I'm great. This is awesome, y'all. Listen, we're lucky to have her right now.

We want to, like, first of all, tell folks why are you in L.A. right now. Sue lives in New York full time, but she's in L.A., what you're working on, what you're doing, what you got coming. I am basically stalking you because I just stay across the street while you shoot your series at Paramount. I'm just waiting for you to come out the gate. What's your show? Sterling! Me?

Me. I should wait. Susan. What? That's very nice. Go ahead. I'm doing the residence. For Netflix.

Yeah. Netflix and Shandiland. That's right. That's right. You want to tell them a little bit about your part or what the show is about? Sure. Is there a secret? Do you have to keep it?

No, there's no secrets. I don't got to keep them all secrets. We know a little something about keeping secrets. Yes, we do very much. No, this show is, I think it's out in the open, but there is a big secret. Okay. Because it's a who has done this.

Oh, yeah. The old who has done this. Not a who done it. No, no, no. Who has done it? Shout out to Andre Brower, who I think, originated that line. But it's, yeah, it's a murder mystery, who done it, set in the White House,

among the resident staff of the White House. Okay. So, you know, it's not the president. Exactly. It's not the West Wing. Right. We would be the basement. Okay.

The mezzanine. It's an upstairs, downstairs sort of thing? It is kind of an upstairs. It's a bit of, I think so. You know, I think about that a bit because so much of, you know, what Downton was about had so much of the people who worked there. But this is all about them. Okay.

And a murder happens among them and everybody's a suspect. Wow. Do, is law enforcement come into it or are you guys sort of figuring it out? Yes, law enforcement comes into it in the form of Uzo Aduba. Okay. Heavy hitters. Yeah, yeah. If you have any theme music, just lay it in there.

I just want to let y'all know what it is. Uzo aduba. Mm-hmm. Yeah, there we go. Got it. You're happy, you're feeling good. You're pleased with the work. It's fun.

It's so fun. It's so good. Good. I mean, I'm really, it feels quite like a blessing and very fortunate to go from one really stellar cast into another cast that is so talented. And like, I, there's these big scenes that kind of remind me of like when we would all be at the end of season six. And there was like 18 of us in the room. while Randy's in the back room. Just resting. Yeah, just resting. And we just got off of two weeks of scenes like that. Okay.

Where it was like 18 to 20 of us in a room. Wow. And I got to just watch people. You know, when you just get to be audience. I'm cheering my ass off in my head. Because I was like, people, it's really, such an amazing thing, I think, when people get a role that not only fits them, but they elevated into this thing that becomes this other thing that you didn't know was even on

the page. And then the page is already so good. So I'm just, I get, I love those moments where I can sit and kind of look around and see what everybody else is doing. So in that, I know that it's something very special. All right, this is a good transition because you want to talk about somebody taking something and lifting it off the page and elevating it into something that we didn't even know it could be. Talk about you. Talking about you. Talking about you. How, how, you've told this story a few times, just for everybody, like, how did the audition, how did this job of Beth Pearson come into your lap? Okay, okay. But you don't like what I tell this story, because I keep saying I don't like to read. No, it's not me. Be real. Do you? I'll be a hundred. I'll be a hundred.

Okay, so the story happened, I guess it was end of 2015, right? Yeah. And we're all auditioning for this. And I had auditioned for the Nye's play, the Nai Goudir, as many people know, is also a playwright. Eclipse? No, it was for familiar. Familiar, okay. And it was going off Broadway.

But I had worked with Andre, a good friend of ours, Andre Holland, and he and I, we all went to NYU, and so we were in a room. and we were rehearsed, like he was working with me on this audition for that nice play. And, you know, I just had it down and he was like, oh, you got this, you're going to get this. And that night or something, another audition came in for an untitled Dan Fogelman. And it was two scenes.

And I don't, I did not know, or maybe it wasn't attached. You know, it depends on who you asked the story, that there was a script attached. I just saw the two scenes. And it's pilot season. kind of, so, you know, you get, I'm a working actor in New York, you didn't get a script. I only got my two scenes.

Okay, because I'm going to say the same thing. So, you know, working actor in New York is one of the auditions that comes in. Yeah. I'm very focused on familiar in trying to get them. Yes. So I go in and I think, I think familiar was first, or maybe it was, maybe it was the pilot was first. Also let us say that Danai is one of your best friends to like, you guys are homie. Yes, right. So the excitement of working with your homie. Yes. That's very, that was very strong, right? So I think I may have gone into This Is Us First.

I go into a backroom at Telsi. Like, it's a tiny little back room with somebody who's just running a camera. You know what I mean? And just knock out the scene and go on with the day. It's like one of the- People can't imagine how unromantic is. There was negative romance. Settle.

Zero stars on yope. No romance. Walk into an empty room and a person's like, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. You stand over there. A little to the left. Yeah.

Right. And then you slayed it. You know what I'm saying? And I did it and left and then I'm off to familiar. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, all right, let me get, because I want to embarrass my friend now. You know what I mean? My friend in the room.

And then this person is the director. It's everybody. It was a panel of people. It's like seven people. It's like the final final. They just called me into the final final. And I was like, okay, I'm good. I got this.

I walk into the room. There is a particular part in the, part in the scene where scripted the character removes her draws. You know? Yeah. Sure. I thought. Yes.

I'm curious. I thought, well, why not include the prop? Why? Of the underwear. Since I have this down, it's going to flow like I had, I'm taking off my draws. You're in a dress? Are we in a dress? I'm in a dress, yeah.

You know, and somehow I rig it's where I'm not actually taken off. But you know, I'm making it. So when the audition is going well, that will really work. Oh, no. Oh, God, sir. For some reason, I don't know why. I don't know. But it was like my tongue swelled in my mouth.

The words just weren't coming out. It did not flow. Whoever was reading with me, it was like there was just not a connection. I'm in there and I can feel the scene. going to the floor and I go to pull out my panties and I pull the panties out

with something that's already dead like this is now dead so now I just just like this girl throwing panties around I got to finish I got to finish strong no no this was the plan this was the plan

you do what you were yeah I pull my draws out throwing on the floor y'all got any notes there was a mic drop moment It was the end of the scene? It was not exactly what you did.

You said, y'all got these notes. Y'all, when I tell y'all, there are moments in your life that you just wish did not happen. Yeah, and the worst part, because I'm picturing it, the worst part is not that you threw them out. The worst part is you had to go pick them up. It's that moment. It's that moment.

Let me just grab these. Thank you for your time. Make you for your time. Let me just, bend down, pick up the underwear. I'll just, let me just put it back on, put my drawers. In my mind, they were right by the director's foot. And I was like, could you just take your foot off my.

It was like your last hit, you're like, do you, no? You know, and as actors, you know, you think, oh man, okay, so maybe it's one of those moments where it's not as bad as I thought. Yeah, sure. You know, and people were just quiet because they were, they were engaged. Yeah. They were bowled over.

They were, riveting is what I was home here. And no, no, I called her. I called her and that's what I knew because I was like, ain't nobody even called. And you know, when she hit me with the girl, you know how things happened. And I was like, I promise you, I don't know what happened. And this is what she said.

This is the wisdom that I got. She was like, you know what? It's probably a blessing. I bet God is gonna give you a pilot or something. And if you would have left my show for a pilot, I'd be mad. And I said, I promise you this. Hold on, I have a beep.

get on the other line, click over. So they have a pin in you for this untitled Dan Fogerman project thing. And I said, okay, all right, cool, cool, I got back over with her. And I was like, where did I go wrong then? Like, I don't understand. Like, how did the audition get? And I continued the conversation with her while I got there. You were like, yeah, whatever.

Well, I got them. Because it's pilot season and just never felt like it's going to happen. Right. Did you know who Dan Fogelman was at the time? Because I didn't. I didn't. I don't. I think I didn't at that.

time. But then once you get like a pin and stuff, you start, like, looking, and I'm like crazy stupid. Let me back up one thing. At this point in time in your career, how many pilots had you booked? That's a good question. I was, I was good for like getting on a show after that process. So I was the person who was like, I would like get like a guest star and it would turn into a recurrent or something like that. So I don't, I don't remember a pilot before that one? You didn't spend, you didn't have a history of spending your time holding your breath for pilots. Exactly. Like waiting to see. Exactly. Exactly. Especially out of New York.

New York is a harder place to book them out of all. Okay. So, okay, they put a pen in you that turns into you coming out to L.A. Was there any other interstep before you came out to L.A.? There was. There was, there was a, there was a, they wanted to do a callback with John and Glenn. Okay. And so I did the callback with them in New York.

And then when I got the call for, for the final callbacks, they said, look, there's an option for, you to either go out to L.A. tomorrow or let them use your tape from that callback with and I said, man, well, yeah, let me think about it. I mean, I don't know. They're like, well, you know, what did you think about the pilot? I was like, yeah, I haven't read the pilot. They're like, you haven't read the pilot right now. So I was like, well, I don't think somebody sent it to me in my email, the way my email came up. So anyway, they sent me. the pilot. I go home. I don't have an attachment. I go home and I read the pilot and my friend was with me and I promised you, I read and I read. And every time I turned the page, I was like,

you know, it was that. And by the time I closed it, I just went to my phone. I was like, I'm going to L.A. and I picked up the phone. And I was like, I'll go. You could put me, they were like, okay, we can get you on like a 6 a.m. I was like, I'm going. And that's how, that's how, I mean, there was no question in my mind, no question in my mind. And we And when you came out to L.A. for the final callback, was that a reading with Sterling? It was. God. It was Sterling.

It was Dan. It was. John and Glenn. And then so there's three people there. There's a girl, Angel Parker, who was in O.J. with me. Sue was there. Tracy Tom's from New York, who graduated from Juilliard. Same year, I graduated from NYU.

And then I think Marcia Stephanie decided just to use her tape. Who's fantastic? Right? Yeah. And so this is like this is the part where the part of the story that was big awesome was like I knew it was Sue all along or whatnot. But the part is I know all these sisters, man. Like it's like when you get to this place in your career where you're privileged enough or whatnot and you know like people are going to come in, it's like I know everybody. And so they'd ask me like who, who?

I was like, man, I'm not taking a job away from a sister. Like, that's the last thing that you can put on your boy. Yeah. I was, but like, it was so much fun to read in the room. And when they, because I think John and Glenn, even more than Dan, like, they're like, I think it's Sue. And I was like, I think you're right. I think you're right.

And was so, when we got to set and we got a chance to hang out, because we knew each other from school. Yeah, I was going to say, you guys have a history. We know each other from school, but we're in different classes. So you spend most of your time with your class. While you're at school. I'd seen your work. And I'd come back, actually.

I remember I was still living in New York. I remember you guys were doing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. And I couldn't see the play, so I came to rehearsal one day. So I was like, Sue was a wonderful, incredible actor and knew her to be a beautiful human being. But when we got on set and just got a chance to talk and vibe, I was like, and I came home one day, and I told you this, I said, But Rye told my wife, I said, I love Susan Kletchi Watson. Doesn't take anything that I have away from you because you're my wife and I love you and we're going to be together.

You know, I just want to let you know also that I have room in my heart to love this woman too. And she was like, okay. No problems, no qualms at all whatsoever. And it's like I've been approached so many times and I'm curious from your perspective. Well, people will talk about Jack and Rebecca, but they will talk about R&B. like, you guys, that was, that was something to what. I'm curious, what kind of things do you hear about it? You know, I hear the same.

It's like people really saw themselves in our relationship, which was like such a wonderful thing to hear. Because I remember us when we first started being in the trailer and sort of speaking to what we wanted this to be for people. how, you know, how, what resonated for us when we saw a young black couple on screen growing up and what we wanted to resonate for people now. Yeah. And what were those conversations? She always talked about Martin and Gina. I did because there was this thing about that I hadn't seen that.

And there was something about the unconditionalness of it that was so, it's something that we all knew, but we just had never seen expressed in any, on any medium like that. that in that way. And there's something about when you say those two names together, for those who grew up on that, they know exactly what you're talking about. You know, like Kanye has it a song, you know, feeling like Katrina with no FEMA. You see how devastating that is. Like Martin with no Gina is right beneath that because people who know that know what the devastation of that would be. And so I thought if we can achieve that in people's hearts, and in a new way. You know what I mean? Whatever that is for us, then I feel very sure that we did the job

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To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com slash TWU to get $80 off your first month with code space 80 and to show your support for the show. That's talkspace.com slash TWU code space 80. So this is interesting, because I remember talking to you about the pilot and it's like, well, Beth didn't have a whole lot to do in the pilot or what have you. And then like episode two, you have this conversation with William about your man and what he's gone through and like. So I'm curious for you because you kind of take a leap of faith trusting that like there's going to be something for me to eat in the show, like after you do the pilot or whatnot.

So what was it like for you to go from the pilot to that 102? to and have that meat. You know, I guess I'm allowed to say this now. Yeah. Because I remember. I guess we'll find out. Yeah, we'll find out right. Now, go.

But I remember Isaac, one of the showrunners, saying that it was only after they saw the monologue, that they were like, oh, okay, so there's this Beth character now. Do you know what I mean? I don't know that I want to say it was something I feel like we kind of, to discover together. Yeah. On the show. Right.

Maybe it was a bit of co-creation. So there was that leap of faith, right? It's something you're coloring in lines and some of the lines aren't fully formed yet. But in some way it's dope because you're like, all right, well then I get to kind of, you know, chime in on who this person is. And I get to like help fill out that body in that form and all of that. And so I think one brick laid on top of you. Brick laid on top of another, laid on top of another, laid on top of another, and it became this co-created thing. I spoke to that a little bit because we did, we were re-watching episode 105.

And I remember the writers, and maybe even Dan came up to us, like, after we took our trip to the drugstore to get the birth test, and he was like, oh, like, I can do comedy with these guys. Yeah. And we were like, yeah, man, we like to do some funny, we flex every once in a while. Because I think in his mind, like, he always saw as like the stable couple, like that everybody sort of, we're the nucleus that everybody sort of satellites around or what have you. But we also are prone to our own shenanigans as well because we're just watching 106. And it's, we have, 106 is career day. With the song. At the piano.

Oh, if you had a farm. Yeah. It's good to know the future price of course. Take it up. It's like, as Randall was trying to channel Maxwell. Ah! You know, you're trying to figure out the head voice. Anyway, but we have this scene where I'm trying to explain to you,

and I'm looking for my index cards about what it is, and you're like, all I can think about is pizza, right? And then I said, you're making fun of me. And you're like, I'm not making fun of you, but you're doing it with the smile. I was like, why you smile? She's like, I don't know what? I'm smiling.

And like, I throw you on the bed and we just start being silly. It was sort of like the beginning of like, for me, like, when I saw it, I was like, oh, we are, we're dumb and we are so in love that like whatever happens, like, she's going to allow me to be stupid. And this is what I realized in the course of the show in terms of performance that I almost single-handedly owe to you. And I mean, this is sincere. I was able to do really dumb stuff and probably overdo things in a way that I wouldn't have been able to do it if you wouldn't have just been like. you're done yet yeah she gave you this baby

it's absolutely true it's a balance right yeah it's a balance and I thank you for that I can say so many things about you but I guess and also you're welcome for that you're welcome thank you and you're welcome

no but I think there there was this balance there was a trust yeah you know what I'm saying and and I think I think the very fortunate thing with the couples on our show is there was like a trust amongst the actors as well. Yeah. So I felt like we were reading from the same handbook, you know, we've trained at the same place, we know, and it's like, all right, so I know S.K., if I go here, you go here.

You know what I mean? And I know you're not going to leave me hanging. There's no intention of that, you know, and it's never, it was never about I shine, I shine. It was always like, what is the story? How do we bring this story? How much truth can we tell in this five minutes scene? Yeah, for sure. And that's what we were very much committed to.

And that was the fun of it to me. It was like, oh, this can go anywhere. And then so that led to like, oh, this couple can go anywhere. Oh, this couple is committed to each other. This couple is, like, they're not, it is taken for granted that they have chosen to be together. And we'll see how they work that out. That's not me as Sunshine of Roses every day, but we'll see how they survive that, you know. And so that's why when we almost didn't make it, people was threatening.

Stop watching the show. So for those who haven't got to season three. Oh, my jumping? No, no, you're fine. You're totally fine because we're just talking about you. For those who haven't gotten to season three, take a break. Oh, it's in season three. Okay.

So we get to season three. And a lot of our through line over that time is sort of like, Randall has these political aspirations. Beth is rediscovering what it is that she wants to do with her life with regards to dance, et cetera, and they're happening at the same time. And if he pursues this thing, which is like, yes, the drive to Philadelphia and we're still living in New Jersey at the time, like how does that impact what she wants to do in terms of moving forward with her own personal aspirations that she has put on hold for such a long time?

And so there's a riff that occurs in R&B. Yeah, yeah. I can remember my wife saying, to me, I have Lucius and Cookie can figure it out that I know Randall and Beth better get their stuff. Right. I can't. Well.

I can't. Well. But what was it like during that season or whatnot? Because I think we both cherished it a lot because we didn't want people to think that we were just, it was easy. Yeah, that's right. It was like Sunday morning and you just wake up and like, hey, girl. Yeah.

It's always good. You know what I'm saying? have to go through some stuff in order for like what really would last to be valued yeah right so i think we were both eager yeah for to see what what would have yeah excited about it and not worried about who's gonna take what side right you know i knew people's gonna be on mine and um that was gonna be hard but yeah it was interesting because okay so just fast for a little bit there was a moment where I needed you to come to this, to meet up with these other council members. Oh, and you left the phone call?

And I left the message on the phone, right? And then you showed up at the thing. And I was like, hey, listen, I left you a message on your phone. Not a big deal. Just ignore it. And she's like, oh, you mean the one where you like curse me out for not showing up? And I was like, oh, that's not going to go well. not going to go well. And I don't know if it was the same episode or later where I said,

hey, look, I know you want to do some stuff. But like, if you could just put a pen in that for now. And as soon as, as soon as I read the line on the page, I was like, I'm telling this woman to put a pen in it. And I was like, I was like, Brown, I said to myself, Brown, I said Brown, how charming can you be, bro, to try to keep people on the line? Are you telling this woman to put a fan in it, Jack. Let me tell you, let me tell you, it was, but the thing about it that I loved, I think, you know, was the fact that we went for it.

Like, we both went for it for our size. It wasn't, you know, no, I was no longer the woman that you were describing before where it was like, you could be all the other place and I was going to be this. It was like, okay, no, no, no. Yeah. Fend for yourself. You know what I mean?

You're pushed to the break. Yeah. And I was going to fend for myself. And that was meaty and really interesting. And people really did not know if we would make it. Yeah. They really didn't know if we were, we always knew, right? Yeah, we knew.

We knew. We knew. I mean, Dan had stated from the beginning, like this couple will be together. But we needed to make people feel... Yeah, we needed to... To question it. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

We knew somebody was going to have to get divorced. Sorry. Sorry, man. That made me so sad. If we're... Listen, spoiler... Spoiler. If we're exploring every...

If we're exploring every, ever mind, exploring every aspect of relationship, somebody in this show has got to. Statistically, sure. Statistically. But what was so smart about, because I did not like that you guys got divorced at first, but what smart about it story-wise is that you guys sort of met

in this place of brokenness. And in real life, when people kind of bond in broken places and then somebody starts to heal, inevitably that bond doesn't work. Yeah. So when I saw, like, your character growing and shifting and change it, it made sense when you go back. I was like, oh, he's not in that place.

And she's sort of still struggling with some of those issues. And he really has come up. But that doesn't mean he wants to leave her. Yeah. But it just means that that place of connection. Yeah. That deal that they made. That deal that they made is the contract has been broken.

You know what I'm saying? That's a good point. So that's how smart they were with the writing. It was smart. Who has two fingers? And points like this. Who has two hands? This girl.

Classic. Obviously, this show has changed all of our lives in countless ways. But how did the show early on, say, in like the first season, change the way you moved through the world? Like, what was people's response to you in the wild? Well, you guys know. It was, you guys know, it was like, we were doing this for so long. in a bubble. I remember us saying like, oh, we're in this cocoon, this bubble. We're just doing this thing that we really love and, you know, it'll be on TV one day. And then it gets on TV.

And I remember the first night, like after it aired, I went to something at EPLP or Melrose over there. Okay. And I remember crossing the street and this dude rolled up when his lady was in the passenger seat and they were in a convertible. And he was like, yo, from this is us, right? I love that. Wow. The next day. The next day. And I said, oh, things done. changed you know what I mean it was like it was overnight yeah to me you know that things had changed and and then going and I remember as the years of the show went by there was a point it's not like this now because I think now it's it's a bit even like evened out yeah a bit more but I remember coming out of my brownstone I was living in in Brooklyn and I remember I got as far

as just down the steps and it started and I thought oh Oh, oh no. You know what I mean? A little loss of anonymity. Yeah, and I was like, oh, you know, and then I was like, all right, it's this balance of like, all right, Sue, if people are doing that, that means they know the work and they appreciate the work. You can't get like, oh, now I can't. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

It's like, all right, this is what comes, you know? And there's that. And of course, it's, you know, people want pictures and selfies or people run up to you crying. you know, or people want to grab you or they want to, you know, they want to hug you. Yeah. And, and you know what I'm saying. I do. Because there has been intimacy exchanged. A lot. We weren't, we weren't there.

Right. Physically. When it was happening. Right. But people want to, because they, because in your mind, you're their best friend. Yeah. You know. Your family.

Your family. There's something about you. It doesn't want to take that from them. But you're also like, I don't know you. Right. So when somebody's like, so. Now, I'm going. automatically, like, if you call me Sue, I'm like, okay, who...

That's an easier turn than Beth. Happened to me two days ago. He was like, Chris! And I was like, hey, hey, and I faked like I knew him because he could call me Chris. Right, I always do that all the time. And he's like, I know you from that show. And I was like, oh, I don't know you. Have a good day.

Good day, sir. Let me ask this question, because you just brought this up. And I can open that to everybody. We'll start with Sue. What is your picture protocol slash philosophy when request it. Is there a time in place in which you will? Is there a time in place in which you won't? Is it very by case?

Just to ask. She'll take a picture with you. You guys are old friends. I'm just curious because it's something that we all sort of have to like figure out. What's your, what's your protocol? If you want to get a selfie, stop! After, okay. I'm in the middle of something.

I'm in the middle of something. I, my, my, okay, so here I try not to do bathrooms. Oh, yes. Right? I love that you put try, isn't it? Okay.

I will. But I try not to. Right. If you've washed your hand. Right. Try to do bathrooms. I don't do, oh, what's, like when I'm eating with family. Okay.

Yeah. If I'm in a middle of a meal. Yeah. What is the response when they come with the approach? Well, they come up and they say, oh my God. I hate to bother you. I hate to bother you. Especially while you're eating.

Yeah. Like I would never do this. Well, you're going to be very disappointed to find out that I am eating. And bother. If you look slightly over this way. You know, and your family is there. And then, like, church. Okay.

And then, like, that's it, though. I'm very, like, easygoing about the picture taken. Okay. I get it. Because you know what? I look at people. I know it's going to sound corny, whatever. But, like, I see my mom asking for autographs whenever we come out of, like,

like the theater. She loves to get all her. She has like August Wilson's autographs. She has like, you know what I mean? She gets everybody. I see my mom. I see my nephew when I take him to the game and he sees a sports player. What do you call him, athletes?

A sports player. A sports player. A ball mover. And, you know, and wants a, you know, a selfie with a sports player. And I don't want them to, you know. Never ever call you anything else again. Who's that sports player? Who's that?

I can't remember. LeBron. What's the name is to have sports playing, baby. I see, that's what I see when people, and so it, you know, this means something to people. I can't, like, unsee that. Okay. You are there LeBron. I want everybody to answer this one.

And I'm going to chime in on this a little bit. Mandy Moore. You pull baby about right in your back pocket. Stop. Do you have a protocol when it comes to the photo? I feel aligned with Sue. Okay. You're like dinner with family.

Like, yeah, you kind of, it's a case-by-case situation. Because sometimes you're like, I'm in the middle of like checking in at the airport and things are a little hairy. I was actually just about to ask, but you do early morning at the airport. You know. Oh, airport once. Can I add that? Yeah, because sometimes you're just off a flight and you're looking like, who shot John?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is the shot John won? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, you sure you want this one? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm fine, but look at you. You're in your pajamas, sir. I had a hot towel.

Yeah. So case by case, but like not to the airport, they're trying not to do the bathroom, not with the family when you're eating. Yeah, but otherwise it's all fair game, absolutely. So? Only bathrooms. Only stalls in bathrooms. Only stalls in bathrooms.

If you want to find me, you see me in public, you wait until we can have some privacy. So nobody gets the wrong idea. We have, listen, there's good light. the worst like good acoustics made for you not for an irishman brings out all my running nature this is going to be this was us said the only place is a bathroom

I'm not going to be an accessory I had a man at a public pool tried to follow like I was going in there and he was like hey can I get a photo and I'm in my bathing suit with like my clothes and I turned him I said let me just get dressed first

And it like took him a second and he was like, yeah, yes, yes, of course. So sorry. So they're shooting their shot. It's like this is my opportunity. Yeah. Let me take advantage of what I can. And it means a lot. I have gotten to a place where I have a whole thing with the kids where I don't take

picture with my kids because they deserve to be the center of attention. And it's a weird thing for them to have to navigate, being like, why is everybody always trying to be around my dad type of thing? Most of the other ones are case by case scenarios, but what I have learned, I was like, Listen, can't do a picture right now, but I do appreciate the fandom. Can I give you a hug? And usually people are pretty cool with that.

Because the thing about the picture is, if it doesn't come out the way they want it the first time, they're like, oh, sorry, it's a little, can I get enough? And they're like, can we move into this light? And then it's like, it's a photo shoot. They don't know how to use your camera. And they don't know, they think it's just their turn, but like that happens a lot, whatever.

So I'm never discourteous in the whole process because I understand that. I try to be gracious, but I also recognize that I need to be present to whatever it was that I was doing that they didn't know that I was doing. For sure. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But it's, you know, it's never like, and I feel this way about us because we were like this, I think, as just people. It's never lost on us that like people want this picture.

Yeah. What a privilege it is to be in that position. You know what I'm saying? Because I still remember the Sue auditioning for familiar. You know what I'm saying? When my daughter's on the floor. So it's not, and it's, you know, so it there, but you do have to draw some boundary. Sure.

You know what I mean? For your life and everything like that. Yeah. More that was us after these words from our sponsors. Now, for those of you out there looking to save money on everyday essentials like gas and groceries, ha-ha, we have something for you. It's time to check out upside. You can't just cut those purchases out of your. your budget. But now, thanks to a 2024 money-back hack, you can get cash back from them with

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cash back with Upside. Download the free Upside app and use promo code TWU to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas using promo code T.W.U. I'm asking other questions. No, this is fantastic. I feel like I'm just an observer in the best way.

I mean, you were the ambassador for the East Coast for us, because you were traveling back and forth. Oh, absolutely. So like, I don't know, for me, the first couple seasons felt like such a, like one giant season, because we would would roll into press for the first season, and by the time we were done with that, we were starting the second, and like,

I never went anywhere. Like, I never went outside of Los Angeles, but I remember the first time going outside of LA and traveling somewhere. Going overseas, going overseas, when I was in London, when I was in South Africa. Huge, this is South Africa. Oh, yeah.

Wow. I get stopped in South Africa all the time. South Africa. I mean, so it's big. I will say, because I would go home to visit family, in St. Louis. And I was like, oh, this hit different in the Midwest. Like, it was, like, L.A. would be something like, you know, people would say, hey,

Randall! And I was, and then I go home and, like, I could not go to the gallery. Yeah. Like, it was, I was like, I can't actually shop. And that's the first time in my life that I'd ever experienced that. Wow. Wow. Wow.

That's incredible. It was weird. Do you remember when we were shooting downtown, Sue? Yeah. This dude comes up to us. I think we were together and he goes, hey, I just want to let you guys know that your show saved my life or saved my life or my brother's life or something.

Yes, actually I do. I do. And then he's just like, can I get a hug or whatnot? I don't even know if we wanted a hug. He just wanted to let us know that the show had saved his brother's life. And we were like, right on, man. And like those sorts of things, while at the moment felt sort of strange, it's like, the show hit people.

It did. I feel like I can share this. I hope I can share this. Who knows? Go for it. The actor who played Tommy on Martin, a friend of his, I knew through a friend. And he got in touch with, I think, via Twitter or something.

And then I think we ended up talking on the phone. And unfortunately, through some mishap surgery, I can't remember quite what happened. But Tommy was, like, dying, you know. And his friend told me, he asked him, what do you want to watch? What can I put on for you? what do you want like in these moments or whatever and he said put on this is us you know and that was like

in the early yeah it was like the first or second yeah and that's when i was like oh my goodness you know like what is what what what is this and we we we better be some real good guardians over this because this is like special you know it it really did a lot a lot of the storylines these personal storylines I don't know if you all had this same thing where I think I remember talking about this with several people on set where it was like, have the writer's been in my living room? Like I just had this argument. I just had this conversation. I just had that.

And then it kind of became prophetic. Like my life started unfolding as the show was unfolding with kids and like all these things. And for a while I thought it was spooky. And then I just am starting to realize, oh, it's. universal. And look how many storylines there were. Look how many different stories and storylines they could follow. You know?

So it's like I always felt like if you had a favorite or not, it was like there's somebody on this show who's living out your life. You know, out of the 18 of us. Somebody on here is doing what you're doing. A quick, just quick follow up on that was like, was there anything in your, do you do it? We're going to ask the same question. At the same time, ready? One, two, three.

Was there anything about your character that related directly to your life? It was the same question. Yes, and I was also going to ask, like, and were you ever in the writer's room? Did you help, like, inform some of the direction that, like, Beth went in because you were able to talk to the writers and influence them a little bit? Yeah, I think, I remember, I think the one thing that got, no, maybe two. The one or two things I got in there, I remember texting Kay O'Yegu. And I sat in the writer's room one day, and when I went home, I remember texting her and being like, oh, and just so you know, I used to dance if you guys ever want to use that. Wow.

Like, that was like season one. You know what I mean? Like, and then it found its way in there. So, but it was literally from a text. And I promise you, it was one sentence just so, you know, I used to dance if you guys ever. Same. Oh, well, that was from that text. And then I thought, innocent.

She was a little. bohemian, I thought, oh, I like, I just felt like she was a little bohemian at heart. There was something about her that. And that worked its way gradually into it. I was going to ask if you guys remembered the rumor about Beth being about to die or Beth was going to die? What? Do y'all ever remember that? That was me.

I started that. Okay. I started all of them. I was just trying to get, just trying to get attention. That was an internet rumor that like she's dead and you don't remember that. Oh, no, I do. Do you remember this? Well, because as we flashed forward,

we would start to see different people. And we didn't see Beth for a while. And we had not seen Beth for a long time. Oh, is that what it was? That's because you showed up to the house alone. I was like the first person to show. Yes. That's where it came from.

I was like, I had not heard that rumor. But that makes sense. As soon as Jack died, the audience a whole time was like, are they dead? Are they also dead? Who's dead? When you lose name? It's Stark.

It is. Everybody's up for grabs. Because the same thing happened with Chrissy when I showed up at the house a lot. Yeah, the same thing. Oh, okay. So I thought Chris is dead. Okay. Here's a question about that because you said a little bit bohemian or what have you.

I'm wondering this is a hair sort of thing and decisions that you chose with hair, which I think were absolutely humongous. And I don't know what kind of feedback you got from it, but from the outside looking in, I was like, this is almost like revolutionary. revolutionary in a really powerful way. Can you speak to this at all? Yeah, you know, it's really interesting because, you know, you think about it now, and it's so common to see a black woman on TV with wearing a little more, but I don't think it's on the number one TV show six years in a row. You have a sister front and center who is natural. They were not doing that before then. No. And what I really appreciated was that when I started the show, I had just a year or two before, cut all the perm out, relaxed

out of my hair. And so I had this natural hair, and I had a little bit of this curly bun going on when we did the audition. And I remember, because I changed my hair up and got these really, like, what Jamaicans would call, like, nati-looking braids, that just look kind of undone, but they're cool. They look very bohemian. And I remember texting, emailing my team and saying, well, I have my hair like this now. you think I should like send them a picture or do something to let them know. And they were like, you might want to take them out or or put your hair back the way it was or let them know. And I remember thinking to myself, you know, let me just show up and see what they say.

You know, you can always take them out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, you never know. And, you know, I don't, if somebody says something, then I say something. But if nobody, you know, so I remember walking. into the read-through and they were like three exacts from NBC and they saw me like,

oh, oh, yeah, it looks really nice. And that was it. And I remember for me, every light said go after that. It just, it was never, every light to me in my head was like, go, just keep going, you know? And so I made it, the commitment was to like, what is a real black woman in these United States of America. Yeah. What does that look like that we haven't seen? So what, what aspects of that haven't we seen that we all know about? Absolutely.

But maybe, you know, the world at large doesn't know about. And one of the things that is such a big deal is black women's hair. Yeah. And so I was like, I'm just going to be real about whatever that is. And so we change it up a lot, especially when it's natural. You just do that. Yeah. And we do go to work and these corporate jobs.

And if we don't, we don't. we should be able to. And so it was like, I'm just gonna do that in like this little quiet corner of this Beth world and just let that be. But in my mind, that's all it was. It was like, I'm just going to be authentic to that. Yeah.

I had no clue the effect, that impact. What was- Was it? Were those conversations you were having with hair and makeup? Like, or like, just like, let's try this. And like, and for the first season, I did, my own hair for the most part, because we didn't have anyone on set yet who was able to... We had a few conversations about this in the trailer. Yes.

No one was able to do natural hair, do my hair, and keep it healthy and do all the things. I was like, so I went, and I don't know how this stuff goes, right? But I just always learn, well, you ask the people who run everything, you know what I mean? You know, so I put the email and just all the top executives, so I was like, Dan, Jess, Michael, right? I said, you know, I just want to be able to walk, essentially, I want to be able to walk into a trail. And if my hair is wet, you know what I mean? Like, I want to be able to walk in, like anybody else can walk in and get my hair done from start to finish and not feel like I had to stay up an extra hour and a half at night to set it to come to work.

And so we did that. And to their absolute credit, it was like, and you will have it. You know what I mean? There was not a blink of an eye. Michael Rice was the dopest. He was like, I will keep bringing in folks into you, head of hair. He was like, I will keep bringing in folks. He had people get their union card on the show so that they could do my hair on that show.

And then I will never forget when I saw an anchor woman on CNN or something with braids in their hair, you know? And I'd never seen that before. And I was like, oh, look at what, now, you know, other people were doing this on all. other people doing this by this point on TV. But like when I started to see that, I was like, all right, yeah. You know, the power of like what visibility and like showing who we are can do

and what it normalizes and what it gives people the freedom to do. And, you know, you have people getting kicked out of school and off of sports teams because of their hair. You have little girls being suspended and, you know, teachers going in and cutting off their hair in, you know, while they're at school. You know, and they have to make laws to allow people, to allow people to wear their hair

the way it grows out of their head naturally. You have to create a law around it. Yeah, I'm going to do my little thing, my little part in making sure we understand that it's, that it's just what it is. You know what I mean? And so that was, that is part of the privilege of getting to do what we do. It's like also reminding ourselves, like, what else can we take into this with us? that liberates, you know what I mean?

It is also a testimony to the environment in which we work that you could talk to Dan and Jess and Michael and be heard. Yeah, and here's the thing. Dan started to tell me he was like, I just knew, because I was going hard with it at one point. I was like, okay, now we're going to have a break going this way, but on this side is Afro Pop. You know what I mean? Like, it was a lot. And I remember Dan saying, and somebody was saying to me, oh, I remember at one point somebody on my team. at one point. It was like, when you go on red carpets, try to wear your hair all the same because

people don't know you yet. And they want to be able to like recognize you. Oh my goodness. And it's a common. It's a common thing. I never did it. And guess what? People recognize me for that. You know what I mean? And so it's like you got to go with like what you know and like what's in sort of what's in your heart and like what comes to you authentically. But I remember Dan said to me one time when he's editing, he's like, you know, Sue, every time in an editing room, I'm always like, I can't wait to see what Sue's hair looks like this week. And I thought, how amazing is it to have, you know, El Hefe? You know what I'm saying?

Like, go like, yo, I'm just down with whatever you're doing. You know, it's all good. It's not getting in our way in any way, you know? And that's the kind of show we had, man. Like people were listening. They wanted to know what your true life experience was so that we could bring it to this. Yes, ma'am. Gang.

Wow. This is Susan Coletchi Wai. We ended on a hair note. In the house, is there another note that you want to end on? Is there something that you want to say? Isn't that, isn't that, I feel like that's a great. I think I'm happy. We ended on shay butter and coconut oil.

Come on, let's do it. I mean, we're going to have to have you back and talk about like the specificity of like a few episodes. So please. For sure. Please indulge us and come back so we can. I will happily come back. Regale the world with how much we love you and are obsessed with your work. And really you are just such a beacon of this.

this show and yeah, I could hear you guys have a conversation and pipe in for like the rest of my life. It's just what an honor. You guys, this is awesome. Honoring the show like this. Isn't this amazing? It's pretty cool. Yeah. It's pretty cool. And we thank

you for being here. I am so happy to be here. I love you as always. I love you. You want to say that? I don't have any. Ladies and gentlemen, that was us. That was us. That was us is filmed at The Crow and produced by Rabbit Grinn Productions and Sarah Warehound. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith.