The Daily - ‘Modern Love’: Bridget Everett Says A Best Friend Can Be Your Greatest Love

Episode Date: August 24, 2025

Stories of romantic love are everywhere, but the actor, singer and comedian Bridget Everett says that friendships deserve our attention, too. Onscreen and in everyday life.Last Fall, Everett appeared on Modern Love to talk about her HBO Original series “Somebody Somewhere,” which centers on a close friendship. Now she’s nominated for an Emmy Award for writing the show, along with Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen.In “Somebody Somewhere,” Everett stars as Sam, a woman struggling with grief and self-doubt after losing her sister. As Sam grows closer to her friend Joel — played by Jeff Hiller, an Outstanding Supporting Actor nominee — the future starts to look more bearable.In this episode of Modern Love, Everett tells Anna Martin why she’s looking for a friendship like the one Sam and Joel have on the show. She also reads a Modern Love essay called “When Your Greatest Romance Is a Friendship,” by Victor Lodato. Lodato was in his 40s when he fell into a platonic life partnership with an artist in her 80s, who lived across the street.In April 2024, Lodato published “Honey,” a novel inspired by Austin Brayfield, the friend he wrote about in his essay.Find new episodes of Modern Love every Wednesday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Hey, it's Natalie. All this summer, as you know, we've been bringing you episodes of Modern Love. And this is the last week you'll hear Modern Love in the Daily Feed. But you can still find new episodes of the show every week by subscribing to Modern Love at the links in our description, something I highly recommend you do. But for now, we have Modern Love host Anna Martin here in the studio. Hey, Anna. Hey, Natalie. So tell me what's on the show this week.

So this week we're bringing back a conversation I really love. It's with Bridget Everett, the star of the TV show, Somebody Somewhere. Have you seen that show? I have seen that show. My wife actually made me watch that show, and we collectively decided that it is, I think, the sweetest show of all time. Yeah, I mean, it's so sweet. This is a show that really focuses on friendship.

And when I talked to Bridget Everett, she said that she was tired of TV shows and movies, mostly focusing on romantic relationships, because she's not. she thinks that friendships can be just as powerful. So true. Yeah. And that point of view certainly resonated clearly with you, with myself, with viewers. And she's actually nominated for an Emmy this year for her writing on the show alongside her co-writers. And she really dove deep into the role close friendship plays in her own life.

I will also say she did a little singing for us, which is very special. That is amazing. All right, Anna Martin, thank you for bringing us modern love all summer. course. And everyone, here is this week's Modern Love. Love now and love. Love was stronger than anything. For the love, love. And I love you more than anything.

Modern love. There's to love. Love. From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin. This is Modern Love. In the HBO series, Somebody Somewhere, Bridget Everett plays a 40-something woman named Sam. Sam has always loved to sing but over time she's lost her self-confidence and given up on music

after Sam becomes best friends with a sweet supportive man named Joel played by Jeff Hiller she starts to build herself back up she even gets her to sing again one of my favorite singers in the entire world is here with us tonight Sam Pire

come on up here no in this proud land we grew up strong we were wanted all along the two of them become so close they even call each other from the toilet after eating a questionable hors d'oeuv called St. Louis sushi

if you ever tell anybody what just happened to my asshole I will come over Oh, no, this is a new level of intimacy. To watch somebody somewhere is to fall in love with these two friends and to hope that nothing gets in the way of what they share together. So I wanted to talk to Bridget about how central a best friendship can be if we're willing to make the space for it in our lives.

And Bridget reads an essay about two friends with a bond so close, maybe we need a new word to define it. Bridget Everett, welcome to Modern Love. Hi. I'm so happy you're in the studio with us. So the show you star on, Somebody Somewhere, is currently on its third and final season. I love this show.

But I'm really struggling with something. I hope you'll help me out. I find it tough to categorize the show in terms of genre. I'm like, I want to call it a romantic comedy, but it's also sort of like an ensemble slice of life. At times, it's a musical. How would you describe the show? Well, I have a terrible time describing it, too.

Maybe that's why we have such an intimate audience. I don't know. I think of it as, you know, people say dromedy, but kind of just a slice of life, some tender moments, some, you know, and maybe a fart. I was going to say, some tender moments and then like a big diarrhea scene in season two. Yeah, because that's real life. Of course it's real life. I mean, maybe not for you, but for, you know, people I know. St. Louis sushi.

Is that a real thing? Yeah, my friend Larry Crone, it's one of his signature dishes at parties. You know, he always passes around his little kids. Canapay or whatever, but it's basically ham wrapped around cream cheese wrapped around a pickle. And you know what? It's always a hit. No, it sounds so good is the thing. Yeah, but, you know, on the show we had to kind of, you know, make it fun.

You had to make it fun about that. You mean, you had to fill it with a lot of farts. Okay, your character on somebody somewhere is a woman named Sam, who is somewhat inspired by your own life. Like you, Sam grew up in Manhattan, Kansas, where the show takes place. Sam loves singing, but she has a lot of fear. and self-doubt around it. Whereas you, Bridget, have a cabaret song

where you proudly describe all the shapes and sizes, boobs come in. I love that song. You just seem fearless on stage. Have you ever had any of Sam's self-doubt in your own life? Oh, sure. I mean, a lot of what I have in common with Sam is, you know, obviously the love of singing

and, you know, Sam really comes alive when she sings, and I feel the same way. I feel like I connect. I kind of plug into life when I'm singing. There's a way that I can connect to my emotions when I'm doing that that I can't sometimes do otherwise. Right. And I also struggle with self-worth like she does. So over the course of these three seasons, as she is acknowledged kind of to herself what she's working through.

I mean, she doesn't say, oh, I'm Sam, and I have self-doubt. You know, we sort of see her trying to push through some of that. And I've learned a lot from her. Like sometimes we write the scenes, and I'm like, yeah. Man, I wish I could be like Sam. Have you ever applied? I mean, I know it's like loosely autobiographical, but of course this show is a work of fiction,

but you're saying that you've learned things from Sam. Yeah. Have you ever found yourself quite literally applying, like, a lesson that she's learned in the show to your own life? Like, do you ever do something in your own life and think, wow, I learned this from Sam, my character and somebody somewhere? Absolutely. There's something that Sam says in season two.

She's like, NNP, no new people. Yes. And that's kind of like me. Like, I have a lot of friends. My life is full enough. And I just, I'm socially anxious, you know, like many people are. So I just like, I'd just rather not. But Sam, especially in season three, is allowing more people into her life and into her heart.

And I think that I have honestly been trying to work on that myself. Interesting. Okay, so what you're saying is in season two, Sam kind of adopts this, yeah, life ethos, I don't know, mantra, no new people meaning no new friends. But then in season three, we see her sort of open back up again. And you're saying that you're trying to do the same thing in your life right now? Yeah, because I think for me and for Sam, it's like, you know, if you're somebody that does struggle with self-worth, every time you meet somebody, you're like, they're going to see the cracks. Yeah, totally. Or that they'll just see what I don't like about myself.

You know, and I think Sam feels that way. So she's like, I've got this person that makes me feel good. This person makes me feel safe. And that was why it was so devastating in season one while why her sister died because her sister loved her warts and all. Right. You know, and Joel, he loves her warts and all. And, you know, I think it's just something that not everybody walks into a room and thinks people are going to like them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe most people don't. I really don't know. I don't think most people do. I certainly don't. But you're so right, in season three, this current season of somebody somewhere, we see that sort of protective shield start to crack in the best way. Yeah, and she's terrified, but she does it anyway, which is. The theme of this season is growth against all odds, and I think that that is... I love that. Is that something you said in, like, the writer's room, growth against all odds?

It is, and I do have the necklace now, and I'm not wearing it right now. Wait, stop. You should have worn... Wait, is it a necklace that says growth against all. That's a lot to put on a necklace. No, it's GAAO. I have on one necklace. I also have a golden toilet, which is obviously from season two. And then from season one, I have a one because I'm number one on the call sheet. And I was like, this may never happen again.

So I'm buying myself a necklace. I am so sad that you didn't wear all three. I know. I normally do, but I just, I don't know. I don't know why I didn't do it today. I was, you know, I got my day started kind of early. You got a lot of things going on. I also want to say I love it. There's a lot of acronyms. I'm realizing no new people, NNP. There's AGG. There's all glory to God, which is something. That kind of goes by pretty quick. But I talk that way. That's kind of my... You're an acronym gal. Yeah. DDDD is my theme. You know, got that from L.L. Cool J. Dreams don't have deadlines. And this is such a fun thing to figure out about you. Murray Hill and I text each other every day, RFB. Ready for Bed. Murray Hill also stars on the show as Fred.

I love Ready for Bed. R-F-B. You've talked a bit about the relationship between Sam and her best friend, Joel, played by Jeff Hiller. For people who have not had the pleasure of seeing somebody somewhere, how would you explain who Sam and Joel are to each other? It's a friendship, but there's so much more there.

Yeah, I think, you know, Sam has lost her sister and, you know, was everything to her, And then Joel kind of sneaks in and he's so undeniable. He's so charismatic and charming. The smile just lights everyone up. Yeah, and he's got a great giggle. And he's kind and she's kind of like a little like,

you know, got a little more of an edge. But most importantly, there's a really wonderful, warm chemistry between the two of them. And even when she kind of gets reactive or reactionary, he still loves her. He's not going to dump her what she thinks that he's going to do. So, and she's so, you know, she's such a raw nerve. And I don't know, just the way that Joel takes care of her is very moving to me.

And what I love about the relationship is, you know, sometimes you don't expect that you're going to meet such a central relationship to your life in your 40s. And I think that's incredible. It goes against the NNP, no new people, but I just love it. And I also love that it's a real prime. thing for Sam. Like, her friends are her people. And it's not like she's looking for a romantic love. She's looking for her person. And that's kind of what she is finding in Joel. Yeah. Her person, I mean, I think it's a really, I don't know if I, I'll say, like, kind of radical reframe, the idea that your person can be a friend. Absolutely. And it doesn't mean that you can't have, you know, romantic relationships and you can't, you know, have a couple of roles in the hay and a little, you know, a little, you know, a little. smoo-smooch in the alley after a couple drinks in a bar. But I think that for me, it was really important that this show be about the friendship and not about like girl meets boy, boy, in the way that you know, you meet a guy and, you know, all of a sudden he thinks you're beautiful, you fall in

love in that way. This is a different kind of love, which is, you know, why, you know, I love the essay that we're going to be talking about later. But, yeah. Yeah, and we're going to go to the essay reading in just a bit. But before we do, I want to talk about a moment on the show that I think is the epitome of this kind of love between friends that you're talking about. Early in this new season, Sam helps Joel's boyfriend, whose name is Brad, write a love song as a secret surprise for Joel. And first of all, that's already a nice enough gesture from Sam, but it means even more because we've seen her really struggle with the fact that Joel is now. in a couple and isn't around for her as much.

Can you tell us what happens when they're all at the party and Brad gets up to sing this love song for Joel? Yeah. The character of Brad played by the wonderful and underutilized Tim Bagley. That's Joel's boyfriend, yeah. The plays Joel's boyfriend gets up to sing this song and he loves Joel, but he hasn't really been able to hurt or had the need to say that publicly.

And he's doing it in front of Joel's friends and his church friends. And as soon as he starts to try to speak, he's so overwhelmed. And it reminds me of a very Midwestern thing and probably other places too. But when my brother did the toast at his daughter's wedding, he was like, okay, I just want to do that. And he like, it's just like, you know that thing like, and he couldn't talk. It was just like, you know, when you get that huge one. The emotion is caught in the throat. Yeah, that's exactly the thing when it's too much.

Yeah. And what I love about it is, like, that Sam is right there with him, and she's like, I'm going to help you get through this because she knows what it's going to mean to Joel. And she jumps in and she starts singing for him. Yeah. She knows how special Joel is. And so anytime she can communicate that, share that, especially through music, she's going to do it. Bridget, would you mind, if you want to. It would be amazing to hear like a line, but I don't know if you're prepared to sing today.

Do you like the beginning of the song? I would love it. Okay, sure. I wake in the morning and I see your face. I'm the luckiest guy in the entire human race. A cup of coffee or a trip to the store. I'll take forever and then I'll take. some more. But oh, the way you look at me, I can't explain it. But I know it's love. Oh, love, love.

That's first one. Oh, my God, don't do this to me right now. I don't know what. It is so, God, and you wrote these lyrics. It is so simple and it's perfect. Of course, this is a love song ostensibly for, you know, one man to another man, you know, between two men who love each other. But also, I don't know. Like, I really feel like... But it's also Sam's love for Joel. Yeah, and the way that she's looking at him, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I 100% agree. Thank you so much for singing that.

I really feel grateful to be in the room when you do that. I'm serious. Okay, that is... That's a tough fact to follow. You are also here to do us another favor, which is to read a modern love essay. Do you want to say anything about this essay before you get into it? Why you chose it? Well, I chose it because, you know, the title,

when your greatest romance is a friendship. Because it's something that I can relate to and I read it. I thought it was such a sweet and moving examination of two people, not romantically linked. I don't know. I just thought it was really special. We'll be back in just a minute with Bridget Everett

reading today's Modern Love Essay. Stay with us. Okay, Bridget, you are about to read a modern love essay for us by the novelist Victor Lodato whenever you're ready. When your greatest romance is a friendship. Is this your grandson? People sometimes ask Austin when she's out with me. No, honey, he's my friend. At this point, folks usually smile tightly and turn away,

perhaps worried there is more than friendship going on between the old lady and the younger man seated at the bar, giggling like teenagers. Why we're giggling, I couldn't tell you. Often our mirth seems fueled by some deep-celled delight at being together. When I met Austin, I was in my early 40s and not looking for a friend. I'd come alone to this small Oregon town to finish a book. So when a bony, blue-eyed stranger knocked at my door, introducing herself as the lady from across the way, and wondering if I might

like to come over and see her garden, maybe have a genitonic, I politely declined. Watching her walk away, though, in her velvet slip-ons and wrinkled blouse, I felt a strange pang, a slow pin of sadness that I suppose could be best described as loneliness. Suddenly I was dashing into the dirt road to say that I was sorry that she had caught me in the middle of work, but that, yes, I would enjoy seeing her garden. Not the gin and tonic, she said? Oh, sure, that too, I answered, blushing.

And before I could suggest to visit the next week, she said, so I'll see you in a few hours then. Shall we say 4.30? I had to admire her sense of time. Next week is for someone who can afford to put things off. Austin, in her 80s, surely felt no such luxury. I liked your face, she admitted later, telling me she had spotted me at the mailbox. As she poured the gin, I told her that I'd seen her at the mailbox as well, and I liked her face too. I wish I had better eyebrows, she said. They used to be fabulous.

Her garden was astounding, like something dreamed rather than planted, a madhatter gothic in which a lawless grace prevailed. At dusk, the deer arrived. nibbling the crab apple blossoms. We had been talking for hours, slightly tipsy, and then we were in the kitchen cooking dinner. A retired psychologist, Austin had traveled extensively, spoke terrible Spanish and worse French,

and was a painter now. She had two husbands, the second of whom died in this house, in a small bed in the living room. That's what I'll do, Austin told me. This room gets the best light. We turned to the windows, but the light was already gone. That we could be quiet together so soon, and without strain, felt auspicious. So you've run away from home, she said at one point.

There was something about our interaction that reminded me of friendships from my childhood, in which no question was off-limits. On religion, she claimed to be an atheist. I admitted to being haunted by the ghosts of a Roman Catholic upbringing. She said her sisters believed in hell and worried about her soul. Austin, though, seemed afraid of nothing, least of all death. I said I was still afraid of the dark. Living alone, she said, it can make you funny.

I laughed but changed the subject, telling her I would like to see her paintings. Later, crossing the road back to my Craigless sublet, I wondered what I was doing. I reminded myself of my plan, hiding out, staying in the dream of the book. I wasn't here to socialize. I could finish a draft in a few months and head back home. Besides, if I wanted a friend during my retreat, I would find someone my age to throw back beers with,

gin and tonics with an old lady in her garden, and that was not the plan. But there I was the next weekend having dinner with her, and then it was every weekend. Austin's older friends seemed confused. Is he helping you with a computer? One asked. When I first started talking about Austin

to my out-of-town friends, they assumed I'd found a new boyfriend. Austin's a woman, I would say. Besides, she's in her 80s. She's just a pal. Even as they replied, that's cool. I could almost hear them thinking,

must be slim pickings out in Oregon. What was perplexing, I suppose, was not that two people of such different ages had become friends, but that we had essentially become best friends. Others regarded our devotion as either strange or quaint, like one of those unlikely animal friendships, a monkey and a pigeon perhaps. Admittedly, when I would spot us in a mirror, I saw how peculiar we were. This vivacious, white-haired imp in her bright colors and chunky-style jewelry sitting with a dark-haired man

and his drab, earth-tone sweaters, and Clark Kent glasses. Maybe I looked like some nerdy jigolo or this woman's attentive secretary. If we made no sense from the outside, it didn't matter. We were mostly looking at each other. One night, Austin chatted about her life

as a middle-aged wife in academia. I completely missed out on the wildness of the 60s, she said. I told her I'd missed out too. You weren't born yet, she said, or hardly. Often we cooked together, as we had that first night, after which she would show me whatever painting she was working on. At her request, I also started reading to her from my book in progress. We gave each other feedback, our work improved.

When my six-month lease was up, I renewed it. The novel wasn't finished, plus I couldn't imagine a better neighbor. Before I knew it, three years had passed. I was writing seven days a week and spending most evenings with Austin. Sometimes she had spells of vertigo now, and when we walked together, she held my arm. Often she couldn't find the right word for something. When she wanted to keep away visitors so she could paint, she hung aside on her studio door. Do not destroy.

Soon the headaches came, and more jumbled language. I need to screw my calls, she said. meaning she needed to screen them. We laughed, then sobered. Tests were scheduled. Now she is eight months into what the doctors say is a quick ravaging illness deep in her brain. They say there is no stopping it.

A year more if she's lucky. Even as I refuse to believe this, I prepare for it. How? By keeping my promise to her. A few months before her diagnosis, Austin had attended a wedding. She showed me a copy of the vows, which had been distributed at the ceremony,

a detailed list. I read it carefully at Austin's bidding. We were sitting in a car waiting for our favorite Thai restaurant to open. I never had anything like that with the men in my life, she said, pointing to the vows. We loved each other, but we didn't have that.

She was crying now, something she rarely did. I took her hand and said, well, you have it with me. everything but the sex, at which point the monkey kissed the pigeon. That night, I had an odd realization. Some of the greatest romances of my life have been friendships. And these friendships have been in many ways,

more mysterious than erotic love, more subtle, less selfish, more attuned to kindness. Of course, Austin was going to die long before I did. That's not what this is about. This, I have come to understand, is a love story. Austin continued to paint for several months more, fractured psychedelic self-portraits and scorching colors, her best work.

Lately, though, she is tired and hardly leaves a couch. I sit with her, at the opposite end, our legs intertwined. Read to me, she says. when I tell her the book is finished she tells me to read her something new but whenever I do she promptly falls asleep I don't leave though I stare out the window

Austin was right this room does get the best light recently her hair is thinned but she has a shock of white up front that a friend's daughter has died with a streak of fuchsia She looks like some punk girl I might have dated in high school. She had a bit more energy the last time I came to visit and said, Oh, Victor, I had the most wonderful dessert today.

Peaches in Connecticut. Have you ever had it? No, I said smiling. I love the idea of it. Two things that don't seem to go together. Monkeys and pigeons. Peaches in Connecticut. Unlikely, yes.

but delicious beyond measure. Such a beautiful, beautiful essay. Tell me your thoughts. How did that feel to read? Well, I, you know, I think that for me, as I mentioned before, you know, when you read about great loves, it always seems to be about a romantic relationship.

And I just love that these are two people that have found each other. And they just, and they're the one for each other. I don't know. I think what's so great about this relationship is they just sort of slip into kind of a life together. And I don't know. I just, I, I want that. Yeah. I'm surrounded by people in romantic relationships.

And it's not what I'm looking for, at least not right now. And so when I see somebody that finds, first of all, it gives me hope that you can always find somebody. They may not look like what you think you're going to, what you're going to want or what you're going to need. It reminds me to stay open. you know the part where they talk about sitting on the couch and their legs intertwined is like to have that kind of intimacy with somebody without the expectation of a romance is it's just it just hits me right in my heart i don't know i'm moved and i have this you know new neighbor and she's she's great and i can tell

that she really misses the person that live there before me and not that you know she's Austin or anything like that, but I just think about the possibility of keeping yourself open and not running away from it. Because look at the great reward. Look at the great reward between Victor and Austin. And it is a thing, too. It's like when all your friends are in relationships, you sort of, and you're like nobody's emergency contact, you know, it can feel a little lonely. But there are other people out there that might be the same and looking for the same. And looking for This is looking, you know, there might be a lid from my pot. Yeah.

I'm like, you know, I hate that expression. But, you know, maybe my lid comes in the version of a lady with some comfortable slip-on shoes. Check me out at my mailbox. Your new neighbor. I was going to say that the fact that you are keeping yourself open to this friendship with your neighbor lady. No, I'm trying. You're trying. But that's breaking the no new people rule.

You're breaking the no new people rule, which is beautiful and amazing and brave and human and all of those things. Yeah, and I just love that, you know, that she's like, okay, 430. You know, like, she's... She's bringing him in. And what does she say, you know, you don't have the luxury, you know, like later is for people... Who have time. Who have time. And honestly, like, the amount of loss I've experienced over the last few years, it's...

We don't always have time, so... Yeah. You know what? So have the gin and tonic. Have the gin and tonic while you can. Absolutely. We'll be right back. You know, you're right back.

You know, you're speaking about this neighbor, and I want to ask, too, like reading this essay, obviously, the friendship between Victor and Austin feels very similar to the, or not similar, but it reminds me it has resonances of the friendship between Sam, your character, and somebody somewhere, and Joel, her best friend. And I wonder, too, like, is there anyone in your real life where you read this essay and you're thinking about, you know, this friend? Specifically, no, I mean, there's somebody when it comes to Joel that reminds me, you know, I did have what I thought was this person, and then, you know, they, they, they, they, they,

And there's still, you know, we're still very close, you know, still one of my best friends. But, you know, but I miss that, you know, because then, you know, he's in a relationship now and it just changes. And Sam says that to Joel, like, it's never going to, it's not going to be the same. Right. It doesn't mean that you can't, you know, we still have a very valuable relationship, but, but I just think this was that. Huh. And it changed. And it changed. You know, it's so interesting that you said.

And that's okay. Yeah, I was going to say, how did you. Yeah, of course it's okay. I was awful when it did, but it's so interesting what you're saying, because as much as you're willing to share, I feel like that's something I can relate to. I think many listeners can read to it, and you said it's really freaking hard. It is. How did you get through that?

Like, what did you tell yourself? I mean, it took me a long time. I was really reactionary and immature. And, like, but he, and you know, and at first they kind of disappeared together. And that's also okay. Like, I understand both sides of it, like, why you want to get lost in a romantic relationship. And, you know, you think your friends are always going to be there. But I've kind of always been that person for people.

I've always kind of been like, she'll be there. And after a while, you start to kind of, it affects you. And, like, it's like you don't want to feel like the second or third string. You know, it's just like you can't help feel that way. But I also don't think that just because somebody's in a romantic relationship, that that means that you can't be a focal, you know, a, I'm trying to think a word. Yeah, a focal point in their life. Yeah, you're just not the only one anymore. Yeah, and so you have to kind of acclimate and adjust.

And sometimes you need your friend to let you know that, you know, that, you know, they have this new wonderful romantic relationship and great. And I am, I am happy. for my friend and Sam is happy for Joel but like you know sometimes you need to know that you matter you know it's accepting that you might not always be as primary to someone as they are to you yeah and the truth is a lot of my friendships are like you know if I ask them to do something they're like well let me check with you know so and so first and I understand that you have a life together of course but it does make if you if everybody's around he's kind of like that thing you start to feel like, well, I'm just like, you know, I'm here when it's convenient for other people,

and it hurts. Yeah. So seeing something like this is like, it just is, it's a dream and it gives me a lot of hope. I love what you said that, you know, I asked you, what can you do as the friend who feels like the backup or whatever? And what you said is, it's really good for them to let you know you matter. Right, because it feels like it's always up to the person that's like, Unattached.

That's unattached to kind of adapt and sort of, and you do and you should, obviously. Yeah. But I don't know. I'm probably being selfish, but I do not think you're being selfish at all. I mean, there's no, all these people and refresh it. Yeah, put it on, be like, I said it. No, but I think that's so, it's kind of a perfect distillation. I mean, a simple one, but I think a true one of what friendship can be,

it's just looking someone in eyes and saying you matter. You matter to me. You will always matter to me. Yeah, that feels to me like that is what friendship is. Yeah, and I think there, you know, something like that happens in this season with Sam and Joel and like, and she needs it. Yeah. Can you describe a moment where you really felt sure that you matter to a friend? Like was there something someone did or said where you felt that?

Yeah, I think my friends know that I. You know, they, they tell me they love me. I know they do. I know that, I know that they do. But it's also up to me to hear it, you know? And that's... But what do you mean by that? Well, I mean, I have to be able to take it in. And it's, you know, it's challenging sometimes. Yeah. I was just with Mary Catherine who plays Trisha and my sister on the show and we used to be roommates and, you know, and she said something to me. She's like, she's like, you know, I love you, right? And I was like, I was like, you know, I'd had a couple of margarineas and I was like, don't try to unpack my, me right now.

But she's, you know, she's a great friend and she's always done a lot. My friend Zach has really invested a lot of time into. making me hear it. So. And I think that's kind of the most important part that you have to, you have to let it in. Yeah, it's not easy. You know what I'm thinking, too, with, you know,

people have expectations when we get older and we enter into romantic relationships that, like, friendship will become less important, right? It's just, like, lower down on the hierarchy. It's less important than, you know, your spouse or your kids or your job or whatever. A whole host of things. Right.

How can we cultivate close friendships in our adulthood when there's so much else competing for our time or for our friend's time? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, I guess that, you know, my dream is to be, to have a central, you know, be central in a friend's life again. And I don't know. I just, I love all my friends. I don't want to, you know, I don't want them to listen to. Oh, my God, you sound like it.

I don't want them to list of this and think anything, you know, less than that. But when my friends are making me a priority, it matters. Yeah. Because it is like all those things you say, like there's just life sweeps people up. And sometimes the friendships, you know, they become a backseat. And it's not that way for Sam and Joel. And that's what I love. I feel like it's fantastic.

see. And it's so true that it's, it's so clear rather that it's, it's not that way for you. And I think, I mean, not together, you know, a bit cheesy with it, but I think there are a lot of people who feel that way about friendships. And I do think that somebody somewhere helps those people feel very seen. As you say, those, those stories are, we have so many romantic comedies where it's, you know, girl meets guy, a girl makes girl, a guy meets guy, whatever. But it's, romantic love and the connective thing about your show is that that love story is a friendship. Yeah, and learning to, and that it is central, but it's also just then how you can both go about your lives with keeping each other at the forefront, you know, at the core, yeah. My final question, you near the end of this essay, Victor tells Austin that their relationship has everything but sex.

And he realizes that, quote, the greatest romances of my life have been friendships. What do you think about the idea of using romance to describe a friendship, that word? Does it work? Do we need better words? No, I love it. I love it. I say that all the time. I'm like, you know, with Sam and Joel, like, they fall in love with each other. And it is a romance. It is like you can get swept off your feet by a friend and you don't have, just because, you know, there's. there may not be the sex involved, you are in love with them in some degree. Bridget Everett, thank you so much. This was such a lovely and affirming conversation.

I really appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate you having me in. The Primetime Emmy Awards will air on September 14th on CBS. And you can find a link to Victor Lodato's essay when your greatest romance is a friendship in our show notes. Modern Love is produced by Riva Goldberg, Davis Land, Emily Lang, and Amy Pearl. It's edited by Lynn Levy and our executive producer, Jen Poyant.

Production Management by Christina Josa. The Modern Love theme music is by Dan Powell, original music in this episode by Rowan Nemistow, Dan Powell, Amin Sahota, and Diane Wong. This episode was mixed by Daniel Ramirez and Afim Shapiro, with studio support from Maddie Masiello and Nick Pittman. Special thanks to Mahima Chablani and Jeffrey Miranda and to our video team, Brooke Minters, Sawyer Roque, and Eddie Costas.

The Modern Love column is edited by Daniel Jones. Mia Lee is the editor of Modern Love Projects. If you want to submit an essay or a tiny love story to the New York Times, we've got the instructions in our show notes. I'm Anna Martin. Thanks for listening. Thank you.