The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Jeanne Tripplehorn

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

Jeanne Tripplehorn (The Terminal List) joins Andy Richter to talk about getting her start on the radio, crying through Juilliard, rejecting classic acting techniques, and more.

Hi, Andy Wendter here, and I'm here today with Jean Triplehorn, who we have been enjoying your work for a while now. You have been keeping working. That's not easy in this business. No, I'm fairly consistent. I've dropped out a couple of times. When you dropped out,

is it on purpose? Are there children involved and things like that? Yeah. A healthy dropout. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a healthy dropout. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Sometimes you need to. And not even for kids. No. I mean, when I grew up, my mom always instilled the mental health day.

There were times that she would let me stay home from school because you're having a mental health day. That's nice that she had language for it too, because we just called it playing hooky. Then it developed. My mental health days as a teenager became hooky. Yeah. Right, exactly. She did not know about the private mental health days.

Right, exactly. Now you're from Tulsa originally, right? Yeah, Tulsa. Do you still have a lot of family back there? Not so much, you know, as the years go by, my parents are both gone, but I definitely have my uncle and some cousins and some really good friends. Yeah. So I go back.

I try to go back. I mean, since COVID, it kind of blew everything out of the water. So I haven't, it's been, it's been about three years since I've been back, but I think it's important. Did you have an, did you have an accident you had to lose? I did. Yeah, I did. And so now when I, when I drink or if I'm really tired, it doesn't even really come back now as much at all, but it, it comes back easily. But yes, I did. I had quite an accident.

Yeah, that is one of the amazing effects of alcohol is returning to one's original patois, you know. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Was Tulsa a good place to grow up? It was fantastic. Yeah.

Yeah, it was a fantastic place to grow up. And yeah, I was born and raised there and left when I was about 22. And your dad's a musician, right? Yeah. Is that how he made his living, you know, throughout your youth. Yeah. Yeah. So you're in kind of a, you know, what I think, well, Tulsa, Tulsa's a nice city, but it's still kind of a conservative bastion. It is. Yeah. But Tulsa's a great kind of mix because you've got the conservatives, you've got, you know, the Christians, the conservative Christians and the fundamentalists. And then it had, you know, this music scene that, you know, the Tulsa Sound has this incredible musical, this incredible music history that my dad was a part of. He was one of the founding members of the Tulsa Sound along with, you know, J.J. Cale and Leon Russell. And I mean, he was in high school with Leon Russell

and some of the greatest musicians around. I'm trying to think like Jimmy Carstein and Carl Radel, who's a bass player on Derek and the Dominoes. And just an incredible music history. And he wasn't really in my life so much. He was definitely a musician and all that that meant. And he was on the road. And my parents were really young when they had me.

So he was still sowing his oats when I was little. So I only saw him twice a year. But, you know, I would always try to sneak in clubs later on, you know, when he was playing because the club scene in Tulsa was really great. And, you know, the rock scene there. So I was always trying to sneak into clubs to see my dad. Yeah. And then later on, I became a DJ at a rock radio station there, which was really fun and did that seriously for many years. So that's I mean, it sounds like there's, you know, creative weirdness going on, at least.

Did you the best creative weirdness? Yeah, that is a great way to that's a great way to say it. best creative weirdness yeah that is a great way to that's a great way to say it yeah because oklahoma you know like it's always amazing to me that like uh the guy wayne i can't remember his last name from the flaming lips oh yeah yeah coin exactly no it's always been in oklahoma city and it's just you think like so you know and it's you don't think of that. You know, you think that all the kind of. I come weirdos are. Yeah, I mean, I'm a victim of Liverpool. Right. Right.

You know what I mean? But they didn't stay there. You know what I didn't say? I didn't stay there. I didn't. Yeah, you didn't stay there. Yeah. And a lot of people didn't.

I mean, Leon, he moved, you know, after a certain point. I think Wayne, God bless him. You know, God bless him that he's, you know, holding court there. Yeah. And a lot of people didn't. I mean, Leon, he moved, you know, after a certain point, I think Wayne, God bless him, you know, God bless him that he's, you know, holding court there. Yeah. But I, but I feel like, um, yeah, a lot of these smaller towns are where weirdness breeds. And I remember moving to New York years later and I could handle, I could handle any weirdness. I was living on the Lower East Side. I was going to acting school and I could handle, I could handle any weirdness. I was living on the Lower East Side. I was going to acting school and I could handle a lot. And I feel like Tulsa really prepared me because it got weird in Tulsa and it got extreme and people would laugh like you're from Tulsa. It's like, oh, you guys, you're not serving up anything I haven't tasted before.

You're not serving up anything I haven't tasted before. Yeah, yeah. And so does it feel, though, like when you're part of a scene? Well, I mean, did your mom have a creative bent to her? She did. I mean, she wrote on the side. She was a writer, but she was a schoolteacher. She taught fourth grade, second grade. And did you have siblings? I did. did you have siblings i did yeah i have my brother jason he's um a drummer and um computer artist uh you know

electronic artist in austin he moved to austin yeah yeah yeah, Austin's the other center of sort of Southern Western weirdness. And he was in the punk scene, the sort of hardcore scene in Tulsa when he was a teenager and into his 20s before he moved to Austin. And there was a huge hardcore scene. So I, I, I mean, I, I had it all. Yeah. It was great. Did you now did that, did you fit in, in high school as a kid? Yeah. Oh no, I did not fit into high school so much. I mean, I had my friends, but as far as the popular kids, they didn't know what to think of me because at the time, think of me because at the time um i was at the time i was um well i was the youngest dj female dj in america and uh they wow i was according to radio and records that's awesome how old were you uh i think i was around 15 and wow yeah at a commercial radio station. KMOD in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

How does that come about? Well, I started, and I think when I was 12 or 13 years old, I used to call into a radio station and I would play different characters. You know, they would have call-ins, and it was definitely, you know, AM radio, hi, you're on the air. Right, right, right. It was K-A-K-C. video. Hi, you're on the air. It was K-A-K-C. And he was the sweetest guy. And I would, you know, we didn't have anything else to do. So I'd go over to my girlfriend's house and we would just spend all our time dialing in. And he finally figured out that these people that he was talking to was actually coming from the same two girls, same two girls. And so I started to become

characters that he would appear on his show. And then he I mean, God love him. He was so sweet. He said, Well, if you want to come and learn about radio, come visit me. Well, my mom, she would wait outside and and let me go to the radio station and hang out with him. And he showed me, you know, all the knobs. This was, you know, the old days. And he would show me all the equipment. And so I started to get my license, my FCC license, because you had to have one back then. Right, right.

And the month, I want to say the month that I was about to take it, they, you know, they went away with those rules. So I didn't have to have it. And my mom, you had to know how to work the equipment in the old days. Like they expected you to know how to actually do the broadcasting. Yeah. Wow. You were part engineer. Exactly. Yeah. So, um, but I was ready. I mean, I studied for it and then then I was talking with my mom and I just said, you know, I need a job and I don't want to be a waitress. And I don't. She said, well, she said, you should just pursue, you know, radio. And I listened to KMOD, which was the big rock station and still is in Tulsa.

And I said, I could never. I mean, that's, it's KMOD and, um, and it was very free form rock then, you know, it was very like the rainbow station, deep cuts, you know, and, uh, iron butterfly and the God of DeVita and all that. And that's only when you had to go to the bathroom. That's when you,

Oh, I've got a list of great bathroom songs, not to mention free bird. The live version. Right. Exactly. Um, but,

uh, yeah. And, and it got a DeVita and there was, uh, in stranglehold, Ted Mugen was a good one. Um,

but, uh, unfortunately now. yeah reasons i got now it's so sad when it goes that way i know i know because he does have there's a he's got a couple of songs that fucking rock and it's like snakeskin cowboys but you can't yeah it just does it takes the fun away from it no more fun you you You went out, you had to go and ruin it. Yeah. Kill it and grill it.

Yeah. But anyway, so I applied and I got a part-time position at KMOD and it was the greatest job in the world. And then that rolled into, by the time I graduated from high school, I still didn't know what I want to do. I went to, you know, University of Tulsa, but I was also still working at the radio station. And I quit college, I quit TU about the first semester in and they offered me the morning show, which at the time, I was going up against all the old standard, you know, talk radio traffic, you know, the morning shows. I was in morning in competition and we were bought by Clear Channel Communications back

in the early days. And Jeff Pollack became our consultant. So I was there when we went from freeform radio into having consultants and all of a sudden you couldn't play what you wanted to play anymore, which was kind of a drag because that was half of the personality. Yeah, you got to play what you wanted to play. And it was great. It was a great job. Did you sound like a 15-year-old or did you have the pipes and so nobody

nobody really knew no no no i was very it was very low and very very fm and no static at all were you jean triple horn or no i was genie summers genie summers oh that's fantastic yeah i was gonna say how could you be Jean Triplehorn? You know, like on the, you know, Jeannie Summers. It was such a great job. And I had the greatest boss. His name was Charlie West. And he was so patient because I was so young.

And I was still like I was 18 years old, barely, when I moved in the morning. And so I would be going out until 3 in the morning to all these great Tulsa clubs. And it was also the 80s. So I wasn't really sort of into rock and roll. I was very, you know, into Adamant and In Excess and New Wave. Me too, same, yeah. So I'd be at all the clubs until three in the morning. And then I had this, there was a woman that was on before me, the overnight shift, Teresa, and she would give me a wake up call in the morning to in order to come on the air at six o'clock. And, and I had this news guy, his name was Matt. And one morning, and she kind of got tired of it, because there were a couple of times that I was late, and she would have to stay beyond her shift, which she'd already been on for six hours.

And so Charlie said to Teresa, he said, next time she does this, you put on a record and just go, just leave. So one morning, you know, the phone was ringing. I was like, yeah, OK, I'll be there. And I fell back asleep. And then I woke up. I was supposed to be on okay, I'll be there. And I fell back asleep. And then I woke up. I was supposed to be on the air at six and it was 620. And I went, oh my God, she hasn't called. And I turn on the radio and all I hear is, I just hear the needle. And I got in my car and I bolted to the radio station and I would have been fired except for my news guy, Matt, for the first time in his life had overslept.

So I learned how to how to not be late. Yeah, yeah. That's good. That's good. People management, though, to let you kind of, you know. He knew. I mean, I was so young and it was just he was mort. How mortifying it would be to turn on the radio and hear the clicking of an LP. I slid into my seat and I acted, I was like a cat. I didn't mean, you know, I meant to do that. I slid into my seat, put on my headphones, turned on the microphone, and that was Bob Seger on KMOD. Like nothing had ever happened we got traffic coming up in just a minute yeah yeah well it also sounds like it also sounds like you were lucky too because I mean I know a little bit about the radio business and it's kind of full of creeps

and for an 18 year old female to be at a radio station oh Oh, it was the, it was the early days of hashtag me too. Yeah. It really was. It was a minefield. It was a minefield because I was also hanging out with the rock stars that would come to town. So, but again, Charlie, my program director was very protective and, you know, you had to watch me every second because it was crazy. I mean, it really was.

I'm not going to out anybody, but it was crazy. Right. Do you develop defensive skills pretty quickly that way? Charm. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Small way. Charm.

Charm. Oh, you silly thing. Right. Oklahoma charm. Charm. Oh, you silly thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah. Charm. Well, now why am I not talking to a DJ then? Well, you probably are.

I mean, but no, I mean like a current DJ. Why did, what kept you, you I mean from such early success in radio why did not that not continue I just didn't I mean there was nothing what is the David Bowie I am a DJ I am what I play I mean I just it wasn't creative enough for me I could only I you know I did characters on my morning show you know I was really an actor at heart. I loved to perform. While I was doing this, by the way, I don't know how I did it. I was also acting at night.

I was doing plays around town and things. I had a TV show that I would tape during the day. What the what? That's what I'm saying. When I moved to New York, honestly, I, I work. I know what I'm saying. When I moved to New York, I honestly, I was, I was on vacation. I, I, I had worked so hard. Right. You were Tulsa's media darling. Yeah, I really was. I, I, and Tulsa was so great to me, which is why I love it. They, they just laughed at everything I did and accepted everything I did. And everywhere I went, you know, hey, Jeannie. It's still when I

go back, people are so kind because I was everywhere. I was in the morning. I had a TV show at night and I did characters. And right up until I left, I mean, I did this TV show. We used the ABC sports track. It was on our ABC affiliate and we had local bands. It was very much like Saturday Night Live. In fact, they said, we have good news. We have bad news. The good news is you replace Saturday Night Live and you beat Saturday Night Live locally. But the bad news is we're replacing you with Westerns. And and I moved like four months later, I moved to New York. Wow. That's really incredible. So you were a celebrity then. You must have gotten somewhat used to like, you know, having meals interrupted and, you know, and not being able to grocery store. I mean, did you, you know, was it, you know, because I mean, when you're looked at, I mean, you're probably familiar with what it's like where you do feel a little bit sort of. Yeah.

So I don't know. Everybody's always been very nice to me i don't they were nice then and and they've been nice ever since so i'm kind of i don't have a pollyanna attitude i mean not everybody's nice but yeah yeah i've been you know knock on wood i i everybody's i i sort of everybody's been very kind. And in Oklahoma, they were just lovely. You know, Hey darling. Oh, that was funny yesterday. I got to see for it. Come on over here. I mean, it was just, just home. That's wonderful. That's really great. Because then I imagine, like you say,

going to New York is kind of easy then, you know, you're going, you know, it's like having a loving family, all the benefits that that gives you out in the world. And the experience, I mean, my, my work experience, just, it prepared me, Tulsa prepared me for everything still to this day, you know, thinking on my feet. And I, it's funny because I don't think people realize I have this arsenal in my pocket of, of, you know, what I did there that I could still do. But people, that's the one thing about when you have a certain amount of success is people pigeonhole you, you know, this is just horrible. So I don't think people really realize what I did. They have no idea. I don't really talk about it. Yeah. Do you ever consider

doing something like, you know, was a daytime talk show ever talked about or you have any interest in like this wonderful world of podcasting? No, I still like to perform and I like to be characters. I mean, when I came to Los Angeles, I went to New York, lived on the Lower East Side, did that whole thing and went to Juilliard. And then I started doing movies and I came to Los Angeles. started doing movies and I came to Los Angeles. I had a little bit of that Tulsa when I did, you know, bits on the Ben Stiller show, did characters doing that.

And I, that was hearkening back to what I used to do. Yeah. When you went to New York, what, I mean, what were you, what was your plan? What did you see yourself went to New York, what, I mean, what were you, what was your plan?

What did you see yourself doing in New York? I wanted to go to acting school because when I was in Tulsa about a year before I left, I was doing theater at night. I was on that thing and I was doing theater at night and I was in the lobby of the theater and they had, I don't know, one of those theater, Theater Wing magazine or something. And it was, and the cover was the educated actor because this was the era of Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep and they all, you know, went to Yale. And, and, uh, so I thought, huh, I should, And so I thought, huh, I should, I mean, I tried to, I flew to New York.

I auditioned to be a VJ on MTV. You know, I tried to get out of Tulsa doing what I had been doing in variations. Like, you know, I loved MTV. So I thought, oh, I'll be a VJ. And that was the greatest job I never got. And then I thought, well, I'll move and I'll to go to school. And if I'm going to be an actor, I'm going to be the best actor I can be. And I'm going to be an educated actor. So I saved up my money and left the radio station.

I put on She's Leaving Home by the Beatles. That was my last song. A little cliche, I know. It's a little on the nose. It's on the nose. I i was gonna say goodbyes are always on the nose there's no subtlety in goodbyes could have been toto goodbye girl or whatever the song anyway um girl goodbye here um but um so then i moved to new york I lived on the Lower East Side, or in the East Village. I lived in the East Village and moved in with Teresa, who had been, she did overnight for the radio station. She had moved to New York. And so I lived with her. And I auditioned for Juilliard three weeks later. And then I found out a month later that I got in. So I started Juilliard in September of 86.

Oh, my God. Was the acting that you had done before that, was that based on acting classes? Or was it just sort of started with school and sort of spread into? Yeah, I was. Instinctual. Yeah, totally instinctual. I just I just did it. And and I loved it.

But I did. I wasn't skilled. I didn't have a technique. I didn't have it was just blind. It was just it was nerve wracking. I mean, it was really, you just didn't know. I mean, we could talk all the acting techniques, but there was no motivation. There was no, there were no, I just stepped out on stage and I mean, I got into it. I loved it. But there was no

skill set. I did not have a method. I didn't have a technique. I didn't have an education. Was it, was that, I mean, did you, were you intimidated by that, by the process of technique? I was terrified. I was terrified. And really, you know, a little bit of an imposter syndrome, but not really. No, I take that back. I was nervous. I was really in a whole new competitive, it was New York. It was, and also when you're in acting class, you know, having to get up, it's very intimate. And I think the intimacy of an acting class, just, we laugh. I'm still very good friends with so many people from that class, especially Laura Lenny and I are still the best of friends.

I saw you guys do Peloton rides together. That was in part of my research. Was it? Yes, it was. We haven't done that since COVID. But yes, I wish she would do more with me and laura if you're listening um but uh she still laughs because i would you know you have to do these exercises and i would just walk in front of the class and burst into tears i was just crying i cried my way through juilliard because I was terrified. I was always terrified.

What is it like? What is it? What does an acting teacher do with a student that just gets up and cries? Just, you know, they start looking at their notes. Like just it's like a storm. It's like a cloud that'll pass. Wow. Yeah. Here she goes. Here she goes. All right. OK. And, you know, they'll send somebody else up. Gene, you want to sit out this one? Yeah. Well, okay. Yeah. Tim, get on up there. did you feel like your peers, like your fellow students were more advanced than you?

Like they had already this language and stuff? Yeah. Yeah. There were a lot of them had a lot of experience going into it. I mean, I had experience, but it was raw. It was just raw. Yeah.

Yeah. I guess there were. Was there any point where, was there a point at which you started to feel like, you know, because I mean, the naturalistic approach to acting is a very valid way that a lot of people work. Did you ever start to kind of feel where you got to hang for the technique and then thought like, Hey, you know, techniques nice, but you know,

I could also just be me. Like, did you, did you find out like going back to the way you initially did it was sort of working too? Yeah. I, I was really at odds. A lot of people are actually, because at the time, you know, there was the Julia, the, the actor who's got their enunciation. And I really, I really bucked against that because for that very reason, I just thought this isn't how real people talk, but they were preparing you really for the stage. So they wanted you to be heard. And I did. I had one great teacher and he said, I really don't want to push you because I don't want you to lose this other aspect of your personality and,

and, and your reality. I don't want you to lose that while you're trying to, to push the sound out and become an actor. I just, I, I really fought against becoming a master thespian. That was my biggest fear. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, I, I, sphere. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, I, I, I locked horns with some of the faculty and I was a little scrappy. Yeah. Because I mean, I mean, I'm a very, my, my, my training is all improv and then I would love, by the way,

I would love, I think it's an incredible skill it gives you nerve it gives you a poise you know it gives you sort of like feet firmly planted because you can if you get used to doing if you get used to doing shows where you know you're going to be on stage for an hour 90 minutes and you don't have no idea what you're going to say. And then you just get to where that's okay. And you can do that. You can do anything. You kind of can. So that's why, you know, when I have taken acting classes, I've always kind of felt like, I don't know. Don't you just, you know, you look at like, this guy is,

you know, like a Nazi dentist. All right. And I'm going to imagine what a Nazi dentist is like and know like a nazi dentist all right i'm gonna imagine what a nazi what a nazi dentist is like and act like that like you know and and i i always kind of feel like i've had actually arguments with actor types because i have said in the past about acting i said it's like being a good liar you know you're not a nazi dentist you know you're the best liar in the world yeah and i'm like no no it's about truth like not really because you're not a nazi dentist you know you're yeah you know so but you're not being honest with yourself you know if you really because you know you're not you're just it's the same thing as like

when you're with friends and you you decide i I don't know, you're going to like prank somebody and like go into a store and act like you have a French accent. You just think about all the little micro moves that you can make to make this person believe that you really are this person, this French person. Absolutely. That to me, that's acting you know you just creatively thinking about little control little like i say micro moves that make you believable that's right yeah i mean and that's but that's what i liked about this school because they didn't teach one particular technique like there's a whole method and I've since, you know, that's a whole conversation, but you know, I, I, I work best. That's how I like to work. I mean, which is just, you create your own

world and you live in that world. You just have to kind of give over to that world. That to me is the most exciting thing to kind of transcend and, you know, and go with that reality instead of, I think, you know, the method and pulling from yourself and all of that. I just read this book recently, which is why I'm talking about it. It's called The Method. And it's actually a fascinating book about the history of acting, the history of method acting. And I definitely, when I closed it, I thought, well, definitely not, you know, not for me. Unless I was doing a stage show and I was on performance 500, then yes, I'm going to start pulling stories from the past to kind of help get me through the night. But I love like that.

I'm going to be a Nazi dentist and you know, this is, this is the world and just go with it and believe it. It's, but that's what I also love about improv is the yes. And that I love, I love that technique, that concept of just going with what is given to you and learning with it. Yeah. And then, very applicable in life, too, that if you say yes to things, it opens doors rather than closing doors, you know. A thousand percent.

Yeah. That was always when I was, you know, because it would be a very sort of mixed bag in terms of level of improv skill back in the old days. And I became, there were a couple of groups when I was in where there were some people that weren't so, weren't so great, like maybe didn't pay attention in class or just didn't really grasp the material. And they would go on stage,

they'd be brave and go on stage. And then everybody backstage would look at me like like i was like i was the remedial improviser that would you know um but those kind of people it was just you could just if you just smothered them with agreement you you couldn't lose you know like it's like uh you know you say like you know what can i do for you today and they say why are you talking to me like that bob we've been married for 10 years. And you go, Oh, I don't know, honey. I just thought we could, you know, spice it up. You know, you know, you just agree and agree and agree.

And no matter how much they deny and it, you know, it's a, all you improvisers out there just kill them with, kill them with agreement. Kill them with agreement. Yeah. It's a metaphor for life. That's true. Now, is Juilliard, were you in part, was this like a trade thing or was this a bachelor's degree sort of thing? Back then, it was just a diploma. They did have a bachelor's program. I think it's since changed.

They had a bachelor's program, but I felt so sorry, like the youngest people in our class got a bachelor's because clearly their parents were saying, no, we're not sending you to Juilliard. You have to get a degree. And there was no communication between the bachelor's department and Juilliard. So these poor people, you know, they would have some big presentation and their English department would throw a 500, you know, word or a huge essay on them the night before there was no, there was no communication. So, but now it's a, um, I think you get a bachelor's degree just to make it livable too and to sort of arrange the work

and applicable to yeah and to be able to translate into the real world yeah but i have a diploma that's good that's good just in case you know just in case back to radio yeah you know, you got that. Look. Yeah. I'm diploma. I have. At what point, like, do you, do you, do you know that you're going to be able to do this for a living while you're there? I mean, or does it, does it take a few actual jobs before you believe it? You mean back then or now? back back then i mean i know it's there's always the doubt there's always like yeah yeah it doesn't it never leaves you

it sure doesn't it sure doesn't no back then um i don't know that's what's so great about youth. You just believe it. You just go for it. And I was truly, I was very, very lucky. But I was always, I don't know, I just never stopped. I just never stopped. I graduated from school and, you know, less than a week later, I was on a train down to Atlanta and I did this TV movie and yeah, I just, I, I just never stopped. I did plays at the public theater and then I started doing movies and just, it's what I do. It's what I do. How did you, when you started doing movies,

well, and I mean, I don't know, when you left Juilliard, what kind of acting did you want to do? Theater? I wanted to do movies. Yeah, they're different. They're different. And I wanted to do theater,

and I did theater, right? When I got out, I did a couple of plays at the Public, and that was where I wanted to be. the public, you know, Joe Papp and seemed the most, you know, working in film and television was the most obvious choice for me. I was raised on movies. Yeah. I loved movies. I loved old Hollywood.

I loved that. Yeah. I do think, you know, it's. If I'd grown up in New York, I would have wanted to do theater, you know. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. You know, I mean, yeah. Yeah. Anywhere else.

Anywhere else. When you think of acting, you think of movies. Movies are the driving force. The same way. Yeah. Because I, you know, I went to film school and I ended up and that was all. It was all just because I was kind of. And where did you grow up? I grew up in Illinois and I went to, I went to film school in

Chicago. I started out at University of Illinois and like just liberal arts and sciences. Yeah. Did the last two years in film school because I was drawn to film and I was drawn to like, but I, you know, there were, it was all breakdowns of compromises of admitting that I really wanted to perform but that was you know but that was just to toot your own hornish you know so yeah you know so I know you know when in film school I started acting in student films because nobody knows any actors and if you're halfway decent then you get in other student films right um and then i started doing improv and and it did but i i i've done some kind of plays but i don't really it's like that's not what i set out to do you know and it's and it's not yeah and it's not the kind of acting i wanted to do either because it

is and that's what i was yeah that's what i was coming up against at juilliard which was just how do you maintain this inner life and this this trend i just call it kind of transcending where you're you know this other character but at the same time you're having to project and it's an art it is a talent and. And I did it, but it was exhausting. You know, I was always, and I would do it again. I mean, I would love to do theater again, but it was really, it was a tightrope. the the the the technique of of of what is what do you call it um what's the word projecting versus yeah being yeah yeah yeah i did it i did a movie because i mean my my acting was all get a job and then go, okay, I guess I better come through here and do this and then learn on my feet about it. But like,

I did a movie with Richard gear and we had a scene. It was a movie called Dr. T and the women of Robert Altman movie, which I'm, Oh my God. Yeah. Such a thrill that I, Robert Altman was truly one of my heroes in film school and then you know I the literally the phone rang one day I knew that they were thinking of me for this thing phone rings it's like hey Andy it's Bob Altman like what what but so I did this movie Richard Gere's the star of it and and we're supposed to be hunting buddies And there's a scene that's kind of like a, it's like a low key sort of almost confessional kind of scene.

So what year was this? This would have been about 19, well, no, like 99, 2000, something like that. Oh my God, I have to go watch this. Yeah, it's okay. I think some movies Robert Altman did just to keep the plate spinning. Right. And then there was, you know it's i think so i think some movies robert altman did just to keep the plate spinning right you know and then there was you know because and some of those plates dropped yeah well it's just it's very light it's a very it's a kind of ends up being feeling like a very light movie

you know but then he does career was experimental so yeah but then he does Gosford Park, you know, two movies after that. Yeah. Which is just just every single tiny bit is just poised. And whereas this movie just is kind of like everybody do whatever you want, which is great. And it was a lot of fun. But, you know, there's like 15 people in the cast. So that's, you know, I mean, if you're throwing a party, that's great. And it's kind of like a party, but. Throw a camera on it. Yeah.

Yeah. But we had this, like I say, it was this scene. We're in the woods. We're sort of me and two. It was four of us. And Richard Geers at one end and I'm at the other end. And he and I are having a conversation. And I could not hear a word the man said throughout the entire day we're doing

this scene and I'm doing my lines and then I just kind of could hear like and I would stop when you know like I'd say my line when I would hear him stop talking and I just thought like this can't this is this can't be like good and then and then when i see the dailies of it because that was a big thing everybody got together to watch the dailies yeah the dailies and it's like oh no that's per he's doing it perfect he's a fucking and and it's not like you're just seeing like oh no he's doing it perfectly and he's a fucking movie star like all caps movie star, like doing 10 times better than I was over there worrying about being heard. And it just, and it was just like such a lesson of like, oh yeah, you don't have to do much of anything because you're, you're acting for someone that's sitting

right next to you, not for either. It's a theater full of people, whether it's live or whether it's in a movie theater. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, you know, it's a big difference. And it's why theater acting, I always, you know, whenever people ask, you know, it's like, and like I say, I have done some plays and they've been like, I was in a couple of David Sedaris things, which are really fun. And not, you know, and they certainly aren't like you know you're not it's checkoff yeah exactly it's yeah it's not checkoff um so but yeah i just i just like it so much better and i like i like the little the little vagabond crew running around and a bunch of like living in

little trailers and having you know like one truck be full of cameras and one truck be full of. It's the circus. It's so much fun. It is so magical, you know, it really is. And did you feel that right away when you started? Oh,

yeah. Was that TV movie? The first, the first thing I did was this TV movie the first film work that you did? Yeah, that was the first thing I did. It was this TV movie called The Perfect Tribute. And it was with Campbell Scott and Jason Robards. And so that was incredible. And then I went back to New York and I was doing a couple of plays. Pity She's a Whore at the public. And John Patrick.

That was Val Kilmer was in that, right? Yeah, yeah. Val Kilmer and Jared Harris. Wow. It was, yeah, it was incredible. And yeah, and then, you know, Basic Instinct came along. And I actually had another movie that I was supposed to do. This was so, this was a life lesson.

I, my first big film was actually supposed to be a movie about, it was a movie about Dylan Thomas and I was going to play his, you know, young lover, like, you know, and then, so I get over there and I go to London and I get my hair cut and, you know young lover like you know and then uh so i get over there and i go to london i get my hair cut and you know into this 50s style and i i get over to uh you know cardiff wales and i'm in a hotel and i think uh the gulf war we were it was just surreal time you you know. Yeah. And I'm in my hotel room. I think I got sick for a while, but they just kept me in my hotel room. I was fitted for my costume.

I was ready to go. And every day they would call and say, Jean, I'm not feeling well today. So, you know, I think, you know, we'll film tomorrow. And I waited. And this went on for two weeks. Jean, hi. I think we'll start tomorrow. Just sit tight.

And we'll get back with you. Just sit tight. Next day, same thing. And the movie ended up, for whatever reason, it never went. They pulled the plug, and it was not a movie. And I just learned then just how – You couldn't get anybody to update you? Like, agents didn't have any information?

No. Wow. No, this was, yeah, this was, like, the early 90s. So it was faxes and, you know, the time change. And I just remember Seal, the song Crazy, over and over on European MTV. It was just like, and we're never going to survive. My hotel room. But yeah, so I learned also how fragile movie making is.

And it ain't a movie until you're sitting in the theater with the popcorn. That's right. Don't count on it for one second. Anyway. I would say it's, it's not a job until you get a call time or they send a car, you know, everything can just vaporize.

And even then. Yeah. Even then. Yep. Yep. Well, now the first year, your first the big feature role that where you kind of start to pop is basic, basic instinct. Right. Yeah. And and what does that do to your life?

And well, I mean, what was making the movie like? And I mean, because it was, you know, it was. Yeah, it was. It was like mean because it was you know it was yeah it was controversial it was like a cultural icon you know yeah it was a little it was really overwhelming it was really really overwhelming and um but i'm you know i'm i'm thankful to paul verhoeven i mean because by that time i was 27 or 28 so i was kind of a little behind in the, you know, I, I, I spent a lot of time at school and so I was a little behind. So this kind of, you know, got me caught up. I was, you know, I was on the map and I was working and, but it was heady. It was a really heady time. Um, yeah, it was, it was, it was very overwhelming. Life was moving very fast,

but in the meantime, I was always going to Tulsa as much as I could and just mowing my mom's lawn. And I really, that's where Tulsa came in handy. I remember coming back from Cannes or something, and I got, I'd been around the world and I'd been promoting, promoting the movie and, and I went straight to Tulsa and I lived there for like easily three weeks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can see it. I just, I just talked to Michael Sarah for this show or for this podcast. And, and he said after super bad, he said it was just so he went from one weekend to just be in whatever he was, 18 or whatever. And then the next weekend couldn't walk down the street without people yelling out their car window so that he said his normalcy was just being on set. Like that was where where he could just find some sense of where people where he didn't feel stared at and he didn't feel you know right right

it just felt normal like some sense of normal life yeah i never thought about it like that yeah yeah um well you also and at this time too this is when the ben stiller show happens because you and he were dating right how long were you guys together six or seven years wow yeah and and being able to do that was that sort of like a bit of a tonic for all the our relationship well no no i mean of just kind of like being from basic instinct and doing you know this serious movie and then and being in his and being silly yeah great oh yeah because like i said there was kind of that comedy and like, let's get together and make something funny kind of harkened back to my Tulsa days. So I felt right at home. And there was just so many incredibly talented people.

And I met all these new friends. And they weren't so highfalutin Hollywood. You know, it was like Janine Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk and just like really great people. It was a really, yeah, it was a great group of people. So, so damn talented. Yeah. Yeah. And is, which has been born. I just, I just listened to Bob Odenkirk's book, the, you know, comedy, comedy, comedy, drama. And I listen to it because I I not only want him to write me a book, I need him to read it to me, too.

I bet I should read. Actually, Ben texted me and he was reading it. And and I thought I'm either going to read it or i'm gonna go on a road trip very soon and i'm gonna yeah yeah because i think hearing bob's melefluous tones he's got such a great voice right and the chicago parts are good with a chicago accent too right right um well now you know you start to really kind of, you know, you're in the firm, you're in water world, you know, you're in big hits and then big sort of like, you know, that just these, you know, water world must have been. It was so magnificent. Such an experience because you're never going to be in anything more. Never.

And I knew it. More grandiose, you know and it was kind of the last days of disco in terms of you know having before technology really took over and crowd multiplications and you know all of that yeah where you yeah yeah we had all the people we and they were on jet skis so we had we it was so cecil b demille i mean it was just so big and and the atll that we were working on was the largest at the time, was the largest freestanding floating structure in the world. And it was just so big. And it was such a physical production. Just to get to the set was an act of several boats and maybe like a couple of laps and and then filming underwater and not just filming in a tank we ended up having to reshoot and film in a tank

but we were we were filming underwater like in the middle of the ocean and the only reason why we had to reshoot is because it was a little murky under there i mean it was right right it was murky it's the ocean it's the ocean yeah yeah and and did you have a sense like did you have like did it feel like oh this is going to be a huge hit or did you kind of feel like i don't know you know i had a feeling it was it was so big and you know, the cast was incredible and I had a feeling it was going to be big. There was just so much attention. It was very much like basic instinct where there was all this attention during the filming and it only sets it up to be at least a spectacle at the very least.

Yeah. And you know, a Universal Studios attraction for many, many years. Which, I must admit, I have never been on. It's not there anymore. Well, it wasn't on. It was one of those shows. It's like a stunt show. But it's just like, some of those expected things, like, I've never seen

I'll make an admission. I'll tell you something. I've never seen the movie Oklahoma. Really? Yeah. Wow. I've never seen, I'll make an admission. I'll tell you something. Right, right, right. I've never seen the movie Oklahoma. Really? Yeah. Wow. I've never seen the movie Oklahoma. I could see you at many of their songs, but I've never seen the movie Oklahoma.

And I've never been on the Waterworld ride. So there you go. Well, I used to see, it was, you could see the puff of smoke that went up from there because there was an explosion yes and i saw it probably you know three times a day for 10 years i do too just from driving around town the first time what the hell's going on yeah yeah oh it's just the mariner Yeah. Now, you start working a lot in television. And does that make life easier? Yes. Well, by that point, I'm married and I have a child.

And I'm wanting, I mean, really, the last 20 years, I have a nice little radius. I'll get out of it a little bit, but if it shoots in LA, sign me up. I mean, I'm much more likely to, to work closer to home than I am to travel. Yeah. That was, that was a conscious thing that you kind of, yeah. Yeah. I have one son and yeah. How long did you take off wait because we did mention that before that you sort of like stopped for a while to to have i've had several um stoppages but yeah this was um my son was born in 2002 so you know and i then I did Big Love. I started Big Love when he was three. Oh, okay. And that was, there were four seasons of that?

I think five. Five, yeah. I may be wrong. I don't think we did six. I'm pretty sure it's five. Yeah, yeah. And it was incredible. Are you, are you now a plural marriage favorite among the various plural marriage people? I guess. Man, that's a whole world.

Yeah. Well, you know, now it's very hot. Yeah. Because there was the Under the Banner of Heaven miniseries. Yeah. There's a documentary about the FLDS. Oh, yeah. It's never really gone away, though, has it?

No, it never has. But it is like I have I have some Mormon friends who it's it is kind of for them. It's like as if. As if everyone was talking about, you know, every Christian was hearing people talk about snake handlers. Right. Right. Right. Sort of typified, you know, Christianity was, you know, snake handlers and people that drank poison or faith healing. And also, well, I, you know, I've kept you long enough here that, you know, I wonder. I loved our conversation. Oh, thank you so much. I think this might be my first podcast. No kidding.

I think so. I'm trying to think. It's all downhill from here.. No kidding. I think so. It's all downhill from here. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. No, I mean, it'll never be as good as this. That's right. I do want to ask, because the gimmick with this thing is, where do you come from?

Where are you going? And what are you going to learn? So where are you going and what are you going to learn so so where are you going what do you do you do you have things uh you know like itches left unscratched that you're you're yeah where am i going you know my my son has left for college so i'm i'm going back into if i may ask i don't want to take it out i'll tell you no don't yeah don't yeah yeah he's a he's a smarty pants let's just put it that way he's not yeah he's not he rebelled his act of rebellion was being smarter than his parents you know and not doing the business thing not doing the hollywood thing he he was smart, rebellious person that way.

That's great. So where am I going? I'm going back to, I'm going back to the basics. I'm going back to acting and, and really, I'm just, I'm going back. I'm going back full tilt. Yeah. I can't, I'm just I'm going back. I'm going back full tilt. Yeah. I can't. I'm excited. Just I'm not bound by familial responsibilities anymore. So I can travel. I can. So if you do get that movie in Prague, you'll take it now. That's right. I will. And I'm excited. So I'm kind of going back.

Yeah, that's where I'm going. I'm going back. Yeah. And just to the way that I used to. And I'm also, I don't have to take jobs. I don't have to take acting roles for my son's education. I don't have to take for his, you know, his education, his private school. I don't, I can act for me now. I don't have to act to necessarily pay for anything yeah yeah yeah yeah which is exciting it is it's nice i mean i'm kind of you know my

i have a 21 year old and a 15 year old and i'm so i kind of or she's 16 i should say um i'm kind of feeling that same thing. It's really exciting if you let it be. You know, it's not, some people feel like, oh, I'm so old and I've got a kid who's in college or whatever. And I don't feel that way at all. I feel so excited about the future

and I'm going full tilt saying yes, yes, yes. And just being in the most positive place creatively. Yeah. And all those good juicy character parts too, you know, are so. Oh boy. They're so. I'm so right. Every time I've got to,

I've only a couple of times gotten to play like, you know, like a killer, you know? Yeah. Oh, my God. If I could just play a few more killers, I'd be so thrilled. So happy, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, now, then the third one is what have you learned? I mean, what would you like people to take away from your story?

What have I learned? from your story? What have I learned? Um, just, I would say to just be open, you know, just to be open to what life gives you. Um, I, I, I'd like to think that that's how I carry myself, that I'm just really open to change, open to accepting change, and in kind of rolling with it. You know, just in terms of business, our business has just imploded and turned on its head between, you know, the last 15 years and then the last two years. Forget about it. It's just, it's not the same. You don't know what anything is, you know. So I'm being open to everything.

Yeah. Podcasts. Podcasts, you know, they keep you busy. They keep you busy. You can make a little bit of money, but it's also just kind of fun. I'm open to being on podcasts with you. You don't want to host one? I don't think so. you don't want to you don't want to host one i don't think so i

don't think i would i was never i was uh never like of that um i am a very inquisitive person but i don't know that i have that in me like i said i've always been into losing myself performing yeah yeah it's funny it's you know, well, it, yeah, it depends on, you know, what you do. Cause you can't kind of do anything. That's the nice thing about podcasts. You can do virtually anything. I mean, you're limited in that it's sort of audio mostly, you know, you can do it on video if you want, but you know, but then you got to worry about how you look, but you can do it, you know, you can do whatever you want and then you just put it out there and it's just out there and you know people either listen or they don't i'm glad people listen to

this one yeah uh well i want to i do want to mention uh what you've got going on right now that that you know make these plugs uh You are on the Amazon series, The Terminal List, which is you stars Chris Pratt. Tell me a little bit about that. Chris plays a soldier who returns back to the United States from a horribly botched mission, is suffering from, you know, a lot of trauma. And his reality is a little skewed. He doesn't know what's real and what's not real. And I play, um, Lorraine Hartley, secretary of defense. Thank you. Oh, nice. Thank you. Thank you. And power suits. I bet suits i bet it was a lot of suit acting if i may be so yeah uh so um and yeah it's uh yeah eight eight part eight eight eight episodes eight episodes and then you also are part of the

gilded age on hbo uh which looks like a lot of fun yeah let's talk about i'm not going to be in the second season though i'm not i may come along at some other point, but Mrs. Sylvia Chamberlain, she, she did her job. She, she did her job,

but that was exciting. Thank you for doing your job here and being charming and interesting. And I appreciate it. I love talking to you. Oh, thanks Jean. And I, you. And I hope to see you around now that the world's sort of opening up, although you can still catch COVID anywhere. Put those masks on indoors, people. Please. I do. I still do. I do, too. I went to a baptism

that had maybe 150 people in a Catholic church. It was me, a pregnant lady and an ancient old man were the only people wearing masks. And I didn't care. No shame in your game. Yeah. I don't care. No, I don't either. I really don't. I mean, you know, it just shows you care.

Yeah. Right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank all of you out there for listening and i'll be back next week uh with uh the same question but three more questions the three questions with andy richter is a team coco and your wolf production it is produced by lane gerbig engineered by marina pice and talent produced by kalitza hayek the associate producer

is jen samples supervising producer aaron blair and executive producers adam sacks and jeff engineered by Marina Pais and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer, Aaron Blair and executive producers, Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review the three questions that Andy Richter on Apple podcasts.