Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) - Kristen Johnston

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

Today we’re joined by the talented and radiant Emmy-winning actor Kristen Johnston (3rd Rock from the Sun, The Exes, Sex and the City). Kristen talks to Ted Danson about her compulsion to be funny at all times, what she learned from working with John Lithgow, her advocacy for those fighting addiction, and her retirement plans. Like watching your podcasts?  Visit http://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes. 

I always wanted to play the girl off to the side going, you know, did he call? I liked the Roz Russells. ["Roswells"] Welcome back to Everybody Knows Your Name. Today's guest, Kristen Johnston. I've admired her for years, and after our conversation, I admire her even more.

She's had an amazing career from stage to screen. She's an Emmy-winning actor. You know her as Sally Solomon on Third Rock from the Sun and from shows like The Exes, Mom, and The Righteous Gemstones. She's the author of a New York Times bestselling memoir, and also a recovery advocate. You can see Kristen in the upcoming multicam sitcom, Leanne, that's premiering on July 31st on Netflix. Let's cut to the chase. Here she is, Kristen Johnston.

The last time we were together was either Board to Death, in which I wasn't in that scene. You were playing a dominatrix with Jason Schwartzman. And I just saw it again. It was very funny. Did you know I spent two days in that latex. And let me tell you, I don't know how those gals do it. Those dominatrixes. I've never done that.

Oh, it's an adventure. Sweaty, I would think. It's very sweaty and getting in and then terrifyingly getting out. Does one use baby powder to get in? Yes, oh yeah. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, it was, and then when you pull it off,

your whole body just goes, oh, you know, you just expand. Yeah, yeah, but that was fun. We're talking Bored to Death, Jason Schwartzman. Jonathan Ames was the creator of that. It was, that's a great show. No, no, they just asked me to do it. I was like, yes, yes sir.

One of my favorite writers I've ever, ever worked with. I love that show. That's a great, I got to rewatch that. I haven't watched that in a couple years. Yeah, he had this wonderful way of, there wasn't a perversion he wouldn't delve into with a total wide-eyed innocence. Oh, really?

Yes, there was like, he didn't, Jonathan himself doesn't know the word sarcasm. Right, right. If he says, how you doing? I go, oh great. He goes, oh good. He does not get that. And he's this gentle soul that just jumps into,

you know, every perversion. Did you live in New York for that? Came to New York, stayed for three months or something. That's fun, that's a fun job. It was kind of, yeah. Every actor's dream, that's a fun job. It was kind of, yeah, every actor's dream, or at least mine was to come back after barely getting arrested in New York after college,

to be able to come back and work in New York, work in Brooklyn. Oh, it's just such a treat. It's so rare there, or at least it was. I think it's getting better, but yeah. Is this home for you now? It is home-ish. Like I'm here until I can move again back to New York.

Cause you want it. That's my place. That's my place. The East Coast. Oh, because you have this, have you started? Yes, we finished shooting it. Yeah, it's called Lee, I'm Chuck Lorre. We finished, we shot 16 episodes.

Oh, you've done it. So yeah, we finished it last week, and then it airs in July, but I don't know when this is airing. But anyway, so yeah. Whenever you want. Whenever I want it. It's on Netflix, and you know, they dump them all at the same time.

And you just hope for the best, I guess. I don't know. I don't know how it works over there. But it was fun. It's very impressive, by the way. You can feel the entire world went, kaboom, and watched you. It's really kind of intense.

Okay, yeah, I've never had that. I've never done the streaming thing yet. I've only done it once, and it turned out blessedly really well. Good. But the impact, you know, if you drew as successful as you have sitcom or you know, third rock, it builds. And then you sell into syndication and it builds a

little more. It can get big, but not that overnight. Boom. Yeah. I'm excited for it. Because I think it's really funny, this show. Do you know who Leanne Morgan is? I watched her today, I confess. Sorry, LeAnn, I will now watch you some more, because... I didn't know who she was either. I'm not a big stand-up person, but she is brilliant. And she had never acted before.

And it's about her family, but a lot of the scenes focus on me and her. I play her sister. And she was like, you know, I'm 57. I've never done this before. So we were, we had to go right from the gate, just figure it all out together. And she is incredible, incredible actress. Really funny.

Three camera live. Four camera live. Four camera live. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Did you have three cameras on? Cheers. No, I three cameras on? Cheers. No, I had four too.

Okay. Yeah, I was like, I've never seen that. But yes, so it's a, you know, old school Chuck Lorre audience. Which Chuck seems to work for Chuck. It does seem to work for Chuck. So yeah. And tell me, no, tell me more, tell me more. Is it, I say, I don't have the adrenaline in my body

to do four camera lines anymore. It is hard, man. It's hard. It's a great schedule, but you are doing a new play every week. And it's a lot, a lot of lines. And I've never actually done a sitcom where I'm the driver of a lot of the scenes.

You probably had to do that a lot in Cheers. You were kind of the driver guy. There were a lot of drivers, though. I was the beholder in Chief. I beheld all the wackos. Yes. Okay, but you know what I mean when you come in and your character's like, we're doing this,

we're doing that, and we're talking a lot, and blah, blah. So that was kind of my job on this show. And... That's a tough job. It's a hard job, man. I felt, cause I did mom with Alison Janney and I was in like three scenes a week. And I was like, this job is the best.

And Alison drove every scene and I saw her for lunch last week. I was like, man, I now I really understand how hard you work. I mean- I started with the slow dumb joke. Yeah. Which is my speed.

That's my natural speed And now for some reason at 77, here's this page And then they very sweetly say, you know, they'll come up with some as if right But what they really saying is please go way faster than you just delivered that Yes, you're pretty adept guy. I mean you're you can delivered that. Really? Yeah. Because you're a pretty adept guy. I mean, you can do that dialogue. Adept-ish. Adept-ish. Yeah, Adjason.

Enough to get away with it anyway. Adept Adjason. But that's why I don't know that I wanna do theater. Yeah. Anymore, anymore like I did a lot. Yeah, but that's the same one every night. That's not a new show every week. Yeah.

I think you would kill it. I know, I've told it on this this podcast but I got terrified at the Atlantic. My theater company. Your theater company, they did the, do you remember the 25th reunion celebration or whatever and 25 playwrights. And I got a monologue that was 20 minutes long. Okay well that's different. That's a lot. And you got it like the day before. Well, you know, you had two rehearsals with Neil,

the artistic director. Right, oh my God, that's terrifying. And I totally, totally psyched myself out. Oh no. You know, you do five, you do it five times. Right. In a week. The first one, literally 18 seconds in, boom, froze my brain.

Oh no. Yeah, and I'd seen someone else go up the week before and I thought someone would whisper your lines from the wings. No, it was a loud speaker from the booth. Your line is, so I thought, oh, I'll be clever. And I'll say, so Darcy, or Marcy, I think it was Marcy, what's my next line? Something like I was unflappable.

Darcy just sat down with her, or Marcy, with her cup of coffee, 18 seconds in has no idea where the hell you are. And she thumps through quickly and gives me the line I had just said. Oh no. So I thought, well, I'll try it, but I don't think it's gonna come. Sometimes it does, that does help though. But oh, that's a nightmare.

I went up once in Williamstown in a play and you have two performances total. And it was the first night and I had no idea. And I'm looking at the actor, Bradley Cooper was in the play. I looked at him and he was like. And it feels like, it was probably 45 seconds of silence, but it felt like 45 minutes. You're just, it's horrible.

It's sticking your finger into a light socket. The adrenaline, oh, it's horrible. That's hard. My poor daughter Katrina had to walk me, who was in the audience, walk me afterwards around the city block with a huge jug of water to flush out this toxic levels of adrenaline in my body.

Oh no. Escorting you till you recover. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, that would be very scary to me. Whereas at least three, four cam, why do I say three cam? It was called three camera when it started.

Oh, was it? Yep. Oh. Three camera live, but. Yeah, now it's just multi cam. Multi cam. Multi. Audience eventually, once they know you a little bit better

or once they get to know you, love you messing up. Yes, oh yeah. So it's not a deal. Oh, it's fun. No, it's not. But you know, you still have that thing where you're like, you wanna nail it. And you know.

Chuck probably wants you to nail it too. Oh, Chuck likes us to be off book, so he prefers that. Is he scary, friendly? Is he your uncle or? He's kind of all of that. He is brilliant. And his great, I think his, the greatest gift he has, I mean he's funny and all that, but he really understands

what people go with what projects. And matching writers with actors and producers. And he really understands the dynamics of that. And- Was he running the room or was it someone else? I think he was initially, and then he steps back after a couple episodes and then he watches them and edits them and all that stuff.

But he's not as hands-on. He was the first few weeks. And you don't know when it's coming out for people? Yes, July 31st. Oh, fantastic. Yeah, it's all dumping. Is there a shot that we can make sure that people, yes, oh good.

He's all over it, yeah. Fantastic. Thank you. See, we're desperate for product. I don't mean to say you are a product. Well, oh, I feel like it. A good product. Yes, a good product. Yes, a wonderful product.

I love talking after talk and we'll continue talking after talk. Actually, let's do that first. You can do anything you want. We don't have to talk sobriety, but I love some of the things that you have started as a result of your sobriety. I would love to talk about that with you. To me, those are the conversations that make me happiest and most interested. Of the real ones like that. But backing up just to hear,

how the hell did you go from in your description feeling very, you know, too tall, too young, too did, did, did, all of a sudden, now I think I'm going to perform and I'm going to act and I'm going to get on the theater first? Theater first. Tell me that little journey from Milwaukee. Yeah, I think I just always, it was my thing. I just loved it. I was so, my mom was really into the arts as we were growing up, so she would take us

to all the plays in Chicago and we would see all these productions and I just, I loved it. I loved it. I wanted to do theater. That was what I wanted to do. Age what? Six, seven. Oh really?

Oh early on. Yeah, really early. And just seeing things like even a Christmas carol every year, I was just like, I just want to do that. So then when it came time to go to college, I applied to NYU, the Tisch program, and I got in and sort of went from there. What year was that?

That was 85. Yeah, 85. That wasn't though, that wasn't, doesn't the Atlantic also work with NYU? NYU, yes. So my sophomore year, one of my teachers recommended that I go to the, it was called the Practical Aesthetics Workshop

at the time. They were like, it's David Mamet's company. They do a summer program in Montpelier, Vermont, go up there and see what you think. And that started my whole relationship with them. Bill Macy, Neil Cappy, Mary. Bill Macy and David Mamet and all those guys, yeah. And Mary and Flicka.

So your first play was where? My first- First time you were in front of a paying audience. I don't know, probably some off, off, off, off Broadway thing. But my first big theater break was with Atlantic we did this play called The Lights by Howard Corder at Lincoln Center and it was great. Sorry. You have a Howard Corder crush? I'm breaking into a sweat. He wrote the monologue of the American Theatre. It was brilliant.

Yeah. Oh, he's such a great writer. He is so good. Oh, he, I love him. I love his writing. I love this play that I did. It was insane. And this crazy, brilliant British director, I forget his name.

And it was like all the music was by the Cronus Quartet. And it was just this mind trip at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater. But anyway, so that really started theater stuff. How old? I was probably 25, 24, I don't know, somewhere around there, early 20s. Living in New York. Living in New York, yeah. Having to work. Yes, waitressing, hosting, yeah, all of it.

That was Mary. That was my wife Mary for seven years. Was she in New York? Did she start in New York? Yeah, she went to the neighborhood playhouse. Yes, yeah. And somebody, I can't remember, one of the acting teachers got so kind of insulted or mad

that she was asleep in the back row and somebody had to go, she works. And she leaves here until three in the morning. Just like. Yeah, yeah. He's a little more gentle. Did you do that? Were you?

I did all that. I did all that, yeah. I mean, I couldn't do it now. No. Forget it. I can barely show up for this. Oh, I have a podcast at two. If you fall asleep, we will be very gentle.

We will film you. Yeah. If you fall asleep, we will be very gentle. We will film you. Yeah. So, yeah, so then I, and then I just spent the next few years in New York. And then, you know, we all remember pilot season. They don't do that anymore. But I would come out here every year and that's when I got third rock. It was a couple years after that. Magnificent. Thank you, yeah. Changed my life for sure.

Yeah, but you were outrageous. It was fun. of years after that. Magnificent. Thank you, yeah. By the way. Changed my life for sure. Yeah, but you were outrageous. It was fun, we had good time. Was outrageous always easy for you to tap into as an actor? Yeah, I don't know why. I just always loved, I just always kind of understood rhythm and timing, comedy, you know, the mathematics of comedy, kind of.

I always loved that. And you probably. What? I was about to say something, Ted, maybe you shouldn't say it, but there's probably, if you're six foot tall, fuck it. Yeah.

What am I gonna do? Oh yeah, well, yeah. You know, play the. Be small? Ingenue, yeah, no, no. And it just never interested me. I always wanted to play the girl off to the side going, you know, did he call?

I liked the Ross Russells, you know, the Eve Ardenpolt parts. I love all that. I still do. I just connect so much with those. If somebody wants me to play a suit who stands up straight, can't do it. I can tilt to the left in a suit.

Yeah, yeah, totally. You got to put a spin on it. Something's wrong with him. Whoever you're playing, you know, there's gotta put a spin on it. Something's wrong with him. Whoever you're playing, there's gotta be something underneath there. You can't just be like, how are you? I just couldn't do it. I remember during the 90s, during my heyday,

I did a Clairol commercial, a couple of them. And it's money and let's do it. But I had to be like into myself in a very kind of real, like look how great I look, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it without, you know. They were like, no, you have to be, I was like, I can't. I don't know how. I don't know how to be like, I can't even do it now.

So yeah. That's funny. You are beautiful. Oh, thank funny. You are beautiful. Oh, thank you. You are cool. But I don't think you can play goofy unless there's a part of you that knows that you're cool. Yeah.

You know? I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's what I tell myself. You're cool, Ted. You couldn't be silly unless you were really cool. Oh, man.

I don't want to disabuse you of that, but no. I'm sure you're right. We have another little thingy, John Lithgow. Oh. Uh-huh. One of my favorite actors. One of the greatest of all time. Absolutely.

Just a gem. I quickly, I understudied him in the comedians in New York. Neil, who was that? Mike Nichols directed it. Oh my God. I can't remember the British. But yeah, he was in that and I understudied him. Never went on, thank God,

but they were all so brilliant. Oh my God, yeah, him on stage is something else, man. You know, I'm so lucky that I started out on that show Oh my God, yeah, him on stage is something else, man. I'm so lucky that I started out on that show because he really taught me how to be on set, how to deal with everyone and how to kind of be the fish, the big fish and not be a jerk. He was just always so, he knew everybody's names. He's just so warm and enveloping.

And I really learned a lot from him. Especially shows like that. I don't know, probably features you don't maybe have to be that way. Yeah. But you are a host. Yeah. You're a host to the crew.

Yep. You're a host to the guest stars. Yeah. And you set the tone. I mean, for real, you do. Like if you come on and you've got, and you're a host of the guest stars here. And you set the tone, I mean, for real, you do. Like if you come on and you've got, you know, and you're in your own head or it's about you, everyone has a shitty time.

So you just wanna make sure, you know, you're there to work and be cool and have a great time. And then everything goes great. But I've been on sets where that's not the case and it's a different animal, it really is. One of my first guest stars, I won't tell you the show, but I went into the little guest star dressing room and it had a mirror, makeup mirror and everything

and somebody in Magic Marker wrote, two more days and I'm out. Oh! And I thought, ugh. Watch my stuff. Watch my step. Yeah. Oh my God. Later, it was demonstrated in front of me why.

Wow, it was so funny. That's cool. Yeah, John Lithgow is... He's the best. Yeah. I haven't seen him in a couple of years. We did a little reunion a couple of years ago. It was so fun to see him, but.

Fame? Did fame come crashing down on you then? Was it a lot? I mean, did it? You know, it's so weird to talk about it because- You don't have to talk about it. Anything you wanna talk about. No, I just mean like, people,

I would talk to you about it, cause you can understand it, but it's like hard for like other people. I'm like, what's your issue with it? You know, get over yourself. But it really did, it was a shocker for me. Yes. It was a shocker.

Took definitely about 10 years to get used to it. I always describe it as like every adult in the room all of a sudden focusing on this little toddler in the middle of the room. Yeah, yeah. And the palpable energy. Yeah. That, you know, people's focus the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the palpable energy. Yeah. That, you know, people's focus is energy.

Yeah. And that energy literally impacts your body and fucks you up because especially if you think this is about me. Yeah. And then you're just screwed. Yeah, so self-conscious. I felt so weird about all of it.

I mean, I was young too. I mean, I don't know when cheers hit for you, but how old you were, but I was like 25 or six. No, I had 10 years on you. Okay. Well, it's still, it's a big adjustment. But, you know, and then, I don't know, about 10 years ago, I realized I'm not really famous anymore.

Like, you know, friends, people who know, like back in the day, but it's kind of people who know, like, back in the day. But it's kind of great. It's like, I really prefer it kind of just to wander around the world without feeling that focus that you talked about. Silly things. Your peripheral vision goes. Yes. Because either people are truly staring at you or you're wondering whether they're staring at you. So you don't dare look to the side and you do feel a little shut off. Yeah, you do.

And then the limos are so expensive and the free gifts and all that shit. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. You got to be careful complaining about it. But look, I don't know if it's a natural state for a human to be in, you know, to sort of walk around with all that attention focused on you. So, I don't know, it was kind of a relief when it died down for me.

I have faith that, you know, when it comes again, because it's coming, it's coming for you, that you know what to do with it, because you have all these things that, no, I mean, because I'm gonna talk about myself. When it came at me, coincidentally, I discovered that I was an ocean activist and I had started an organization

that needed funding and all that. So I immediately learned, oh, this is power, all this. Hey, cheers, it's energy, power. If you deflect it and go, hey, thank you so much. Look over here. Yeah. Let me introduce you to the marine biologist behind me. All of a sudden I-

It matters. Yeah, I was making use of my fame too, not just them. Yes, totally. I completely get it. Yeah, that's exactly what we, to bring it down to the sober thing. Because I think you're referring to the sober high school. I tried to get off the ground.

It didn't work, by the way. I know. Wouldn't that be brilliant? I know. And it actually really, really, the few that were started, I don't even know if they are in existence anymore. There's one in Boston.

They really helped kids. But right now, the funding, and I mean, you can't even touch it. You can't even touch it. But anyway, I did try to get a sober high school in New York going and I worked on that for a couple years and it was like what you're talking about. Finally my energy, all that stuff you're talking about

had a focus and it really helped me. And it was great. Back up, didn't you start something before that? Or was it, there's another organization, forgive me, I don't. No worries. I think it's called SLAM, Sobriety Learning and Motivation. That was you. That was me starting it with a couple people in New York, yeah.

And that was pre trying the high school? No, that's the high school. That is the high school. That's the program. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we brought it to Staten Island, a high school there. We brought the program of kind of counseling and how to be in high school and stay sober and all that. And it really did work.

It just was, man, getting through the board of Ed and trying to get it going and going to City Hall every 20. I mean, it was like six years of just really raising money, raising attention, focus. And finally, I just was like, you of just really raising money, raising attention, focus. And finally, I just was like, you know, I got a, well, I came to New York to do, to LA to do a show. So it kind of died off. But-

But that need and that early education is literally where it's at. I'm part of something called Angels at Risk. And it was started more as like a family drug and alcohol rehabilitation, kids who were just starting to, you know, got caught smoking a joint and drinking a beer and the judge said, okay, you have one need to go. You need to go over here and do this program. And it brought families together so that the families would not be judging the fuck-up kid.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then it was like, oh, this is... And there was just this one simple chord to the whole thing that I loved was letters from the heart. And you'd have all the kids who were sent there by the judge. And then you had all the parents in another room, and they would ask... And then you had all the parents in another room and they would ask, both rooms would answer on paper, three questions at the end of the normal kind of AA sharing, all of that stuff was, what did we do well this week? What did we not do well and what do you think we should do?

And then they would switch those notes so they each got to read what the other person thought in this kind of, not sterile, but non-judgmental way. And people in cars going home started to talk. Family and, you know, it was like, oh, you're not, this is a family deal. This is not just me, the designated, you know, fuck-up. And it made such a huge difference. Early education is literally... And support and what you're talking about, like really understanding the dynamics that go into addiction and recovery.

Which has a lot to do with, I won't say mental health, but emotional health. Oh, for sure. I mean, that's literally where it begins. So the idiocy of not putting money, I won't say mental health, but emotional health. Oh, for sure. I mean, that's literally where it begins. So the idiocy of not putting money, the short-sightedness. And the short-sightedness now, you know, that comes with like, if you take theater away from kids

and you take music away from kids, what do you think they're gonna fill their time with? I mean, it's Xbox and drugs, I mean, you know, for a lot of them. So how do you think it's gonna turn out? You know, just taking away all these extra programs, it's really scary. I think.

And those kids who are in those programs, playing an instrument or singing or doing something, their whole, their reading, writing, and arithmetic skills go up as well. Yeah, Yeah. No, I know. I mean, we grew up in sort of the Halcyon days, weirdly. I mean, you know, when there was all this money being devoted from the government, etc.,

to school programs. I mean, we had, you know, debate teams and after school music lessons and six plays a year. I mean, we did. and now none of that is around. I don't think, I mean, it's very, very, yeah, it's so short-sighted. Yeah, and then you spend huge sums down the way. To help for health and overdoses and trying to, you know, get fentanyl under control and all that.

It's crazy. It's, yeah, that's the whole thing. It's like, don't, you know, attacking the addiction issue in America, by the time they're in their 30s and they're, you know, a fentanyl, or they're on the street, it's too, like, it's not too late for them,

but it's too late to prevent that. So you're in the rehab, you're not in too early. Early understanding, or like trying to give people more purpose to their lives. So they're not, I mean, for me, it was boredom was led to my addiction. So, you know, keeping yourself interested in mentally occupied and stuff. I mean, it's a simple, simplistic answer, but it is an answer. It is. Well, you're right. It is not a simple.

It's a complicated issue. But where you start and what you need to focus on is just common sense, nurturing at an early age. And it's also, you know, the draconian kind of grip that they are now trying to do on medication and drugs and, you know know the crackdown where you have people who are in chronic pain or whatever and actually do need the medication now can't get it so they have to go on the street and get you know heroin or whatever so it's it's the way they've kind of tried to attack the whole drug and alcohol issue in the United States I think is really backwards and

to attack the whole drug and alcohol issue in the United States, I think is really backwards and obviously not successful. Can I just share this? Ed Helms, you know Ed? I do. I mean, I don't know him personally, but I know who he is. Yeah. He was on last week and he's written a book called Snafu, you know, situation normal, all fucked up, right, military phrase.

And he does it with a sense of humor, but he takes these things that really happen. This is history. And the reason why I'm bringing it up is he talked about this year, he's talking about this season, he's talking about prohibition in America. And this is history. The bad guys, the bootleggers, would kidnap these, whatever, hijack these trucks, these tankers,

full of industrial grade alcohol. And then they would add stuff, and that's how cocktails became, you would add taste to make the alcohol. So the government, well, they're not stopping drinking. We need to find a way to make it not, you know, make this stuff not usable. So they started to literally put poison.

Oh, really? I never knew that. Poison, as in kill you poison, in, into the industrial grade alcohol. Which was used for other things and the poison wouldn't matter. But if you tried to make alcohol and drink it, and people were dying by the thousands

outside of these bars. Oh my God. And they know this because the same time this happened, forensic science was starting to come to the surface. And so people, scientists were going, wait, what, why, why is that? And they discovered and traced it back. That is kind of that, you know.

Yeah, let's solve it this way. Just kill all the junkies. No, make people emotionally healthy down at this end and they won't have to. No, exactly, exactly. Okay, we've pontificated enough. No, no, no, this is all about pontificating. That's true.

It's a podcast, I forgot. But yeah, that's insane. So are you talking to folks individually? Do you go give speeches? What do you do if you can't start your high school? I did it for, I wrote a book called Guts, which was kind of about my, what happened to me and getting sober and all that.

And then after that, I did about 10 years of pretty, everyday work on speaking out, going to doing speeches all over the United States, different rehabs and all that stuff. And then I kind of needed a break. And that was about five years ago. And I just was like, you know, I need to take a little step back.

Cause I also didn't want to become like the recovery person. I just, you know, it's part of me and I don't mind talking about it ever. I like talking about it, but I just didn't want it to become everything. Okay, let's put a dot, dot, dot to, or no, period to that. But just let me say, I so respect you.

Oh, thank you. I so respect you. I so admire, not all sober people are cool. A lot of them remain assholes. But some of my favorite people are sober people because they've looked at the depths, the bowels, and they decided to be honest. And now they're deeply honest. I mean, I love talking to Dax Shepard and they decided to be honest. And now they're deeply honest.

I love talking to Dax Shepard is his level of truth and honesty is so intoxicating because he went there. And that to me is like, that's a kind of nobility that I really appreciate. So I'll leave it there. You're beautiful and you're noble. Thank you.

I wish I'd done this show earlier. I needed the ego boost. Thank you. What do you want to talk about? If you had a magic wand, what are you going to be doing? Five, ten years from now? I am going to, I know exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be on the East Coast running an animal rescue.

Oh, I saw that. That's my thing. That's my thing. I have my oldest friend in the world, my friend Jackie. She has a little plot of land on the East Coast. I'm gonna buy one near it and she rescues animals. And we're just gonna be the crazy old ladies rescuing animals.

For real? For real. Wow. Horses, dogs, cats, whatever. Wow. I have four dogs, but that's all I can have here. The only thing I would add is a little bit of pocket change because of the vet bills.

Right, exactly. No, that's why I'm still here. I got to tap dance a couple more years. And then I can move. I really am. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. I'm just thinking of the five years.

Don't you have some rescues right now? Do you have rescue dogs or not? I do, I have four. Four rescue dogs. They're all a mess, yeah. Hats off to you. Yeah. Well, I don't have kids.

They're my kids, basically. Yeah. They're the best, though. And are they success stories? Because some rescues, it's a big, long road back. Yeah. Yeah. I've never had a bad road with a rescue dog.

They're so genuinely grateful. They're so grateful. I mean, my dog, they range from, I have a pit bull to a chihuahua. So like they're, you know, and then a border collie and a terrier. So they're, they're just the greatest. They're the greatest. They're my favorite creatures on earth. I can't wait. I'm excited to leave because then I get to look forward to coming back home and seeing them again. Like I just love them. Somebody, Mary quoted somebody or something, and I'm gonna butcher this,

but it's like there are many animals that show, especially now with cell phones, you're learning more about animals than you ever knew. Who knew that donkeys, you know, you know, love and wanna hug, and all the other species, taking care of, nurturing, all that stuff. But that dogs are perhaps the only,

I'm sorry, butcher this, but perhaps the only species that offer you unconditional love as a species. As if they were here to go, okay, human kind. We're here to give you unconditional love. It's, you know, they're angels on earth. People always say that. They really are, though. They are. We have one. You do. Yes. What kind? Can I, can I tell you the story? Although you'll, right away, you know this guilt. Yeah. In the air. But it is a rescue. Right. Nevertheless, it was born of a champion mini Aussie. Oh, I have an Aussie, a mix, Aussie mix.

Yeah, they're brilliant and a lot. A lot. A lot. Brilliant. Yeah. And he went from one place to another. Somebody died, they passed the data. So in essence, we did rescue, but it was a high class rescue. Yeah, they're gorgeous. Gorgeous dogs. Gorgeous dogs, holy God. So in essence we did rescue but it was a high class rescue.

This is a gorgeous dog. Gorgeous dogs. Holy God. And he's goofy because he was meant to be a mini. And he kept growing and growing and growing. And it's all about the base. He has a huge butt and he's just... Oh I love it.

Mine does too. You know, have you heard of those sheep herding ranches near here? Yes. That you can take your border collie? I'm totally gonna do it. Yeah, I have to get mine fixed cuz I've only had a couple of you done It's like no. Oh, we went to we thought we were going to one and we went to some cattle. Uh-huh Yeah, and it didn't quite work. No, it wasn't set up. Well, okay There's one it's just sheep herding. Yeah, I wanna try that.

I wanna see that. Oh, I think it would be so fun. I gotta wait. I've only had him like five months, so I gotta wait for him to be fixed before I do all that. Well, genuinely, find a way to reach out to us and say, hey, this place is amazing. Let's double date at the ranch.

Yeah, Mary had a mix, I think a Queensland healer, when I met her and maybe an Aussie something, I'm not sure. And took him to a sheep farm, not to see what, but was curious. Yeah. Just she happened to be there, I think, or something like that.

And he started to foam with the she, sorry, Lucy, started to foam with the mouth. And Mary Lucy, started to foam with the mouth. And Mary went, oh Lord. And the owner of the farm said, no, no, just relax, watch. And then he stuck his nose in the fur of the sheep and kind of nuzzled like this and wiped his foam all over these different sheep. It was like, I got you now.

I marked you, I got you. And then did he run around and she's, I just think that's the coolest. Cause it's just their instincts. She'll never forgive me. Okay, sorry, Lucy. Lucy. But their instincts kick in

and it's supposed to be incredible. I'll let you know, I'll report back. Yeah, do. I will. That's amazing. All right. What else? Acting?

Anything more? Are you now acting to raise money for your dog? No. No. Well, I mean, you know. No, I know you loved it. Yeah. No, no, no.

I mean, I'd like to, you know, quit Hollywood at some point and go back to the East coast. But the thing about, you know, doing what we do now is you don't even need to be here anymore, really, in LA. I mean, not to do your podcast, obviously, but like, you know. No, it's true. It's very rare when you have the job that nails you to LA. Yeah, yeah.

And it didn't used to be like that, but it is now. So I'm gonna sort of wait and see what happens with the show and then take it from there. Much success. Thank you. Yeah. I was gonna ask you, do you think, cause people keep asking me of the multicam dying.

You know, now it's people are, that it feels so old school. Do you think that there's a way for it to come back? Jimmy Burroughs used to laugh. Jimmy, who directed all the cheers and everything. He directed me in a bunch of stuff too. I love that guy. Everything known to man, he is, for camera he did. He said before he cheers or whatever, it was dying.

It dies all the time until something comes along and hits a chord and then it's off and running again. Things did change, I think, with cable and streaming, where all of a sudden you're watching at home, kind of a movie, a film, and that comes with an expectation of, oh, you can say dirty words,

or you can talk about whatever you want. Yeah. So that kind of did, what is your language like on this show? Yeah, well, she's a clean comet. She's a clean standup. So there's not a lot of that, but I would say, if someone is gonna bring in this cynicism

and kind of aggression, it would be my character. So to kind of balance off of her goodness. But, but yeah, so we don't- So is it different than like network being on Netflix? It felt very much the same in terms of the actual process of it and the results. Well, Netflix is real smart, obviously. Yeah.

And they probably think that that's where that format belongs. I mean, I do think that there's room for it. It's just such an, because it's really my bread and butter. I mean, you know, I've done other stuff, but really my stuff is the multi-cam. And so for like 10 years, there was just very little of it. You know, like the most sitcom-ish was like the good place, but it's single cam.

So it's not, you know, but anyway, so hopefully it'll come back. I mean, I love them. I did too. I love doing them. If I were smidge younger and didn't have that Atlantic experience. Sorry that traumatized you.

Oh, going up on a Howard quarter monologue. That's brutal. That's brutal. That's brutal. I'm so glad to meet someone who was in his play or something, because he's so good. Oh, so great. Well, you saw Boardwalk Empire. He wrote all that.

Oh, just incredible. No, I didn't know that. Such great writing. He wrote that, every episode of that. Oh my God. Yeah. All right. He's a great writer.

My little monologue, more about me, was this guy, middle man guy, sitting in front of the audience and going, something's really bothering me and I need to work through my day and I came here and I did that and da da da da. He goes through the day and gets more and more anxious until he gets home. He, his wife says, can you go downstairs in the basement

and get such and such? And he goes downstairs in the basement and get such and such? And he goes downstairs into the basement and discovers that in the basement is literal hell. Oh my God. Literal hell. Yeah. And he's horrified. He goes back upstairs and then she says, take the dog and he just takes the dog for a walk,

you know, just, and by the time he gets back, he's forgotten. So each day is about, you know. Oh, and by the time he gets back, he's forgotten. So each day is about, you know, discovering hell. Yeah. Discovering hell. In his basement. Yeah. That's so him. He's a dark fella. But so good.

Yeah, so good. So good. So good. Yeah. I don't know how long we've talked. I don't either. It could have been 20 minutes or six hours. I know, but I really, really enjoyed talking to you. Me too. Very cool. I love what you're doing with your life talking to you. Me too. You're very cool.

I love what you're doing with your life. Thank you. You're a wonderful actor. Thank you. And you are for camera, like rock and roll. You really are good. Oh, thanks. You know, that combination of, yes, we're in front of a camera,

but we're in front of an audience. Yeah, yeah. Not everyone can do it. It's not easy. Yeah, it's really cool. It's a different thing, but yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for having me. It was good to see you. Yeah, I will watch that. Okay, good. Because I watched her stand up and went, oh, that's different. Yeah, she's different. Yeah, yeah, I love her. And she has, I mean, people are obsessed with her.

Like, you know, middle American women are like, oh my God, obsessed with her. So it's fun to like do tapings with her. They're you know, middle American women are like, oh my God, obsessed with her. So it's fun to like do tapings with her. They're so excited. Where is she from? Knoxville, Tennessee. Yeah.

Yeah. That's very cool. Yeah. I'm going to go see her this summer. I'm going down to see her family. It'll be fun. I will watch it and look forward to seeing you again. Okay.

Thanks. You too. Yeah. That was Kristen Johnston. You can catch her in the sitcom, Leanne, premiering on July 31st on Netflix. That's all for our show this week. Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, send it to someone you love.

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and maybe give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you're so moved. If you like watching your podcasts, all our full-length episodes on YouTube, visit youtube.com slash team coco. See you next time, Where everybody knows your name. You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Leow,

our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sara Federovich is our supervising producer. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Yen, Mary Steenburgen, and John Osborne. You