Transcript of June Squibb

Hello, everyone. This is Amy Poler. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. I'm in a different studio today, but don't worry, I have my fake food with me, so no need to panic. But I have the great June Squibb here today. June is a legend. She is an incredible artist and wonderful person, and we talked about a lot of things today. We're going to talk about Eleanor the Great, her new movie that premiered at Cann. We're going to talk about what it was like being an actor in New York in the 1950s. Her love of sketch comedy, the fact that we were both an inside out. We're going to just talk about her incredible career and what it's like being 95, which June makes it look real good. I always like to do this at the beginning of every episode. We talk well behind our guests back, and we have someone who has worked with June in a great film called Nebraska. He is SNL alum, an incredible actor, and dear friend, Will Forte, joining us from a trailer somewhere on the set of something. Hi, Will. This episode is presented to you by Walmart.

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Hello, how are you? Will Forte.

It looks like you're in a I'm in a trailer.

I'm in a trailer.

Where are we talking to you from?

I don't even know. I'm outside of Atlanta somewhere. I'm like an hour south. Mcdonald, I think it's called. Mcdonald, Georgia.

We are talking to June Squibb today.

Get ready. I'm very excited for you.

I'm very excited. You've met her before, right? You know what? We only met once briefly at a Pixar event because we were both there for Inside Out, too. Wait, you came...

Didn't you come to the Nebraska screening in New York?

Well, I don't remember. I don't remember things. If you say I was there, sure. But I don't have any memory of that.

I think you might have been there, but it doesn't mean you ever met her. In fact, she might not have I haven't been there. In fact, I think she wasn't there.

If someone tells me something happened, I have to believe them because someone could come up to me at this point and say, We were roommates in New York, and I would say, Okay. Because I cannot remember.

Somebody asked me the other day if I met Oprah Winfrey. I couldn't answer. I'm like, I love Oprah. You would think that I would know if I met her or not. I can't remember.

Do you remember meeting June?

I met June for the first time about a week before we started shooting Nebraska. We got together to do some little rehearsals, and she was just very instantly charming and put me right at ease because I was very nervous about the experience. She was just so, so wonderful.

What were you nervous about at the time?

I just had never really done something that was more on the dramatic side, even though it's a a comedy and a drama. But to do it on that scale with the director, Alexander Payne, and then Bruce Dern and June Squibb. It was daunting.

How would you say June works? How does she like to work? Does she like to rehearse? Is she loose?

From what I remember, June had the entire script memorized before we even started. You can ask her if that's true, but I'm pretty sure that she had memorized every one of her lines before we even started.

Wow. That's so prepared.

I'm somebody who really I try hard to make sure that everything is memorized. I don't want to be the person who screws that up. But I was just blown away by that. I That was way over the top.

When I've been doing research on her, she's such a formidable actress and started out in the theater and just has a ton of experience and training. So it's not surprising to me, but that's a lot to memorize.

Yeah. And she just was amazing. It's such a pro and at the same time, so warm and you just love being around her. You'll see.

You know what I'm finding is so many people, I bet you've seen this, too. People, 90 and over, nonagenarians or whatever, people tend to either speak to them like their little kids, say, How are you? Are you having a nice day? Or they assume that they've got a ton of wisdom that they want to share. They assume they're, Tell us your secrets. What I've I've noticed about when I've done some research on June is June does not... She's so together with it and in the moment. She's not interested in being this wise person who's learned all these lessons. She seems very current, I guess, is the best way to put it.

Yeah. I mean, she has that wisdom for sure, but she doesn't hit you in the face with it. She's the perfect person because she's super sweet but got a little spice to her also. It's just a perfect combination.

Did she ever give you some wisdom?

Yeah, a few times. A few times. Did she ever what?

Did she ever give you any wisdom, or did she ever have a little sharp tongue, little spice that you saw while you were working together?

Well, that's the thing is she's so sweet, but then the part that she plays in the movie is she She's defending the family, and she gets really spicy.

Okay, so do you have a question you think we should ask June? Anything you think you'd want to hear on this podcast?

June, my question is, what is your favorite food and why? And will you please tell me in song, answer the question in song, an existing or made-up song?

Well, I mean, hopefully we can get the rights to whatever thing she sings? But that's a perfect question, Will. Okay. You want to take it one more time? I'll do it one more time. Yeah. And just play around with it. Have fun.

What is the... Oh, my God.

Okay. No pressure. But we are getting ready to break for lunch. So whenever you're ready.

Oh, this is going to happen. June, hello. I love you and I miss you. You are one of the most wonderful people I've ever gotten to work with. My question to you is this, what is your favorite food and why? And please answer this question in song, and that song must be in the public domain. Thank you.

Perfect question. Forte, do you think you're going to live to 95 and do you want to?

I know that the Ouija board has said I will be dead at 73 by stabbing, but I think I'm going to figure out a way. Whoever makes through those final destination movies, I'm going to be that guy, and I will make it to 95.

I believe it. How about you? I hope so. I definitely want. I want to make it to 100. June is aspirational to me. I want to be like June at 95, working occasionally, having fun, having fun with my friends, being really sharp.

She is an amazing role model, and I'm with you.

Yeah, I can't wait to have her. All right. I love you so much. Thank you so much We're getting on and doing this in the middle of your work day.

Have fun with her. I'm jealous to get to talk to her for so long. Thanks, buddy. But tell her hi for me.

Talk to you soon. Love you. Bye.

This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats.

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Oh, I'm thrilled to be here.

Someone asked me today, they said, Have you met June? I said, Well, we've met in that Hollywood way where we've just seen each other at events, but we haven't really been able to chat.

I remember Scarlett and I saw you at the rehearsal for the Oscar presenters.

That's right. That's right. Scarlett Johansson.

Yeah, that's the last time I think I saw you.

A lot of people don't know that you have to show up for those events and rehearse on stage.

Rehearse them, yeah.

Which is good because you have to see where to walk.

I would have been... I had never done it before. I'm sure she has, but I hadn't. It was all completely new to me about where you go, what you do, everything.

You were in a new movie right now that Scarlett directed.

Scarlett directed, yes. Eleanor the Great.

Her directing debut. Yes. Feature. Feature, excuse me. Do you like working with first-time directors?

I do, and I've worked with quite A few. I really have.

What do you like about it?

I find if they're good, they're good. If they know what they're doing. And first-time directors so often do. I think that many of them work hard at finding out what to do. If they're confused or not sure, they try to make sure they find out the answers.

Do you have a style or a way that you like to be directed? Do you like more thoughts right away? Do you like to rehearsal? Do you have a way to prep in a way that you like?

I certainly prep in a certain way, yeah. I learn by just going over and over and over. But in doing that, I'm studying the script. So I know that script backwards and forward by the time I get on set. I really do. I just feel I know everything about it.

Do you think it comes from your training?

Yeah, I think I was in theater for so many years, and the learning process is different because there you usually learn as you rehearse. And of course, with film, we learn and then go to do it. So there's a difference. But basically with theater, God, did we ever learn the on time thing, which is so everybody preaches in film all the time, too.

Yeah, I I feel like... I don't think enough people know your extensive theater background and where you started. You were also married to an acting teacher, and you studied a lot, and you did a lot of things. Can you tell me a little bit about what it was like in the 1950s to move to New York as an actor.

I mean, I have a- It was wonderful. I loved it. I felt I breathed really fully for the first time in my life. I had had five years at the Cleveland Playhouse, so that prepared me in so many ways for New York. But there was nothing like New York. And being young in New York, being in the theater, and I was one of the lucky ones that started working fairly soon.

Where were you living when you first moved to New York?

There were three of us. My first husband and a very dear friend, Jack Lee, who was a Broadway conductor before his career ended. And we lived in a funny apartment that they took down for Lincoln Center. Oh, wow. Yes. We lived there for two or three years, and then they bought us out. And then we moved, though, to a very duplex in the village. And it... Oh, Albie moved in after we did.

Edward Albie?

Edward Alby. The Playery? Yes. It was a wonderful apartment. It had a garden and everything.

Do you remember what the rent was back then?

I think it was about $200. And that was humongous to us, of course, at the time. He was like, We can't afford this. Three of us.

What was the vibe being in New York in that time? Because what was the post-war, boomy vibe of the '50s in New York? What did it feel like?

I think it was very up. I remember that. Of course, we were seeing a lot of theater, and we saw all the big music. We saw the original Fair Lady, the original Music Man. We saw West Side Story in its second or third week of playing.

Who was on stage then? Do you remember? Was it Cheetah?

Cheetah. I knew a lot of the dancers at the time, and I don't remember their names now. That's so cool. But it was a wonderful time in musical theater. Many people don't know this. My first 20 years in New York was spent in musical theater. That's right. I did either musical theater, cabaret, reviews, some nightclub. I had an act with another comic actor. You did? Yes.

A comic actor? What stuff would you guys do?

Well, we wrote everything. I remember we wrote, I wore an ape head and a beautiful blue dress, just a real frothy dress, and he sang about loving his girlfriend no matter why. Well, and then Cabaret did the same thing afterwards. This was before Cabaret, and we did it in our act.

What happened to that partner?

Barry Denon. Well, we actually broke up the act because he was offered Cabaret in London as the emcee, and I was offered Happy Time for Broadway. So we both felt we wanted to keep working singly, so we broke up the act. But we did some television.

We did a little- What television did you do back then? I mean, your IMDb, June, is incredible. I feel like I could shout out a million shows to you. You'd be like, maybe I was on it, maybe I wasn't. But what television did you do back then?

It was some review thing. I don't even remember what it was. I think it was local. But we did some of the small clubs in New York.

Wow. I just feel like it would be so cool to time travel back to that time.

It was wonderful. I think that everybody was eager to be there. I mean, it was like the place to be in the world to all of us.

It still feels that way, though. I have to say I moved to New York in '96, and it still felt like when you arrived there, at least for me, it felt like some version of your life was beginning, basically.

I lived there for 65 years before moving out here.

Yeah. Wow. Your mom had a job that is... It's such a great job because it just doesn't exist anymore, which is your mother. What was your mother's job?

My mother played piano for silent films. How did she start doing Well, she was a piano player, and my grandfather owned a music store, so they were into all the music that was happening in the area. He had a store in... I grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, and there was another store in Centralia, Illinois, that he owned. So they were big in the music, and I'm sure that's how it happened.

So was your mom teaching you how to sing and play from an early age?

No. She played the the piano, and she taught piano. And because she taught piano, played piano, I didn't want to have anything to do with the piano. And she tried to teach me, and it didn't work out. She sent me to another teacher in Vandalia, and that didn't work out. The teacher said, I think June maybe should give up on the piano. She sent me back to my mother. My mother said, Well, I'm going to try again. She was giving me a lesson, and she went outside for some reason. She came back, and I was playing the piano with my feet. I never had to touch a piano again. I got out of it. She saw me and she said, This is it.

I mean, isn't it funny that it's the last thing you want to do often? Is it the thing your parents are doing? What did they think about you being an actor, moving Were they supportive?

Were they worried? They were not supportive. My father was somewhat supportive. My mother was never. She saw me on Broadway doing a supporting role in a big musical and said, Well, do you think you'll come home now? I said, I don't think so. And I was married again. I mean, it was ridiculous. But in her mind, I might decide to come home again.

Well, I don't think people remember that Now in this world where everybody is creating content and being famous and trying to be... I don't think people remember during that time, acting was a very treacherous, uneven profession.

And so many people didn't make it. I have been lucky with my career, and I would think you feel the same way.

Absolutely, yes. And so many really talented people.

I don't. It's a very difficult It's a difficult career to want, let alone to do the staying.

What I see you do that I feel like I relate to is I've always wanted diversity and longevity in my career, and half the battle is hanging in there, just in getting rejected a lot and just hanging in and believing in yourself because it can be a really long runway before you feel. Oh, yeah. Who is someone that you worked with when you were young and you thought, I feel like I'm in the right place?

I think with Ethel Mermon, with Gipsy. I was with that show eight months on Broadway and then eight months on the road with her. She was an amazing woman, an amazing woman, and everybody loved her that was in the company. She was very much a housewife. She loved gossip. She loved to hear everything she could about anybody in the show. She used to tell me dirty jokes all the time. We were getting ready. I was behind a scrim. I was the actress, so I was doing my light bulbs, and she was getting ready to come on, and she would sidle up behind me, joke, joke, and then she would tell me a dirty joke.

Right before you're done. Yes. Quiet, what do you mean doing your light bulbs?

Well, I had a costume.

And you had to do your own light Yeah.

Oh, wow. On the front and in the rear and the crutch. I had bulbs that lit up.

And you did the buttons?

I did the buttons like this. I'm sure they do it entirely differently now because it's running on Broadway right now. But then that's what... And these long wires went all the way up. And it was heavy because I had this huge battery in my behind.

I mean, that term doing my light bulbs sounds like it could be an old Broadway term. Like, he was fired for trying to do my light bulbs.

Do my light bulbs. Well, I had that a few times, too. I mean, I bet you did.

I mean, you could probably write a book about how so much has changed in the industry. Oh, God, yes. I can only imagine that you had to deal with a lot of inappropriate behavior. It was a completely different time then, right?

Well, it's funny because I have friends, and we were both dancers. I mean, I danced a lot. When the me too thing started, we looked at each other as in me, too. What I mean? I know. Then we talked about it, and we both said, Oh, my God, if we'd had this when we were coming up. But we both said the same thing. We both knew when to say no. I knew when it was going to be not good for me. So that was it.

But I feel you. My generation looks at the generations below and notices the things that they don't put up with anymore, and it really makes you take stock of the stuff that you put up with.

That you did put up with, yeah.

Who's your favorite dancer?

Jacques d'un Bois. I've seen him dance up close. I mean, you're the real, not just television and film.

You have. Where did you- Oh, yeah.

I saw him. He was a guest at a theater. I guess it was Kansas City or Dallas, too. All these big theaters. I worked a lot in those. He was doing a leading role in one of them, and I saw the rehearsal of it. But I just think his career, and he's still going. He is? He has- How old is he know? Well, I'm sure he's in his '80s or '90s now.

Everybody's in their '90s now.

Yes, they are. I'm glad you said that. It's really true.

So many people are there, non-agenarians.

We're all living so much longer, Amy. I mean, it's- You can't get rid of us.

It's fantastic. I mean, there are. There's so many people in their '90s now. It's fantastic. My dear friend who passed Norman Lear. Oh, yes. He made it to 101. And Carl Reiner, who passed, and Mel Brooks, who's still like, there's just a lot of...

It's It's almost like, Oh, to 100? It's amazing. Okay.

Do you want to make it to 100?

Oh, sure. Yeah.

That's a great number to make it to.

My agents say I'll still be working, so I don't know about that.

I know you love singing in the Rain. You also love Jean Kelly, too, right? I know.

I loved his dancing.

Me, too. I loved him as a dancer.

I think it's some of the best dancing, and I love Donald O'Connor. I thought he was his dancing was rather an underrated, really. I think he was so much better than many people realized. And Debbie was good. Debbie was very good in it. They all were. And that wonderful woman who was so funny, who played the The actress?

I have a laptop. I can find out who it is. Look, we can't look at her name. June, I can't remember anybody's name. Okay, singing in the Rain.

She played... I can't remember her character name, but it was the actor.

Jean Hagen.

Jean Hagen. She was so funny.

You grew up in the Midwest. People think I grew up in the Midwest because I did a show that took place in a fictional town in Indiana. But what I love about people from the Midwest is a real sense of community and forthrightness. Do you think that that is true? Do you find that to be true?

Yeah, I think the forthrightness is, I think, because everybody just always says what they think.

Yeah, I think it's- It's true.

Yeah, I think they do. Even to the detriment of perhaps the person listening, but they say it.

Yeah, I think that there's a straightforwardness. Yeah, there is. That's very nice to be. I find it very nice to be around. But do you find in your life, did any of that Midwest stuff travel in any of your work?

Oh, very much so. Yeah, I think it did very much. I think there's a stick-to-it-us-ness, and I think that that's very Midwestern.

Agree.

I mean, it's like you've got a job, so you do it. And no matter what that job is, if it's yours, then you have to do it.

I spent some years in Chicago. I just feel like there was a sense there of exactly what you just said, one foot in front of the There wasn't a ton of, I don't know, complaining.

You don't complain. You just do what you're supposed to be doing.

Do you feel you do that?

I think I do. I think that's something that has been a part of me. We were very far south. We were on a line with St. Louis, Missouri, which is considered a Southern city, really. My accent, I still had a Southern. I probably still do have a Southern sound. And they tried to take... I remember when I went to the Cleveland Playhouse, one actor went out of his way to take the Midwest Southern out of my voice, and he did for the most part. Interesting. So by the time I went into New York, it was more... It wasn't a Southern.

It was like voice lessons to flatten that out. Or not flatten it out, maybe.

Not flatten it out. Lemon. Which one? Lemon. That's Lemon. Got you. Lemon. Lemon.

Lemon brothers.

Lemon. I had Lemon in my tea. Lemon. Lemon. Lemon.

Oh, that's a good one. Do you remember Other ones? Lehman.

Let's see.

I know with my Boston accent, I had a hard time when I would do... And I had to say it a lot on Parks and Rec where I had to say the word. I still have to swallow before I say it. Government.

Government?

Something about my Boston accent makes me want to say government.

Oh, yes, I hear that.

I get rid of that, but it's government. Government. Government. That was a hard one for me. When you get... Does your accent come back at all when you're with people?

If I get tired, it does, too. I get very Southern if I get tired. Picture.

Picture?

Picture, yeah.

That's another one. Do you like doing accents?

Are you good at that? I don't. I'm not great at accents. Supposedly, if you have a Southern accent, it's harder for you to do accents. I don't know why. I think it's the slowness that you're... I don't know, but I've been told that or read that or something.

Have you ever had to do an accent in a film or a part that was challenging?

Yeah. I could do Irish fairly well. I've done that on stage and in film. But I don't have that ear.

I really don't. No, what do you mean? I think you either have it or you don't. It's amazing to watch a real mimics, people who can pick it up fast.

Some people could just read and do it. I mean, what do you want? Police? Okay. I mean, I can't do that. I mean, I can do it if I work at it a long time, but you can't just throw something like that at me or I can't.

I won't. I'm not going to throw it at you.

Oh, good.

We're going to do the rest of this interview and we're going to pretend we're French.

French, okay.

Having come from musicals, are you hoping to do more musical stuff? Like, do you want to Have you been able to do anything musical lately?

I did a glee, and I think I did three numbers in it.

What did you sing?

Do you remember? Memories from Katz at Chris Colfer and I sing that together. You guys are buddies. Yes, we are heavy duty buddies. We did another. I can't even remember what numbers it was, but Memories was the big one that we had.

What's so great about Chris? What do you love about Chris Colfer? It seems like a peach.

Well, I met him on Glee, and he had written the script and was doing the lead. It was Peter Pan, and I was playing Wendy. It's a whole story But anyway, so we worked together so closely, and I think we were shooting. It was big scenes. I think we shot like a week and a half or two weeks. It was a long shoot. I just got to know him and liked him a lot. We started then having dinner together. He has a great partner, Will Sherrod, who I adore, too. It was just great fun.

What do you learn from and get out of people who are younger than you? Because as an older person, I feel like what happens is people want to ask you for a lot of wisdom.

Oh, no. They know they're not going to get it, so they don't ask that at all for me in any way. Yeah.

I feel like people really project on people that are older, that they have something they want to share. When in my experience, younger people teach me stuff all the time, like I learn a lot from them. What do you learn from people like Chris and your other... I know you have a lot of younger friends.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I mean, if I like someone, I don't think I ever think in terms of how old they are. If I feel an affinity, that there's something here that I want to be more a part of. I mean, Why would I tell anyone what to do?

Well, because I think people in their 90s are treated like astronauts. I think people are like, You got to go somewhere. You're there, and what are you bringing back? I think people really... I mean, people were all afraid to die. Mortality is the thing we're obsessed with. When people are in their 90s, I think there's some people want to know the secret. They think you got something in your pocket.

Well, I don't think any of my friends feel that way. Let's just put it that way. We're on an even keel. Keep me happy or forget it.

What age do you feel you are?

Thirty-five. I always feel I'm 35. I don't know what I felt when I was younger than 35, but as I got older, I kept referring back to 35. I don't know why.

I deeply remember my 35th birthday, too. Do you? Yeah. Where were you when you were 35? What year was that? Where were you?

Well, I was in New York. I don't remember why 35 is so important. I think it's because I remember my mother at 35. There was something very grand about her at 35, which I did not always find as she got older or even younger than that. But somehow my mother We're at 35. It was great.

I agree with you that when we meet people, I feel like we meet them and we meet very old, wise 25-year-olds, and we meet really all over the place, hectic 95-year-olds. We meet all of those people. The age doesn't have a lot to do with where you're at.

No, it really doesn't.

It makes me think about What we're talking about makes me think about what we worked on together, this film Inside Out. Inside Out, too, because there's some themes in there, too, about the idea of time passing. For people who haven't recognized June's voice yet as they've been listening to it, but you played Nostalgia. Nostalgia. What I loved about Nostalgia when she comes in and she's drinking her tea is that it's Buddhist what Nostalgia does because Nostalgia says, remember. Basically, remember when we were all getting along, but she keeps coming in during chaos to kick everybody back to Let's just take a minute and remember, which is like it feels very like, I don't know.

But you keep pushing her out all the time. I know.

It's interesting why they don't want to get nostalgic in that moment. What is your relationship? Are you a nostalgic person?

Not terribly. I'm really not. I've always been like, What's going to happen? Even as a young person, I was like that.

Yeah, what's next? Yeah. And do you think that's one of the reasons why you've worked so much and had such a long career as you've been thinking that way?

I think it probably has a lot to do with a career.

Yeah. Yeah.

And the working so much, when I started out, I would have done anything. And I think you have to. I think when you're just starting either out here in Hollywood or in New York, wherever you are, or Chicago, because there's a big group there, you have to do everything. You can't say no to anything because it's working keeping that thing going that is going to save you.

I know you describe yourself as a character actor, and I love the way you talk about how you approach. You've obviously done these amazing films in which you've led them and been number one on the call sheet and been nominated for awards, and you've done so much work where you have been part of an ensemble, part of a... And you talk a lot about how you treat them the same. I do. Yeah. Why?

Well, to be honest with you, I feel if I'm doing it, it's the most important thing in the film. I've always felt that. And that just carries through. I think, too, you've seen films where somebody comes in and does one scene, and you, wow, who's that? I mean, you just don't know.

Yeah.

And I like the work. I enjoy doing what you do to get it up there on the screen.

When you worked on your performances in About Schmidt and Nebraska are so good. Thelma is so great. You and Fred are so great in that together. Then Eleanor the Great. When you work on films like that with directors and you've memorized your script, do you like to come in feeling like you know who you are already, or are you hoping that that gets shaped as you're working?

I think it's more shaped worked as it goes on. I think I know a lot, but I also work with no idea of what I'm going to do. I have none. So what happens is what happens hits me, and then that's how I react.

Who are some of your favorite scene partners? People where you felt like you were in the scene with them and there was a vibe that was really working.

Well, Richard Roundtree and Fred in Thelma. I think they were both amazing. Eleanor, Erin, as the young girl, we have so much together. Jack Nicholson, he was so great and so wonderful to work with. He always made me feel like a peer. He never once- Well, he better.

You are a bear.

Well, but I came in and he could so easily have been, I'm Jack Nicholson, and you're not. That one of those. He never, ever. I appreciate that so much with him.

Love to hear that. Did you ever have a young actor in their first role or film and you thought, Oh, they're very good, and then see them ascend? Does anyone come to mind?

I did Sent of a Woman. Oh, God, what is his name? We can look it up.

We've got Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, Philip Seymour Hoffmann. Philip. Wow.

It was so funny because I had a scene with both Chris and Philip, and I came home and I said, Boy, I just worked with this young kid, and he is going to be so big. I said, This kid's going to be a star. I knew it immediately, and I really don't do that very often. I mean, I don't sense that.

What did you remember seeing in him?

I don't know what it was. There was something about him, and he was never standing out. He was always a part of he and Chris, he and the other boys, this. I mean, he didn't push anything. He was amazing. But You knew? I knew just the minute I worked with him.

He was such a talented actor. Oh, God, yes. Did you get to work with him again?

No, I never did. They used to tease me because my character's name was Hunsacker, so they called me the Hun. They would tease me all the time. We lived in this motel, all of us, because we were shooting outside of New York. He and Chris constantly were trying to get me to go have booze and beer in the bar downstairs. I would go once or twice, but I was a big Knicks fan. I would sit there watching the Knicks, and they'd be up at the bar drinking.

Yeah. Are you a basketball fan? I am. You're a big sports fan in general?

Not hugely. I played basketball in high school, and I loved it. I started watching the Knicks when I lived in New York.

Were Were you a guard? I mean, you don't have the height.

I was a guard.

I was a guard.

We don't have the height. I could have stopped anything. I was really good at it.

That's cool. Yeah. Wow. Were you a sporty kid?

Yeah. I ran. I was a pretty good runner. And the tumbling that you do in the gym, I was a cheerleader. You had to be sporty for that. And a drum majorette. And they're all What a sporty. It's more or less.

In your '70s, '80s, and '90s, how do you stay? I mean, you're very physically fit. What do you do?

I do Pilates once a week for an hour. On the reformer or on the floor? Some on that, but some just stretching and weight stuff. I have two different massages, masseuses, I try to walk. I try not to just sit all the time.

Now, we spoke a little bit about your late husband, who was an acting teacher and who taught—I thought this was really wonderful—taught worked with Margot Martindale's husband? Yeah. You and Margot were neighbors. Neighbors, yeah. And still remained very good friends. Margot was such a terrific actress.

She's heaven.

Is this a true story that she got the script for-Nebraska?

Yes, it is true.

What's that story?

I was coming out of my apartment, and she was coming out of hers, and she said, Hey, she said, Have you heard about this new film, Nebraska? I said, No. She said, You've got to tell your agents about it. She said, You should be doing this role. She said, They sent it to me. But she said, I'm too young. She said, I really am too young. And she said, It's a wonderful role. So that started it. And so I talked to my agents about it, and they kept up. And since I had already done about Schmidt with Alexander. And the thing was that Alexander and the casting director both thought I was wrong for Nebraska. And I said, They think I'm that little lady from About Schmidt, and that's exactly what it was. And my agents kept at them to the point where they finally said, We'll send the script or send some scenes and have her send a tape in. So that's what happened. And Alexander again said, the minute I saw it, I knew you should do it. But he said it was so funny because for About Schmidt, he had cast it from somebody out here.

I was in New York, and my agents kept pushing me, pushing me. Finally, they again said, Just tell her to send a tape in. I'm sure they thought that would be the... Alexander told me. He said, I saw that tape and knew you had to do it.

Well, we do this thing on this podcast where we have people talk to me before I talk to the guest and give me a question to ask. We try to talk well behind people's back. I was talking with Will Forte earlier. Isn't he? I adore him. He adores you. He was on set of a new movie in a trailer, and we got him on Zoom to tell us what it was like working with you, and then just to give me a question to ask you. What was it like working with Will?

Oh, he's great. And he was so scared because he kept saying, I'm a comic. I'm a comic. No, you're an actor now, Will. Just shut up and do it. And so he was wonderful in the film. He was so great. Oh, God. And then he went to Cann the first time I went. He and I and Bruce Dern.

What was it like working with Bruce?

Bruce is great. This is one hell of an actor. He really is a great actor.

Yeah, you guys were great together. Yeah. Will wanted me to ask you, this was his question for you, and he wanted me to tell you, June, I love you. I love everything about you. What is your favorite food, and could you tell us about it in song? Oh, so no pressure, June.

Well, my favorite food are papusas. I have I have a cook who's upset. But one of the islands that her mother makes papusas for me all the time.

Sounds like a good title of a song. Let me see.

Papusas, papusas, papusas, I love you. Yes. There, Will Forte.

One of the last songs from South Pacific. That's beautiful. That's It's like the new Peaches song that Jack Black sang. The other thing I wanted to ask you about is, I'm a mother of boys. You have a son, and he is in the business, too, writer-director. You were a working mother in the '70s. What was it like being a working mother in the '70s? It's much different.

He was born in '70s.

He was born in '70s. Yeah, so '80s, I guess.

The '80s?

What was it like?

Well, by then, he was, I think, in high school. So he was pretty in New York. He was pretty loose.

Oh, yeah. You guys were in New York? Yeah.

Do you ever work together? Yes, I did some films for him. I did in New York and out here, both. And, gosh, I don't know. It was just a little family of three. And I went off, but he had his dad there always.

And your ex-husband, Charles, was an acting teacher. Did you work with him on your stuff? That must have been really interesting. What did you learn from him?

Well, everything, truly. Because my work as a performer, really, in musicals, I mean, I considered myself pretty realistic, and I was considered one of the more realistic actors doing musical theater. But Charlie, when I met him, and we met doing a musical in stock, and he said, You could be a really fine actress if you really do what you were doing. And he was right. I remember going into his class, and it was hard because it was like tearing down everything that I believed or thought I was doing and to put something else in there. I was crying and he was yelling at me, and all the kids in the class were laughing. They thought, Oh, this is pretty funny. We went through this awful screaming and yelling and everything. But I mean, truly, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if it were not for him.

Honestly, it seems very passionate.

It was. I mean, he was determined, almost more determined than I was to do it. He was determined I was going to do it.

That must have been nice to have someone in your corner like that.

It was interesting because we worked together then for years, and I was auditioning for a regional theater, a script that I liked a lot and wanted to do. He always helped me at home. I said, I have this audition. He said, I'm not going to help you. I said, No, I need help. He said, No, you know what you're doing. You do it.

This is very exciting foreplay that you're talking about.

No, I wasn't. It was like... But we kept... And then I got the role and I said, You've got to help me. He refused again. He died about six months later.

Wow.

Do you think he knew? I think he knew somehow that he had to push me out. Out of the nest is what he did.

Wow, June. That's wild. He probably sensed something.

I think so.

So do you feel like in the early days, you were dependent on him?

Oh, very much so. I felt I couldn't do it if he didn't help me, set me straight. He just refused, and he never once helped me after that.

How old were you when he passed?

1999.

How old was he?

I have no idea.

I mean, I can't do that math. We'd have to do the math. Let's not do it. Let's not even try it. That's outrageous. Did you ever consider dating, or did you date after that?

I did date a little bit, but I dated a little bit in New York, and I dated some out here.

What's dating like in your '80s?

Not very interesting. It really wasn't. Nobody came along that really excited Excited me. And I was working all the time. So it just went by the wayside.

Well, do you feel like... I ask a lot of my guests, but you have friendships now, especially female friendships that probably They span many decades. What do they continue to do for you even into your 90s?

Well, I think mentally, I think without them, I need that, I The mental push, the mental excitement.

Yeah. And someone who knows your story. Yeah.

I have two female friends that I'm very, very close to, and I see them all the time, so it's great.

Yeah. What are you doing right now? What do you listen to, watch, read that makes you laugh? When you want to laugh, when you want to check out- Well, I watch Saturday Night Live for one day.

Do you? Oh, yes. Every week? Not every week, but a lot.

So good. Who are some of your fave performers on that show right now?

I love Colin. I mean, I just think he and Michael Che together just knocked me out. But so you like sketch comedy?

Yeah.

I did it. I understand that.

Were you big? What shows did you like in the comedy? Were you like a Monty Python fan? Were you laughing? I love Monty Python.

I liked laughing. Buzzie was a really good friend of mine.

Ruth Buzzie was a friend of yours?

We worked together in reviews in New York, actually in Provincetown.

Tell me about that. What was Ruth Buzzie like?

Well, she and I worked in the same little group.

I love that you called her Buzzie. Yeah.

Sorry. That's what everybody calls.

I didn't know that. I always called her Ruth Buzzie.

Ruth Buzzie. No Buzzie. Buzzie. We worked together. We did a ship. We did a cruise ship together, and we did some nightclubs in New York together. Then she had gone to Provincetown the year before, and they needed someone. The summer coming, it was a summer job, and she suggested me. So they talked to me, and then they hired me. So we had the whole summer together.

Oh, that's fun. Yeah.

Do you ever watch The Neighborhood? That, to me, is funny.

With Max Greenfield? Yes. And Cedric?

Yes. Yes.

So funny. They're funny. They're really funny. Max is so funny. I used to watch Cedric, the entertainer. He used to be part of those like, Comedy Def Jam, where there'd be like a bunch of stand-ups together. And he was so funny. That's a good film.

I'm amazed at him. I watch him on the show because of how he knows he's going to do it and it's comedy, but he's just like, I don't know. He's wonderful.

Did you ever see that got arrested on stage?

Oh, I know who you mean.

Okay, let's play this game. Let's see how long. Okay, I heard that for memory, you shouldn't look things up. You should try to visualize. To remember. Okay, we're going to do it. Putting the- Lenny Bruce.

Lenny Bruce. . I got it, dude.

Lenny Bruce.

I didn't see him in Chicago.

I knew you would see him. What was that like? Do you remember seeing him?

Yes, I remember that everybody, because he would say these things.

Yeah, he was an interesting guy. I think that's going back to where we started our conversation. There's something about, I would have loved to have been, and it must have been so cool to have been in the city during that time in the '50s and '60s when everything was just starting to unravel in an interesting way.

I keep thinking, I can remember being worried about things, and again, it passed. I hope that's what happens with us now. It, too, will pass, but I don't know. I don't know.

Well, I think that is the one thing that a long life gives you is you get to see- I've seen it a lot pass.

Let's just say this.

Yeah. I love our time together, June. Thank you for coming and doing this. Well, thank you. It's been so great. I think you're such an incredible talent. Thank you. I'd love to be your friend. I know this is awkward, but I tend to bully people into being my friend.

If you don't have to bully me.

Okay. If you would accept the invite- I would love it. I would love to I'd love for us to be new friends. I know it's awkward. I'm asking you on this podcast, What are you going to do? Say no. No. June just hands me her card, and it's just five, five, five, five, five I'll call you next week. Thank you so much for doing this, June. This has been the best. I hope you had a good time.

I did. I had a great time. Okay, great. And I got a Mocha.

Oh, gosh, your mocha. We didn't even sip it. Sip some of that Mocha. It's going to be watery now.

It's still good.

Thank you so much, June Squibb. My new best friend, you heard it here. She can't take it back. We recorded it. June, you're the best. Such a great artist and person. Thank you so much for coming in. June talked about a lot of exciting musical theater. So for today's Polar Plunge, I just want to just take a moment to say that West Side Story was so important to me as a young person, and that being able to even picture the original musical and seeing it on stage in its first week or two that June talked about. I don't know. If you haven't seen the film, watch it. I'm sure there are local productions happening right now. The original film from the '60s is so beautiful, and the music is so beautiful, and I'm sure we can't afford to sing this, but I would like to say, Everything is I am too. Anyway, thank you for listening. See you soon. You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weis-Burman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya MacMillan, and Elea Zanieris.

For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovelle, and Jenna Weis-Burman. Original music by Amy Miles. All I ever wanted was a really good hang.