Transcript of "Keri Russell"

Hello, listener. We're in the middle of a songwriting operation here with Sean P. Hayes.

Okay, it goes like this. We are three guys talking today. Hey, hey. We, one of us just might be gay. Hey, hey. There's just two that might be straight.

Can I just stop? Can I just... Sorry.

Might be gay? Yeah, because nobody knows which one of the three is.

You think that nobody knows which one of the three of us is?

No, one of us is definitely gay. Can you work that? Okay, so- Everybody knows this, Jason.5, 6, 7, 8.What.

Are you talking about? We are three guys talking today. One of us is definitely gay. Hey, hey.

Welcome to SmartLess. Smart.

Lies. Smart. Lies. Smart. Lies. Smart. Lies. Smart. Lies.

So, Sean, you're still in New York City.

Yeah, I am.

Would you ever consider living there full-time?

It's funny you say that. No, because Scotty and I had a long conversation about it.

Can we have the short version?

Yes.

This is the rhythm of the question-answer dynamic.

To walk us through what's his You're sitting in a chair. Scotty brings a couple of pop turrets. He puts them in front of you. He says, Sean, I want to talk to you about something.

Yes, right. No, for the first time ever, I've been getting used to it. Because I associate the city with work and work only. Because I've had some extra downtime, I was like, Oh, I finally get it. I'd never walk through Central Park. I walk through Central Park all the time now. I was like, God, this place is huge and it's beautiful. By the way, you know what I do when I walk? I started walking in Central Park at dusk. Okay. What I do is I flex my lats and hold my head up really high because I'm scared somebody to make myself appear bigger than I am.

You think the lats will do it?

Yeah, because I get scared. You think that your lats are scary?

It's like a cobra. You flare out the back.

That's right. That's exactly right. You make yourself seem bigger.

Hey, I'm going to fuck. We got one right here. We got a live one right here. Oh, fuck. Are you crazy? Look at the lats on this guy.

Look at the fuck. Like a batwing.

Abort, abort.

The great Will Speck knows how to flare out the old batwing.

I do, though.

I get scared.

Sean, quick question. The blanket that's draped over the chair behind you, who did it?

I did it.

You did that. You fold it and then you drape it.

Yep.

And you did the drape.

It's nice.

Do you punch the pillows? You're not a pillow, Karate Chopper. Yeah, thanks. Sorry, J. B. Yeah, you're not a Karate Chopper.

Scottie, probably a little bit more than me. I don't care about that as much.

But a little bit more. So you're saying you're both going around chopping pillows?

Yeah, that's not a euphemism.

Well, listen, but Sean and Scottie have nice things. Look at behind him there. We got sconces. We've got stuff on the book shelves other than books.

J. B, have you been to their apartment in New York?

No, never invited. That's terrific.

That was great.

I invited you. I asked you. You had to work, but I said you and Franny come over when Franny was in.

Just the once. Have you been in New York recently at all, J. B? Yeah. Since January.

Oh, my God. Please come over anytime.

No, Why is that now?

Will, you've been there a couple of times? I have. After you guys got back from Istanbul, did you go through there?

I keep a few things there because I'm there so much.

Do you really?

No, I don't. You fucking dummy.

Hey, wait, Sean, What did you just pull up in a frame there? Is that... Oh, that's what we're talking about with Scotch. Is it apple juice?

Is it apple juice? It's so good, right?

With a lot of ice. You drink apple juice with ice? Yes.

You have a real... I'll bet you a half a dozen max of our listeners know someone that drinks a glass of milk or three every day and apple juice on ice. That's right. I mean, you are Mr. Americana.

Yeah, you got it. Not just that. It's like 1973 in your house. I have pop tarts, too.

No, we know, man. And slippers.

Then you guys have a- I got JB.

I got JB a pair of these.

Yes, you did. Wait, we've got a guest waiting.

You know what? Sean, we do have a guest Yes, I do want to say this, Sean, you were the first person, and now I do it. This is years ago, and he was wearing slippers, and I go, Hey, man, are you wearing slippers at dinner? No way. He goes, Yeah. He wore them out, and I went like, I guess it's okay to wear slippers out. I've never done it.

Because I'm just going to my house to go sit down and eat and then go back to my house. Right.

You know what I mean? Sweat pants is the universal sign for when you've hit fuck it, right? When you're wearing sweat pants outside. But if you wear slippers- Well, J.

B, we live in an air now, though. Everybody, they call it athleisure to try to dress It's a huge-Not heard that. Obviously, it's a huge industry, athleisure. It's a huge quarter of the- Stop saying that.

Well, I've never heard it before.

When you see people out during the day and you're at the fucking Beverly Center and they're wearing stretchy pants and a stretch up, and you're like, Are we in a workout class together? They're like, No, I just walk around the world like this.

But it's so comfortable.

No, I know it's comfortable, but so are my fucking pajamas. But what am I doing?

Yeah, or naked. You're not allowed to walk around naked.

Yeah, we're not at your house, man.

Yeah. You know what I get?

I could never do it, but I don't like jeans or pants that are super tight, that they're constricting.

Sure, it could go anywhere. Go ahead.

I get wanting to wear athletes.

This is a humble bragging saying he needs a lot more room in there than most people.

I just think that there's an entire segment of our population that it's hit, fuck it. It's not even, Fuck it, that it's appropriate to... By the way, I wear shorts out sometimes in a T-shirt, but I'm not like, I don't say it.

Jason, how much longer do you have to go on the show? Two weeks. Oh, that's it?

Can you believe it? Then it's all coming on now. Is it beard and hair at the same time?

Yeah, over the course of two or three days. Yeah, because we got to do the-I can't wait to see you clean, shaven and clean.

I know.

I can't. I'm going to look so weird.

Will you miss this look?

I'll look old, probably, right? Yeah. Do you think I'll look older? Dure.

Sorry, I meant to say der.

Because one- Our guest liked it. Yeah, she seems like she's in a good mood.

She's in a very good mood. You know what? Let's get to it. She's so much fun because I want to hear what she has to say about your face and your beard coming off and stuff. I'm really excited because I love having a good friend on here, especially like an old friend, somebody who likes to laugh and have a good time.

Mix it up. Do we all know her? Do we all know her?

I don't know how well you two guys know She and I have been friends for a number of years, and I'll tell you why, because you'll guess once I say why. But she is... I don't like it. There's this thing now where people say in the world all the time, Oh, my God, you're my favorite human. That expression drives me crazy. Yeah, that's funny. It's almost up there with wearing fucking stretch pants.

There are dogs that outrank you, but as far as humans go- People use that.

You're my favorite human. Just say person. You're one of my favorite people. You don't need to say human. But anyway, she is one of my favorite humans. I'm going to use it. I'm breaking my own rule because I'm a hypocrite through and through. She's just such a wonderful person. She's so fun to laugh with and talk to. She's super smart, super cool. But then when you look at... I want to say that I love her as a person, and I also love and respect her as an artist, as a performer. She's so amazing. She's been nominated for Umpteen Emmy Awards She's won Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards for lots of different stuff. You might remember her from the Mickey Mouse Club. You might know her from Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for that. She's going to kill me. You might remember her from a lot of different things. You might remember from her two episodes of Roar that she did with Heath Ledger back in the day. But you're definitely going to remember her.

Definitely I'm buzzer. Hand on buzzer.

You're definitely going to remember her from her show, which is going to a second season soon, The Diplomat. You also know her from The Americans. You know her from Felicity. You guys, this is my friend, Kari Russell.

It's in Marga Russell.

Oh, hey, Russell. Oh, my God. Sean, did you say Martindale? Margot Martindale. Yeah. Margot Martindale.

Who is equally as great.

There she is.

Oh, my God. Hello, Kari.

Kari.

Oh, my God.

It's so great to see you. Margot Martindale. Margot Martindale. Margot Martindale.

Margot Martindale. Margot Martindale would be my favorite guest.

Margot was busy, so we got Carrie. Understood.

I get it.

I didn't even want to mention, and I couldn't mention Matthew, because once I say Matthew, then they pick us up. I had to work backwards, and I know you're going to kill me. You're not going to kill me for the Mickey Mouse Club.

I love that. You were on the Mickey Mouse Club?

Were you on when Ryan- With Brittany Spears and all that? Was it Ryan Gosling on that as well? Oh, yeah.

No way. With them, all of you were on the same thing? Oh, yeah.

That's crazy. Ask me anything. I mean, that is gold. That is pure gold.

Wait, Kari. First of all, hi, Kari.

Hi. So nice to see you.

It is so nice to see you. It's so nice to see all of you.

And you. Are you home?

I just got home. I've been filming in London, and I just got home just a few days ago. I'm home getting kids ready for school. My teenagers helped me set all this stuff up.

Oh, they did? Yeah. Are you good at adjusting different time zones? Are you still on jet lag?

I'm jet lag, but I really love the early morning. So even though I'm still getting up at 4:00, it's such a quiet time in my house. So I don't I love just pitter-pottering.

Let me tell you something about Carrie, and Jason, you're going to appreciate this. Shonda goes to your question, which is she's so disciplined. It's crazy. She can just do anything. She's like, What's the task? Okay, so I'll do this. I'll get up early and I'll do the thing. She does stuff.

Are you a Capricorn, Kari?

I'm not.

What are you?

I'm an Aries.

I don't know. We don't know anybody. That's the end of my-We don't know anybody about that. All I know is about my own sign.

Really? Out of the not shocking department.

Mom, my wife can come in here and break you down. My wife would ask you, You're rising in your moon.

I don't know any of that, but I'm into it. But I don't know any of it.

Wait, Carrie, do you remember that one time? This is decades ago. You know what I'm going to say. No. You were with an acting coach, and you came out, and I was going in, and that's when we first met. This is 25, 30 years, a super long time ago.

Which acting coach?

I don't remember. But it was her house. It was this acting coach's house, and it was a It was like a guest house in the back. You were coming out, and I was going in. I was like, Oh, my God. Was that crazy?

Be careful because a lot of people listen to this.

It was that... No, she's a really intense teacher. She did like Al Pacino and stuff like that, right?

Crazy intense. Maybe. I don't even know.

It was behind in her house. Not Venice, but like adjacent Venice, right?

Sean, you don't remember her name either?

I don't.

Sean, do you wish some of those classes had stuck? Like, do you wish some of the...

I fucking wish some of those classes.

That would have been so fun if some of that had worked. For you, I mean.

Sean, I wish some of those glasses would have stuck. Sean, what type of stuff would you go in there with a specific set of sides for an audition that's coming up?

You work on it?

For Or I got a monolog. I need a funny monolog and a dramatic monolog.

Right. Carrie, do you remember what you were doing it for? Were you up for auditioning?

I have no idea. Maybe a movie or something that... I don't know. I did it once or twice, probably when I It was right after Felicity. Oh, so it was probably just once or twice because a friend of mine was going. Anyway.

Will is threatening to move to, I can't keep up. It's usually I think now it's Portugal, but he would like to live in England, I think, as would I, I think. Where did coming back from there leave you? I mean, would you go back?

I've spent the past three summers filming there, which I know is a little bit of a unique existence. You have a nice place to live, you're working, you have a job. There are a lot of things that are extra nice. It's not like you're But it is... London in the summer is a delight. It is so breathtakingly beautiful. I tend to live north by the Heath, and I wake up early morning and I walk to the Heath.

I have said Heath is such a great area to live in. It is magic.

It is so magic. I agree. I've loved it. I've really, really loved it. Actually, I don't think... Well, I don't know. I don't think I'm telling tales out of school, but my last week there, we had I'm on the show called The Diplomat, and it's about the ambassador in London. I'm friends with the real one, ambassador Jane Hartley, who's just amazing and smart and cool. The last week, she said, We were like, Let's go to dinner before I leave. And so we went to the River Cafe, and that great actor, fuck, what's his name? On the Bear, who plays the cousin, Eben. Eben joined us, and we just had this... It was just such a fun, raqueous dinner. Rufus Sewell, who's on my show, too. It's just full of... Everyone was at this restaurant that night. It was like one of those magic, wild moments. I love London.

Could you see yourself living there full-time? Like with your whole family? Well, I don't know because I wonder if it's...

I love coming back here, too. Fall in New York is so That's great. I ride my bike everywhere.

Are you in New York now? She's in New York. You live in Brooklyn. She lives in Brooklyn. Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Not the same. Sean, you live at Zabr's.

Where are you, Sean? Where are you living in the city right now?

He lives in Zabrars. If you take a left at the Plane Bagels, he's-You're up But if you lived in London, I don't know if you could, because first of all, Matthew, as a Welshman, he'd get in too many fights. Oh my God. But he loves London.

He's at the pub.

I know Matthew, he's at the pub. Then all of a sudden, before it's all over, he's in a fight with a bunch of Englishmen, right?

Yeah, there's definitely a rivalry, but he loves London, too. But I don't know.

What about your teenagers? Have they done some time there?

They have. Yeah.

What'd they think?

They like it, but they Like you guys, they travel wherever we work.

In the summer, they can be with you. Yeah. Would they or would they be like... Because I've got a 12-year-old and 17-year-old, and they just-Oh, I have exactly the same.

Yeah. Plus an eight-year-old.

Yeah. Lucky you. But they're like, they've got their lives, and they got their friends, and they got their places they'd like to go. It's like, Well, great. I'll see you when you get back, Mom, Dad. Definitely. It's hard to get them away, nor do you really want to disrupt them.

Jason, kids' names real quick. Sorry. This is a fun game.

Both of you are girls.

Both of girls. This is a fun game. This is a fun game. But wait, by the way, Jason and Sean, have you guys spent any Is there a time up near Hamsted Heath, up in that area? No, I don't know what that is.

No, I love London, but not- It would blow your mind.

It would shift everything you think about living in London. What's it called? Hamstedt. Because it's like a massive, I want to say park. It's doing it a disservice by calling it a park. But in effect, it is that. It's super green. There's got a bunch of little lakes in it and stuff where you can swim. It's wild. It's wild. It's like a wild park.

It's incredible. It's so beautiful. Kari, could you live there or no? You're happy.

I I really love it. I really love it. But I have to say, we shot there. When the strike happened, we had to make up for things. So we shot there over the winter, and it's different in the winter. Because New York in the winter, even if it's snowing or it's freezing, it can be sunny, and it's bracing, and you can still ride your bike. But it's raining every day. And rain all day is different than-And cold, right?

That cold that gets into your bone. Even as a Canadian, I'm like, Fuck, I'm freezing.

I do love it. It's so lush and it's so green. The people, there's a real... I don't know. It does have a different culture than we have, but it was just a delight.

Where did you start? Where did you grow up?

I moved around a lot. I was born in California.

The law kept catching you.

Then I grew up. I spent 13 years in Arizona and then Colorado, and then my parents moved to Texas. I moved around a lot.

Where was the first place you said?

Arizona. California.

California, then Arizona, then Colorado. Sorry, are you getting an email coming in? Are you ? What's going on? She said it like a second ago. Wait, so, Kari, you grew up in... I knew that about... I always think I always associate you with Colorado because I think you went to high school.

That was my high school.

High school, yeah.

Probably that I dated a hockey player for half a second from Colorado. That's probably what you remember.

That's what I remember, too. You know I remember all the hockey stuff.

We will be right back. And now back to the show.

How did it happen that you became part of the Mickey Mouse Club?

Yeah. I was a dancer with all my little dance friends in Colorado, pre-tean, teenage years. That was my sport, and that's all I did. A bunch of my friends went to a giant casting call, and we stood outside of the Denver Convention Center with thousands of little kids and their moms or something. We just stood in line. Some dude said, Hey, do you want to read a little script of a mermaid brushing her teeth with chocolate? Or something like that.

Was he part of the audition or was this just a back of a band?

He just rolled the window down.

I was willing to do it. No. That's what I did, and they called me back.

Wow. I mean, that is really, first of all, that gives a lot of hope, I think, to people who are like, Oh, should I bother going for that thing with thousands of people. Well, you could end up being Kerry Russell. I mean, you can't be Kerry Russell. Nobody else can be. But I mean, you've built an incredible life with really impressive credits. You've done amazing things.

Was that audition something you wanted to do, or did your parents tell you about it?

I wanted to. I mean, I don't think I knew what it really was. I just went with a bunch of my best friends, pals who were going, and they're like, Let's go do this thing. And by the way, I can't sing. I had never really been actor. So they said, Do a little dance, do a skit, and sing a little song. Because I think they wanted kids who weren't so... How did your friends do? They didn't like it.

Still waiting to hear.

Still waiting to hear.

Her friend, years later, was like, She didn't even want to go. I was the one that wanted it. I was the one.

And she got it. Wait, I want to ask if you didn't care because it has to do with how Will introduced you, which is like, you do when you just came on, you weren't Margot Martindale.

When you came on- By the way, you haven't been Margot Martindale for a minute.

By the way, there's no one better than Margot Martindale.

Sean, you know what I'm saying?

We adore it. She's the best. I love Margot Martin. Oh, my gosh. Me too.

Everybody does. But your energy and your work ethic, and you're like, you do have so much energy even talking to you now and with the kids and working and traveling and Getting up at 5:00 in the morning and working 14 hours. Where do you get that drive? Where do you get the energy?

Youth. It's youth.

Youth, oh my God.

Methamphetamine.

Because you do have to find it. You do have to find it. Even though you're tired, you have to find it.

Well, I think, well, number one, I don't work all the time. I like long breaks, and I spend a ton of time on my own. I like to be alone a lot. I have amazing friends. I have a group of core friends that I love, and we do stuff all the time. But other than that, I work. I have a ton of downtime. So for instance, the diplomat, I'm not going off to do tons of movies in between or on a Broadway show or something. That's my time to just be home and wander and read books. That's what keeps me sane.

But it is a good question because... So, Kerry and I did this show with the great Mitch Hurwitz years ago. Yeah. Yeah, called Running Wild, and we had a lot of fun. That's how we got to know each other. It It was crazy. We were trying to make this thing happen, and we were shooting just crazy hours out on Long Island. I remember we were legitimately, the first couple of weeks, we were shooting 16 hours a day trying to get these fucking Get this thing off the ground. I remember Carrie going either before work or after work to the gym, and she had a little kid at home. She had a three-year-old at home and doing all the thing and had all this dialog and doing all this stuff. I was like, it was so impressive how hard, how dedicated she was to just... Like I said, she's just a doer in this way. It's a J. B. I can see the smile on J. B.'s face. He's just like, Yeah.

Why? Because you are as well? Is that what you're saying?

Because he's a machine.

It sounds like you. It's either going and really trying to accomplish a ton or just total power down, being by yourself, just staring at the wall, doing something really inane and refilling the tank. Yeah.

I just clean out closets. I listen to my little nerdy news podcast. He doesn't do that.

He doesn't do that either. He watches TV and he locks the door and nobody's allowed to bother him. You're probably not grumpy, but I will say- Amanda serves his food under the door. Yeah, nobody can talk to him. Read me things. Yeah, and he's not interested in anything. But the question is, Kerry, so you do the Disney stuff, and then that leads to what? How long? That's three years, I want to say?

A teenage years. Yeah, teenage years. This seriously is the truth. Whenever the girls looked like they were having sex, they were like, Get that one out of here. The boys stayed till they were 25. They're like, That one? She's out. Oh, wow.

Really?

Yeah, seriously. She looks like a breeder. She looks like a breeder. Yeah, get her out.

Yeah, exactly.

But it was so fun. I mean, it was so cheesy looking back, but it was so fun.

All those kids- Did it lead to anything tangible? Or was it just a great thing to have on your resume and you just started to do more traditional auditions? Yeah.

I mean, from that, because you're under this old school, like Disney contract, I had to do some movie, like the sequel, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, which was a sequel to Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.

That was part of your deal?

Interesting. It was like the old school system. We hired you under this umbrella. If you record an album, if you make a movie, you are ours.

We own you. Interesting. Yeah, it was a little bit like that.

That's interesting. The kids now, all this-American Like, the final kids and whatever.

Yeah.

Or whatever all those new Disney shows are.

Now, Felicity was quite some time past that, but that was also on ABC. It was under the same umbrella. That wasn't part of the same feel, wasn't it?

No, it wasn't on ABC. It was on something else. It was WB. Thank you.

W WB. I remember because it was their big hit show, and they were a young network, and then all of a sudden they had a hit, a legitimate hit. That's where you met our friend, the great JJ Abrams. That's right. That was JJ's show. You guys created, you guys made that network in a way. Kind of amazing. You legitimized them because it was a great show. Jj got heralded. You got heralded. I mean, everybody went like, Kerry Russell. You exploded onto the scene. I remember. You guys remember. I remember, too. Yeah, for sure. Every magazine.

Everybody knew who Kerry Russell was. Just like that.

Yeah, that must have been... Even though you'd been doing it for a while since you were a teenager, having that thing happen must have been startling.

I don't want to put words in your mouth. At an age where it's pretty... Where things are challenging already at that age, right? Kind of like figuring out who you are. How old were you?

First of all, the reason the show was so good was that what JJ and Matt did, it was so sweet. It was like such a little something of a show. It was their writing that was so good. But yeah, luckily, I can't imagine the kids now with all of the social media. Back then, it was just occasional paparazzi weirdos. But, yeah, I am a nervous person anyway around people I don't know. So that only made that worse. And that was hard.

People coming up to you on the street and stuff like Yeah.

Well, I mean, people were generally pretty nice to me, but I just think if you're an anxious person, it doesn't help. Like, yeah, having more people looking at you all the time. So I think that was something to navigate a little bit. But then it all worked out because after that show ended, I took a big break and I didn't act anymore. I didn't think that's what I wanted to do anymore.

Really? So was that a conscious decision? You were like, Hang on a second. I Yeah.

No way.

Yeah.

Where did you think you were going to go?

Well, I thought I was going to go to school because I hadn't gone to school. Because I graduated early from high school because I was on Mickey Mouse Club. You mean college? Oh, okay. Yeah. Because when you're on the Mickey Mouse Club, if you're a kid, you're tutored on set so you can finish as quickly as you can.

Same with Mr. Bateman.

Yeah, we know about that. Sometimes they have busses to do that, too.

But so, God, most kids, me, part of it, as soon as the kid show is done, there's a panic like, Okay, what's the next show going to be? What's my career going to be now that I'm almost an adult, and you're dying to get another job and get back into that television series cocoon, the safety of employment. You were the opposite. You were like, not only do I not want to work, I don't even know if I want to do this occupation anymore.

Doing that show, that was back in the old days when we would do 22 episodes. Now, the nature of television tends to be 8 or 13 episodes, but we were still doing network, 22 episodes. Especially back then, we were working because Matt Reeves was one of our first directors and set up the show. We were shooting it like film. We were shooting on film in the beginning. Really? Yeah.

Shooting on film?

Yeah. We were working 18-hour days, five days a week. So my Friday as a 21 year old would end about five in the morning, and then I would start again at five on Monday. And I loved that job, and it was great. And I'm so thankful. I'm still really close with a few of those people. But in many ways, it was life arresting. I wanted to be with girlfriends and whatever, kiss boys or do simple, stupid things that I knew I was missing. So when it ended, I had no time to spend any money or do any of that. So I took the money I had saved and rented this amazing apartment, one bedroom apartment in the village, which was really great still back then. And I had no furniture. I moved to New York with two giant boxes of books. I got mattresses. I put them on the floor, and I did all those things I wanted to do. I had two really great girlfriends there. We would go out dancing and get drunk and walk home drunk in the snow. And we would watch the Bachelor Ed and eat shitty food. It was everything I wanted it to be.

I got to just fucking be a kid. That's great. I think that's what I wanted.

Did you end up going to school?

I didn't. I thought that's what I was going to do, and that's probably what I should have done. I still think about it. But I think I just did it myself. I just read what I wanted to read about and took all that time off. I took, I think, a couple of years, and then just slowly started inching my way back in. I took a job where I wasn't the lead. I was a part of a family. Actually, we shot in London with Mike Binder, and I was just a part of these sisters, and Joan Allen was the lead.Right..

I was like-Was that the upside of Anger?

Yeah. I was like, She's cool and smart, and classey. If I can watch her, if she's managing her life okay, maybe it's possible. She was. Then I slowly-So you stuck with it.dipped back in.

What was the other industry that you were thinking about maybe going into?

Oh, God. I don't know. I think I just wanted to learn. I think I wanted to just go to school. I'm interested in every... I feel like I could do it lots of things. I'm curious, but I'm generally agreeable. I'm curious about a lot.

But you didn't start one particular career that you were thinking, maybe I want to go in. And then that was like, Yeah, it's not that great. And then you went back to acting? No, I didn't. You didn't really started anything?

No, I didn't. You didn't get into microplastics or anything. That's a big industry, apparently. It's a growth industry. It's everywhere. Yeah, it's a growth. Wait, this is to carry Njb because I'm always interested, curious about people who start performing when younger and are able to sustain it. When you were doing Mickey Mouse Club or J. B, you were on various shows when you were a kid. Were you cognizant of, and did people talk amongst you and your peers and your friends or your family's like, Hey, how can we make the jump to adult actors?

How conscious were you?

How conscious were you that there's a a bar there, that there's a separation between being a kid actor and then making it a life and a career? Would Were you aware of that?

I wasn't. Were you? No.

I was scared shitless of that transition. You were? Yeah. I thought, no one's going to… You're a kid actor, so why would anybody want to see you do adult acting when you're an adult, you got to start over. That's not going to be an easy transition. It wasn't. All through my 20s, it was just a barren waste field.

That's why you shaved your pubes till you were 22, right?

I did for different reasons.

Yeah. It feels nice.

Guys, I could still play young. Hey, it's me, J. B. Check it out.

I don't even have a puke.

Check it out.

Oh, my God. Oh, for fuck's sake. That is really funny.

Wait. Gary, so you go, you do upside a bit.

Wait, Jason, wait. Have you read? Because I actually, speaking of the creepy kid actors, which, by the way, all kid actors, the whole thing is so creepy. That's so funny. There's this amazing book that someone gave me, which I loved. Are you familiar with Sarah Pauley at all?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Now she's a director, but kid actor. She wrote this book called called Run Towards the Danger, which is a collection of stories. It's unraveling her time and understanding what that was all like. I thought it was great. Of being a kid actor?

Yeah.

And a lot of other things. But I do think it affects you and speaks probably to a little bit of what Will is saying, what he's seeing as work ethic. But I just think when you're a kid actor, you You have to show up. You're not allowed to have the flu. You're not allowed to... You fucking show up and you do it and you don't complain.

You don't go- Got all this adult responsibility.

You're adultified.

You are. J. B. Taught me a lot of… This is truly, and I mentioned this a couple of times, early on, we were doing a rest development. In the first season. At one point, I got to the point, it didn't take long, where I was like, Hey, what time are you rapping today? I got in early in the day, I'm thinking like, What time am I out of here? Jason turns to me and goes, We got you for the whole day, right? It really-We paid the full day rate. As funny as it was, the timing of it was perfect. His delivery was amazingly shitty, and it was perfect and hilarious, and it broke me. But also the truth of it was, Yeah, man, you're here to do a thing, and you got this.

Yeah, you're doing the thing you wanted to do.

Honestly, I never forgot it, and I carried it with me for the rest of my, and to this day, my working career, which is like, I'm there to do the thing that I got to do, not to fucking get out. I feel equally pissed off when I feel like- Until they're done with you. Yeah, I feel equally pissed off with people when they're trying to get out. I'm like, Fuck you, dude.

Yeah, that's what you signed up for.

We'll be right back. All right, back to the show.

So, Kerry, about the It's an anxiety thing, because I have a little bit of that, too. I'm much better at it, at dealing with it. But how do you deal with it?

You think? Okay.

I mean, sometimes these guys know. It comes out quite often. But how do you deal with it? Do you have tools that you go to tools?

I wake up in the morning and I do something immediately. I do, hopefully, something outside, even if it's cold, some physical activity really helps me. Even Even if I'm... Sometimes it just overtakes and you were like, Fuck it, here I am. You know what really helped me? One of the first times, this is absolutely true, right at the beginning of Felicity Times, before I had ever had to do any of that stuff, I had to go on a talk show. My first talk show was Rosie O'Donnell had a talk show back then. I think it was a daytime talk show. Yeah, it was. I had never done anything like that. I am a nervous person in that situation anyway.

That's It was a horror for me.

It's a lot of energy coming toward you in the stage and all the people and blah, blah, blah. I got back there and the stage manager is like, Come over here, come over here. I was like, Uh-oh, it's overtaking me. Here it comes. The stage manager must have told Rosie O'Donnell, who was so lovely, like she's nervous. So she came back and was like, Hey, are you nervous? I was like, Oh, no, no. I went out. This is really absolutely true. I went out. She was being completely nice. But as I was answering questions going, yes, I'm from Colorado, a tear. No way. I watched the interview. I'm smiling and I just gently wipe it away. I'm from Colorado. I'm having a full panic. I go back to the hotel, which was, they flew you to New York and did the whole thing. I locked myself in the bathroom and I was just mortified that I had done such a bad job and was so embarrassed and beating up on myself. Myself. My awesome friend, Canadian friend, Will Arnett, would love, we had gone out for drinks after or maybe the next day. I remember Alana said, I said, Oh, my God, I did such a bad job on this thing.

I was so bad. She said, You know who I just saw on David Letterman? Kim Basinger was on David Letterman, and she was so nervous. I remember I liked her so much because I thought I would be nervous on that thing, too. It's very real. It made me stop hating the nervousness about myself so much. I went, I'm nervous. What are you going to fucking do? People who are like, so, no offense to everyone who's so funny and good, because you guys are all so good at it. You guys are so good at it. But not everyone is so good at all.

But the dirty little secret is that even the flashy funny, I don't seem very nervous person is petrified underneath. They They just have this flashy coping skill that is basically acting. They're just able to act twice. You don't even know what I'm thinking.

Will, you are very easy, though, in front of people.

You are very- He is, but he's a fucking mess inside. He is a mess.

He is a mess, obviously.

He would admit it right now, just like I am a fucking disaster inside, and so is Sean. We're fucking nut jobs. We're all crazy. You just figure out different ways to fake it. Then you get comfortable with that, and it becomes a part of your personality, too. All this little suit that I put on to deal with it is also just me, too.

I'll get real with you. My version, through a lot of work and exploration over the last few months, this is totally honest, is I first went away to boarding school when I was 12. I didn't know that. Where did you Oh, well. I went to all boys up in Canada, and I went to all boys school. Where? I'm not going to give them the benefit of telling.

Okay, but what area? Sorry.

Where- North of Toronto.

Like up by Mascoka?

Yeah, a little east of Mascoka. Okay. North of Peterborough, on Okay.

That's them to come pick you up again, right?

Yeah, but south of Fenland Falls. Oh, right on. You could just narrow it down. Like right near Stoney Lake, but I'm not going to say where.

There you are.

There I is, age 12. I think that one of the things-I didn't know that. Yeah. One of the things about that is when you're that young, I can't imagine my sending-Can you imagine? No, I can't. Or seven when they go? Seven? Well, my roommate, first year, when I was seventh grade and I was 12, my first roommate, he had just come from England, and he had been at boarding school since he was seven. Wow. He'd been there for five years.

I mean, I know it's It's a way of life, but can you imagine?

Yeah. Sending your kids. He starts to continue to start. And he was very... And by the way, he was a very troubled kid, and I felt badly for him. But my point was at that age, and I don't know if it's dissimilar from being out on your own or working at that time. I learned how to cope with not having my mom and dad around and how to manage, certainly in a situation with basically other boys It's my age. There's a lot going on. It's very Lord of the Flies in a lot of ways. Not that bad, but you know what I mean? I do. I think that that skill or whatever that thing that I put up, I carried over into my life. The survivor school. Yeah. I think that's what it is. I do. I've been spending a lot of time breaking that down this summer, which has been interesting.

Well, whatever it is, I like it. I like it, too. Well done. I stayed vague enough that I didn't start crying. That's It's the end of the show.

Kari, so you do all that, and you think you're going to quit, and you think you're going to do it, and then you go... Because you have... Not only do you carry over from, excuse the pun, from being a child actor to then having success in your 20s. But then you decide that you're going to maybe shift gears or not do it anymore or whatever, or go to school or try something else. Then you end up having a third act, which you're in right now really successfully, which is you start doing a bunch of films and you have two really successful television shows. It's really unusual to be able to carry that on in all these ways. I would say that you two, I pointed Jason and Kerry, you guys are very unique in that way, that you managed to carry that on.

Yeah, it's remarkable, actually.

What was the thing where you went like, Okay, now I'm in gear. I want to start doing more and jump? Was there a job? Was there a particular thing that fired you up?

Well, the Americans was just The writing was so... I have to say, even in the beginning, it was a slow burn. I really think the show became good about episode 5 in the first season. Then it started becoming this other thing, which was really this dark unravel of a marriage. I always thought the spy stuff was just a way to push and pull the marriage, like sleeping with other people.

When you went into it, then you were thinking you were going, Hey, we're going over here, and you ended up going over here. Is that what- Yeah, I didn't know.

I was like, First of all, why do you want me to play this tough Russian spy? What? Don't you want Rocky's wife, that lady with the short blonde hair? I was like, Me? What the fuck? I was like, Oh, God.

That's hysterical. But she's not available?

I'm getting drunk with my friends walking in the snow. Why do you want me?

I don't want fucking this shit.

I'm still hung up on that image of you and your friends drunkily walking down seventh Avenue.

You guys, it saved my life. It really did. So that was just lucky. Total luck just getting to do that show and then meeting Matthew and all of that. That was just good writing. So fun to be a part of something that was well received. And then I took another long break. I feel like that's what keeps me in it is I go in and out. I take little pockets where then I'm just home doing laundry and seeing my friends and taking the kids to school.

After the Americans, you did. After the Americans. It's on the Americans that you met Matthew. The great Matthew Rieser, we've had on the program, who's just an absolute delight.

Yeah, love that guy.

I love Matthew. So cool. I just love seeing his face. I love hanging out with him. I had a nice lunch with him about a year ago. With Chris Tickeye. With our mutual friend Chris Ticier. Is he great? Yes.

Who's equally as great. Oh, my God.

Who's equally as delightful.

Oh, my Delightful.

That was a lot of fun. You meet Matthew and you guys are on the show together. Then, of course, it makes sense. You guys, it makes sense to me, by the way.

Yeah, he's great. He is really, really great.

You guys had never met before the show?

We had met, which he reminded me about, which I don't know if he told you guys on the show, but he- I think I remember this. Yeah. We had gone to fight training or something in the first week. Well, we screen tested everything, blah, blah, blah, did the fight training. I'd known him just like that. Then we were having lunch after doing some crazy fight training, and he said, We've met before. I said, No.

Yeah, I remember this.

We have. He said, We were at that kickball party in Rustica Canyon. Yes. We were the last people at the barbecue or whatever, and I was trying to get you to stay. I was trying to open a beer without a beer. He tried to do it with his thumb, and I knew exactly. I said, Oh, my God, of course. I remember you left a drunk message on my machine, and I was moving to New York that day. It had been 10 years had passed. Then game was on. Isn't that so crazy?

Well, so, Sean, don't feel so bad that she didn't remember seeing you in the garden of the acting teacher. That's fine. She didn't remember meeting her husband.

She remember her husband. Yeah, that's fine. I get it. I have one of those faces. But I love a good love story. To To the extent you feel comfortable, what changed when you try to open the beer for you?

You had the kickball party. You didn't clock. Did you do a lot of other hipster stuff at parties, like playing kickball that are like, ironic games?

No, but what changed for you 10 years later that didn't spark for you the first time?

Who knows, Sean? Who knows? Okay. I'm trying to think. I'm trying to think.

No, you don't have to answer.

It's probably a haircut. Matthew had his haircut better.

Number one, I don't I don't ever want to go back to my 20s. I'm not saying there are certain things about our bodies now as they're aging, but I like who I am so much more now than anything I look at my girlfriends, I think they are so beautiful now. I don't ever want to go back to 20s. I love our age now. I think in our 30s or when I met him again, which would have been in my mid-30s or about then, I just was a different person. You know what I mean? I wanted something different.

I also think that, Kerry, and this is a compliment to you, Kerry, which is that you probably don't remember because you're such an authentic person. I don't think that... I think you'd remember somebody if you actually had a real conversation, you really connected in that way.

Yeah, and that grew up here.

You're not distracted by shiny moving objects. No. At all. You're really a real person. Go ahead, Sean.

No, I'm distracted by shiny objects.

Anything with Frosting on it.

Can we get his-Oh, my God.

Shiny pretty things are nice, too.

Mission Impossible Incredible. I'm a big pop-on movie guy.

Did the mission... Sorry. Did any of those... It's awesome death. Did the mission end up being possible because they did do it? I think that's a little bit of- You never knew what the rabbit's foot was.

You never knew what the rabbit's foot was.

No, but I want to be like, Well, it turned out it was. It's like a never-ending story. Wait, did the movie end?

It sure did. It sure did.

Don't fold your arms.

Yeah. I mean, class action lawsuit much. I mean...

But I love that. Then when it was revealed that was you in Star Wars, I mean, I was blown away. That was the coolest thing. Oh, fuck.

Here we go. Sorry, Carrie.

No, I love it. Go. I was watching it, and even Scottie and I were like, Who is this? I recognize your voice, but I couldn't... Because we didn't see your face. I was like, Did you ever reveal yourself?

I don't think you did. Well, JJ never wanted me to reveal my face. I never wanted to reveal the face. Then at a certain point, I think it was the studio where someone said, You have to show her face. Jj was like, No, it's my whole idea. That's what's cool about it. My whole idea is it's like... It was like that girl. There was some cartoon with a girl on a motorcycle from when he was a kid who always had a helmet on. Then he was like, Well, what if we just show her eyes? But I think they wanted me to take the helmet off.

The studio was Yeah, we got Carrie Russell. We're not going to not reveal her.

Yeah, but it was such a kick-ass amazing character. It was so cool.

It was so cool. Just knowing Sean, that she was from Endelore, I mean, that must have been for you, right? Knowing the how many moons it was away. It was incredible. From Tattooine, you must have been just freaking out. It was so fun. As an adult, paying attention to a kid's story, it must have been so cool for you.

I love this. I love it. I'm getting fucking life. Then I haven't seen Cocaine Bear, and I really, really want to see, but I heard it's great. I know it's been out for a while.

It's so stupid and crazy and nuts. Margot Martindale is... I mean, you guys, what she... She's the greatest. It's ridiculous and wild, and it's It was just an antidote to COVID and everyone being stuck in their houses.

And the great Liz Banks.

Our friend Liz Banks. We love Banks.

She's so funny. You guys were in Ireland, I want to say? No.

She just called me. She was pitching me this completely other liturgy legit, serious, really good idea for this limited series. We're just on with these writers and having these serious conversations. Then text me the next day and just says, Hey- Or I've got this. I'm talking this crazy movie called Cocaine Bear. Do you want to read it? I was like, Sure. I told my girlfriends, I have these few girlfriends in New York here, and I was up in the mountains with them, and they said... I told them, I pitched the idea for the story. They said, If you don't do that movie, we're not going to be friends with you anymore. Wow. Really? And it was so fun. Jessie Tyler-Ferguson, Margot Martindale and I traipsing around Ireland out of We were out of control. We were out of control having the time of our lives.

Why did you guys shoot in Ireland? I forget.

Because the COVID numbers were down. Because it's an island, I guess. Because it's a good match for that forest we were looking for.

Margot is one of those people. She's so Years ago, she wanted... Krasinski was doing a movie, and he wanted her for this before the Don't Talk movies or whatever, or Quiet Place. Quiet Time. Quiet Place.

No, I think it's Look Who's Talking.

I like Don't Talk.

Look Who's Talking in a Time Out. Look Who's Talking in a... In place. I said to Margot, I said, Hey, John Krasinski wants to get in touch with you. Is that okay? She talked to myself. Then she called me. She goes, I'm going to do this fucking guy. I'm going to do his before she… It better work out because you better not have fucking put me on with this fucking guy. She literally pseudo threatened me. I was like, I just put you in touch with him. It's not my fault. You didn't have to do it. I'm doing it because of you.

When I read Cocaine Bear, that next day, she texted me, and it just says, Margot, and she says, Are you fucking doing this movie? I was like, Are you fucking doing this movie? What? I was like, Now I'm definitely doing this movie. Margot is doing it.

One of the hardest laughs I've ever had in my life was doing that series, The Miller is with Margot, and we did this episode. It was this thing where Bow Bridges was saying this thing, and Margot and I started laughing, and she got me laughing. I couldn't... It's the first time in my life I was like, I don't think I'm going to recover. I don't think we're going to get it. I don't think I can do this. I think it's a wrap. I have to go. I couldn't look at her. She had me laughing so hard.

She's a delight. She's a delight.

Okay. Kare, what are you excited about that's coming up other than the ? What are you going to do the rest of the day?

I'm going to be honest. I stayed up too late last night, so I woke up in the morning. I had leftover Indian food. It was fucking delicious. Sure. I'm having a beer with it.

I love that.

Gosh, you're so cool. We made our first... It's chilly here in New York this morning, right? Yes. We made our first fire, and it was nice. You don't even have a fireplace.

No, sorry. That's great. That's fun. What a fun day. The rest of the day is going to be cozy. My kids start school for the first day tomorrow, so I'm getting everyone.

I'm going to make a nice dinner, family dinner, early dinner for everyone, early to bed.

What are you going to make? What are you going to make?

I'm going to make skirt steak and a bunch of vegetables and rice.

Yeah, I love that. By the way, I've never been to Brooklyn. I want to go check it out. What?

We could have you. We could have you.

I'm not going to walk around there.

We could have you. There's great restaurants. I'm coming to New York in a couple of weeks, for real.

Will, remember when I ran into you?

Which time? On the street? Which time? With your car?

No, you were shooting something.

Oh, yeah, we were shooting in Brooklyn, and you were coming home and you were drunk. I was wondering how drunk.

I was like, Will, what's up?

Oh, boy. Dude, I was shooting and there was a whole... That was amazing. There was a whole... The crew we were doing, and she-What were you shooting? One of those Ninja turtle movies. What?

She just blew right by the lockup. I know him.

We were shooting right on the river, overlooking the city. Here comes Carrie. Of course, nobody stops her. No many of the crew stops her because they're like, It's Carrie Russell. She just basically walked through our set. It's like, What's going on?

I have hammered. Hammered, just walking home.

Walking home. I know. But I was going to say, I'm coming in a couple of weeks. Let's have dinner and/or lunch, you, me and Matthew. Can we do it?

I would love it. I would love, love, love, love it.

That's fucking done. God, Carrie, I wish we were just hanging We will.

I would love to see you. We have chance encounters from mutual people, satellite people, but I would love to see you.

Okay. Well, Carrie, you just brightened up our day. It's so great seeing you. It's always a delight.

Always. Let's all see each other.

I would love it.

Let's do it. Say hi to Matthew for us, please.

Yeah, please say hi to Matthew, and I'm going to reach out. I'm going to reach out to you in the next couple of weeks.

Please, please, please. Don't. Please do. Please. I won't hesitate. I would love, love, love it. Okay. Bye, guys. Thank you. Thank you.

Bye, bye, bye.Thanks, Kari.

Bye, Cee. Bye. Just a delight. Just a sunny delight.

How cool is she?

She's just a Sunday afternoon. She's just drinking a beer. Drinking a beer and eating some leftover Indian food because she's a little hungover.

She seems like one of those people that everybody wants to be friends with.

She's so fun. When we did Running Wild together, we had so much fun. She's the person doing her off camera would be throwing shit at me.

Like a super easy, fun It was really fun.

Really, really fun, really prepared, really in it, really just disciplined and professional, but cool and real. You could laugh with her, and then you can tell her. She and I, there were times where we were both going through stuff in our personal lives. She was such a good friend to me, and we would talk about stuff, and it really was just awesome. I love it.

By the way, she drives her entire career. She makes the decisions. Speaking of driving, by the way, I sent I did you guys a video when we were in New York of an Uber driver. Do you remember that?

Oh, I do remember this.

Remember that? He was really kind and he was from China, and His real true... This is a true story. His real name is called B-A-I-Y-I. I got in the car and I asked him how you pronounce it, and I sent it to you.

Wait, spell it again.

B-a-i Y-I. Yeah.

How would you pronounce that?

How did he say that he pronounced it? Sean, I'm glad you brought this up. How did he say that he pronounced it?

Bayi. Bayi.

There it was. Bayi.

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