Transcript of "Linda Cardellini"

I'm gonna— I'm trying to read your minds, both of you, right now.

Okay, you got it.

Right now. Okay, I'm sending— I'm zapping you something right now.

Sean, I anticipated that.

And me, I'm thinking of an animal. It's a safari animal.

Hey, man, listen, we've talked about drinking before the show before. We talked about it.

It was a zero.

You know what I'm gonna give you? Let's just— it's an all-new Smartless. Jesus, man, enough with the drinking. Smart. Less.

Smart. Less. Smart. Less.

Oh, Will's enjoying a shake. Hey, Will, uh, handsome place you're in. Is that the new spot in New York?

This is Atlanta.

Oh, somebody went ahead and took care of himself during his work in Atlanta, and he's drinking a shake. 'Cause he's got an on-camera job. Okay.

Great shake. Well, I've been— this has been part of my, uh, my thing for the last few months now, this, this particular thing I got going on here.

Do you want ingredients? Cool it. But you look great.

So, we lay a base of banana— sorry, what?

Have you started filming yet?

No. How did the table read go?

No, great.

Quiet, Chunk. Um, what's up, Will? Have you started working yet?

Chunk is actually my nickname. It is. No, not—

You're there for fittings and rehearsals?

Yeah. Table reads, rehearsals, all that kind of stuff.

And when do we start actually rolling?

A week.

Wow.

Oh my God. Are you excited? Are you nervous?

All of the above, man. Very excited, very nervous. Really cool. Really excited about the cast.

And remind our listener what this is again.

This is The Challenger. Oh, right. Limited series for Amazon. And the great Kristen Stewart is playing Sally Ride.

The great Kristen Stewart.

Yeah. Who's a friend of the pod.

So that was at the Challenger disaster. Do we all remember where we were?

Yeah, I was in 5th grade, right? What year was it, Will?

Did you still—

No, no, no, no. We were in 10th grade.

Should we just— we'll come back in 5 minutes when Sean's done with his breakfast.

Sean, what is it, by the way? What is it? What are we having for breakfast?

It's a tuna fish sandwich and a glass of milk.

Tuna fish sandwich? It's not even— it's not 10 yet. It's 9:30.

It's 9:30 in the morning, tuna fish sandwich. In his defense, he's been up on and off since 4, so.

Right. Um, guys, I've been sick. Thanks for asking. Um, have you really? You have been? Yeah, I'm getting over a, uh, a 2 or 3 day, uh, situation. Was a lot— it was a light illness, and I feel like I'm, I'm on the right side of it now. Oh, good.

A bit of a, like, a cold type deal?

Coughing?

Yeah, a little tight throat. You might hear a cough here or there during our time together this morning. I would have never known.

You should have known from when we recorded 2 days ago, whatever, 3 days ago.

Yeah, it was coming on hot. I almost canceled today yesterday, but woke up this morning and felt okay. No fevers. No fevers. And I'm a big fan of our guest today, so I wanted to power through. Oh, wow. Before we get to her, though, I did want to say that during my illness here, I had some soup. I'm a big, big, big soup fan.

Okay.

But then— I

mean, I'm so fucking glad this is getting out.

Yeah, but now— but I don't feel like I'm as big a soup fan as I was a few days ago because somebody ruined soup for me. They said to me, hey, I was having mushroom soup and they said, hey, what is that? Is that the Bachelor's gravy? I said, what are you talking about?

The Bachelor's gravy?

Well, cream of mushroom. Cream of mushroom is the Bachelor's gravy. I'm like, what are you talking about? Well, yeah, when you were a bachelor, you didn't just, like, heat up cream of mushroom, put it over chicken breast and stuff like that? I was like, no. So what they did for me, they've now classified soup as sauce. And they're right. And they're right. Have you ever thought about that? You're spooning out of a bowl. You're spooning sauce into your mouth. And now I don't think— it's fucking ruined for me.

No, but that's true. A lot of soups are like sauces, you know?

It's really sauce. Yeah, but—

Certainly creamy soups. If you're having a watery— Like cream of mushroom? Yeah, if you're having a watery base.

Well, that's some of my favorite soup is cream of tomato and mushroom.

No. Goddamn it. You like a cream base.

What do you— now, didn't I once see you chugging hollandaise out of a travel mug? Am I wrong?

That was Sean. That was Sean. Okay, that was Sean. Yeah.

But what about like, remember I just had another can of peas last night? Oh God. 'Cause I like 'em as a snack.

I mean, you've got— and let's— I think you told me you have 20,000 cans buried downstairs in the bunker, right? Is that—

I do. But Jay, like, that's like pea soup to me.

Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? I get it. So that's— yeah.

Yeah, yeah. There's another one. Pea soup. Cream of pea. Well, pea soup's always kind of creamy.

Split peas. Yeah, it's so good.

It's so great. It's sauce. And I'll tell you, next time you can't get it out of your head. It's ruined for you.

When you dip a grilled cheese in tomato sauce.

Who said to you, The Bachelor's gravy? Who said that?

I won't say.

Remember, because I hate— you know, you got to consider the source. Remember we did the tour? And that guy was married to somebody that we know, that you guys know. And he said, hey, how's your reality show going? That fucking asshole.

Yeah. And he was married to that fucking guy.

He's always got a smart fucking remark. And I'm like, hey, you know what? This guy's a fucking dick. So consider the fucking source. That goes for everything. I try to do that in my own life. Consider the fucking source.

If you like it, you like it.

And so he says that. Who gives a shit? Yeah.

I mean, life—

how much— we're on the back 9 here. Okay, Will, why don't you break

something real quick?

Yeah, I haven't insured the place yet, so I want to make sure that I—

But you're right. You're right. Now, listen, talk about the source, guys. Our guest today is someone I know, I love, I've worked with. She is as kind as she is talented, and she's very, very kind. She's been in your hearts and minds and on your TVs and movie screens for over 30 years. In 1994, she won a fireplace on The Price is Right. But things got even better for her. Yeah, things got even better in '97 when she graduated from Loyola Marymount. She started this fantastic career. You've liked her in Step by Step and Third Rock from the Sun, but you've loved her in Avengers films, Mad Men, Bloodline, Dead to Me, and her latest Emmy-winning role in the show we had weird fake sex in, DTF St. Louis. Folks, it's one of the best folks, Linda Cardellini!

Linda Cardellini! Wait, wow.

Get it on out here, Linda.

Hi, you guys.

Linda, it's so nice to meet you. Linda Cardellini. Linda, it's—

Nice to see you guys.

You can ask Jason, I went on and on and on about you in that show, DTF. Yes, he did.

He never told me.

No, it was after it was done.

And it wasn't Jason-centric enough, I don't think, that moment.

He didn't weave me in enough. But she's got a big head. You don't wanna pop that thing, you know? It looks bigger than your guys'

right

now. But yeah, we are fresh off an incredibly exciting, enormously well-deserved Emmy win a few nights ago.

Oh, congratulations.

Wow. That's great. She and David Harbor. I didn't know. Yeah. And David Harbor won. Steve Conrad won for both writing and directing. Amazing. Yeah, it's just—

Our DP won.

Our DP, exactly. Our

editor.

Incredible. Editor. It's— yeah, it's— we're gonna talk about DTF. We're gonna start a little earlier, okay?

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, let's go earlier.

It's one of the best shows. Honestly, I was on the phone with Jason like an hour or 2 hours after. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

You were very, very sweet.

Wow. It's so gripping and so different. And so, I mean, that's what I said to Jason.

And it's on now. I can look at— I can watch it now?

You can watch it now.

You can on HBO.

You're not kidding. No. You know I saw it, you dick.

But, you know, you try to find— you try to find, like, new things that you haven't seen. You know, that's the hardest thing is coming up with a concept that people haven't seen before. And when I watched it, it was so different and you're like, It's just— it was just incredible.

Yeah. Steve Conrad's an incredibly unique brain, voice...

Gifted.

...director, writer. Gifted, talented.

The nicest guy too.

Oh, my God. Yeah. Talk about as kind as talented. Yeah. He's a gem. All right, so here we are.

Here we

are. Here we are. Hi, guys. Thanks for having us.

Linda Cardellini, I don't know you. I don't think we've ever met before.

Likewise.

Right? Have we ever met, Linda?

I don't know.

I don't think so.

You're supposed to know that, Dick.

I know I am. That's why I said it.

I know. But it's like, have you been around for a long time? I feel like everybody meets everybody at some point. I'm old.

I've been around a long time. Where, where, where are you from?

I'm from Northern California, in the Bay Area.

Oh, yeah? In the city, in San Francisco, or like—

No, born in Redwood City, down the peninsula.

Oh, wow.

Kind of like Stanford University area.

That sounds so cool.

You know, they— I just read something that's like the coolest place to live temperature-wise in all of the country.

In Redwood City, there is an arch and it says climate best by government test.

Is that right?

It's the big thing.

I bet the people in Alaska would take issue with that, with Sean's stat.

Oh yeah.

Well, maybe we're talking continental. Maybe it's continental.

No, not cool, like, like, like, like most, like temperate, like just like the best, right? Is that what they're saying?

It's got great weather.

So not too cold, not too cold, not too hot.

Not too hot, not too cold.

It's the porridge.

Colder than LA though. If you're used to LA, yeah, which I am, it's, it's always like 10 degrees colder.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you're, so you're up there, so you're, you're in, you're in, you're in NorCal as a kid. And you're thinking, huh, what should I do? Did it happen?

Acting, that sounds easy.

Right. But were you so young when it struck you that you really weren't thinking about a career? Were you one of those turds like me? Or were you already kind of thinking about a career, and then this thing kind of sparked your fancy, and you thought, well, could I make a living in this? When did it start?

I was 11, and there was a teacher who came to our school. She was a new teacher. And I was the baby of 4, so I was always like trying to get attention. Yeah. Um, and I would always be doing shows, and I was very emotional as a kid, so I didn't know where to put all those things, so I'd put them in these emotional—

Wait, wait, what does it look like when you say you're very emotional? What does it look like? Are you breaking things at dinner because they didn't— they didn't—

they didn't do what you wanted? No, just like felt things incredibly deeply and would always, you know, cry at a commercial, you know, very— everybody's problems were— I felt them a million times harder.

You were a deep empath.

Yeah. Yeah. Told I was too sensitive. Yeah.

Right. And still, still to this day, I'll bet.

Kind of a crybaby, probably.

In a great way.

Thank you. Yes.

Right? In a great way. I'll bet you're still the same. And I'll bet it makes you a great actor. I mean, I know it makes you a great actor, but is that part of it?

I mean, I think it was the one thing I could feel like, oh, I could put that there.

Yeah.

This is a problem, but it's not a problem in this industry. So that will help.

So that was part of the thinking when you started kind of playing around with it? You were like, oh, this is a great way to kind of just put all this stuff over here. Get it out. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And so, like, do you cry easy on camera?

Yeah. In life in general.

What are some of the triggers? And we're not gonna say anything, but just tell me.

Anything. I mean, you tell me. If I feel too deeply, if I get angry, like, it just— like, that's the first thing. But then I realized that it actually— I actually have to do it sometimes. So if I haven't cried in a while, I literally have to do it so something will come along and make me cry.

Yeah, release.

And then I feel better after that.

So if you were to yell at me, if you were angry at me, you're one of those people that while you're screaming at me, you start crying? Yes.

Perhaps

that's helpful for me. I could try it. Yeah, that'd be helpful.

Because that cues you, because you're not sure what you're supposed to respond like, how you're supposed to emotionally—

I'm being yelled at. Yeah, I'm feeling bad. And then she's crying, and now I feel like—

And then you're like, oh, brain tells me this emotional moment.

I have upper hand.

Yeah.

Yes.

This is the moment I will feel this particular emotion.

All right, so then what was the first thing you started doing up there that was like, okay, well, I don't suck at this.

Okay, so this teacher came and she made everybody sing, and so I had to sing. And then I got called in after class and she said, I'd like you to do the play. And it was a Christmas play. And then I think I was like—

What was the name of it? I'm kidding.

I think she wrote it. She wrote it. It was great.

Let's talk about Kenny Rogers and playing an elf.

She did this community theater and I was an old lady in The Music Man at 11 years old.

Yeah, Mrs. Paroo.

Giant stage. And, and then I I fell in love with it. I was like, ooh, this is for me.

Okay. Yeah. All right.

And then I didn't know how I would do it. It wasn't like anybody in— Northern California is so far away from Southern California in terms of the industry, especially at that time. It was like nobody was doing that for a living. So I didn't know how I would do it.

But here I am. How old were you when you were in that?

11.

11. Do you remember, pick a little, tuck a little, pick a little, tuck a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, tuck a little, pick a little?

Oh, yeah. Cheep, cheep, cheep, tuck a little, pick a little. Yeah. And I was very, very tiny. I didn't, like, I didn't hit puberty till 16 or so, so I was extraordinarily small. So I was kind of the smallest kid on the stage dressed like a little old lady, and I stuffed my bra really bad, you know. So I did all these things for laughs, and then it worked out.

That's great.

And you still sing to this day, yes?

I do. I, I'm asked to sing, you know, sometimes in things. And, uh, it's funny to me because I'm just sort of an actor who can I can kind of sing, but not totally.

Right. So if you were cast in something that— or if you were— if the great Rick Kurtzman called and said, we have an opportunity for you to do either a musical comedy on Broadway or a film that was musical, you wouldn't shy away from that? You'd say, oh, yeah, I can sing, I can act. I mean, you'd like—

I would love to do that. That I would love to do.

I

don't know if I'd be great at it, but I would love to do it.

How would the call go from Rick?

Rick's an agent for Tracy.

No, no, no. It would be like this. Hello, Linda, I've got Rick Kurtzman.

Yeah.

And you'd be, oh, okay, great. Yeah. And you go on hold. He's not— you know, what's great about Rick, he wouldn't start with like, hey, Cardellines.

No, no, no, no, no, no,

no.

He jumped right in. He's an adult and he's classy.

Yeah, we love Rick Kurtzman.

We love Rick Kurtzman.

Yeah, I love Rick.

All right, so then— So then. So then.

Okay, so then.

We gather a little bit of momentum in NorCal.

Sure, sure. You could— I don't know about that, but sure.

Are you hating this, Linda? Is this—

No, no, I'm so— I'm excited to be here. Thanks, guys.

No, but Jason's— but Jason, the way that Jason goes about it is a little nauseating, right?

I love Jason.

You guys, come on. I love him. He's the best.

Okay, best. Okay, so then— He's the best.

He is.

He's great. So we—

That's why I'm on here, to say he's the best.

But you love them too. All right, so then—

I love you guys.

Strap on the back.

Now that I've met you, I love you.

Strap on the backpack. You start walking down the, the, um, uh, Pacific Coast Highway. The California incline. Yeah, down to Los Angeles, 'cause you wanna make it. And you see the biggest studio in Hollywood that you stumble upon there coming off the Pacific Coast Highway is CBS Television City. You walk in there and they're doing The Price is Right.

That's right.

Oh wait, you were on The Price is Right. I used to watch that all the time.

I was on The Price is Right.

She won a fireplace. She won a fireplace, Sean.

Yes.

Wait, you were on The Price is Right. That's so cool.

Yeah, walk us through that. Why were you on that? And I bet you've told this story a million times, but we're new.

I never— this story never gets old to me.

I love it. I don't know it.

Please.

So I was in college and I needed money, of course. And I was like, let's go on The Price Is Right. I also watched that show religiously with my grandmother. That and Days of Our Lives and Wheel of Fortune were like our shows. So the idea that you could stand in line all morning long— I mean, you had to get there at crack of dawn, stand in line and wait and possibly be on the show— was a dream come true. So we went with my You know, we all ditched class, and there was 8 or 10 of us.

Did you have t-shirts on that would sort of like a pick me, pick me?

Well, in a way. They told us that you should either wear your college shirt or your, like, a solid color. So I wore a solid green shirt. And funny enough, like, in my hair, if you look closely enough at the— I have, like, the drama masks.

No!

Oh, yeah. Comedy in traction. Wait, in your scalp? Yeah, that's the kind. Yeah. Like, I had, like, a clip with the drama masks in it. Your hair tie?

Yeah, yeah.

No, Linda.

I know, right? God bless. Oh, my

God.

And

where did you skip school? I missed that. Where were you going to college at the time?

Loyola Marymount.

Oh, Loyola Marymount. Sorry. Go ahead.

So I came down to LA to be an actor under the guise of school.

Yeah, and you're studying drama there. You graduated with a drama degree from there.

Eventually, yes. It took me a long time 'cause I started working.

Sure, and you get distracted, you know? All right, but wait. So you're sitting in the audience.

Yeah.

No, no. So you have to go through this huge line.

Yeah,

right.

And we were with all these people, and we were with this guy, and they were really talking to this guy that we know, and he was, like, yucking it up with them, and I was like, ugh, he's so annoying. Jeff's gonna get on The Price is Right, and we're not gonna get on The Price is Right.

Fuck yeah, Jeff.

So they scattered us all around.

Jeff with a G? Sorry, just—

I think a Jeff.

Yeah, of course.

And then when they said, come on down, you know, they sat us all separate from each other, so nobody was sitting next to each other because there were so many of us. And then they called my name, pronounced it incorrectly, but I didn't care.

How'd they pronounce it?

Cardellini.

Cardellini.

Oh,

God. Yeah. But now, so that's just a random— they— what do they— do they kind of interview you as you're walking in? to know whether you've got spunk or not, right?

Yeah, I guess so.

Yeah, but isn't it true, though, like, the stage where they film it is so much smaller than you think? Yes. 'Cause I walked down there a long time— I walked down there a long time ago.

Sorry, Sean's still in awe of showbiz. He can't believe it. We just told him that Tatooine's not a real planet. Go ahead, Sean.

What? I know, I really am— was blown away. I was like, Wait, so the big wheel that you spin and everything fits on such a small stage, and the camera angles just make it look like it's huge. Is that right?

Yes, true. I will say, though, the noise level of people screaming that you're an idiot 'cause you don't know the price of something, that cannot be— that cannot be felt through the television.

There's a lot of smack talk there.

That in real life is enormous. Fuck you! What do you fucking know? People screaming at you. Yelling at you.

It'd be kind of funny to do right now is Price is Right and just have the contestants be some of these oligarch billionaires, you know, and just— and then just do things. But the price they have to do is like price it like a loaf of bread or something. They go, a million dollars? They have no sense.

Yeah, they're so old.

A stick of butter. I don't know, 10 grand? What's up with a stick of butter? 10 grand?

And now back to the show.

Okay, so they, so they, so they mispronounce your name and holy shit, you shoot up out of the chair.

The greatest feeling of all time. Like, I actually compare anything great that happens to me to the moment my name was called on The Price Is Right because that moment of being chosen—

Yeah,

yeah.

By that show at that moment in my life was the most present feeling of jubilation I have ever—

And let me ask you a question. Just a few nights ago, was that the first night your name has been called since you were sitting in that chair?

My own specific name like that, yes.

Wow.

And it was a very similar feeling, except for that I worked for that one, you know? So it was like—

And tell me about the moment when your name is called to the— what's going through your head as you're walking up to the stage?

This

is on Price Is Right or the Emmys?

Well, Sean, as you pointed out, it's a short walk because it's so much smaller when you get there.

The Emmys looked bigger actually to me. The Emmys, that staircase was long.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. But, but, but on Price is Right, you've got a short, short jaunt down there. You're pumped, right? All your friends are screaming for you.

I mean, I'm hugging strangers. I'm jumping up and down. Like, I am—

You're tightening your hair tie.

Yeah, yeah.

And what did you bid on that got you up from down there?

I was— okay, first of all, when you get picked, they give you instructions. I mean, back a million years ago, they gave you instructions, which was The camera finds you and you run down to— They do that snap zoom. Or you walk down or you do whatever.

Sure. Yeah. Snap zoom on you as you get up.

Yes. And so then I just started running and jumping. And then in the middle of it, I realized I'm supposed to be running, you know, waving my hands. So I'm running down the aisle waving my hands.

Oh my God, I can't wait to dig it up.

Yeah, like a moron. And then hugging a stranger, jumping up and down.

So you get down there, you got forced on.

I get down there, I'm terrible, terrible. Do not know the price of anything. I'm totally nervous. I'm awful at the game.

So you missed what, 2 or 3?

Oh, I was— I think you get, what, 6 tries? There's 6 people they call up. I was called up in the first 4, and I was so awful at it. And so it took to the very last, the very, very last.

Oh my God. It was a sweat. Yeah.

Yeah. The last opportunity.

And what was the item?

It was a gas fireplace.

Okay, and so you bid on that and you won?

Yes. I had— my friend was in the audience and she yelled out, my friend Molly was like, it's your last chance, Cardellini! And I thought, oh my God, I'll never— 'cause once you're on, you can't be on again. And I thought, oh my God, if I don't get to spin that wheel, if I don't get to talk to Bob Barker, this is it.

So then what was the game when you got up there with Bob?

Oh, it was awful. It was some game that had no kitsch to it. It was pick a price and then just subtract that price from a dollar. And it was like, it was all math. It wasn't like a yodeling game. or a dice.

The Swiss mountain. The Swiss mountain.

No, it was nothing.

The one that goes over the cliff.

No Plinko. It was just add and subtract. You know, like, there's like 4 great games and there's 2 that are kind of like, eh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they're running short on time or something.

And then I didn't understand it because I was so overcome.

Yeah.

And I had looked at Bob Barker. He's like, do you understand what you're doing? And I was like, no. And then they— he's like, explain it again. And so they explained it again. When the lights went down, he turned to me, goes, just nod your head and say yes, kid. And I was like, okay.

No.

Wow.

Was he ever looking away?

I just nodded my head and said, yeah. And then I was terrible at the game. I lost. Wow. And it was a black lacquer bedroom set that I could have won.

It would have gone great with a gas fireplace.

Which I had already had because it was the '90s.

Right. Okay, so then you didn't get to spin the wheel, but your friends went through the wheel.

I did spin the wheel. I did. And I got 90 cents.

Oh, that's pretty good.

But it didn't matter because the woman in front of me got a dollar. Ah. Yeah.

Wasn't your day. It was not your day.

It clearly was not my day. It was partially my day, but not totally my day. All right, so now go back to the

Emmys, Maggie. I have a question about when your name is called and you're walking down the aisle, what's going through your head as you're walking up to the stage?

Oh my God, this just really happened. Yeah, like it's surreal, right? Like, oh my God, this is really happening. Like, it sort of is— it was just sort of out of body.

Yeah, yeah.

And then also, just, it was so great because Jason, Amanda, and Steve, and, you know, David, they were all sitting right in the front. And Richard, they were sitting right there, so I could see you guys. So it felt like— that kept it like a real moment instead of being so—

But as an actor, as you were walking up the stairs, did you immediately start thinking about your speech and basically your lines? Like, oh God, I don't want to forget my lines. Did you have something prepared, and were you starting to think about that, like how you were about— because I would just imagine as you go up there and as you turn at the podium, it's effectively like you're going on camera there. And just as actors, we're trained like, okay, now it's go time. Like, you know, it's time to talk and kind of get it all together. Or were you able to like kind of just be present and just be raw? Or what was that like?

Well, I had— somebody made me write it down. They're like, you have to write something down. So I like wrote into my phone because I didn't want to have to wear glasses. I needed the font to be big. Now I have to wear glasses. And so I had it on my phone. And I was gonna try to read it, and then when I got there, I just wanted to be there. And I wasn't really— I'm not great at speeches. It's not my thing at all. Like, I'm great if somebody writes something. No, I'm not great. I won't say that. I can do it if somebody writes something for me. Or we're actors. But when it's my own personal self, I never feel like it's enough. I have this thing where I have a lot of thank you cards in my drawer, and I don't actually send them because I feel like it's never enough of what I want to say. So I have a I have a block with a speech. So, I don't know, I got up there and I just felt like—

You were awesome.

I kind of wanted to just, number one, say my parents. Like, that was my biggest dream, was to be able to say thank you to my parents. And both of them had been kind of not feeling well recently, and they're older. So I just wanted that to be the number one thing. So I figured if I get that out and my family, then at least I've got that. You guys would all understand if I forgot something.

Yeah, that's the big fear, right? You forget to thank someone, so you think, well, maybe I shouldn't thank anybody then. Too

many people to cover.

And it doesn't ever— it didn't go the way I thought it would go. And I was really overwhelmed. And my hands were shaking. And I feel like I should be—

That's natural. Can you imagine if you were calm and together up there?

No. I mean, people do that. That's amazing to me, how people can be super calm, nonchalant. I just had none of that. And it was a little embarrassing. But as I was walking up, when you were saying, what do you think about me walking up? I was like, don't fall and don't cry. And then, of course, I was shaking and crying. So, you know, it's like, you know. But that's kind of, you know, at the end of the day, it's like those moments where something is totally unexpected or undiscovered. Or messy. Those feelings are messy.

Yeah, it's what we want when we're watching, you know?

Yeah, you want it to feel real.

That to me is like the great joy of being alive. You feel present. So it was like I sort of just tried— I had to— I mean, I walked off stage and I was like, oh God, what did I say? Well, you were amazing up there. And then I thought, well, I'm lucky I got to say it.

Was that your first nomination?

No, it was my 4th.

But first win?

First win.

Oh, that's so great. Yeah, you

have a couple, Sean, right?

Well, yeah, I mean, I don't know, I've lost— stopped counting.

Yeah, go ahead.

How many? Come on, how many?

Walk the camera.

I see one in the background there.

Yeah, I know, it's so stupid. It's like just to put— it's not stupid. All right, so, uh, but, um, so you got— so what were the other ones? What was— what was the one— what was the one that you got nominated for that you're like, I probably have a good chance at this, and you didn't?

None. None. I don't— I'm not that person. So it's like, um—

But you're proud of— you have to be proud of something you work this hard at.

I'm so proud of everything. I mean, I'm proud that I even get to do it for a living, to be honest. So it's like, you know, like we get to do something that people— that you play at as a child, and you get to continue it as a job. That's unreal.

You're so damn good in it. And, and, and having done it for so long and, and to be still going stronger than you've ever gone, and you were doing freaking great work and super strong momentum with the career even early on. So it's just awesome that you're still like ascending and like it's better than— I, I just, I think it's, it's, it's, it's pretty awesome. I, I, I, I revisited Freaks and Geeks a while back, um, and just looking at you there, like, yeah, that was— I mean, you looked like you were freaking 12 years old. That was great. So good. But you were— I just looked it up this morning. You were 22 on that? I mean, talk about playing young. My God.

22.

Wow. I can't believe you were 22 and playing— Yeah, that was—

How old were you on Step by Step?

God, younger than that, but I don't know.

Yeah, that was like a long time ago. When Jason said that in the intro, I was like, Step by Step?

What was Step by Step? I don't remember that.

Suzanne Somers.

Suzanne Somers and Patrick—

Yeah, that guy. Patrick. What's his name? Duffy. Duffy. Duffy.

Yeah.

That show— so I had to play— there was a time where I played plucky tomboy friends a lot on sitcoms.

Right, yeah.

And it was live audience, and I had to play somebody who was a pool shark, basically. Like, somebody who was real cool, who was a bad influence on Stacey's character. And they had a pool shark teach me how to hit this shot. And so I had to bank— I had to hit 3 balls and bank them and then get it in In one go.

Yeah.

And it was in front of a live audience, and I practiced and practiced and practiced, and then I nailed the shot. And that was also very much like a Price is Right moment.

Wow.

The audience— yeah, it was really fun. It was like a sports moment, you know? Like, sometimes in our job we get a sports moment.

Yeah. What are those things on your resume that when, as you were growing up through the business, that you had to just like, yeah, I can— like Jason was saying earlier, 'Cause I wrote like, yeah, I can do horseback riding and do— I can bounce a tennis ball on a racket 250 consecutive times. Like, it's the crap I'd put.

Did you ever have to do any of those things?

No, no, no, no. But I mean, like—

That was on your resume?

Yeah, I could probably—

You had to put special skills.

When was that job?

Well, it was just basic great ball skills, I think is what it said at the bottom.

Ball skills. But did you ever have to have any other kind of skills that, like, other than singing?

Oh, yeah. People would write on their resumes, like skateboarding, or, you know, and I would be moderately good, you know, not even really good at it. I just dabbled at it. And then if anybody ever called you on it, it was terrible. And then

I put like

fluent in Esperanto.

Yeah. I would put at the bottom, I'd be like, accents, I can do Southern, British. And like, I couldn't do any of them.

Right.

Well, let's hear your Southern accent real quick, Sean.

I can't.

I'd love— no, I want British first.

Do your slate in your Southern accent.

Yeah. I used to do it. By the way, you can't see it, but on video, I used to do this in commercial auditions. You know how you'd say your name, you'd slate your name, and you'd say, hi, I'm Sean Hayes, and they'd want you to do profiles. So you turn right and then you turn left, right, 'cause they want to see what you look like on camera on the side. So I would do this. I'd go, hi, I'm Sean Hayes, and I'd go like this, and then I'd go like that, like I was completely deformed on one side, but you couldn't tell if you were looking straight ahead.

Oh my God. All right, so, uh, talk about, uh, uh, faking stuff on your resume. Did you put at the bottom of your resume that you are fluent in multiple languages? medical terminology to get the gig on ER. Oh, yeah. All the way over there to ER, an incredible show that was already up and running and was a huge hit. Going onto that show, was that intimidating walking into that structure?

Yeah, that was huge.

I was just excited. They sent me these episodes of— I had a meeting, and I was meeting with John Wells, and it was for different shows. And they were talking about different parts they had on different shows at the time. I think there was West Wing on at the time and ER on at the time. and they talked about this part, and she was a nurse who had a young son. And I had been playing, you know, I looked very young and I had been playing sort of really young people, so I thought, oh, here's a single mother, like I haven't done that at all. Right. And they sent me these episodes where Noah and Goran and Makai, their characters went to Africa and they shot these episodes in Africa, and I was just, it was unlike anything I had seen. On TV at the time. And I thought, oh my God, this is beautiful. These actors are incredible. And this writing is so amazing. And it's a procedural, but I'd never seen anything like that happen on a procedural. And they were taking it, you know, just the stakes were so high. And so I went in for a meeting, and Jonathan Kaplan, who's a great director, was in there, and a bunch of people.

Yeah. And we had such a nice meeting, and it was such a lovely group of people. And I was meant only to stay for a year 'cause I was kind of just sort of— I had come off Scooby-Doo and I had had some— I just wanted to sort of stay and I had been traveling a lot and I was like, okay, I'll stay. And I think my contract was like a year. And then I just loved it there. I stayed and stayed and stayed.

That must have been—

Those are still my friends.

Great having— like, did you see Noah the other night? I did.

I did.

It's so great what's going on with him right now.

Yeah. So cool.

It's fantastic.

Jason, you touched on it, but actually I always think I get stressed out when I would read and see all these actors spitting out all these medical terms, and really quickly, and really offhand, and delivered so brilliantly in these long things. And I think, like, fuck, man, I would be so stressed out trying to remember that, trying to get it right. Did you ever have those moments?

You'd be terrible at it.

Yes.

No, you'd be good at it.

But we did a lot of oners back then too. So, if you were at the end of the oner with some kind of medical terminology...

Yeah, yeah.

Oof. That was like 3 minutes of a shot going through. I mean, the whole set was already built.

And then it gets to you.

And then it gets to you, and you're like, menage à caca pneumonia, and you say it wrong, you just ruin the whole thing. Yeah, that's how I feel. But it was fun. It was really fun. And we did a lot of oners, so it felt sort of like theater in that way. So it was really— it was great. We had so much fun.

Are you good with line, with memorizing lines like that, like just in general?

Sometimes. The hard part about— I will say the hard part about that show specifically, because it's medical, was there's sort of like— I had never— you know, people come up to you as an actor like, how do you memorize all those lines? And you're like, oh, I just do it. Like, you don't really— it's not the thing you think about first, right?

Yeah.

That was the first time I thought, oh, how do I do this? Because it is— there are numbers that seem arbitrary to me. Somebody's blood pressure, memorizing, you know, whatever that is. I don't even realize what's a good or bad blood pressure, really. But those numbers that counts. The choreography counts, and it's really specific. So there's like sort of different levels of memorization on a medical show that I didn't realize that was a thing. There's choreography, there's sort of like numbers that make— that have no emotional connection to remembering anything. And then—

Did they have medical experts right there with whomever was directing that particular episode to make sure?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Which I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac, so those poor guys had to hear about everything I ever had. I was like, what is What is this spot?

Just touching on DTF really quickly again, how about learning those lines? Was that difficult for you? Because Steve writes in such a beautifully specific way, you kind of want to honor that and you don't want to mangle it up. I know David and I, running lines together, all the scenes he and I had together, we'd just run it and run it and run it and try to get as specific as we could. You?

Yeah. Remember, we would look at each other and be like, I've got an 8-pager tomorrow? Which typically shouldn't be that much, but because the way he writes— I mean, I think the thing about it, even listening to you and watching you in it, Jason, it looks so— it looks so normal and like you're just in conversation, and it goes back and forward and pauses and going to an idea and then jumping to another idea. But that's all written. None of that is improvised.

Yeah, that's what I asked Jason.

Yeah, that's the way he writes. Usually, we as actors are just looking at a block of dialogue, and it's up to us to put in the ellipses and find the rhythm changes, et cetera, et cetera. Steve actually writes those in just based on punctuation and just structure and whatnot. And so it's— that's— you sort of have to kind of back into that to some extent. And it's a different way to work, and it was super challenging for me at the start, but I've really kind of got into a rhythm with it. And, you know, the reason I'm asking you is because, yeah, we were in a ton of scenes together, but our scenes didn't have a lot of dialogue. these long dialogue scenes. We had one, I think, that had a really long speech, I think I had to give.

Yeah, you had that one about Canada.

Right. Most of your long stuff was with Richard and Joy, right? And with David. But anyway, you're obviously—

We had a couple in the bedroom where I'm talking about insurance.

Yeah, that's true. That's true.

Yeah. I don't remember those bedroom scenes at all. I'm kidding. I don't know.

So, all right, so then—

But no, it's great. It's juicy, the way he writes. I mean, I think 'cause he's a musician, it almost feels like music in a way. And if you talk to Steve for 2 seconds, it just seems— you just hear the rhythm. I remember meeting him in the first meeting and thinking, oh, that's what the rhythm is, 'cause I could listen to the way he spoke.

Kind of halting.

It is in his voice in some ways.

Did you read for it? Was it offered to you? Or like, how did you get

it?

You auditioned?

I flew myself to New York and I auditioned.

It's pretty cool. That's a great, great story. Yeah, it's a really good story.

It'd be pretty funny if Steve Conrad, when he spoke, he said all the punctuation out loud.

He was that specific.

Yeah. Period. Ellipses. On the other hand, comma, space.

New paragraph. Yeah.

All right, so then, um, Brokeback Mountain happens before or after Mad Men?

What year, Sean?

Uh, that was— I'll tell you right now, it was— I'll tell you right now, it was 2005 or '06.

Okay, we'll have our fact-checkers.

I was doing ER when I did that.

While you were doing Brokeback?

Am I right with the year, Linda? What do you remember? What year?

I mean, you would know better than me.

No, Willie knows, I'll bet you. Then when was Mad Men?

Mad Men was, I think, around 2012, 'cause I just had a baby.

Oh, Linda, you were great on Mad Men. You were so good on Mad Men. I loved that. Yeah. So good.

Despite getting over the hurdle of working with Jon Hamm. How did you navigate that? How did you do that?

How'd you deal with the Hamm sandwich every day?

He directed too. It was great.

Oh, Jesus. Christ.

But boy, did you power through that. Look at you. Huh? You landed on your feet. You land on your feet, you go right into The Avengers.

Sean?

Sean, comment?

Yeah. I don't know The Avengers as well, but Scotty does.

Scotty! Yeah, I got it. What was that like? Like getting a call for that? I don't know. I would be like— if I was invited to be a part of a Marvel film.

Yeah, that's huge.

It was fun. And especially 'cause I show up and I'm in there with everybody. She's like a secret character, then she's— they come to her house, and so it's all the Avengers are there. So it's kind of nice, 'cause sometimes when you come into something that's a big production with a lot of different people, you only work with 1 or 2 people. But every time I went there, I was in with everybody. So it's— that's pretty fun.

And did you have to deal with those goddamn Russos on that one? Yeah, they were great.

Oh my goodness. Nightmare. I mean, was this— people you worked with

have managed to—

Christ.

Oh, um, Joe and Ant.

Joe and Ant.

Joe and Ant. Um, all right, and then, and then we go to Bloodline. Yes,

maybe. I mean, I don't know the chronology. I— it's all a big—

I think Avengers was after Bloodline.

Really?

Also a great one.

Yeah, I mean, well, talk, talk a little bit about working with that cast. Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard. What was—

sick cast.

Yeah, it's unreal.

Like, it just was every every time someone else got cast, you're like, oh, this is amazing, I can't wait to get on.

Can I just tell you something as an aside? Can I just say, I, uh, I love that Kyle Chandler.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Who doesn't? Everybody. Men, women, children, they all love him.

I love that dude.

Reunited with the great Chris Mundy on, uh, on Lanterns. You watching Lanterns, Willie?

Uh, I'm not.

Get on it. Get on it.

I gotta get on it. Great show. Yeah, this guy, uh, uh, uh, James Haas directed that, uh, who I'm working with now. Yeah.

It's doing very, very well.

I hear it's great. I hear it's great.

Kyle's always good. He's so good.

Yeah, he is. He is an incredible— and talk about a nice guy.

Yeah, Kyle Chenault.

Yeah. Um, okay, and then—

He's like a rich— he's like a rich man's Jason Bateman, you know what I mean?

Oh.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Sorry. Anyway, Linda. So, Linda. That's a fact, and now we're moving on.

Then we go—

One time, my daughter— we were in Florida, we were shooting that, and we were on a boat, and my daughter had this wand, and she was She like, accidentally dropped it. She was tiny. She dropped it into the ocean, and Kyle jumped into the ocean, swam, and retrieved it for her. And I had never seen— I was like, that is the hero worship that everybody has for her.

That's amazing.

Would you, would you guys ever do that? Would you think to take your shoes off before you do that? Because that's the key.

You're already thinking about taking your shoes off.

I mean, you've already been swept. If you don't take your shoes off jumping into the water, you can't stay afloat. I'm telling you. But I bet you Kyle kicked through that, especially in the ocean.

He could do whatever he wanted.

He was, of course, already swimming and fishing and doing stuff.

He wasn't in a tuxedo, but remember, he was on that— his first big thing was Friday Night Live Early Edition. It was a CBS show where he'd get the newspaper the day before and he knew what was going to happen the day before.

Yeah, he bet on the ponies.

Yeah.

Bring that back. It's a good idea.

All right, so then we go across the street with Christina Applegate over to Dead to Me, right?

Dead to Me. Oh, yeah.

Dead to Me.

You're dead to me.

A great show. Went on for years. Uh, great accolades, a great audience.

With our old friend Christina Applegate. Okay, great Christina Applegate. Yeah, great Christina.

Um, so, I mean, at this point, are you thinking— do you have any time to sort of pat yourself on the back and look back at that moment where, you know, hey, I was this little kid I'm the little girl doing, uh, what, what was the musical theater show, Seany, she was doing at 11?

Yeah, uh, Sweet Charity.

Sweet Charity. I'm the girl that did Sweet Charity, and now I'm on, uh, job number X. Oh, you?

I thought you meant the one that Linda was on. No, she was on— no, Linda was Bye Bye Birdie.

No, Music Man.

Oh, no, no, sorry, Music Man. Sorry.

Yes, Music Man. And you're thinking back—

Wait, what the fuck is happening?

You know, it seems like just yesterday.

I'm pretending you were there when I was 11 watching it in the audience.

What is going on?

I mean, do you have any time to look back to the— remember walking down the Pacific Coast Highway with that backpack on? Yeah, right. Going down to Los Angeles trying to make it big. Like, you'd done good, Linda.

Yeah.

I really did literally rip one of those things off of a telephone pole. You know those phone number things where it's like, be an extra? I really literally did that when I came to LA.

What were you an extra in? Anything big?

Oh my God, you guys, I was an extra in— I didn't know what like union or non-union meant, and I was a teenager still, and I was maybe 17, 18, just got here, and probably 18. And I was an extra in a movie that turned out to be kind of, um, one of those movies where everybody takes their clothes off, but I didn't know. And it was like a late-night cable kind of thing where women were in jail and then they got sold into prostitution. I bet we'll see that. And then, but I didn't realize. So, I showed up at the jail by myself in downtown LA, like some closed-down part of it, and was an extra. And there was like 40 girls my age there. And we were in these short little shirts. And we had to sit in this jail cell for 12 hours. But there was like no food, no real heat. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't like a union job, so they didn't really take breaks. Lots of moisturizer. Yeah. No, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. It was like—

Right.

On the road to that, but not that.

All right, so that was an extra. You were an extra in that.

So anyways, yes, I do sometimes think about— I'm happy I didn't have to keep ripping those things off the telephone pole.

Yeah, you're killing it. Fresh off the stage at the Emmys. Now you got this new show coming on, an A24 show on Peacock called Crystal Lake. It's a prequel to the Friday the 13th. Oh yeah, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, she plays Pamela Voorhees.

Ooh, I can't wait to see that. Yeah, tell us about that.

Wait, what?

Yeah, yeah, man.

Crystal Lake, Friday the 13th. Remember Friday the 13th?

Prequel.

Yeah, prequel. The mother's the original killer. The whole first movie sort of follows— Wait, you don't play the mother? A whodunit. I do.

You play the mother with—

Remember in the first one when Betsy Palmer comes out and she's like, you let my son die. So that's— yeah. So it's a backstory to Pamela Voorhees.

Pamela.

Which then, of course, is, you know, it's Jason's story. Everything's about Jason. So it's his story, but it's seen through her eyes.

Yeah. Reminds me of, for any of the listeners that haven't heard this story, my most cringey/most proud Halloween costume I ever put together was Jason Bateman, whereby I put a hockey goalie mask on my face and then hung a net over my body and tied fishing lures to it for the Bateman part.

Aha. This is great.

And I was just so excited to tell everyone on Halloween, hey, guess what my costume is?

We need the legs after. Avenue version of that where it's sexy.

Oh God, with a pocket full of white making runs to the bathroom stalls.

Sure.

Yeah, the

hockey mask.

Guess what I am?

Crystal Lake. When's Crystal Lake come out? I'm excited. Is it out?

Yeah, it's already out because today's November 2nd, right? Oh right, come on, you're so good with dates, Willie. Come on.

Yeah.

Um, now are you a fan of horror? And if you weren't, are you

I used to love horror. I mean, I really loved it.

Then what happened?

Horror, right?

Then I think I got scared of life, and then I was a little less a horror lover. No, I liked it a lot growing up. Like, it was really some of my favorite stuff.

You probably went and saw Friday the 13th when it was out.

Yes. Yes. And I remember seeing Freddy vs. Jason in the movie theater at Universal CityWalk, and it was wild.

But what about working— what about— you probably saw Carrie. I just watched Carrie the first time in a long time. Sissy Spacek. And then you worked with Sissy Spacek. I mean, wasn't that wild?

Number one, she is the nicest, most wonderful human being.

And she loves questions about Carrie, I'll

bet. Oh, she's so good. That performance is so— I mean, she's just— she's the best. I can't say enough amazing things about Sissy Spacek. I love her so much, and I think she is

Wait, tell me some more horror things you love.

Um, I loved The Shining.

Love The Shining.

Shining's incredible.

Oh, yeah.

I

used to watch that to, like, kind of, like, unwind, and now I'm— I don't know how I did that.

Yeah. Did you ever see the outtakes or the, like, the making of, behind the scenes of The Shining?

Some of it, yes.

Interesting. Really? Oh, it's fascinating with Shelley Duvall.

Is it on Netflix?

No, I don't know. Uh, I don't know. You probably gotta see it on YouTube.

Yeah. I guess I just put it in the old search thing, right? It'll tell me where it is, right? Right? Yeah, old granddad over here needs help. All right, now, so you, uh, so you jump, you jump over another hurdle in your upcoming, uh, show called Way of the Warrior Kid. That Chris Pratt—

What hurdle is that?

Yeah, the Chris Pratt. Um, how did you— how do you, how do you do something like that? That, that seems like maybe the toughest. No,

I know him from a while back, and then we were in Guardians of the Galaxy. He— I play like a character in the third So we've known each other a little bit. It was fun. Now

that's coming up on Apple TV+. Tell us about Way of the Warrior Kid.

Way of the Warrior Kid is this book written by Jocko Willink about sort of this kid getting bullied, and his uncle, who's a Navy SEAL, sort of helps him with these, like, tenets that they learn as SEALs and sort of gets him through feeling bullied. And this kid who I play— played by Jude Hill, who's such a great actor. And I play his mom and kind of Chris's quirky little sister.

Where'd you shoot that?

We shot that in LA, I think. Yeah, LA.

Oh, lucky you. Do you think about that? Do you think about locations when you pick a job? I do, a lot.

Yeah.

How are you doing with fame? Like, you know, I'm sure you get stopped, have been getting stopped for years on the road, but it's happening probably even more and more and more. And are you comfortable with that? Is your family comfortable with that? Or do you kind of keep a pretty low profile?

I am a low-profile kind of person in general. Like, that's probably why I don't— like, I don't go out tons. I, you know, I'm sort of, um—

Yeah, you like to nest.

That's me, you know? But,

uh,

I— yes, I mean, I, I, I did— I definitely get noticed at times, and that is— people are generally pretty generous and kind.

Nice. Yeah, nobody's gonna walk up to you and go, I hate your work.

Well, you know, you never know. But, uh, or like, oh, you look this— you look more this on camera, which is like, sometimes is that a compliment?

Yeah, Sean would probably say, boy, you look so much bigger on camera.

Yeah, like something like that. You know, you're like, oh. Uh, but, you know, I've been very lucky. I've done a lot of things that people have liked over the years, so they're kind about them, you know, especially now. It's a funny thing, though, because Back when I did, let's say Scooby-Doo.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The recognition, even though the movie had a big— I was sort of costumed and I could stand right next to the poster and nobody paid attention, right? And it was really great. And meanwhile, I'm like, you know, I sort of just— I kind of go under the radar, which I love because I just like that. But now those kids have grown up and they've seen me so much that I get recognized more for that now than I than I did back then. But the recognition is interesting. It ebbs and it flows. Right, exactly. I have a pretty— I have really the best of both worlds.

Do you ever get recognized for Freaks and Geeks? You know, because I wonder, like, you know, you look at Seth and Jason on that, like, you can't really— I mean, James Franco kind of looks the same, but Seth and Jason and you—

Different people.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Seth is completely unrecognizable.

Well, he was only 17. He was a kid.

God, it's unbelievable. What are you doing on sets? Because you work— what a career you've had, by the way. Just incredible. Thank you.

That's insane.

I'm just getting started. Yeah.

And what are you doing in your trailer to kill the time? Do you knit? A lot of people I know take something to do, you know, because there's so many hours.

What's the sneaky little— are you like a closet crossword puzzler?

I like a Wordle. You and David and I are on our Wordle.

Exactly.

I, um, I don't know. I like people. I'll just sit and talk to people. That's really kind of my thing.

Oh, okay, good.

Like, I could— I need better hobbies. But

so wait, you'll just walk up on a stranger and ask them, uh, hey, that's a fun sweatshirt. Tell me about that. Sometimes, sure.

Really? Yeah.

Uh-huh.

Yeah, why not?

Why not?

I like people. Like, I really do.

I do too.

Which means you like playing them, right? Do you like— are you playing other people, or are you playing versions of yourself? We've talked to actors about this before. Like, what— I don't want to get into, like, a boring process conversation, but do you like— if I were to say, you got to pick between 2 reasons why you like acting, playing other people or playing versions of yourself and exploring kind of the borders of who you are? of who Linda is to you?

Other people.

Other people, right. Morphing into someone else.

Which inevitably has yourself in it because you're only yourself. But hopefully— which is sort of what I tried to do, is just try to play as many different versions or people of my— I can.

Well, yeah. And on DTF, just watching the whole thing and being blown away and watching you like, wow, just as the character, I'm like, whoa, she's rough. You know, man, it's not a very likable character at first. And then you completely feel for her. You realize why she's being like that. Yeah. I mean, it's so well done.

Well, she had to do it that way because you had to be communicating a little bit of a mislead about being a murderer. Like, there had to be— my character the same way. Like, they had to be just odd enough where you would buy them as the possible killer.

Right, right.

I love the Empire outfit thing. I thought that was great. Would you— Um, please tell us your experience, because we've heard from Jason the first scene that you guys shot together.

Oh, yes.

The first scene.

That was the first one?

Yes.

On the bed having sex.

Can we just hear your perspective walking into shooting that day?

Yeah, tell, tell, tell, tell them how we met.

Okay, well, reading the script, everybody was like, oh God, how are you going to do that? Because I have to do— there's a thing called weight placement.

Do what? What scene are you talking about?

Weight placement, which is a thing that people like. Which, when I first read it, I did not know weight placement was something that people did with their underwear on. So that was kind of a relief when I figured that out.

Okay.

Um, okay, well, at least I'll be wearing something. Um, but yeah, weight placement is where I put some weight, uh, and sit on Jason's face. And that was supposed to be much later in the schedule. And I had been like, I'm gonna train, and I'm gonna tan, I'm gonna do all these, I'm gonna eat right, 'Cause that's finally when I start to do it, once I get the job. In between, I'm like, not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And then once I get it, I'm like, oh, God, I'll do it now.

And plus, we'll know each other. It'll be super giggly and fun and comfortable.

We have lines. We can talk about it.

Sure.

And then the schedule changed, and it came up right away. It was the very first scene that we really shot together, so...

The very first scene we ever did. And you didn't know each other. First thing in the morning.

First thing in the morning.

Well, we had met in the parking garage of the apartment building we were both staying in in Atlanta, what, a couple of days before? days before that.

Yes.

That was it.

And then she said, see you tomorrow when I sit on your face.

Basically. Yeah. And then, yeah, first thing in the morning, um, hey, uh, so, uh, good to see you again. Yeah, just met you a couple days ago. And, um, she was, she was incredibly, you know, I was incredibly nervous. I'm sure she was too. The, the intimacy coordinator was fantastic. Steve was really cool. And it was surprisingly I guess not surprisingly, most intimacy scenes, although I haven't done a bunch, but the ones I have, they're pretty— Mechanical. Mechanical, exactly. Like, you have to kind of hit this mark, and you have to kind of say this line here, and watch out for shadowing here, and all that. Like, it's—

Amanda has said that. She said it's very mechanical. She said it's very— That was the exact word she used. It's funny you should say that. It's very

mechanical. And afterwards, she always goes, cut.

And cut.

And cut.

And I say, should we check playback or just move on?

Yeah, it was— I was happy because both of us are a little bit germaphobic.

Yeah.

And so that was a comfort.

Yes. Exactly.

That was a comfort.

'Cause you knew he was clean. We're

both addicted to breath strips.

Oh, my goodness.

So that was all the whole shoot. We were addicted to breath strips. We both are a little bit...

Although we never kissed.

No, no, nope. The only people who ever kiss in that show is David and Peter Sarsgaard.

That was part of Jason's negotiation for doing the show.

Yeah, I heard that.

But right, it's like people think, oh, this is gonna be a real salacious show. It's like, yeah, there's not really that much sex, and not even kissing. And even the sex that we do is just like so weird and kink that it's kind of funny and off-putting, and it's not— it's not salacious at all. It's just another kind of— Another one of those sort of subversive kind of elements of it that was just so surprising. Anyway.

Well, if anybody hasn't seen it, they have to see it now. It's an Emmy-winning performance that people have to watch.

Check it out, Arnett. It's a good watch. It's really good. Oh, I've seen it. Well, Linda, goddamn it, you're the best. I'm so excited I get to see you in a couple of days. Yes. And then no doubt see you again, hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Is that for— are you guys doing DTF Minneapolis? What's happening?

We all get in a bus and go there.

I wish. I would do that show a million times over. It was so fun.

I know it. I know it.

It was one of those things where it's like the show was so great to do with everybody that the fact that it's also getting the recognition it's getting is beautiful.

Yeah, it feels nice.

It feels very good.

Good.

But also, um, I'm gonna go have some soup. I heard you guys talking about soup.

Yeah, go get some sauce. Um, enjoy that incredible family of yours. And we are looking forward to seeing you coming up on Crystal Lake and Way of the Warrior Kid. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the fancy thing in a couple of nights.

Yes. We'll eat snacks again in the front row.

Yeah. Love you so much. And thank you for doing this.

Love you guys. Thanks for having me here.

So nice to meet you, Linda.

I just met you. Love you guys.

Yeah. Likewise.

Very lovely. We love you too.

Thanks, you guys.

Thank you. Have a great day. Bye. Bye-bye. That's Linda Cardellini.

Linda Cardellini.

Linda Cardellini.

She's one of those actresses that, like, like, literally chameleon. And you were naming all the things. Oh yeah, that's right. Oh, that's right. Oh, that's right. Oh my gosh, she can do anything. All of those things.

And she's been on a lot of the stuff that you love for a long time.

For a long time.

TV shows and movies and things and big, like, uh, uh, you know, like the Avengers type stuff. And then, like, cool, like, just like Everything.

Yeah,

every sort of—

What if she— what if she— what if she— if she was on Star Wars, Sean, would you have— uh, would you be— that, that would be something. Then, then she'd have your respect.

Would she— would she be part of the Rebel Alliance? What do you think?

Of course, she's too nice. She— I, I, I wonder if, uh— no, but like, I'm, I'm an Avengers fan, but I'm not like a massive fanatic, you know? Like, I am Star Wars—

Like a blow dart just came in from the right side of frame from Scotty, right into his neck.

Son of a Yeah, no, but, um, but she's been in all, all these, those great things, especially that sitcom you mentioned with Suzanne Somers. What was it called?

Oh, the Pat Duffy vehicle, Step by Step.

What is it called?

Step by Step.

Step by Step.

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