"Four Seasons Ambassador" (w/ Natasha Rothwell)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Look Mayer, Oh, I see you my own look over
there is that culture. Yes, goodness loves cult day last
Culturas calling a day.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Of days, a day of days, a day that feels
right in the heart, the soul, the mind, the body.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
You know what I was thinking this morning, I was like,
this is someone we've actually wanted on this podcast since
since we get starting. And by the way, we should
say shout out to anyone who voted for us for
Podcasts over the Year, which we won.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
For a second time.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yes, and it's nine years in and I'm just thinking about, like,
I know, our guest is here today and someone we've
looked up to since, but even before we started the
podcast and all these years later, it feels like a
wonderful little moment. So thank you all for that, and
also just to have our guests in this like star
ascending moment.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's just like it's feeling.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm a little emotion, I'm a little emos This is
someone who had wonderful Vulture piece on our guest, and
it just made me realize what we've known along, which is, oh,
this is someone who both is someone in place, people
that you just root for.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
We just love you so I know, and it is
like a decade in the making.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
It's seriously and like and so basically we're about to
bring our guests in. But just know, like I mean,
obviously the White Lotus insecure.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
How did I alone? I mean, there's so much to
talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
But for me, I was literally when we finally met
our I finally like really in person met our guest,
which feels crazy, like the other night after the Oscars,
and I was like, you know, you to me will
always be that flight attendant you see me base basement.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
If you know, you know on mod night, not even UCB,
this is a UCB pitizen, this is a story bar.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Were three three pitizens in the room, in the room,
my god, I'll.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wait, we got a bringer. Let's go. Let's go. Everyone.
Welcome to your ears.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Natasha, thank you for having me, making me.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
A most it's emost moments.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
But that's like so special, you know what I mean,
to just have those people that are from way back
that you knew were special then pop off like and
that happens all the time now if.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
I feel that about you too, are you kidding me?

Speaker 5 (02:24):
I think game recognized game and like even like on
our come up watching the two of you work like
it's just you know, you know, but you.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Know that I was going through the whole process of
screen testing for SNL then being offered to write, and
I remember reaching out to you and being like, what.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Do you think I should do?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Because I just respected you to the fucking mountains and
at that point you were already insecure, like yeah, Kelly
was already like the one, and I was just like, Na,
Tasha had such a unique Everyone has a unique journey,
and you had a very unique journey, and I was
just like I need to know because at that point,
I'm going to say, like you could count I'm like

(03:06):
one or two hands the number of writers of color,
let's say, not to put it on those those lines,
but like it was like a meaningful thing to reach
out to you peace.

Speaker 5 (03:14):
Yeah, I remember when you did, and I remember saying
that like it was hard for me, but like the
juice was worth the squeeze, right, because it's just like
going through that, you know, iron sharpens iron, you become
better at what you do. And it wasn't perfect. And
I have notes, yes, yes we all do, but I
think ultimately it was the stamp in my passport you know,

(03:37):
professionally that I needed to open some doors that I
think I would have eventually opened, but maybe take a
little longer to do.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
So, yeah, totally.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I mean does being back in New York make you
reflect on this obviously, right?

Speaker 5 (03:52):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, Like it's like like from the pit days to
the UCB days to the s and L.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Like on every level, on every level.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
Like you know, like in a car where he says, like,
you know, things in this mirror are closer than they appear.
Like for me, that's like literally being so broke that
I was like picking up Metro cards off of the
ground at the train stations on my way home to
check them the next morning, and so like having calling
my mom in fucking South Jersey to order me pizza

(04:20):
in Brooklyn from Jersey.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
Because I didn't have anything in the bank.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
And it's just pizza.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Pizza, a better pizza than a lot of New York pizza.
When you're outside of the city, they take their time
on the pizza.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's actually a real culture number four six, when they're
outside of the city by the time on the pizza.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
That's true.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
But no, I'm full of gratitude and even just writing
here today so much of my experience in New York
was based on where I was my.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
Social socioeconomic level.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
And I feel like for every different stratosphere there's a
different version of the city. The version of the city
that I'm getting to know now is it's different than
the one that I knew. But I missed the one
that that I used to know, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
I missed that kind of like hustle and that grind
I was.

Speaker 5 (05:08):
I was never more poor than I was when I
was grinding in comedy, but I was so.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Happy, Yeah, you know what I mean, Like the early
mornings for like a story pirate show like mad An
call Time, the like I didn't tech for.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
Your mod show at like three am, you know.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
And paying for it talk about notes. This again is
the old uc.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
But no, but I mean, like it's really something like
when I remember I had taken like a long time
away from New York, probably because of the pandemic obviously,
and then I got back and my immediate instinct it
was raining a little bit. I was like, I'm still
gonna take a WHI and I did have like a
I don't know why, I am frightened moment looking around
sort of really getting tearful because we did like this

(05:55):
is this is really where we grew up.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (05:57):
When people ask me, because I'm an Air Force bread
and I grew up all over, I was just like,
but I became an adult in New York, Like I
found out my voice and you know in New York,
I like made mistakes in New York.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Like New York truly raised me.

Speaker 5 (06:12):
And so even though I didn't live here super long,
it's only eight years, but even just driving here, I
was just.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Like looking at cars, like I remember crying on that corner.

Speaker 5 (06:20):
I remember remember that bagel shop that atm lets you
take it out.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
You can get a five out.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, oh wow, tell us about that about dollars? Yeah,
found one.

Speaker 5 (06:30):
So it's like all of those things and you're just like, oh,
I'm so grateful to have had that. And it feels
like a collective experience, you know, like no one quite
knows what we went through. And the improv industrial complex
is like that that like the pipeline from improv to TV,
like it's not what it used to be, you know,
like they don't have it like we did.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Like there was a time of being in New York
or la doing comedy in the way that we did,
where it felt like so cool anytime, and it felt
kind of frequent, I'll say, is the word, but like
it felt like there was a regularity and like, oh,
this person got raptured up into the show.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yes, yes, And now I feel like I feel like.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
I'm not like my ears into the ground maybe, but
like I don't know, I don't know like of that
same sort of like machinery that's happening.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, I mean I don't either.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
But the scuttle butt is that it's maybe not the
same as it used to be. And I think that
like the the beauty of what was it was, you know,
like if you liken you know, UCB to like Catholicism
and then to like, you know, I felt like we

(07:40):
were all worshiping the god of comedy. And it's just
like when you go through that kind of like radicalization,
it's just like you see someone else and you're just.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Like zip, you know, I'm about to ritails vegetails, hilarious,
I'm about to get a little niche. But like when
you were because I remember think because we were pit people,
because we weren't embraced by UCB at the very start.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
It actually took us a little bit same. Is that
the same with you?

Speaker 3 (08:10):
You were like because you were one of the queens
of the Pit, and we remember thinking of you being like, well,
Natasha's here at the pit, putting in the hard yards,
and like that means that like we'll get to UCB.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Natasha's on the poster like these are our lines.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well I just remember I had come
to New York with six years of mainstage experience in
DC like Washington in prov Theater and tried to jump
the line at UCB of just like I've been doing
this for like professionally six years and I've been teaching
and then like no, no, no, no, no, take a number.
I was like okay, yeah, and then I went to

(08:41):
the pit and Ali was just like, oh, like you
can teach, like and so I was able to start teaching,
and then I auditioned and got on a team and so.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
So bluss the pit then for like yeah, they also.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Where they held the showcase for SNL. When I auditioned,
it was at the pit. That was famous night, that
was the famous that was a big night, and so
it was just I think the pit allowed folks to
be a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, it's less rigid than totally the Catholics. I remember
also feeling like, you know, the the Catholics.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
I remember at the time like there was something really
performative about that space, like because because you're a performer,
you're a real performer. And I remember thinking, I think
we identified that as that too, maybe because UCB felt
like very it felt you know what I mean, like
you had to learn a language that like those guys
were speaking, but at the pit it felt like you could.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Maybe it was just like the presentium, the literal stage.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, it felt like it was welcoming a different kind
of performer, and I kind of felt enthusiastic about that opportunity.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
No, I love the pit stage and it was so
much fun also to meet the folks that were like
devoutly pit yes and would never go to UCB. I
know it was, And I just felt like an interloper
where I'm just like, nah, I gotta go.

Speaker 4 (09:59):
It used to be we I'm gonna do this show now,
which like that's the best.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Though it's like best and like shout out to the
Magnet people like Magnet. The Magnet is still about a
wonderful vibe the Baptist.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Listen, we have figured it.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, we get by the end of this episode, we'll
figure out what the Groundlings is. You know, we're not
l a people, but we're gonna work figure it out
and Second City and all that say. But like I just.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Remember seeing you at the pit doing the flight attendant
and I was just like, okay, like this is someone
who this She's gonna go the fucking distance, you know
what I mean, Like, like I think you are one
of those people who we just like modeled ourselves after
anytime there was a story pirate story that like there
would be linked to every story, every stock story. I
feel like, were you in the Emergency Poncho?

Speaker 3 (10:47):
It was it was like, sorry, story sketch called the
Emergency Poncho about a kid that gets a poncholl put
on him at a mean because it starts raining and
it became musical, and you were in the tutorial for it,
and that was the one one of the ones we
all I'm actually dead, we really are. Like see that's

(11:14):
like I remember, like the story parts of it all
really pushing me forward because I'm like, yes, the community
is what's important.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, And that that remains true.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
And I feel like something about you is you're always
in an amazing ensemble, and you always put together an
amazing ensemble. You just won the Indie Spirit Award for
Ensemble in a new series and with our pal Conrad,
and you know, even that connection to being this great ensemble.
And I see you and obviously Insecure and now famously

(11:43):
two seasons of The White Lotus, and you're in that
family that's obviously not an accident. It's like you're not
like booking purposefully these things, but it seems to follow you.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
Yeah, I'm always drawn to the collaborative arts.

Speaker 5 (11:56):
I think that's why I never like I have deference
for stand but it's never been my bag because I
don't want to fail alone.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
Do you know what I mean to me?

Speaker 5 (12:06):
It's just like, can we get a team together to
believe in one thing and even if we lose, it's.

Speaker 4 (12:10):
Together so there's still a win.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
And I also find that in and again like it
does feel like it's chosen me more than I've chosen it.
But I feel like of the ensembles that have chosen me,
my entry point is always sort of with a character
that's kind of carrying sort of like the torch of empathy,
and I think that's just innate in me. That's how
I moved through the world. And so whether nature nurture,

(12:35):
I'm always drawn to parts and characters that bring humanity.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
To people who look like me, you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (12:42):
And I don't consider it like an obligation or sort
of like a burden to me.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
I get excited by that opportunity.

Speaker 5 (12:48):
And that's like when I sat down with Mike for
White Lotus season one, I had reservations because at that
point he hadn't had the scripts written, but I loved
him at talking like love him. I'm from Freaks and Geeks,
enlightened all the way through, you know, good girl everything.
But then he is so good right, but then he

(13:10):
hit then my team's just like okay, And I was like, well,
how many in the cast are people of color? And
it's just like it's you and then there's one other girl,
but like mostly it's like you, and so I'm in
a servile position and I.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Was like, that didn't like make me want to, you know,
say no.

Speaker 5 (13:27):
I was just like, is he going to collaborate with
me to help sort of like discover this character and
we found that empathy, We found that like heart in
the heart of who she was. So yeah, for me,
characters and empathy are always sort of like the true North.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
And then he kind of has the sympathetic sort of
instinct with you where it's like he went page by
page yeah with Belinda and it's like, okay, like what's
the deal here? Like yeah, and you get to be like, oh,
I want her to wave hello with this family that's
at the resort, Like those moments, that moment really struck out.
And then reading this piece and seeing all these interviews

(14:03):
that you're doing talk about that specific thing, I'm like,
this is this is the importance of like of Belinda's
a character, of you as an actor.

Speaker 5 (14:11):
And it's important of directors to know who they have
and how to utilize them.

Speaker 4 (14:16):
Like we have the same hyphenates.

Speaker 5 (14:17):
Mike and I were both actors, we're both writers, were
both directors, and so as writers we were able to
sit down and geek out. And he's so aware that
he's not a black woman, right, and so he's just like, well,
what are the ways that we can at that authenticity?
And I tell him all the time, I was just
like I wish more directors took, you know, a page
from that book.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, of being able.

Speaker 5 (14:37):
To know I have a deficit, but this character or
this actor who's playing this character might be a resource
to me.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
But I have to humble myself to do that.

Speaker 5 (14:47):
And Mike is one of the kindest, most humble, like
gentle sweet souls.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
That I've ever met.

Speaker 5 (14:53):
And so for him to do that with me season one,
and I was bucking nobody season one, you know, like I.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Mean, Kelly was I mean, Kelly was a thing.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
But also it was just like, well, anyway, maybe I
should say I should say I felt like, why was
he listening to me?

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, it would be hard to walk into an ensemble
cast like that and be like, yep, of.

Speaker 5 (15:14):
Course anyone any and so like I felt so like
ahead of my skis, but he.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
Was so excited.

Speaker 5 (15:22):
And then when you know, I was asked back for
season three, was like when we're going to zoom, I
was like, I got you boom, So we like did
that we chopped it up again.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yeah. One of my favorite things about this season, the
characterization of Blinda, is it does feel like there's a
little bit more you in there, Like some of my
favorite moments are when you're in your place of like
attitude is gratitude and then and then a lizard will
jump out and it will be a full shut down,
Like I feel like that humor and that sort of
on guardness. It's yes, it's like it serves as just

(15:53):
great comedic relief in any of these given moments, especially
interacting with the environment, which is so much of what
the show is about. But also it's for me, it
speaks to the fact that like, you're dealing with less
bullshit now, like you are a version of Belinda now
that is like no fuck that I will self preserve.
So it means more to me than just those small interactions.

(16:17):
And where we find Belinda right now in the season
and we've seen the six episodes so far, is a
place of true fear and existential terror because she's now
being like you know, she's Greg is in the midst
and they see each other in a real way.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
So I wonder, like, what.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Do you think of that progression and where do you
think she's at and going?

Speaker 4 (16:42):
I love this question.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
So for me, when we see her at the end
of season one, right it's like she's devastated, her hopes
were dashed.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
And then we see her.

Speaker 5 (16:53):
Starting something new, doing something that's you know, out of
her comfort zone. And I feel like when we do that,
it speaks to hope and optimism. So it speaks to
some kind of between the time we last saw her
and when we meet her she has grieved that loss
and is trying again. And when finally and when you
meet someone on sort of like the precipice of change
and like you know, in entertaining optimism, it's an exciting

(17:16):
role to play because she's doing something familiar. Yes it's massage,
but it's in a completely different country. She's learning a
new technique. She's raising the bar for herself. And when
we see her in six, all of the hope that
she has is now being threatened by Greg and her
son is so Mama Bear's kicking in, so she can't

(17:37):
just recede, which is what she's used to doing when
you know, things get bad or scary. Now it's fight
or flight, and bitch is gonna fight, you know, like
we want to see that activation.

Speaker 4 (17:46):
Yea, is she going to be successful?

Speaker 5 (17:47):
I hope fucking So it's like to pit her against
you know, Greg, And this way I think Mike was
so smart in the writing because it's it's the recognition
is so heavy.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
It hits so hard when audiences see that.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
And he's very sinister and in John in real life
he's such a dear friend.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
He's also so sweet, yell like so sweet.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
But when he got in character, there's one tape, Oh,
I jumped.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
I was like, don't you can't smile at me like that?

Speaker 5 (18:19):
Oh, because he would just like smile and like raise
his iron life.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Yeah, And the variations of that character he's given us, Like,
you really don't know if in that very first scene
he appeared in in season one, if that was a
long con from the beginning, it was something he figured out.
There's so many things, ye that are under the surface,
obviously with every character, but him being sort of the
big boss of the show now at this point, the
main antagonist of the show. Every time you see him

(18:44):
it gets scary because it didn't start that way.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
Yeah, and you know what he's capable of, right, So
it's just like it's.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
All in that first interaction that you two have this
season though, I feel where you approach him at dinner, I.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Love that scene. It's both of you volleying it.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
In this way that is like incredibly tense, Like you're
not looking, like you're not like on your phone while
you're watching this show.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, it's like it's one of those.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
And I bring that up because this is a bad
habit of mine now where I'm just like, Okay, whatever
I'm putting on right now, Yeah, you know what I mean.
But like, this is the thing that I think we're
talking about, which is you can fill in the gaps
as a viewer on Belinda's journey between one and three
seasons one and three, where it's like her hopes were dashed,
she has convalesced in the intervening time of like I'm
gonna self start again, like since being disappointed and feeling

(19:36):
like I had the slight preserver thrown at me.

Speaker 5 (19:38):
Yeah, I feel like the empathy that she in the
favor that she couraged season one is there and we
see that like she is found a way to do
that for herself, you know, like support herself and cheer
herself on. And yeah, and I also think like it's
fun to see her on a quasi vacation because we

(20:00):
all have these vacation identities that we try on when
we go out. It's just like, you know what, I
got my vacation braids on. We like go out and
wear these shoes that I've taken the tag off.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
I never wore them before I wear them now.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:10):
So it's just like playing with identity and like who
she wants to be. And I think it's really beautiful
to play with someone who's such you know, putty ready
to be molded and now she's about to be molded
by circumstance.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Right.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
I wonder how many months cumulatively have you spent living
in a four seasons?

Speaker 4 (20:31):
Oh? Boy?

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Like is it like almost a year doing this?

Speaker 5 (20:35):
More?

Speaker 4 (20:35):
Because I did? I did Sonic in Hawaiian that was
four seasons as well.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh so you have you're a membership basically.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
Like at this point, if they don't make me an ambassador,
I don't know, well, I.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Don't know what it might like.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Did you hear about that cruise that's like we'll take
you to all the White Lotus locations. You can have
a White Lotus Expire vacation.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
It's it's some vacation that Hawaii to Italy.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, like there's something you can do that.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
First of all, it's Greg money. Also like it's like,
you know, to have a white Lotus inspired vacation. It's like,
you know what happens on the show, a lot of
a lot of a lot of stuff.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, there's soon said.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
That was just like they must have the best pr ta.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
They don't.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
They bury it all.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
My god.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Okay, so we have to ask you the question that
we asked all of our guests, and I'm excited to
ask you this, which was what is the culture? And
Natasha Rathwall that made you say culture was for you?

Speaker 5 (21:48):
I thought about this question a lot also because I'm
a fan of the show, and so I was just like,
and I will say also, I've been trying to get
on the show for ten years, but my schedule has
been so dumb.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
No, I mean like we've never been trying, We've.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
Been chasing each other.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
So this but this is the moment, this is right now.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
Yeah, And I'm like Loki Embarrason what I'm about to say,
But it's so true.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
And it is the movie Grease.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Let's go well, at least you picked the best movie
of all time. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:16):
And I will say I feel like Greece too has
not talked about enough.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
No, certainly not about it. Let's talk about it, Okay.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
I just feel like, one, you have a girl for
all seasons, we have cool riders.

Speaker 5 (22:27):
I feel like we get to see like Michelle Feife
getting dirty, she's straddling a ladder.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
But Greece like the og Yeah I just watched. I
like I wore out the VHS.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, it would be on my letterbox. Four.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
I think, oh, if I ever get asked that question
by that incredible organization, yes, I will say one word
Grease Greece, and then I'll figure out the other three.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
But like, what is it about it for you?

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Because for me, I think there's something about it's a
some amalgamation of like the costumes and the the actors
are committed to those insane characterizations, and obviously the incredibly
catchy music. But is there anything specific for you?

Speaker 5 (23:07):
Well, the music for sure, but also like I grew
up in the church, very chaste, and so I relate
it with a you know Sandra d.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yes, good girl gone bad? Come on?

Speaker 5 (23:17):
I was, I was like, yeah, so it was so
much fun watching someone just like get pursued by the
bad boy, and there was all of this kind of
like you know it felt Austinian because they're like long, and.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
You know, there's just this tension of just like when
are they gonna kiss?

Speaker 1 (23:35):
And it just like yeah, and it's just.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
The tension plate, like we don't even get to see that,
like the magic of that until like the end.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yeah, because and then do you go. I think it's
one of those things that like bi osmosis, I do
know every line, and I think maybe most people do
and don't even realize.

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Yeah, it'll come on and.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
Then every once in a while I was just like, oh,
I don't know where my keys are, but I know exactly.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
The beaterest of Grace would be like at any sort
of like rented apartment that you would like you would
go to on a family trip in like the person's
like closet or something. For me, the thing about Greece,
which is the thing that musicals on some level should
be because they are musicals, because the emotion is so
heightened that they you can't do anything but saying, is

(24:25):
that it's the highest fantasy fantasy in the best way.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
They drive off in the car.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Beauty school drop like are you kidding? He came from heaven.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
That's actually not talked about enough. It's really number eight
beaut school drop out. He came from heaven.

Speaker 4 (24:41):
He came from heaven.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
He literally came down to give her her guidance.

Speaker 5 (24:46):
I also think that like I was when it came out,
I was like I wanted to perform, like I saw
that as such a like like it was Catharsis right
on screen where I was like, oh that, I want
to do something where I get to build it up
to that point and my God, like.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's like the spirit inside you like want to emulate that.
That is like the strongest link that you can have
as like a viewer.

Speaker 5 (25:12):
Yeah, and it's so funny too, because like the movie
couldn't be more white, but like for me, it was
more about like the good versus evil, like bad and
good and like I was able to sort of watch
it through that lens and I mean just the jackets,
like everything about it. I just remember watching it and

(25:36):
like doing.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
The little like you like everyone had.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
I remember when when I was little, we would do
like our little dance contest, Like that's one of the
things that me and my friends would do, like me
and the girls, And it was always you're the one
that I want.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
It was always Summer Night one of the best group
numbers in any musical. Yeah, so good. It's so good.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
And also then when you get a little older and
you can really appreciate the depth, there are.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Things I could do. So, I mean, I believe this is.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
My hot take. That might be a cold take because
everyone might have it. Stock her channing that should have
been an Oscar nomination.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
I agree what she brought to There are worse things
I could do that. That's a moment in movies.

Speaker 5 (26:15):
It is everything And like you see her didn't she
haven't or she had an abors or.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
She lost the babe or something she lost. It was
like a false alarm something like that. It was like
it was a false alarm.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
She's having this conversation.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Yeah, and that's like that's a lot, and the whole
movie is a lot like they're talking about, like you
know during Greece Lightning.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
That was and that was that was my kind of
like Chase brain missed that until I was much older,
and then I was like, oh, no, right, I know
what that's.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
You know what that's you do musicals in high school.
So I was Mama Rose and you were not.

Speaker 5 (26:55):
See and I met when I was in college. She
came to visit University of Maryland and we were doing
you Can't Take It with you, and she was in
the hallway and I have this like fun picture of
me and her back then.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
But wow, I did you guys did obviously musicals.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
We did musical.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
He did.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
I didn't. Oh yeah, he was.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Like a high school was a Zach Caffred in high
school musical, like was an athlete, but like secretly wanted
to perform.

Speaker 4 (27:22):
Right did your dad's sports sports sports?

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Sports sports? But that wasn't really what held me back.
All he wanted me to do is be involved. It
was more just like gay on Long Island, right with
all stuff up here. But I found it eventually.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
I just want to I just want to own up
to the fact that Natasha said I was Mama Rose
and my brain clutched and I thought, you met Mama
Morton from Chicago, But.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
I but I did meet Queen Latifah at the variety
of way she came up to me.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
She was amazing.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
She was amazing.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Something about her that like it's I.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
Remember I met her years ago when I was doing
the n YU newspaper and I went to interview her
for Secret Life.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Of Bees and she came in with.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
Her platinum blonde hair and sat down and just it
was like, oh, now I know what it's like to
be in the presence of.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
A super star royalty. She radiates she is a queen.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, yeahs Mama Rose, that is I need to see that.
You do need to take over her abduct I had.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
My The guy who played my husband in that show
was so gay. I was gay.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
He was Herbie, so.

Speaker 5 (28:29):
Herbie was so gay. And the kiss that we have
was on like I believe it was on the cheek.
I was just like, like, I believe it was upon
my cheek.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
I just remember there was we had. I mean it
was so bootleg.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
It was high school right, the have an egg roll,
mister Goldstone.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
All of that.

Speaker 5 (28:49):
We had like a prop issue and it wasn't there.
And I did improv, right since I've been doing improv
since high school.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
So like, did your object work it?

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (28:59):
And people were just like that was it was a choice,
and like, oh, I didn't know. And my director was
just like, thanks for saving the scene. I was like,
you got it, and I was just like embarrassing. My
most embarrassing moment was auditioning for Wait.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
My Fair Lady. He did My Fair Lady.

Speaker 5 (29:20):
This was my junior year or my sophomore year, and
I decided to learn sign language to the song that
I was going to sing to because I didn't have
confidence in my pipe, and so I forgot the lyrics
to the song or the sign halfway through singing it.
But my hands were already extended and moving, so it
was just interpretive. Dan, Yes, I don't even remember what

(29:43):
I was singing, but I just remember I was just
like moving my hands and I left sobbing.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
But wait a minute, I was cast, but you were cast.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
I'm saying, there's something special about that audition, and I'm like,
I don't know what that is.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
I want her in my show.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
I want her in my show. What that movie?

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Because it's going to watch half signing sobbing?

Speaker 5 (30:01):
It was so it was just, yeah, it was a
cluster fuck of beauty.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
No, but like this is the Natasha Rothwell thing of
I'm going to power through and it's gonna be compelling
enough and you're gonna fucking get love it.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
If there's anything about me, it's like it takes a
lot for me to give up generally, yeah, and to
the point of like, and I think it's also my brain.
I'm neurospicy a lot, and so I love solving problems. Yes,
so like a no or like some like I'm just like, oh,

(30:35):
that's just I'll figure it out or I'll.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Work through it's an obstacle currently, yes, but it will
not be the definitive answer correct.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
But to be neurospicy and to be like collaborative is
killer combo.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
I feel.

Speaker 5 (30:48):
I think, yeah, it's a one two punch. But I
also have learned more of myself in my forties. It's
like I'm now a boundaried battie because I know that
I recharged solo and I.

Speaker 4 (30:58):
Knew that before, but I I.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
Am a people pleaser, recovering people pleaser, so like I
would exhaust myself as I'm sure you know, it's just
like I will give until there's nothing left.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
When did you clock that and adjust that?

Speaker 4 (31:12):
I want to say in my thirties. I felt that.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
Well, SNL kind of happened in my mid thirties, and
it was around that time where it was just like,
you know, you understand when you're on the show, you
have to promise them at everything and making time for
other people came at like a cost, and so it
was one of those things of like I could hang
out with you and make you feel good, and I

(31:40):
would feel good for making you feel good, but then
I would be like a shell of a human tomorrow,
And so having to make.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
Those calls and then I think it's still taken me.

Speaker 5 (31:49):
I mean, I'm still in the process of releasing the
guilt I have for choosing me.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
And do you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (31:56):
So like, even though I've learned how to do it,
it's still like not letting go of that guilt and
consider myself worthy of you know, the choice.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
But the guilt probably And this is not like me
saying this in a dire way, Like I've learned to
just not accept it but live with it because it's
going to regenerate itself with every interaction, with every choice
you make for yourself. It comes with that little tax.
Yeah you know what I mean, Like guilt tax.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
There's a guilt tax. Gilt tax.

Speaker 5 (32:24):
And I think too, like the the amount of guilt
tax you pay decreases the longer you're in therapy. So
for me, the more I've worked on myself, I used
to have to pay a heavy toll and now I
pay a lot less and maybe I'll have an easy
pass at one point and I don't have to worry
about it.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
But then they'll throw a congestion price. Yeah, it's impossible.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
That is It's I think for me, it was like
it was honestly the pandemic. It was being forced to
be alone that made me realize, like, maybe I've always
needed this, you know what I mean saying.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
I was three months in and I was just like,
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
Do you remember feeling like that? I was like, oh wow, okay.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
Yeah, and then you deal with the anxiety of when
things lifted. I remember feeling like, am I crazy and
weird for feeling like I don't want to necessarily go
back to the life I had because I was exhausted.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
All the time.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Because I think that it also connects back to us
having to grind so hard, like I think that we
all have different experiences of not being in exactly the
mold of what was you know, out there being shown
as like a successful comedian whatever it is, and I
remember feeling like, oh, I have no choice but to

(33:42):
exhaust myself because they won't just give the opportunities there
will be someone that they see in a more one
to one way. Yeah, so all of a sudden, your
wheels have spun so fast in your twenties and into
your thirties, and then something says like, hey, cosmically we're stopping.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
And then it's like that was.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
When I was like, oh, thank god, I'm in therapy
because I have to deal with the fact that.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't want to rejoin society.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah but wait, so would you would you say that
it's like an opposite track in terms of like what
Mal goes through and how to dial loan. It's like,
this is someone who wants to sort of like break
out of her solitude in a way.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
Yeah, I think it's also I basically wrote the show
is kind of like a love letter to that unhealed
version of myself, where it's just like I don't even
know if she.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
Knows herself enough.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
To decide what it is, you know, Like, so it's
breaking out of the comfort of.

Speaker 4 (34:45):
The known and going into the unknown.

Speaker 5 (34:48):
And I think in doing that, it's not guaranteed that
you're gonna love it, you know what I mean, Like
you might hit And that's why we always called her
like our human rumba, like you hit wall.

Speaker 4 (34:59):
After wall after wall, but you're still getting your shit clean.

Speaker 5 (35:01):
And for her being able to like make those mistakes
and like take risks and figure out if she is
a people person. You don't know if you don't allow
people in your life. Yeah, I do think that, like aspirationally,
I tacked her affinity for being around people onto the
character because for me, and I love people, but I'm

(35:22):
a small dose girl. Yeah, I mean, like I love
give me like y'all too conversation.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
I will talk for eight hours.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
And then we'll be good for a little bit. Yeah,
and that's perfect.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
And that's perfect, do you know what I mean? Yeah,
A room full of people like.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
No, see how are you the other night? Then at
Vanity Fair while we saw you? Like because that that,
I get really anxious about those things. And then I
find when I'm there, I'm okay and I'm actually like
there's even enjoying it sometimes.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
But it takes me a lot to drag ass there.

Speaker 5 (35:51):
I okay, how do I say this so I get
invited back?

Speaker 1 (35:56):
No? No, no, no no, we love we love being there.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
So I loved being there.

Speaker 5 (36:03):
My default is not that environment of course, and so
I parked myself towards the entrance and I people watch.

Speaker 4 (36:12):
That's kind of my happy place.

Speaker 5 (36:14):
So I was just watching the like the looks come in,
watching the people watching conversations. And I tend to default
in any environment, not just high stakes oscar weekend parties.
I want to find a corner I want to watch,
and then I want to find like a person or
a couple of people that I'm going to have probably
an oversharing conversation, you know what.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
I'm like, like whatever, like let's get in. So what
about your father?

Speaker 5 (36:39):
You know, like type of conversations anchor, And so I
went there. I took up her paranolol because weded blocking.
So that way my nerves do would be the best
of me. I brought the director of development of my
production company.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
And she was tasked, but she was tasked by my
publicist to make sure that I did turns around the room.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
That's an amazing make sure that Natasha does at least
some turns and turns around the room.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
So I would sit there and then she'd be like
you ready to go do a lap? And I'm like okay,
and then.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
I do around the room the room, I should have
said that as the pop culture that changed my life.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
The mini series about absolutely, but Greece is I mean,
connecting Greece as Austinian is important.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
I feel like I did some work just then.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
You did. What you did was you talk to children.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
I taught the children, since we genuinely talked children children.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
The children, and now it's like, let's go back and
teach him. Okay, so you did. You did a couple,
you did a walk about the room, and it was good.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
It was good, and it's it's I don't this sounds
so like fucking tweet and like and like, but it
was so cool to see people that I've only ever
seen TV in film and like, I'm not someone who
fangirls because I do feel that there's a distance between
me and them even though I'm in the same room.

(38:06):
And this isn't some kind of like woe was me,
Like you know, it's poster syndrome bullshit. It's literally just
like you reside on that stratosphere and you're allowed to
be there, and.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
I just my joy is just observing, you know.

Speaker 5 (38:18):
So that was my journey that night was just like
watching I did go up to one person. You'll never
guess one person out of all of the people there,
I didn't approach anyone.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
But this one is this someone I don't think who
we saw. Is it someone who was like has been around.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
For a while or a long time.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Okay, I'm gonna say. I'm going to say Billy Crystal.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
Oh was he now?

Speaker 3 (38:45):
Because now I'm thinking, because honestly, what I'm realizing is
that we did what you said, but it was with
John Ham at the bar.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
We were so happy to just park with it.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
And so now I'm realizing I didn't see a lot
of people, so I can't even guess. So I'm just
gonna throw out of guests and say list goal.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
No.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
John Waters.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
John Waters was there, so he was Oh my god,
so University of Maryland, Marylyn, Tracy Turnblatt.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
She was a fatty batty before I even knew I
like could be one.

Speaker 5 (39:16):
And he was standing there in his suit with a
mustachetron on pink huge sneakers, and then all these like
gorgeous starlets were just walking past him, no, no, not
knowing that he was. And so he was by himself,
and I was just like, just do Itasha, just do it.
You can go. I was like, excuse me, mister Waters,
and he's like, yes. It was just like, my name

(39:37):
is Natasha Rothell. I'm a huge fan. I went to
University of Maryland. He's like Marilyn Baltimore.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
And I was just like and I just thank you
for Tracy Turnlett like and everything, and he was just
so warm and then I just kind of like stood
there and then right away.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
That's such a good moment, and I was just.

Speaker 4 (39:53):
Like, I mean, he's such an icon, such an icon icon.

Speaker 5 (39:59):
That was like a whole moment, and I felt like
he felt like he was even though he wasn't against
a wall, but he was like by himself on his phone.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
I was like, oh, I see you.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah Water even you were just like yeah, Pard, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, And hairspray by the way, like in obvious ways
and also in spiritual ways that are like not as
obvious camanic piece to Grease, I think, yes, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 5 (40:21):
Absolutely, I think that like they both dealt with different
eras obviously, and I feel like the yeah, the just
the culture of Baltimore. He just was such he's the
you know, the the Grand Poe of Baltimore.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
Yeah, could be po, but I think it's him.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
It's him.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yeah, wait, okay, but this is the thing, like the
distance that we feel at these events between ourselves and
like the people that are walking by.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah, it like it works in every direction.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Because I was saying this on our last episode, like
we were just talking, chatting it up. I think like
it was right before I saw you, when we saw you.
The person who ran up to me and tapped me
on the shoulder and was like, oh my god, thank
god you're here. Her, You'll never guess. Megan the Stallion
was a mouth.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
She was like oh. She was like hey, oh hi,
Oh my god, thank god you're here. Like I don't
know anybody here. And I was just like Meg, Meg,
what are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Girl? You're like titty out Meg.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
She looked amazing. I turned around. I looked at her
and I just go period.

Speaker 5 (41:23):
And she goes back period, come in And I was
just like, oh my god.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
But I feel like everyone.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
I mean, I feel like that level of like social
anxiety feels so unique and it's hard to accept that
someone else like her is like, oh my god, I
might have said the wrong thing, just like my Ariola
showing there mine was page six.

Speaker 4 (41:52):
Yeah, no, there's a little there's a little slip.

Speaker 5 (41:57):
It was fine, it was yeah, but no, I feel
like I have my mind just runs a mile a minute.
And to know that someone like her is also a
head case, it's kind of It's nice, but.

Speaker 4 (42:08):
It's hard to understand.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
That's what you have to remember, is it's like, not
only are these all human beings, but they are also
human beings who are in the arts and at one point,
like we're just like the weirdos that wanted to be accepted,
et cetera. And this is a big night for pretty
much everyone. Of course, you know somewhere in the crowd
and there I'm sure we had our like major ego narcissists,
but like not that we talk to, you know what
I mean. It was kind of nice, yeah, bringing it

(42:40):
back to the White Lotus. What I love about it too,
is it feels like Mike really gets together people who
are freaks in a way. It's like it feels like
a theater troop in a way. It's not like a
collection of celebrities. Like of course, there are those names
that you kind of just know that pop out like
your Jennifer Coolige or Aubrey Plaza. That feels like there's
moments of like, oh your Parker Posey, like we know who.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
She is, like gods.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
But what I love is that it's giving It's like
a community of people who are you know, as actors,
artists and giving them the platform to now be tearing
it up on the most popular show in the yeah world,
in the world.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
It's so insane because truly season one was meant to.

Speaker 5 (43:24):
Be a limited series one and done, and so for
it to be what it is now, you would think
it would change the recipe, but Mike has not changed it.
It's like theater camp, Like you go there and every
single person there loves the craft these words like the
craft and like being able.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
I remember when I got to.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
Set, just flew in crashed that night, walked down a
set just to watch, and I stayed and to watch
the girls. They were shooting like their first breakfast scene,
the three Ladies Yes, And I she was like, Oh,
I'm just watching Masterclass, Like I'm just like watching them cook.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
It was so cool to be like.

Speaker 5 (44:02):
Oh, yeah, we're back, and it felt like the same
pure show that I was on originally it's the DNA.

Speaker 4 (44:10):
Everything is still there.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
Even though they got a bigger budget, you know what
I mean, but more cast members, but like each person,
I mean, like you said, everyone's a freak. Everyone's obsessed
about what they do, and each of them bring something
so special and unique.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
I mean, I'm working with Leslie Bibb now and I
was watching her like process and I'm like, wow, I didn't.
I was like, she really has like this amazing process
and she's so excellent.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
And then I.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Obviously knew she was cast in White Lotus, but I'm
watching White Lotus and I was thinking back to, you know,
watching her do what she does, and I'm like, this
has to be like such an exciting environment because you know,
that's the way Carrie Coon does it.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Like I'm loving Michelle Mamhead on the show.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
And also again like the idea of the very specific
examination of three old friends on a vacation, Like it's.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
One of my favorite storylines.

Speaker 5 (45:00):
I told when I cause I binged the whole show
when I got all the scripts and so, and that
was one of the first things I was just like,
you have embodied adult female friendship in a way where
I'm just like it was uncanny.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
And something specific, so specific about one of them being
a TV star.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
Oh god, that's paid for it. Yes, I feel like
and now now that we're getting to the point where
it's like you kind of get the sense that she's
you know, gonna maybe use that might bring it down,
might bring it up, like might might do the big
boss vacation friend thing.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
It's getting so.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
Thick in that way, and just like the way that
she ticks and the way I can't decide. And this
is a huge testament. Like I'm talking to some people
who are like, oh, those women really hate each other.
But then I'm like, no, I think they really love
each other, but I'm just frustrated by the way life
has changed them. Yeah, and they're I think they're all
really trying to connect with each other. I don't think

(46:04):
that it's so of course, they've got their envies and
jealousies and like their own personal insecurities, but I don't
think we're watching three women that hate each other.

Speaker 5 (46:11):
Well, I think that, like, and I don't know if
you guys find this, Like when I go back home
for the holidays or whatever, you revert back to the
version of yourself when you're around people who knew you
when thank you, And so I feel like what we're
seeing is them in high school in middle school behaving
with or trying to communicate with their actions.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Instead of their words, right yes, And.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
So there's this passive aggressiveness, and I think it looks
like a lack of emotional intelligence when they all possess it,
but they're opting not to, I think because they're when
when the when these three are gathered, they turn back
into the versions of their self that felt jilted, that
felt like they did everything, that felt like their beauty
was all that there is. And so watching them play

(46:53):
those subtleties and then they're the tension is they're trying
to like resist who they were and become who they
are are. And then they're also all trying to become
something else, like they're trying to grow together. So it's
like such an interesting intersection of all of those like
all of that tension, you know.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
Well, like when they go into town and they get
like hosed down by these kids that it kind of
is the reset for the or No, it's like them
being shoved back into adolescens in a way, like yeah,
being picked on and then the rest of that day
plays out in a way where they're like trying to
like compete for like male attention, and that feels like

(47:29):
the most dangerous, treacherous teenage circumstance.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
Yeah, and it's so well crafted in that.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
I mean from the first episode her single sob like
a child cut too, I mean, she's level she and
then like Leslie like in that episode where it's revealed
that she's got let's just say, political differences, and the
way she like looks at them longingly, like but there
is such a disappointment in herself, like like are they right?

(47:59):
And I think that that that's something that's really jumping
out towards the end here is they are returning to
a childlike state, like every single time it's insinuated that
they're old, the way that Michelle like her line readings
of panic about like what are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (48:15):
We're not old. We can still have fun to the point.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Where they're gonna push They're gonna push each other into
a situation that is truly dire and uncomfortable because youth
is all that matters to her, or that she's been
told that that's all that should matter, right, right, and
there's just it's really he's done it again, if you
can believe it.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yeah, how are how are you? And John?

Speaker 2 (48:35):
I'm curious how are you guys playing those interactions because
there is like palpable fear from you yea. And I'm
feeling it watching from home, like, oh my god, no, Natasha,
like you're like terror.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
It's terrifying.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:48):
And it's also I think so we we had him
on set the whole time, but.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
It was a secret.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:55):
Yeah, yeah, he hung out with us, but it wasn't
a ton in the beginning, and like it was just
like trying like.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
All that kind of stuff.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
And so I think being on set with him was
always a treat because I was like, oh, I get
some John time today, you know, like you know, because
he was.

Speaker 4 (49:08):
Off exploring or doing whatever.

Speaker 5 (49:10):
And he is such a chameleon that like in those
moments where he's just like looking at me and then
he kind of tilts his head and smiles, it's just
like my like, so.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
It just works on you on like a primal level, yes,
like like.

Speaker 5 (49:24):
And also it's just like it preys upon all of
sort of like my natural inclinations to like be liked
and wanted and like why does he hate me? And
like what does he want to do? And like you know,
how can I fix this? And like oh he's a
bad guy, and like, well do you want to hurt?
Like there's she's filled with fear and curiosity at the
same time, and that tension is where she's living, which
is just like no way to be and John is

(49:46):
just so and he Yeah, his character's so antithetical to
who he is as a person, and so when he
just plays those uh when he comes.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Out and surprises me, huh.

Speaker 5 (49:57):
I watched it and screamed along with myself, that's how
much I was, Like, Oh, I was like there he goes.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Yes. Wow.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
So just to like ask about Mike White as a director,
because like he does everything, but I feel like I'm
very curious as to the process of like the scene work,
because that is what I think is so amazing about
the show is the dialogue and the scene work and
the small things.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Yeah, is he encouraging of any improv.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Like like I would imagine with you someone that's got
such a strong background and someone that he trusts and
has done this, like or is it kind of clinical
on the page? Because I could see it being either he.

Speaker 5 (50:32):
Plays, so we're there's a scene in next week's episode.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
I won't spoil anything.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
Seven you mean seven? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (50:39):
It's not seven? Is it seven?

Speaker 1 (50:41):
If it's up through six, we can talk about and
talk about it.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
Okay, then I won't talk about it.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
But what I will say there are moments where I improvise,
and there are moments where he wants to get it
as written but will give you direction to play with.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
It A fun run, A fun run, yeah, but he.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
It's less a fun run. It's more just like he
wants options.

Speaker 5 (51:00):
And I remember I told the cast this because like
he's unlike any director I've ever worked with, and again
just being such a people pleaser and you know, the
ever the good student. If you give me a note,
I'm going to do that. No, yeah, and I will
not vary from that. And so like he will come
in and give like a completely opposite note. And so
I take that as I totally fucked up that last note.

(51:22):
And I remember talking to him about it like season
one and he was like, no, I just want options.
He's like, he mail, did I want options? And so
and I also know him to be the kind of
director like he's not going to move on until he
has it. And that's the benefit of like being directed
by the guy who's also working alongside and amazing editor,
John Valerio and John he's on set, so the editor's

(51:43):
there with you, so they know, oh, we got that.
So I had to take my ego off the table,
and that allowed me to work with him as a
director in a way that felt like I was having
fun yecause I was like I could play around and
he also knows like my improv chops and so, and
some of the scenes were Belinda's like, you know, having
a little bit of a comedic moment.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
He's just like.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
That is where the comfort and the trust lies in
terms of an actor and director, where it's like you're
not going to move on until work until you're happy.
And that way, I'm comfortent in the knowledge that like,
you got it, like that, yeah, you have what you need.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
It takes a minute to learn that, though, you know
what I mean, because I think and maybe this again
speaks to the fact that it was a lot of
self grinding and hard work in so many different areas
that there is tends to be. I think, especially when
I was like first starting out booking jobs. I don't
know how you guys feel, but it was really never
enough in a way that I realized at one point

(52:40):
was actually hurting me, not helping me, Like it wasn't
helping me to walk away from every setup being like
I didn't do a good enough job. Because also people
can see that, and what they're thinking as a director is, Oh,
they don't trust me, they don't know that I got this,
when that relationship is one of the most important things.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Yeah, and yeah, when.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
You learn that of also, just like there's that inner
critic right that I've had to wrestle my whole life
of just like that not enoughness in literally every aspect
of my life. And I feel like the place that
I've gotten to, I have such confidence in my creative
and professional life, and that is trickling down into my

(53:20):
personal life. But it took me a long time to
be able to, for example, create an award winning, critically
acclaimed TV show and have it canceled and to be like,
I did that shit, Yeah, do you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (53:34):
Like, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Where it broke down.

Speaker 4 (53:38):
I don't know where it.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
Broke down, but I can look back at what I've
done with a sense of pride and not not enoughness.
And that was a moment where I was just like,
oh a bitch had some growth and that's.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
A speech at the Indie Spirits. Was I like stood up? Yeah,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (53:54):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 5 (53:55):
I mean how the dissonance of like accepting award for
a show that's canceled.

Speaker 4 (53:59):
It was just kind of like it.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
All came up.

Speaker 5 (54:02):
But I think that like that that not enoughness. I
think when I reacted to that news, I obviously had feelings,
but when I was able to yeah, the the boomerang back,
you know, just being able to come back to myself
and know that, like I did what I was supposed
to do and there's circumstances out of my control and

(54:24):
sometimes things aren't fair.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Yeah, but you take this and you and it extrapolates
forward into like the rest of your career. I can't
wait for who did I marry?

Speaker 4 (54:32):
Thanks babe. I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
It's gonna be fucking I mean, it's what a saga.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
It was such a saga, and there's so much more.
You don't even.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Know are you? Are you talking about Teresa?

Speaker 4 (54:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Okay, Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 5 (54:49):
It's and it's so lovely and Marty Knoxon, who's unreal.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Yeah, let's talk about unreel. Can wait?

Speaker 5 (54:56):
Though. When I moved to La, I went to my
very first like LA thing I did. I went to
an f YC panel.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
For there everybody, yeah, everybody, sure apple be that should
have been And I mean when like that was, that
was amazing.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
The whole cast is everything.

Speaker 5 (55:13):
But she's with me, we're co creating and so and
she's Yeah, her her writing and everything is incredible. And
she'll tell you she lived she lived a similar story,
so like her, she's such a value add But yeah,
hopefully we'll be bringing that sin.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
I love it. Well. I've always been curious.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I've never gone to ask you about this, and now
I'm like a new web as they say, like a
new otaku. Like I went to Japan for the first
time and I'm like, this is this is my place?
But what was your what was your time in Tokyo?
Like so differenttause you were working It was like.

Speaker 5 (55:46):
Yeah, every time in your life in my I was
twenty six twenty seven when I got there. I was
teaching English part time. I started performing at the Tokyo
comedy Store, which is like their version of Boom Chicago. Yeah,
it's just like they had X that's performing for a
lot of like largely expect audience.

Speaker 4 (56:04):
It was wild. I was black in Japan, Barack wasn't
in office yet.

Speaker 5 (56:07):
He got elected that year, and I just remember like
riding my bike around town and people shouting.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Like oh bumma, and I would.

Speaker 5 (56:14):
Just like just like wave my guess, like I was
just like owning it.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (56:20):
People would even pre his inauguration, like people would take
pictures with me, pull my.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Hair, just like oh God. But I did mind it, Okay.

Speaker 5 (56:31):
I didn't mind it because it came from a place
of curiosity and it wasn't steep the fucking like trauma
response that is living in America as a black person,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
So like it was just like little like people were just.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Like, oh my god, how long did it take for
you to like have that understanding of like, oh, this
is this is just secure pretty.

Speaker 5 (56:52):
Quickly because it's such an homogenous country, and the only
kind of like racism that I peeped it was like
if you were African American, they were cool with you,
but if you were from the continent Wow.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
They were kind of like a little suspicious.

Speaker 5 (57:08):
And I didn't know that because one of the guys
that I was working with at the school where I
was teaching, he was African American, but he looked like
he was from the continent. And we were going to
this like karaoke bar and they wouldn't let him in
and we were just kind of like, well, what's going on.
He's like, I know this happened. Sometimes, let's go to
another one. So that was wild. But I loved it,

(57:29):
like the ID is the best time.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
I loved it and I was obsessed with it. And
then towards the end it dawned on me. I was like,
the reason the toilets are so clean and all that
shit is because the reason why everyone knows where they
have to go and fall in line is because it's homogeneous.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
Yeah, And like, is that is that like a worthwhile
thing to aspire to? You know?

Speaker 4 (57:50):
What do I'll say about that?

Speaker 5 (57:51):
I don't aspire to homogeny, but I think when you
are in an environment where you are othered, you see
yourself more clearly. I felt like I was wearing polka
dots to a stripes party. Everything that I was trying
to run from I saw more acutely, and for me
being in an environment where I felt so seen and
so watched, it was just like, okay, bitch, audit who

(58:13):
you are and who you want to be and how
you present yourself. And I think that, like, while it's
not ideal, I do think moments of homogeny can remind
you of who you are and require you to show
show up for yourself. And I think that when I
was there, you know, I was so you know, I
was had lived in DC, graduated from University of Maryland.

(58:34):
I knew I wanted to go to New York or
I was terrified. I was like, I want to live
some life. So I did this like a little adventure
and wherever you.

Speaker 4 (58:40):
Go, there you are.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
And I feel like that's also.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
Like, especially when you're on vacation, you're supposed to relax.
I feel like that's one of the greatest things about it.
Is it really it picks apart the idea that it's like, Okay,
I'm relaxing and now I'm alone with my brain and
I'm along with these people who are close to me
that I've elected to spend time with and their brain

(59:04):
with no tech.

Speaker 4 (59:04):
I did that once for a week.

Speaker 5 (59:06):
I did a Buddhist meditation retreat for four days, five days,
four nights.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
Oh yeah, this was like no, no tech, no speaking damn.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Oh I've heard of these speaking things.

Speaker 4 (59:20):
Yeah yeah no, And.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Do you hear the thoughts more loudly or what? Like,
what's what's going on?

Speaker 5 (59:24):
I felt like I was at like a rock concert, yeah,
because there.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
Was no way to And here's what I did.

Speaker 5 (59:31):
So, like again, rule follower, before we entered the silence,
you could ask questions and I was just like books.
I brought books and he's like, nope, because you're just
like distracting yourself. And I was just like, so no books, no,
not like I'm trying to go through all things, like
I know, no gadgets. But I was like, what are
the tactile sort of like analog things I could do
to like again, and he was just like journaling. That's
the one thing that was permitted. My hand was thrown

(59:54):
up gang signs.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
But I wrote so much.

Speaker 4 (59:55):
I was like I was like.

Speaker 5 (59:57):
Cramping because I needed to have place to put it.
But I will say, yeah, it was clarity, clarity, timesten.

Speaker 4 (01:00:05):
It was amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Eventually, you got there.

Speaker 5 (01:00:07):
Eventually I got there like kicking and screaming clarity. And
then now I'm also just like glued to my phone.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
Party one of the most anxiety inducing scenes of all
of White Lotus so far, and I obviously it was
because it was the first scene and I was like
waiting to see what was happening. But when they when
Zion was sitting in meditation, I was just like it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Always just it makes me anxious.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
I know people always feel like, you know, to go, yeah,
go home and meditate. I'm like, see, you're driving me nuts.
And I also think that there's something to that in
the whole show, this idea of what happens when you
sit with yourself. Are you even able to entertain that idea?

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
And I just think those themes are becoming even more
clear as we get to the end, like who are
you really?

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
Who are you really?

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
And it's yeah, it's just reconciling the like who you
want to be and who you are, And I think
that's the constant struggle. And I think the more you
resist the truth of who you are and don't adjust
your aspirations to be in line with who you are,
that's just where the tension lies. I think Mike does
that so beautifully in the show. You have all of

(01:01:11):
these people like hitting who they are like head on.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
I mean, it's just really interesting because in now thinking
about this thing of like the absence of tech and
all that stuff, it's like it's a place that's asking
you to let go of all those things. And now
we have you know, the older ratlyft gentleman like paniccause
you can't communicate needing to do that to like get information,
and it's driving them crazy. Parker has lost her drugs,

(01:01:36):
you know what I mean, she's gonna be without her things.
I think honestly, Patrick Schwarzenegger, no one wants to fuck
him in that entire place. And he's got this like
thing in his head that that's where his power lies
and his like, you know, vitality and sexual prowess, and
he's just getting all he can get that from is
his goddamn brother.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
And it's it's just been a really interesting specific test
of all those things.

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
Yeah, I mean, and it's I think too, like with
each of them, you see the ugly coming to the surface.
And I feel like with Zion played by the very
symmetrical Nicholas beautiful man.

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
It was a very like edible complex moment.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
I was like, my, my, my, like, and I was.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Like, here's in the pool in the last episode.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
And I turned to Greta and I was like, when
he gets out of this water, it's going to be
on the site, it's gonna be something else.

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
And low Ball to make it worse, he's like such
a good.

Speaker 5 (01:02:38):
Dude, saying to him we had dinner like the first
week we got there, and I was just like, you were.

Speaker 4 (01:02:44):
Too symmetrical to be this nice, and I was, and he.

Speaker 5 (01:02:47):
Was just like what I was like, No, it's like
a lot of guys who look like you aren't this nice.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
But no, I think, like, you know, everyone's very ugly.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Trust me, I've seen the ball, You've done it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:00):
Yeah, but yeah, I think like everyone's working on their ship.
But I think like with Zion, you see it's bringing
his good out yea, you know what I mean, Like
he's rising to the occasion. So I do think that
like things that test us, you know, they yeah, they
prove your metal.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
I'm so scared about what's going to happen, terrified, and the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
Thing is like it's like it would be one thing,
if we knew this was a show where like they
wouldn't kill boring, but that's not what this is. I mean,
we saw Jennifer Coolidge fall right off that boat and
hit her head.

Speaker 4 (01:03:32):
I screamed.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
People think I knew.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
I had no idea about that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
So your insight into season two was nothing nothing.

Speaker 5 (01:03:39):
I was at home watching him, like I love this
for her, and then like watching and yeah, when she
fell off, I screamed, and.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Then perfect character. It's so tough.

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
And famously she's she hates the water being on it
and gets famously seasick. They had a dazzled bucket bucket
for her season one to puke into. So I remember
saying to Mike, I was like the cruelty of this moment,
and he was like, well, I had to write, you know,
she had to do.

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
And one of the most iconic scenes is the ashes
in the water during Fantasy.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They put her on the water
both seasons. Yeah, she's on vacation on the water for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:04:14):
It's so funny, and Mike and her like best best
best friends, and so it's so funny.

Speaker 4 (01:04:17):
I'm just like, oh my, you're gonna have to pay.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Back back is mean. I hope Belinda kills Greg. This
is what I'm hoping, That's what I hope.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
I'm just comforted to like see you and be in
the same space as you because I'm just.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
You know, I'm alive, because I know you're alive and here.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
Speaking of being here, we probably should move into I
don't think it, no, honey, which is where we're all
asked to be here in president in a sixty second
takedown of culture.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
That absolutely must occur.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
And I feel I need to speak to some response
that happens to the White Lotus this season. I just
want to I want to check you and truly, I
think make a point about let's just let me just talk.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Okay, it's Matt Rodgers. I don't think so many as
time starts now.

Speaker 3 (01:05:07):
I don't think so honey. People saying that the White
Lotus incests this season is too much. Where were you
during Game of Thrones? Thing to say when it was
heterosexual incest and then all of a sudden, now that
are Toto sexual incests. Now that we see some making
out and some jacking off, all of a sudden, people
are up in larching. Sorry, there was incestual procreation on

(01:05:28):
Game of Thrones and you said nothing. Maybe you thought
it was a little silly, but you weren't like it's
too much for me. Close friends of ours saying that's disgusting.
I don't I don't want to see that. I don't
want to go there. This is white lotus. You didn't
think it was gonna go there. I don't think so. Honey,
you better love and enjoy. Get your popcorn out when
these two men kiss, because I am rooting for it.

(01:05:51):
I hope they go all the waeconds. I hope we
see these brothers make it to the altar together. I
want the white lotus to white lotus all over the place.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
That I'm pretending to be two.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
Gay brothers who are doing it all.

Speaker 1 (01:06:06):
Over each other.

Speaker 5 (01:06:07):
Grow up.

Speaker 4 (01:06:08):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Money and that's one minute that might be my best
one in a long time. I can't follow that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
I know I had that in me.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
Matt Rogers Caper for gay and up, because I'm saying,
you're right, there's not.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
There was not that much noise during Game of three. No,
certainly nothing even approaching it.

Speaker 4 (01:06:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:06:31):
I think it's because like you can't really project yourself
onto one of the cares of Game of Thrones and
be like, that could really happen to my child, Do
you know, like you watch you like I might be
dating a guy who.

Speaker 4 (01:06:42):
Did, Like sure, you know, like or like there's all
of these things.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
I'm telling you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
It's these well let mean, let me not, but let
me it's these families with a lot of money that
things go back a very long time. That is where
the weird stuff happens. And that is it is no
mistake that they are that kind of like family and
they're they're engaging in this type of thing. And what
I'll also say is that the discomfort with it is

(01:07:09):
and this is very intentional I think on Mike White's part,
and he's been like this from the beginning. There is
a fascination with the male butt and it makes people
think of gay sex and the ick factor they're in.
And I'm just saying that is the way we make love,
get over it and grow up.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
And grow up theory of the abject You're you don't
like it because it's it's poop, isn't nearby?

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Yeah, That's what I'm saying is it's like.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
That's statological, it's scatological and what I always think, like,
is he doing a butt call for his male actors,
because it's always popping off.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
But Adam demarka, we will not forget. I'm just saying
like it's I see what that is. Yeah, and therapy
that's really it's Shakespearean right right.

Speaker 5 (01:07:50):
It's like to me, I feel like that's the cool
thing about the motifs he's using this season, like it feels.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
Very classical, classical.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
Yes, I agree, And also I really appreciate that in
the second season two with the opera of it all.

Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
Oh yeah, I thought that that was there's.

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
Really and you kind of it blows my mind that
he can make these shows. Obviously there there are white
lotus and they come with those themes. We of course
have this very similar setup every season. But this like
real commitment to and fascination with the culture surrounding the
places he decides to explore, I think is even more

(01:08:29):
impressive than people realize.

Speaker 4 (01:08:30):
Oh, this season is incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
Yeah, I've seen a lot of people who have a
deep knowledge of taime music history of like the rock
and the disco and all these different genres that have
like moved through Thailand. Like people being like, no, the
way that they're you the music supervising on the show
is excellent.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
The way they're using time music is very, very very sophisticated.

Speaker 5 (01:08:52):
Yeah, I feel like Thailand for me feels like a
character on the show this season, of course, And I
think it's a beautiful love letter to the culture of Thailand.
And I learned when I was there. I had no idea.
They've never been colonized, they've never been to war, and
they call it the Land of Smiles, and so it's

(01:09:15):
just the foundation of Thailand is this openness and it's
pervasive and it's like the the Thai crew was like
every Thai hand that touched this production was just like
did it out of love? And I've never been surrounded
by that, you know, in the same way.

Speaker 4 (01:09:37):
And yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (01:09:38):
Think that like from music supervision to all of the
things I mean, of course, and just like they tapped
like Thaie Royalty to be a part of the show,
I mean, Lalisa, of course.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
I just feel like, I mean, it's impressive this.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
I'm gonna whip out the phone and say, Bowen Yang
clearly has and I don't think so, honey.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Today there's is about too much being said about something
mine is about not enough.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
And with that too much, not enough narrative. This is
Bowen Yang's I don't think so, honey. His time starts now.

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
I don't think so, honey.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
There should be a huge din of conversation around Li
Lisa's performance in White Lodu season three. I'm not seeing
enough chatter discourse about the groundedness with which she is
performing this character. All the scenes between her and I
took are so sweet. I'm nervous for that. Something is
something bad is gonna happen there, and I don't like it.

(01:10:32):
I don't like this feeling in me that I've been
sitting with for weeks. But she is blowing me away.
Obviously black pink Stan least Stan for life. She was
someone that my starstruck moment at the Oscars was honestly
walking past hers. I was coming off presenting and she
was about to walk on for performing, and we waved
at each other, and I was like, oh my god, Lisa,
that smile, that million dollar smile. I Lovelisa so much.

(01:10:56):
Why aren't we Why aren't the gays talking about this more?
Why are there more?

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
You know? I just want to see the memes. I'm
not seeing enough love Lisa memes. I'm seeing a lot
of Parker. I'm seeing a lot of Patrick. We love Patrick.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
I need to see more. I need to see Blenda memes.
I need to see Lalasa memes. And that's one man
and that's one manute.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
You know what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
It kind of goes hand at hand with the thing
of like, oh, this season feels slow, feels slow. No,
I feel like this season is the most cinemata because
what is going to happen? And I know with Lisa,
I know there's a twist coming. Yes, I know that
there's gonna be something that goes down with her character
that like makes it bigger than it is.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
And I feel like because it has to be, because
it's her.

Speaker 4 (01:11:35):
It's just so I'm close, I know, I know.

Speaker 5 (01:11:39):
I love her so much. Yes, I met her mother
on set. She's so down to earth. She's just real
and so sweet and like just loves the craft of
acting and like it's.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):
So was so nervous, just really and she is like
she would she.

Speaker 5 (01:11:57):
Would be out and about like if we were like, oh,
let's go grab dinner here or whatever. Mobbed by of.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
Course, like tail international superstar.

Speaker 5 (01:12:05):
Yeah, like it was insane, like Beyonce level fandom over there,
and she is so gracious and like kind and but
the acting is out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
We'll talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
Someone who is used to working her fucking ass off.
I mean, like, you know, have you seen the documentary
like it's it's you have.

Speaker 5 (01:12:28):
To make me watch it? Before I was like, I
need to do some more research. I can't just listen
to the music, like you need to watch the docs.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
Yeah, we saw them at Coachella. It was like four machines.

Speaker 3 (01:12:38):
It was it was wild, and I mean, like a
person like that, I would say, like I say about Beyonce,
don't put anything past someone that works.

Speaker 1 (01:12:47):
I don't know, Oh we need to as well. I
mean I would.

Speaker 4 (01:12:50):
Feel like she moves like a virgo.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
You know what you need to find out? What are you?

Speaker 4 (01:12:53):
Can you guess?

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Wait?

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
Because I would have said Leo. But now as a
result of this conversation, I don't know, are.

Speaker 1 (01:12:59):
You score bio?

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
I'm libra?

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
You're a libra? Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
So we had Kate Blanchette yesterday and she was saying
people who are libras aren't necessarily just out and proud
about their librinus. Are you out and proud about your
libert I love my librinus.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Libra is not something to not be proud of you. No, no,
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
But we were just saying, like people libras don't feel
like they need to tell everyone they're a libra. Like
we're aces in a scorpio and we're so loud in
my out here.

Speaker 5 (01:13:24):
I see scorpio, bestie, yeah, water signs.

Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
Okay, she's in aries. Oh I like that.

Speaker 4 (01:13:33):
There's the fire fire. I love that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
In fact, I was looking at it forward, one of
those like you know, you know, swipe through Instagram things
today that's like, here's what a cancer need?

Speaker 5 (01:13:44):
Is what that?

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
It made a point about pisces an area, so I
might have to text a Lisa. I'll get her information.
Boy'll love it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
Okay, is it time for your I don't think so,
so nervous, don't made for this moment? Okay, Okay, this
is Natasha Rothwalls. I don't think so, Honny and her
time starts now.

Speaker 5 (01:14:06):
I don't think so, honey, Stop asking me about white
lotus spoilers. But that's all the emotional labor black women
have had to carry in this country Yeah, you not
want a narry another person asking me to drop the
bag that I.

Speaker 4 (01:14:20):
Have secured, and an effort to make you sleep at night.
It's not my job to make you sleep at night.

Speaker 5 (01:14:26):
You need to put yourself to be Stop asking black.

Speaker 1 (01:14:28):
Women to heal.

Speaker 4 (01:14:29):
You watch the fucking TV show your.

Speaker 5 (01:14:32):
Answers, but watching the show like everybody else, you enjoy
the fact that I'm on something that's exciting and I
don't have to walk around being worried that I'm gonna
spoil something because you keep trying to sneak in questions.
Do you really think you in the middle of Target.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
That you, sir, that I just met.

Speaker 4 (01:14:50):
And don't know you're the one that's going to make
me give up the ghost?

Speaker 5 (01:14:54):
No, fuck yourself and stop going in the fifteen items
or over. I know you got twenty items. You I'm
not and I'm not telling you function about the show.

Speaker 4 (01:15:05):
Watch that's one.

Speaker 3 (01:15:07):
Minute, amazing, high energy today. Yeah, it's not going to
be you Target, and it's not going to be you,
and it's not going to be the man in.

Speaker 5 (01:15:19):
Target, man in Target, the bell boy, the guy in
the cat like people have been harassing me.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
It's like you want to tell them you don't want it.
You don't want to find out this way.

Speaker 4 (01:15:29):
No, you don't want to find out this experience.

Speaker 1 (01:15:31):
It through the viewing process, like the way it's meant
to be.

Speaker 5 (01:15:34):
I think also White Lotus is hearkening back the way
you know, it's water cooler television. It's once a week
and it's just like appointment television, and and folks are
so gimme, gimme, gimme. They can't wait, you know what
I mean. And so for me, I'm just like give
into what this show is. You know, it's hearkening back
to like fucking Dallas. They had hour episodes, you know,

(01:15:56):
like being able to tell a story over time. I
feel like the anxiety of the culture is just like
making people.

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
Yes, I need more and more and more, and it
gets people mean about it too. Yes, Like I find
that that's obviously dugged down the online blah blah blah
boring conversation about how Twitter looks. But what I'm saying
is we should be so lucky to be in a
time when we have an HBO Prestige show that is
water cooler on every Sunday night. We are always living

(01:16:24):
in a better world when that is the case, and
it feels like we had a golden age there and
now we kind of like, you know, we're We're just
to put it mildly, we are eating right now, and
so enjoy your food and joy by shoe swallow, take
time to digest because more courses are.

Speaker 4 (01:16:42):
I'm not going to be the one like I like
work too hard.

Speaker 3 (01:16:45):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
I was like, if anybody's got loose lips, it's Parker.

Speaker 3 (01:16:48):
That's just true. I think she's already slips. She's already
No way did she she said such?

Speaker 4 (01:16:54):
She was?

Speaker 1 (01:16:54):
I think she was found or something.

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
Someone came out and said, oops, I accidentally said something wrong.
Maybe this is about something else.

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
It's not on the text chain yet. Maybe I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
Maybe maybe we'll cut this out. But I mean, you've
been sitting on this information for like a year at
this point.

Speaker 5 (01:17:10):
Anyway, right, no longer hire Bob. So I got cast
before the strike. Oh and I was sitting on it
secretly while I was shooting How to Dialog. They announced
it thinking we were going to shoot that October.

Speaker 4 (01:17:27):
So I was the only one announced, and then no
one else was announced.

Speaker 5 (01:17:31):
And for a whole year you knew well yes, well
no that was when what was the strike May May
May through. I didn't shoot again until I got to
Thailand in February. Lord, so I've been sitting on it
for that plus, so two years.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
Almost two years. Yeah, you're not going to give up
the ghosts. No, no, we're not going to Target right now.
Change the policy, change your policy. Target.

Speaker 2 (01:18:00):
I will admit I did go in yesterday to buy
the exclusive Gaga vinyl. Well, but I think people, people
on threads at least, have have given each other a pass. Yes,
the little monster's been like, you can go to Target
just to buy the vine. But I've been proud of
myself my Amazon and Target shopping way. How's the Chick

(01:18:21):
fil a consumption? Chick fil a consumption is virtually gone
as well?

Speaker 1 (01:18:24):
Oh yeah, virtually gone.

Speaker 4 (01:18:28):
Virtually gone, as he picks chicken out of his teeth.

Speaker 1 (01:18:30):
Yeah, you smell like the floor myself.

Speaker 5 (01:18:34):
It's not easy for me, my addiction to both Target
and Amazon.

Speaker 4 (01:18:39):
Like obviously on the blackout day.

Speaker 5 (01:18:40):
I didn't this is this is it feels chic, but
here's some shady ship.

Speaker 4 (01:18:45):
I had filled up my cart.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
Wait twenty four hours later, period, that's okay, didn't you
follow the black I follow the buck out.

Speaker 5 (01:18:55):
I was like, today I'm not gonna press bye, but
tomorrow morning I'm all pressed.

Speaker 1 (01:18:58):
By you better believe the stroke of twelve. I was like, all.

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):
Right, but you should have seen me driving around LA
with two miles of gas in my car.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
I was like, I can't.

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
I was like getting where I need to go, like
on empty because you couldn't get gas that day.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
Now this is the truth.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
And you guess somewhere on two miles, like, how much
do you want to black out?

Speaker 1 (01:19:22):
I wanted it back, I'd of God, of us, we
are changing the world. Yeah, one economic blackout at a time.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
Absolutely, you certainly are wor God, what a long time coming.

Speaker 4 (01:19:33):
What a long time coming.

Speaker 1 (01:19:35):
We just so enjoyed having you here.

Speaker 4 (01:19:37):
I want to do this.

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
You have to come back.

Speaker 4 (01:19:39):
Also, let's hang out without Mike.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
So we can really say and we will be the guys. Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:19:49):
So I mean, obviously White Lotus Sunday Nights, where I
guess six episodes are out right now we're coming up
on that finale. Obviously watch everything that Tasha does because
it's the best ever. I mean, we just adore.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
Truly happy, no one, no one is more like up
in this like the I mean, unfortunately, you're like up
on this pedestal. But the thing is you've been up
on that pedestal for so long for us, and you
have never, ever, ever ever disappointed us. And that's not
pressure or anything, it's just pure No, it's just that
we love.

Speaker 1 (01:20:22):
You so much.

Speaker 5 (01:20:23):
Ditto, and just know that, like I'm rooting for y'all
so heavy, Like everything you touch now or will touch,
I'm like, just know that I'm in your corner and
for me watching what each of you guys do and
how you have come together to like like it's just
beautiful to see, especially in the comedy community, that kind

(01:20:44):
of support. And I think that like what you do,
I mean, it's it's smart, it's timely, it's needed, and
I'm just like, I just want to keep putting a
mic to you so that way your voices can continue
to be amplified because the world needs you.

Speaker 3 (01:20:57):
Oh my god, that is the kindest thing anyone's ever said.
Thank you so much. I mean, this is so meaningful,
and I feel we do end every episode with the song,
and people have been talking about how they haven't been
hearing this enough. But when this theme jumped out in
the show. I was like, Okay, I think this is Mike.
Why telling us white lotus is about to white lotus.

(01:21:18):
We all know the refrain.

Speaker 1 (01:21:27):
Honey by law of culture reads.

Speaker 2 (01:21:36):
This is the production by Will Ferrell's Big Money Players
and I Heart Radio podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:21:39):
Created and hosted by Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, Executive
produced by Anna Hasnier and

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
Produced by Becker Ramos, Edited, mixed by Duck BABYMNIQLA Board
and our music is by Henry Komerski

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Bowen Yang

Matt Rogers

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