The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Yvette Nicole Brown (Re-Release)

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Emmy-nominated Yvette Nicole Brown joins Andy Richter to discuss her humble beginnings, the sacrifices parents make, leading with kindness, and more.This episode originally aired in August 2021. Do you want to talk to Andy live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel.

Hey everybody, welcome back to The Three Questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter. We are all for the holidays. So today I am resharing my conversation with Yvette Nicole Brown. Yvette and I talked back in 2021. She's always a delight to talk to. And I also should mention she just got married for the first time. So congratulations, Yvette and new husband guy. I don't know what his name is. I'll find it out. Here's my conversation with Yvette Nicole Brown. Hey everybody.

It is another episode of the three questions with Andy Richter. And I am very happy to be talking to my friend Yvette Nicole Brown, the Emmy nominated Yvette Nicole Brown. How about that? Oh, Andy, first of all, I am overjoyed to be here with you. I have missed your sweet little face and though no one else can see it, I'm looking at it in the zoom right now and I've missed it. I can't believe I'm Emmy nominated. I don't know. I can't believe it. I imagine because it's, it's in black lady sketch show was a guest spot that you did.

And I can't imagine that you go it because I mean, I've done a million guest spots and you don't think, oh, this is going to get me an Emmy nomination. Never, never. Yeah. And was it a surprise when you got the it's still a surprise today. It's been two months and I'm still like, anytime someone says Emmy, now I'm like, who are they talking about? Yeah. Do you think it's funny? I, no, I did not go into it going, this is, this one's going to be the one. You know, I knew that it was funny, but listen, we, we're journeyman actors. We've been on a lot of shows where our parts were funny or, you know, and it's been crickets. So, you know, and it's and it's a listen, it's a small appearance. I did two episodes, two.

I played the same character for two seasons back to back. And I think my sketch is like four minutes long. So and there's it's surrounded by so many other talented people in sketches. Did I think? No, I never thought they'd pick me out in a bunch ever. This is ridiculous in a great way. Well, fantastic. Congratulations. And I hope you get it. Listen, I can't even dream that big, but that would be an even bigger surprise. Right? Yeah. Well, it's also to, you know, nobody, I mean, I can't say nobody, but I certainly

did not think when I started to do this for a living, oh, and yes, and I will also get trophies. You know what I mean? It's like, who the hell thinks about that? And then there's this weird, and I've always said, like the fact that they give awards in this stuff is the weird thing about this to me. And it's from having gone, it's from having been this to me. And it's from having gone, it's from having been on the Conan show for so, for many years getting nominated for writing almost every year for a number of years we got nominated for writing. And then we would go, everybody would get on a plane and fly to New York and we'd have this fun weekend and it would be fun. But then you'd sit there and you'd find yourself like, you know what, I kind of want to win this thing.

And then, and then we never did. I mean, they won one once after I had, after I left the show. But it always struck me that like, in a business that is so centered on rejection, like, and that, and that you spend, like, first of all, to even be in that room, you're a winner.

I agree. You know, like, you're working, you're doing this for a living, and that makes you such a slim percentage of the people that think of themselves as actors. Right. So we all put ourselves, we get past the actual rejection. We've all been accepted. Yeah. So we put ourselves into this room and we dress up fancy.

Yes, we do. For all of us, but one of us to feel rejected again, again. Again, again. So it's like, yeah. So it's like, you've got this category of people that you're in, you're all winners. You're all making a living, but yet only one of you gets to feel good.

Only one. The rest of you get to feel like they rejected me again. And you're walking in knowing full well that the odds are not in your favor. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's not a 50-50. It's one in five or one in six chance

that it could be you. And there's so many factors that have to line up. And that's why I say, don't even think about the win. Yeah, yeah. Like I'm not even thinking about the win. Like I am so excited that I got recognized by my peers that to actually win would almost, I maybe make my heart explode. I am so excited that I got recognized by my peers that to actually win would almost, I maybe make my heart explode.

I don't know where I would even file that, right? Cause I'm so in the, gosh, they saw me. It's like that, cause I think every performer, don't we do this because we, at some point in our childhood, we just wanted to be seen like, and not even from the ego space of look at me, look at me, but just I'm here, I exist. I'm here too.

And so once you're in the business, and you know, like I'm 20 something years into this, right? And you go year after year and you're doing work and no one in that realm has ever said that you were one of the best this year in that section. You kind of just go, cause I've been jokingly and saying, like I think there's people that take that, that are in that section. Yeah. You kind of just go, cause I've been jokingly and saying, like I think there's people that take that,

that are in that lane. Like what soon as they open their mouth, they will be awarded every time there's a chance. And then there's others who are just super duper excited that they get to do this for a living. And I've always been one of those, oh gosh, I get to do this for a living. This is so great.

So I've never even thought about what the people in the other lane were doing. And now Andy Richter, the amount of fashion and prep planning and COVID tests that go into getting ready for an award season. Yeah. Oh, these people been, they've been working very hard. Yeah, yeah.

Those award winning and nominated folks have been working very hard for many years. I didn't have to do any of this stuff to them. Yeah, that's, I hear, I mean, you know, and television's a different world too, because like a friend of mine was once in Oscar contention, you know, and was sort of, you might get a nomination for this, so we could, and then there's this whole season of going to dinners and meeting people and going to panels and it's all just like, Oh my gosh, you don't, that's not what you come into this thinking you're going to do. You know?

And I don't think the, the wise people are people are clamoring for that. I think it's, you know, and there's, now listen, there are people that are super extroverts and very fashion forward and fashion conscious. Right, and very competitive too. Right, I'm neither, none of those things. I'm not competitive, I'm not a fashion plate, and I'm not an extrovert.

So everything about going to places to get attention so that someone could choose you is so foreign to me. Like even the campaigning that I found out later goes into even getting a nomination I didn't know anything about. I didn't know that people were going to different events to meet certain people in the peer group so that they could get them. I didn't know all that was happening. And that's the other reason why to get the nomination, knowing I didn't campaign for anything, aside from saying, hey, guys, I'm on this ballot with 500 other people. If you liked what I did, I'd love to be considered.

But I didn't call anybody or go anywhere or shake any hands. I just did my work and went on with my life. So there's a level to this I don't know about. Yeah, I think the way that you did it too makes it more fun. It doesn't seem as calculated. It seems more like a gift rather than something you finagled. Yeah, no, it's a wonderful gift and a wonderful surprise and I'm very grateful and humbled by it all How much you're of that humility? Do you think is is Midwestern is all of it? Yeah, all of it. Yeah all of it. It's I was just talking to a home doing a press day today

For my movie and I'm at the movie that's out in some other and you know, the Emmy thing and all this So I'm talking to a lot of people condensed on Today and I talked to a hometown outlet from Cleveland and we talked, the Emmy thing and all this. So I'm talking to a lot of people condensed on today. And I talked to a hometown outlet from Cleveland and we talked about the underdog spirit of Cleveland and what a Midwestern upbringing breeds in people. And I feel like Midwesterners are scrappy. I feel like we're hopeful.

I feel like we're kind. I think there's a humility that comes, that's bred in us from the winters. I think the winters make us humble because no matter who you think you are or where you think you're going, the wrong snowstorm on the wrong morning will upend everything you have planned. So if you can't find a way to get around who you think you are, you know, Ohio, you, you know, weather is humbling. Weather is a great equalizer.

So I think it's the snow that makes us kinder people. Yeah. I also think too, the thing that I like about Midwesternness, because it's not all great. Some of it's sort of, there's also sort of this humility that is covering up intense judgment. You know what there's also sort of this humility that is covering up like intense judgment. You know what I mean? Like it's like on the surface,

everybody's sort of like kind and humble and not assuming, but there's always like, oh my God, get a load of that guy, you know? But that usually comes from humility too, right? We're usually saying get a load to that guy at the peacock. It's the one that's out strutted and acting like they're special because we're not those types of people. We don't shine a light on ourselves or we don't do the look over here.

So when somebody is crowing around, you kind of go look at this guy. I mean, it's still part of the humble spirit. I heard about it in New Zealand, but I think it's an Australia thing, and they call it, and it's very, they think of it as being very Aussie, New Zealand. They call it tall poppy syndrome, which is that if you grow poppies in your garden and you want them all to be the same level, if any of them grow up too high, you cut their heads off.

So it's like, that's the idea that if anybody gets too big for their britches in New Zealand, they got to cut them down because- You know, I think that's a part of Ireland too. I just spent three months in Ireland and I saw this thing on Twitter that said, never try to be fashionable in Ireland. Yes. And it is an entire- you see that? There's an entire thread of people talking about comments

that were made. It's hilarious. It's hilarious when they tried to do something unique and different and everybody in Ireland was like, no, get a load of this guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think it's, and they're a scrappy, you know, humble people over there.

So I think that is part of it. Yeah, yeah, I think I saw that. Cause like somebody said, they wore a yellow puffer jacket to work. And somebody said, right when they walk in the door, who are you Tinky or Lala? Tinky Winky or Lala? Right and then somebody else chimed in and said,

oh guys be nice to him, I've got one of those at home. It's around my water heater. But I got, you know what I mean? Like it was just like the whole pub turned on the guys were just a yellow pufferjack. I love it. I freaking love it. So you're from Ohio.

I am, Cleveland, yes. Yeah, and how long, up until, like what age were you in Ohio? I was in Ohio until I was 23. I came out to LA right after college. And that was for acting, right? Yeah, to come out. I originally came out to California to sing.

I started as a singer. I had a record deal with Motown when I was a teenager. I was signed by Michael Bivens of Belle Biff DeVoe, a new addition. He had a record label with Motown called Biv 10. And he had a group of talents called East Coast Family Boys to Men was in there. And we did a video and I thought I was gonna be

the next somebody. And I moved out to LA after college to, to chase my music dreams and it just didn't work out. So I said, yeah, yeah, try acting. And so I've been doing this. Yeah. That's a, yeah, that's a, that's not a great fallback for music. I'll try.

I'll be, that's acting. That'll be the thing. Yeah. Listen, I know. And, and listen, God protects the, the, the, the dumb and the dumber, you know, like I, to move, like I moved out here with a place to stay for three days. This is the hubris and not even hubris, but the naivete of a young person from the Midwest. Like I just felt, sure, you can go to three days is more than enough

time to find a place to lay my head and put my things, you know? And thankfully the Lord stepped in and I did find a friend of mine, my friend from high school, her mother had just moved out here and had like a single apartment in Pasadena. And like on day two, I started calling everybody back home. Does anybody know anybody in LA that'll let me stay with them? And, and I got to stay, my friend Diana, her mom let me stay with her for I think three months. I stayed on her, on her love seat in her single apartment.

Oh, wow. You know, but those times though, Andy Richter, are the times that I look back on like those were the good days because you didn't have anything. I was on the bus. I didn't have a pot to piss in and a window to throw it out. No money. Was starving all the time. Never had food. But I would just get up every morning and walk down Colorado Boulevard. This is when it was just being built up. Like a lot of the stores were just going in and it was just becoming this amazing street that it is now. And I would just walk and look in windows and dream of like, one

day I'm going to be able to buy that body butter in the window. One day I'm going to be able to go into that ice cream store, because there's like a 31 flavors on the corner, and I'm like, I'm gonna go in there, and I'm gonna get a scoop of everything, just to taste and figure out which one I like. Like, I would just dream, you know? I couldn't even afford to go to the movies,

so I would walk by the marquee and just go, man, I bet that Brad Pitt movie is great. I'm gonna see it one day on DVD, you know what I mean? It literally was that. I was that low down in society standards, but my spirit was buoyant and I just knew great things were coming. Well, I want to get what was your childhood like in in in Ohio? Was it you were in East Cleveland? Cleveland, Cleveland in Warrensville. What is East Cleveland compared to just regular old Cleveland?

I don't know Cleveland that well. East Cleveland's the hood. Oh, it is. East Cleveland is the, you know, it's a little rough and tumble. Still good people, just maybe not, it's not a suburb, let's say that. Yeah, I gotcha.

In fact, there's parts that the streets I grew up on, sadly, every other house is now torn down or needs to be. You know, it's really in need of refurbishing and I hope that it's coming. I hope that people that grew up on those streets will maybe move back or buy their family home and rehab it, you know. So yeah, so it was a lovely place to grow up, but it was not the suburbs. Yeah, yeah. And I was single, my mom raised me, my brother,

my mom and dad were divorced when I was one years old, I think. So my dad was always in my life. He just was never in the house with us. He was, oh, so he was nearby. Oh yeah, he lived, my dad, the whole time I was growing up, he never lived further than 10 minutes from us. He always wanted to make sure he was close enough

where if we ever needed him, he could get to us. That's really important. You know, I know, you know, being a divorced dad myself and staying within 10 minutes of where my kids live. I know so many divorced dads that don't do that. They think, well, now I can go and I don't understand it. I don't either. I don't understand it. You know, my dad lived four hours away

and I only saw him twice a year and I put myself in those shoes and I'm like, if I live four hours away from my kids, out of whatever necessity, whatever reason there was, I think I might've seen more than twice a year. I think that knowing the man that you are, I think that's true. Yeah. I mean, I just, I don't know, you know, but I don't, you know, that's a whole different story.

Yeah, no, but it's, but it's a real one. And I, you know, my dad, I found out years later when I, when I actually went home, cause I, I'm his caregiver, so he lives with me in LA. But when I went back to Ohio to get him and pack him up, I found out from him for the first time, you know, I found out how, I asked him why he chose to live in the apartments that he lived in. My entire life, my dad lived in apartments

that were really small and cramped, and you know, not necessarily in the nicest building. And he was always a man that was well dressed and took good care of himself, but he just, his apartments never seemed to match who he was and where he was in his life. And I asked him why. And he said, I lived well below my means so that if you guys ever needed anything, I would have it for you. So he sacrificed his living space. So his quality of living was sacrificed so that if, if by chance we needed something for school

or needed something, wanted to take a field trip or something that he could provide that. And he did not get a nicer apartment until me and my brother both graduated from college. Oh wow. That was the first time he lived in a place where he lived someplace that was worthy of the wonderful man that he is.

Yeah, and he helped you throughout college, I take it? Yeah, we didn't have a lot of money, so I had scholarships, I had grants, I worked, I've had a job ever since I was 15 and a half. So I worked, I had a job all through college, and my dad would, he would pay for my books, he would help with my tuition, thank God, was paid for my scholarships, but he would help with any extra stuff that I needed that my job and the Pell grants and all that didn't cover. So and, you know, my first car I got was a beat up, I think it was like 10 years old, 10 or so years old when I got it. But my dad, I was working at a record store and I remember my dad driving up

in this beat up little Nissan Centro and rusty cause it's from Ohio. So we had rust on it. It was a little tiny car. And he's in the car with the dealer. And my dad had gone to a deal, a used car dealership and brought the car and the dealer to this job that I had. And he said, Yvette, I think this is it.

And I think the car cost probably $1,500. And my dad was like, I'm gonna put half on it. Like if we can finance the 750, I'm gonna take some savings and put that other 750 with it. But I think this is the one. And that little Nissan Sentra carried me for a good five, six years. When I first moved to LA.

I was here like six months and then had it shipped out. Like that little car carried me and that was a gift, you know, a gift, a co partnership with my dad to make it happen. You know, my dad's great. My mom has passed on, but my parents are great. Yeah. That's wonderful. That really, I mean, no wonder that you have the...

Well, it's funny because to do this stuff for a living, you either need to have self-assuredness or like profound wild insecurity. You know, that you have to go through crazy gestures to squash, you know? But I think you're coming from the healthy... You're one of the healthy ones. Yeah, I don't have crippling insecurity.

And that doesn't mean that I am... I think that I'm magically delicious or anything. I have a mirror. I know I'm a chubbier, fluffy-haired black girl. I'm not deceived about what my options are in this life or in this career. But I do believe that my mother raised me to be a good person and to be a kind person. And what I have found in this life

is that more opportunities will come because you're kind than because you're beautiful or you're talented or you're rich or whatever. And so every blessing I've gotten in life and in this business has been because I'm a decent human being. And that's where I put, that's the feather in my cap. That I haven't hurt anybody, I haven't lied on anybody, I haven't stabbed anybody in the back.

Everything I've gotten has been from hard work and being decent. And I'm proud of that. [♪ music playing. The Voice of the World by The Vigilante's Band. And the Music of the World by The Vigilante's Band. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? I remember I worked in film production when I went to film school, worked in film production when I got out,

because I wanted to do something in this industry. Was just too shy to say I want to act. Yeah. But I remembered when I started working in film production, which is you get on a Montgomery Ward's commercial, it might be 10 days of 14 hour days, you know. And I realized like, if you're an asshole, they're not gonna hire you

because they gotta spend 14 hours with you. And nobody wants to be an asshole for 14 hours. Yeah, and when you think about an actor, because it happens all the time where you see an actor in something old and you're like, whatever happened to her or whatever happened to him? Exactly. And it's and it's I always feel like it's either drugs or or or accommodation or they were just so awful that nobody wanted to work with them.

Yeah. And I don't I people, I know them. I know people that had been, that were working just fine and now don't work much. I know people that were at the top of their game and nobody will hire them for anything now. So listen, I don't know why someone got lied to and told that they could be a jerk and thrive.

Yeah. I was never told that. I was told that if you're a jerk, your opportunities dry up. That's what I was raised that you don't want to be the jerk. No, no. And I mean, there's all kinds of reasons. To me, it's always just amazing. If you're just a person that cares about the bottom line,

like what can I get out of a situation? Being nice, it greases the gears better than anything else. But on top of it, it's its own reward. You feel good. You get to go to sleep at night feeling good about yourself and about humanity. I gotta say this though, Andy. I did have somebody, an actress, a starlet say to me once,

um, I don't know what I was doing on set. I might have been talking to the background actors or something, just regular human stuff. And this woman said to me, wow, you're really nice. And I said, yeah. She was like, I don't know how to do that. And I was like, what do you mean?

Like, you just- Yeah, you just saw it. That's what it is. I just care about people. This chick was like, I don't know what that is. And so I think that we can say that it's easy to do because we're decent people, but I think some people, they just weren't raised

to see anybody beyond themselves. They weren't raised to see anybody beyond themselves. They weren't raised to clock a need that does not funnel back to their own wellbeing. I think that's what we're dealing with right now with COVID and everything, like the idea that people don't want to be inconvenienced by wearing a mask, even though they know that wearing the mask helps others. The mistake was saying you wear the mask for others. Had they said in America, you wear the mask for you, a lot more people would be wearing masks. But because it's for others, you don't care. So they're not wearing it. If it had happened, I just think it's also too, it's just the timing with Trump.

It's just like everything, everybody's got to, if there's something that's sort of like regular, normal people that aren't insane, just are, you know, say like, well, this is something to do. There's all these people that follow him. They're like, nope, nope. You know, I mean, it's like, if he said something about wearing seatbelts is, is for losers, they'd stop wearing seatbelts. It's just, it's ridiculous. And I just, I'm just sort of sitting here waiting for it to end. I mean, you know I thought that it was gonna end. I thought so too

You know January 6 told me that it probably wouldn't end on January 20th. I know I know It's it's rough. It's well, yeah, it's that's a that's we could talk about that for a long time. It would not be fun So when you were younger, was it music? Was that the thing? Like, were you singing and singing and singing? Was it church singing? Was it school singing? Was it all of it?

It's still music for me. Like music is, gosh, if I hear a song with amazing music or lyrics or a vocal that is just beyond, I'm, I'm just over, over the moon. Um, and yes, it was church singing. It was singing in, um, at singing, it was singing at school, it was singing in talent shows in Cleveland. I've really, I mean, I once, a group I was in, we once sang Christmas carols

walking through a grocery store at Christmas time. Like there was, I've sung in the men's underwear department. That's fun, I would love that. Yeah, of a department store. Like you just, I used to sing anywhere. Someone said, who's a singer, who can sing? I'm like, me. Because I just saw it as my way out.

I was like, this is how I'm going to make my way in life. I'm going to be a performer. Yeah. And so when you, is that what you studied in college? Did you study? No, I actually studied mass media. I thought I would be a journalist. Because I'm also very

practical, right? So I spent all of my teen years chasing music. And then when it didn't happen, I didn't become a recording artist by 16. I wasn't discovered and became an artist by 16 and rich and famous and swept to LA. When I went to college, I'm like, well, what else am I good at? And I'm like, I really am good at public speaking. And I care about the news and what's happening in the world. So I'll be a journalist. I'll write for a newspaper or I'll be an anchor, or I'll be a talk show host.

So that's what I majored in. I have a bachelor's in fine and applied arts with a journalism, mass media bent. Oh, wow. And, but you didn't, you decided to not really pursue that or did you? No, that was the fallback. Oh, okay. That was the like, if all else fails, I'll do the news.

Yeah. Or I'll write, you know. I really did want to be a singer and an actor as like the other fallback. And then the main thing that I, when I was a kid, what I wanted to do is I wanted to be a teacher, a kindergarten teacher. I still dream of doing that. I still love five and six year olds and I love teachers.

I think they're so unsung. So I still dream about that. And I try to be a bit of a teacher in everything that I do when I'm on Twitter and in interviews and stuff. I try to impart things that I've learned that I think are important for people. So yeah, still a part of my life. And teaching is show business. You know, you're performing, you're, you know, you're putting on a show every, right, every,

every class that you teach. That's right. So when you came out here, what's the adjustment? Explain the shifting of expectations and rearranging of goals. That's the chronology of that. You know what's funny? Coming to LA, I don't know about anybody else, but for me, it was like, how do I eat? There were so many months of my life when I first moved out here where I was so

hungry all the time. I've told this story before, but it's worth saying again, when I was living, I had a room, I was renting a room in a house in Inglewood for $300 a month. It was like my grace gift to have my own door that I could close. But I had no money. I was on the bus. I had no money. I was temping up in Hollywood at Motown.

And if I went to work and it was someone's birthday or, you know, something like that, then I would definitely be able to eat or a friend went and ordered a sandwich. Sometimes they'd cut me a little quarter, a fourth of it and share it with me because people knew that I was starving. And then one day I came home from, I had been living, this is what I had been living on at the time, I would get a pack of dinner rolls, a 12 pack of dinner rolls, a box of instant mashed potatoes

that you could make with water. It was important that you could make it with water because water was clinical. Or butter or eggs or anything. And then I had, if I was really splurging, like if I really was balling out of control that week, I would get the thick A1 sauce. Now, if you take that piece of that one roll,

one scoop of instant potatoes, one cup, mix it up, and then a couple of dabs of that A1, it would taste like, to me, a steak and potato dinner. So I would eat, I'm salivating at the thought of it. So I would eat one roll'm salivating at the thought of it. So I would eat one, one roll, one cup of mashed potatoes and three or four dabs of A1 a day. I was not trying to be thin. I just had to conserve that 12 rolls would hold me for 12 days. I figured it out. And so I was starving. I was, I lost like 30 pounds within like, you know,

a month or so. And my roommate was a nurse, Gigi, God bless Gigi. She was a pediatric nurse and she, um, one day I came home and the entire counter was filled with all these different foods and name brand. Like it was like Wonderbrand. It wasn't like Cougars brand, it was Wonderbrand. And I went into it and listen, like almost in tears, seeing this cornucopia of greatness. I go into Gigi's room and I go, Gigi, you forgot to put your food away.

And she said, no, that's all for you. She was like, and she said, I get emotional every time I think about it. And she said, you know, I see that you're starving. And I don't want you to ever go through that as long as I'm here. So please, if you ever, it's that bad, please tell me. And she literally saved my life, Andy, because I was starving. Yeah. So that, and it's a good example of what my path in LA has been like, because every time I have been starving,

literally or figuratively, a Gigi has appeared. Yeah. Every single time someone has miraculously or divinely been sent to Ickle the Bridge to get me to whatever the next place is. Yeah. Sorry. Well, that's okay.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know you got other things to do after this and you- It's all right. I'll catch it. I mean, listen, I'll be talking about my mom at some point and I'll cry then too. So it's okay. Okay.

Yeah. Well, yeah, that's wonderful. That's really, yeah. I mean, I had the... I would... The first time I came out here, I was staying on a friend's couch and I went to the store and bought an aluminum tray and the stuff to make lasagna. And I made lasagna and I ate lasagna. Whereas, you know, it was like a big sheet pan.

Every meal was lasagna. You know, it was like some kind, it was like breakfast, I'd have a piece of lasagna. Lunch, pizza, bread. People really don't know. They really don't know what it takes to have a career in this business, especially if you're not a legacy.

Like my mother's not a famous actress, I'm not rich. All of those things, a lot of people start with that. I didn't have that. So there's a lot of things. Like when I'm on Twitter, like the thing that makes me the angriest, one of the things that makes me the angriest is when someone questions why I care about something

and their thought is, well, you're rich actress, you're elite and I'm like, I am a kid from East Cleveland who has worked for everything I've ever gotten and I've never lost that feeling or that connection to having less ever. Every decision I make, the charities I support, they're all in line with helping people who are in that spot, that tight spot

of wanting to become something or do something great. And it's just tight. One of my favorite charities is Donors Choose, because it lines up teachers who wanna do great things for their students, but don't have the money. And it allows people that do have $5 or $25 that they can spare to sew into that teacher's project so that these babies can have something great

in their lives. Like that's who I am, that's what I'm connected to. So this idea that because I'm on television or because in someone's mind I've made it, I no longer know how much milk costs or I no longer understand what it's like for a single mother, I grew up with a single mother. I get it.

Yeah. You know, so I've been hungry. I've slept in my car, I've slept on a floor. I know what that is and I've slept in my car. I've slept on a floor. I know what that is. And I've never lost my attachment to it or my, my, um, respect for those who survive it ever. So, Ooh, I get mad when people think I don't know. Yeah, no, I know.

And it's, it's the shittiness of Twitter too. It's like, it's like you wouldn't, you wouldn't encounter that fee. I mean, you would occasionally, if there was no Twitter, you would occasionally encounter people that would make you indignant for that reason. Who would treat you as like, well, what do you care, Miss Emmy nominee. Emmy nominee, right.

You'd only occasionally run into them. Whereas in Twitter, you meet them every 15 minutes. Every five minutes is a jerk this is an asshole yeah and they're assholes because they're anonymous and because they're hiding you know behind something and because their life is probably pretty crappy i don't know anybody whose life is amazing that spends their time trying to destroy other people's spirits yeah i don't know anybody that's falling out of control in the spirit space yeah that is trying to tear down another person. So anyone, they show themselves.

It's like, oh, how much, I mean, there's this great influencer, an actor named Tabitha Brown and she got into a, well, she didn't get into a dust-up. There was some things, something was said about her and her family by somebody on television. And Tabitha did an Instagram video to discuss the, you know, the gall of this person to say something about her family. And what Tabitha said is, Oh, what pain you must be in. That, that was the, the best description of how it feels when you're

attacked by a troll. Oh's, oh, poor thing. You must be suffering that you're here doing this right now. Oh, it's so sad. One of my coworkers used to say there was a job that I worked on, there was somebody who was just like, nice to everybody above him and awful to everybody below him. Oh, it's horrible. One of those kind of people.

And we would often talk about that guy must be so miserable. That guy, like he must just be so miserable. And one of my coworkers said, yeah, because I think about that how miserable he must be in his life. But then I make myself remember what he's done and what he said. Cause he's like, I don't want to give too, you know, like,

I don't want to get too, yeah. Yeah. I want to, I don't want to give him, waste too much sympathy on, you know, I want to make myself like, yeah, yeah, he's miserable. And he may, he takes it out on the day, but let's remember the other people. You're exactly true that, that he's harmed, right? Yeah.

And karma, and karma won't forget either though. Oh no. Well, you, you hope you crush, No, no, no, no. Karma never misses. Yeah. And karma won't forget either though. Oh, no. Well, you hope. You crush your fears and hope. No, no, no. Karma never misses. Yeah. I'm a believer. It never misses. Yeah. Yeah.

I hope. I hope because, man, there's some karma coming for some people. Please. We may never see it. That's the thing. Can I tell my X-Files thing about this, please? Sure, of course. Okay. So anyone that watches X-Files remembers the this, please? Sure, of course. Okay, so anyone that watches X-Files remembers the Cigarette Smoky Man and the Cigarette, if you haven't watched, Cigarette Smoky Man is a man

that was kind of on the periphery or in the background of every horrible thing that happened in the last 30 or 40 years. And it was a mystery of like who that guy was. Yeah, who this guy is. Right, and so there was an episode where they followed Cigarette Smoky Man home, and as he opens his door, he can barely open the door

because behind it is a stack of manila envelopes and we don't know what's in the manila envelopes. And he checks his mail and there's a brand new manila envelope and he opens it up and it says, dear cigarette smoking man. I don't know what the man's name is. Yeah, yeah. Dear cigarette smoking man, thank you for sending us your manuscript. Unfortunately, we cannot accept blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So he puts the manuscript back into the manila envelope and puts it on top of the stack of all the Manila envelopes that are there. And that episode never left me because I thought to myself, as horrible as this man is and how he has been a part of every horrible thing that has happened in America, even he has a dream. And because of his wretchedness, he will never have the thing that he wants most.

And this is the thing, had we not followed him home, we wouldn't know that he was a failed writer. God knew, and God came out of eternity and took his thumb and put it right in the middle of that dream and said, this is the one thing you will never have. And this is what I know about karma. No matter who you are, you got something that you want. You got something that you dream of that you maybe have told no one. And when you are wretched and nasty, God will come out of eternity and put his thumb right in the middle of it. So like I say, karma never misses. We may not see it, but it never misses. Yeah. All right. Well, I guess I better be nice then.

You're always nice. Oh, that's true. I am. I am pretty nice. You're a sweetie pie. Most of the time, I think. Yeah. I think most of the time as well. I agree. Yeah. I mean, my mom doesn't think I call enough, but... Well, listen, we can't please everyone all the time, but I think that you, and I'm gonna say this, having lost my mom, call your mom more. All right, I will. I'm telling you, Andy, cherish her,

because once she's gone, it is a whole nother level of what? Yeah. So please, and do it, do it, do it. I will. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Now tell me about, about, okay, I'm going to be an actor then. Like what happens then? How I made that decision. Yeah. Like, what happens then? How I made that decision? You know, music, I always feel like you should chase what wants you back, right?

And so music, as much as I love music, music just did not love me back. And so I just realized that I really like making people laugh. And I felt like I had a bit of something that might work on screen. And so I thought, well, let me just try. I had a bit of something that might work on screen. And so I thought, well, let me just try. I was actually in a church drama group and a playwright named David E. Talbert who had a great movie on Netflix this past summer,

past winter called Jingle Jangle. But he also did a lot of stage plays and he was like Tyler Perry before Tyler Perry. And he was casting for a play, and none of us in the drama group knew it. And he came to one of our rehearsals, and I got an audition and went and auditioned and got to create a role in a stage play

that toured the country for eight months, and that was my first professional acting gig. And I was working at the time as a legal secretary at Showtime and my boss, Steve Rogers, attorney Steve Rogers, thank you to him, said, we love you here. We'd love for you to stay, but we know that you've got this dream. So go out for a month, see if you like it, we'll hold your job. If you like it after a month, you can quit then. If you don't like it, you come home and your job is waiting for

you. And so that's another GG. I told you every time a nice crossroads of GG would appear. What a nice boss. Right? He's amazing. He's amazing. He's retired now. He's in Palm Springs living his best life. But I went out on the road with the tour. I knew within the first week that I loved it. Like the bug bit me and I called and I said, guys, I'm sorry, I'm staying out here. Thank you so much.

And I did the play. I toured with the play for eight months and then came back to LA and thought, I really want to try this. So I got a commercial agent and started auditioning and I booked an industrial like within the first two or three weeks. And then I started booking national commercials and I did like 45 national

commercials in my commercial run. Um, and then audition for pilot season, got a sitcom. It just, and then it just took off from there. But yeah. Yeah, that's great. And that's, and I mean, doing that commercial work, it's, it's, you know, you get one or two good commercials and that's your year. Yeah, you're good. That's your year of legal secretariat. Yeah, you're good.

Yeah. It's not so much that way anymore. I think the money's come down and a lot of that stuff. Yeah, I kind of got into commercials right after the commercial strike. I remember back before the strike, you would do one McDonald's commercial and that McDonald's commercial would air for five years, and you would just be minting money. After the strike, they started doing the strip commercials, where they'd do...

You know, you'd film your McDonald's commercial along with a Latino family, a Bangladesh family, little kids, a cartoon version, and then each one of you would get three months. Instead of five years, you'd get three months. So it just was less opportunity for you to five years, you'd get three months. So it was less opportunity for you to buy a house from your commercial money. And that's why it was important to just stack

as many of them as you can. Like try to just book as many as you can as quickly as possible, which is what I tried to do. And well, that must have felt great. I mean, it must have felt like I mean, that must have felt great. I mean, it must've felt like I know, you know, I made the right choice. But are you at all nervous because it is kind of an adjusted career choice

and you were, you know, cause I mean, I know when I started getting hired, my training was improv. I took a couple of theater classes when I was in college, but didn't really like respond to them. I didn't really get them. So all my training was just on stage doing improv. So when I started getting jobs in movies, I really was like, oh shit,

do I really know how to do this? Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I would be like my oh shit, do I really know how to do this? Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I would, you know, and I would be like my first scene in a movie, it was in a cable movie. I mean, that's how old it was. We called it a cable movie at the time. Yeah, it was like for it was for HBO, I think. And. And, you know, my scene was with, I had one scene,

I played a young, like, sheriff's officer, and my scene was with Beau Bridges and Suzy Kurtz. Wow, this is a great start, man, come on. But it was just all so weird, and I felt like, you know, the director, the director was Michael Ritchie, who was, he directed a famous movie called Smile. That was probably his, which was like kind of like an Altman-esque 70s beauty pageant movie.

And, but he was just really wonderful. And like, just like, great, everything you're doing is great. And I was like, is it? I don't, I don't remember. I don't know. I'm not sure. But I just kind of kept doing it. And like when they said, we're coming around,

because they shoot one side of the scene, and then they have to turn the whole room around to shoot the other side. And I was like, I don't know what that means. But it seems like I'm supposed to walk away for a while so I will. I mean, did you go through some of that? Oh gosh, for sure. And you know, this whole industry, they don't tell you this, is like learn on the job.

Yeah, yeah. Like even if you study theater, unless like you can study theater and then go to Broadway and it will translate, right? But you can't study television and film in college, maybe now, but they probably have working studios and stuff now where you can see what it's like to be on a sitcom set or a film set. But back when I was there, there was no direct correlation between this experience in this classroom

and what it will be like at a 530 call going to set for the first time. There's just no way to know what it is. And I remember when I first started, I, I again, did the commercials and I did some sitcoms and I wanted to do a drama and I remember going, I don't know why I can't do a drama. You know, I was, you know, that was my one little bit of, I'm ready. And I, I ended up booking one line on a drama and it was a long tracking shot

where I was smack dab in the middle. Like it might as well have been like Cirque du Soleil, someone from Cirque du Soleil doing five flips onto the back of an elephant who then sprung water. And then I walk in and say my line and then the Rockettes come in and do a five minute set. Like I was smack dab in the middle of like something like that. Yeah, of all this action, yeah.

All this action. And every time they got to me, I kept messing up. Either saying the line wrong, the camera wasn't on my face when I said the line, or I put the mug of coffee down, because I was playing a waitress, put the mug of coffee down at the wrong time. Like I had to make everybody reset

and go back to one probably 20 times. Oh dear. And I remember wanting the ground to swallow me up, and I spent the rest of that, the next day in fetal position on the floor of my apartment, rocking back and forth going, why, why? And what I learned from that experience is that you don't, don't rush it. Like don't rush it. Like my, me proudly say, well, I can do, I'm ready for a single cam drama.

No, you aren't though. Yeah. Like you're not. And had you just, had I just waited and done my little co-stars or done one line or, or, you know, done more background work where I could watch and see what, what this experience was like when it really was my time and my turn, I would not have embarrassed myself and wasted those people's time like that. Yeah.

Because the thing is, one thing I do know, the waitress putting down the mug of coffee in the middle of that scene is not what that scene was about. And so the idea that they had to reset it that many times for me is something that haunts me to this day. And so I don't race ahead in this industry. I have not to, why don't I, I ain't said why don't I since that day.

Whatever God sends is fine by me. I have not said, why don't I, I ain't said, why don't I, since that day, whatever God sends is fine by me. We've, I mean, everybody that does this for a living has been there and that, but that feeling that like, well, I mean, first of all, you have to be built in the way that it matters to you. But I have definitely been in that same situation where I keep screwing it up. I don't get my line right or I get something wrong, and it's the worst.

It's like, I'll take heat. I'll take, you know, I can handle like if a production is screwing me over, but if I feel like I'm screwing the production over, I get so furious at myself. Yeah, it really upsets me too. I don't like to be the weak link. If I'm working on something, I am the first person. Whatever my call time is, I'm showing up 15 minutes

before the call time. I am always where I need to be. Like when you do a sitcom during the run through, when you're like showing, I'm telling this to the audience, not to you, I know you. I understand. But you're showing, there's two times a week where you show the quote unquote play

to the studio, the writers, the network. And as it moves, as the play is being, the play, I say the play, as the show is being performed for everyone at the run through, the AD has to go and make sure if you're entering from the bedroom, they go and peek around the back

to make sure you're standing where you need to be in time for your entrance. I am always right where the AD needs me to be. I'm never, they're never, no one is ever looking for me on a set. And that's because I don't want anyone to ever have to look for me. I want, if we gonna go,

I don't wanna be the reason we're not going. Yeah, yeah. You know, and I think that experience is one of the things that makes me that way because I know what it feels like to be the reason someone else has to start over. And that is a horrible feeling. I think that's also too even like stronger on poorly run things that I've been on

because when I like, I'm already like, you guys are so fucked up. But I, and I think this, but my, I got my shit together. So I screw up in that situation. I'm like, oh, I just contributed, contributing to the mess. Right. You know, and yeah, especially when you're like already feeling superior and then you screwed up, you're like, oh, shit, I don't, I don't get to feel superior today. And did you know, like, so are you fine now doing comedy? I mean, do you worry about,

you know, is there still that drive to do drama? Do you still feel like... You know, I think that I have some, like a strong drama role in me. I don't know that I would want to do it as a series because I don't like how single cams are shot. I finally had to accept that I am a multi-cam girl. Like, it's not single cam,

the turning around in a whole room and being in here in makeup and Spanx every day. That is just not for me. And missing everything in the whole room and being in here and makeup and Spanx every day. That is just not, not for me. And missing everything in your life. Everything, yeah. We did community and that was a comedy and we were doing 16 hour days every day. So yeah.

With a lot of cast too. It's like, so usually when that, with that much cast you get some days off. Never. No, everybody's all together. All the time, no. So I already know that that's just not my thing. And so I'm getting better at choosing where I want to be and what I want to do and saying

no to things that don't work for me. And just, you know, just writing it out and just trying to have a good life within this industry is the goal right now. Do you think? Because I mean, I think there is like a thing among comic actors to downplay, you know, like it's like, yeah, I'm an actor and I'm successful and I do this. But I mean, it's comedy.

It's all just so silly and frivolous. I'm not doing the important, you know, Meryl Streep-y kind of stuff. Do you think that does that exist in you at all? And why do you think that is? I mean, is that just a grass is greener? I think that it's actually not even genuine because I think the harder lift is the comedy. I think it's harder to elicit a giggle out of someone or chuckle out of someone than it is to make someone cry.

I think it's a very specific gift. And I think that most comedians, most people that are comedic actors or standups or whatever, I think most of them can do drama because it's, I always call it hearing the music, right? When I do a sitcom, I don't even need an audience. Because when I read the line, the first script I get of whatever the show is, I can hear

the ba-da-da-da-da or the boo-boo-ba-ba. I can hear the music and where the joke should fall and feel it within me. And it's the same music you hear when you're doing a drama. You can tell where the tug is. You can tell where the point of the speech is, right? I think the choice is to not push it. In the same way, a comedian, you know where the punchline is, but it's gonna die if you go, if you're like,

okay, here we go. It's the same thing with drama. If you are telegraphing, these are where the tears are gonna come, it's, you're dead in the water. So I think that, and no shade to dramatic actors. I mean, Meryl Streep or Viola Davis, come on. Sure, yeah.

But I do think that comedy is harder. Yeah. I think. I think so too. Yeah, cause I think you gotta like, you gotta, I don't know many people that could be really funny actors or be funny in things as actors who aren't like kind of funny on their own. I mean, there's a few that I've met where I'm like, wow, how are you so unfunny in real

life? But only a few and they're very rare exceptions. Whereas, you know, it does kind of seem like, well, drama, you know, like, you know, my problem with acting in drama is that I always, I've done so much fake drama acting for comedy purposes, you know what I mean? Like, you know, like a serious voiceover kind of thing. You know, I don't, I, it's hard.

I feel like whenever I'm doing something quote unquote serious, it just looks like I'm making fun of it. At least, you know, in my estimation. Yeah. I kind of have a touch of that too. I, because the show I'm on right now, Big Shot is a, it's a, it's called a drama. I think it's more of a dramedy. Right.

But I say that- That's with John Stamos, right? Yeah, and I say that because John Stamos and I are both country hands, we're both fools. And so even if we're having like a real serious thing, we're each going to find something to twinkle about. There's a little twinkle in us. And even I did Lady and the Tramp for Disney Plus, was one of the first movies that aired on Disney Plus

and I played the villain, I was Aunt Sarah in that and even when I was supposed to be really horrible, I still was like kind of funny. Like I just tried to imbue even the dark characters I play with a little bit of mirth and silliness and maybe that's why I'm hired, I don't know. Um, cause I'm definitely not a serious, I can, I think I could do it. I mean, there's been no proof on camera yet. I have, I've only done it. I've only done it a couple of times. And in

fact, I just, I was just on Rob Lowe's podcast. And we taught, and I, one of them, like the biggest one I ever did was after he left the West Wing, he had an NBC legal drama. Oh, what was it called? It was called Lions Den. Yes, I remember it. Yeah. Jeremy Lion. Rob Lyons or something. Yeah, not Jeremy, but you know, yeah.

And yeah, and I just, I said, and I talked to him about it and I, you know, that like, it was really hard for me because A, it was kind of corny, you know, like it wasn't, it was like, I played a guy, it's too long, but like, I played a guy that like, screwed up the bait, like reached and tried to grab a foul ball at a baseball game, thereby ruining the team's chances. Oh, that guy, you're a bad guy.

Yeah, the newspaper supposedly printed my name and address, which I just like, like no newspaper would do that in the first place. But I had to like just do all this. Like I was kind of supposed to be a dick, which I could do that. But there was like all kinds of stuff, but like what this game meant to me

and what this ball meant to me, which I just felt like, is anyone taking this seriously? If you're judging the role, it's not good. You have got to be all in to the good. I know. I can, listen, I can commit to the, I can commit to the people don't know that I have judgments.

I can fake it. You know what I mean? It still looks like commitment, even though there's like some like, all right, I'm committing to this. What about our Audible podcast? Did you buy into that world when we were in the room? Yes, yeah, we did a podcast called Vroom Vroom.

Although it's weird to call it a podcast. Like, it's a radio play. It's a radio play. Yeah, that you buy because it was never anything other than this scripted piece of entertainment that was made for Audible. And like, well, that was, I don't know, that was kind of, that had a very comic manic energy to it. Yeah, yeah.

But it was really fun. That's a really good, it's a good thing. It's a good show. There were serious moments and moments that were important in there. Yeah, I guess. I don't know. Vroom Vroom is available on Audible.

On Audible, yes. Check it out. And we also have to talk about this new project, Broken Diamonds. Yes. They have been told, like, we gotta talk about that. So tell me what it is. You're gonna talk about Broken Diamonds.

Yeah, yeah. It's a beautiful independent film starring Ben Platt and Lola Kirk directed by Peter Sattler. Alfonso McCauley is also in it and me and it's a story about Ben's character has big dreams and he has plans for his life and right on the cusp of him chasing the biggest dream of his life, he ends up becoming a caregiver for his sister who is struggling with schizophrenia. And it's a story about what happens when life kind of throws you a curve ball

and you have to choose someone else's wellbeing over your own. And that's caregiving in a nutshell. I'm a caregiver, I chose to be a caregiver, it wasn't thrust on me. Ben's character, it's thrust on him at a really pivotal moment of his life, and he has to figure out how to navigate it with grace

and how to see his sister as someone who something happened to. Yeah. She didn't choose to struggle with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia happened to her. And him trying to find the softer way of navigating that with her is really beautiful. And I think it's a great movie, and we're

going to start streaming everywhere on Monday, Video On Demand. Oh, wow. OK, great. And it's on all the platforms? It'll be everywhere. Anywhere you want to see it, it'll be there. Broken Diamonds.

I will give it a look. Yeah. And is that kind of the, would you like to kind of do more of that kind of indie movie sort of? You know, I would, I would love an indie movie that had a very tight schedule. And good craft service. Yeah, I want, and good trailers. I want the kind of indie movie where, you know, they got one, they can do one take of everything. Yeah, yeah. Like, because I'm really good in the first, there's diminishing returns with me as an actor.

You better get in. Yeah, yeah. First one and a half. Just so you know. Just so you know. You can do 12 takes, but I'm going to be good for two of them. The first two. The rest will be hot garbage. So I mean, I like to be on sets where the director likes to, I think I do good on a Clint Eastwood set.

I heard that he gets in and gets out. Like let's not beat a dead horse. Let's get in here and find it and move on. So yeah, that kind of indie film. Yeah, cause I, yeah, I've done, yeah. Well, it's been a while. I mean, I've been off on Conan Island for so long that there has, I mean, I can do some guest spot stuff,

but I haven't been in an indie movie for a while. And I don't have anything against like being in an indie movie, except for the fact that sometimes when you go there and they're like, okay, you know, cause acting, you know how much waiting around there is. It's like, okay, you got two or three hours now. And it's sort of like, well, where should I go? There's a folding chair sitting over there

against the wall. Under the tree is a folding chair, a rickety one too. Listen, the folding chairs don't always hold your girth. You might be a little heavier than what that chair can manage, so good luck. Or just wider, maybe not heavier, just wider. Good luck with the folding chair, America. Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, no, I got it. Because you do get used to having your own little, even if it's a trailer that's split up into four little sort of like horse stalls. As long as I got my own little horse stall to just go and not have to make small talk so I can remember my lines, that's fine. Usually it's remember my line for me.

The other thing is too, I'm an aesthetic person, especially on set, if I'm not home with my things, I need to be in a nice space. So I've realized as I've gotten older and longer in the industry, I will fight more for a nice trailer than money. Yeah. I'll be like, yes, give me the $5, but I do need a door on the bathroom in my trailer. I need three steps up instead of two and I need, you know, can I have the one that's got the nice leather couch and not the one that's fabric? Right, right, right. The door to the bathroom that isn't a curtain. Yeah, I need an actual door to the bathroom.

Yeah. Yeah. No mold on the ceiling is nice. I'd love no mold. I had a couple where there's the, that you walk in and when you smell the mold, when you can smell it, you gonna die. I was on, when I was on a show, Quintuplets,

it did a whole season on Fox. And me and my TD wife, Rebecca Kreskoff, we shared what they call a two banger, which is a trailer that's bisected, so it's half and half. And it looked like the shroud of Turin was on the ceiling of this thing. It was so moldy and so gross. Oh my God.

And I would complain to the teamsters, because it's teamsters that runs the trailer for people. I would say like, hey, it's really gross in here. And nothing ever happened. And then about halfway through the season, the production manager was walking by and popped in for just a second to say, you know, tell me about something. And she looked up and she was like, oh my God. I said, yeah, yeah, that's what I've been talking about. She's like, oh, and the next day it was like, I just, and you know, you learn lessons like that.

Like you don't want to be the one that like makes a bunch of beefs and complaints and stuff. But then you find out, like you learn something where I learned like, oh, next time I have black mold on the ceiling, I'm going to like go to someone who can do something about it and say, oh, next time I have black mold on the ceiling, I'm going to like go to someone who can do something about it and say, hey, look at this, isn't this bad? And they will go, oh yeah, that's bad. And then it gets actually taken care of, you know? Yeah, I just had that recently with something I did and I did not speak up because I don't want to ever be the

prima donna or the jerk. Yeah, I don't either. But at a certain point, like you kind of want there to be handles on the cabinets and you do want there not to be mold. That's a health issue. That's not, you know, life. Yeah, I know, I know. I hear we are complaining about our trailers. Our trailers. Well, sorry, we spend a lot of time in those damn things.

We do, we do. Yeah. Well, where do you, where's your life going next? Where do you see it going? Are there things you're doing you're not gonna do? Is it just kind of a continuation of what you're doing? You know, I think I'm gonna be more strategic in what I say yes to,

because I think when you first start out, you have, you just wanna work and you're just saying yes to everything. And now I'm getting to, I'm of an age and I'm getting to a place in my career where I want quality of life. I want to see my dog and be able to feed my father a meal that I cooked every day. And so that means I have to make different choices for what I say yes to. So that's the next thing. I also have got a really So that's the next thing. I also have got a really strong Lego addiction

that I am feeding. Really? Oh my gosh, I've since my, I've got back from Ireland, I was in Ireland doing Disenchanted. Since I got back, I have probably put together five or six Lego kids. I am doing them one a night at this point. I've done Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh,

I did Owl, I did Paris, I did a whole vase of flowers, I did the yellow fiat, I did a bonsai tree, I did Seinfeld and friends. Like I say Winnie the Pooh, I literally am every night building something. And so I don't know how long this is going to have its hold on me, but it's very Zen. And so I want to get to a point in my life where anything like that that I love, there's time to do. Yeah. So that means, and then maybe I'll do it on set. Maybe I'll take it into my moldy trailer

and I'll be putting it together in there. But I want more of that. I want more of things that make me feel peaceful and zen in my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or opportunities to do stuff like that. I love building Legos. Me too.

Yeah, I opportunities to do stuff like that. I love building Legos. I need to yeah, I have a half-belt Volkswagen bug and oh Is it the yellow one which one you have I have the fiat. I think it's green green. Yeah, I have the fiat But it's like and a years ago. I made With my son we made a VW camper bus that was really fun to do. Yeah, it's so I love it. I just yeah, the completion of it. I love watching it form. Like when I made the Fiat, like you start with the undercarriage and then you just so

slowly watch this car. Yep. Come together in front of you and it actually rolls and then you can lift up the front and see the tie the spare spare tire and the front. It's just great. After I'm done with it though, I do kind of feel like when we built it, it's kind of like, well, I guess, I don't know. You know what I do? No, this is what I do. If it's one that really matters to me,

and like I have the Millennium Falcon that I built, I'm a big Star Wars nerd, so I'm keeping that forever. But if it's one that I just liked and I didn't love, I take it apart, put it in a huge Ziploc, in Ziploc bags with the little booklet, and then I put it back in the box and give it to Goodwill. So there's kids or young people,

even older people that love Legos that maybe can't afford them. They get to have the set that they, you know, yeah, exciting it would be to get there and see, you know, the Millennium Falcon or a complete set with instructions and all the pieces ready to go. Like that would be awesome.

So that's what I do. So you might want to do that. Then you get the new feel guilty building. I will. Build and then donate. I will. Well, what do you think is the point of the event story? You know, is there like what,

what like, I mean, you've kind of, you've kind of given, well, you know, that's the final of these three questions. Yes. What have you learned part? And you've been sharing a lot of that already. Yeah. What's the point? Yeah, but can you sum it up? I think the point of me being here is to model kindness and care for others. And I hope that anyone that has met me or worked with me or even stood behind me in a grocery store line anyone that has met me or worked with me or even stood behind me in a grocery store line

feels that I care about them and feels that what they want in life and what they dream of in life is just as important as what I want and what I dream of. And you know, there's been seasons of my life where what other people wanted was even more important than what I wanted. I hope that, you know, like I've said this often when I pass away, um, I hope that my legacy is kindness. I hope that people come together and speak of how nice I was like that. That would be more than she was Emmy nominated or an Emmy winner or more than she was cuter, whatever somebody might see talent, whatever some nice thing someone might say about me.

None of that is more important than someone saying, when I was in need, Yvette listened to me, or she gave me great advice, or she just was kind to me when I really needed someone to be kind. That is most important, and just bouncing back to the loss of my mother, that's the legacy of my mother. Like my mother was just a ball of light and love,

and anyone that met her at a bingo hall or just in a grocery store, they just... Or on set, because I took her to set all the time. She's like the set mascot of every show I ever did. Everyone walked away with a story of something she did or said that I didn't even know about. Like, I've gotten calls from people, like, I was behind your mom in craft services one day

on the set of Community, and she said this to me, and it changed how I think about this. Or, you know, she would call friend, my friends on their birthday, my one of my friends lost her mom right before she turned 50. And my mother spent an hour on the phone with her so that she would have a mom call like that's who my mother was. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't think you have much to worry about because I mean, you know,

we did that one thing together and I mean, aside from how funny and talented and great you are and mean, you know, we did that one thing together. And I mean, aside from how funny and talented and great you are and everything that you do, I mean, you go beyond, you know, just the fact that like, that you do care for your dad every day, that's that's really, really rare, and really, really special to do that. Because I, you know, A, it's like, you know, people might have complicated enough relationships with their parents that it might, there might be misgivings for, you know, for to take care of somebody that you have, you know,

complicated feelings for. Yeah. Right. But also too, it's like, you can afford to have, to just not have to do that yourself and you do it yourself because you think it's right and that's unbelievable. It's really, it's really, you know, if there's, you know, there's got to be some reward for it. I think you're probably getting it though, don't you think? Yeah, I think it's, you know, the kindness that you've put out as a dividend, I would think.

100% has come back. I have great friendships. My relationship with my dad is wonderful. My dog is amazing. I had a great mother. My career is rewarding. You know, I'm not starving anymore. Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? Like I can actually go and buy, you know, actual potatoes and make real potatoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Instead of flakes. Ain't nothing wrong with flakes with delicious. With real milk and buy, you know, actual potatoes and make real potatoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Instead of flakes. Ain't nothing wrong with the flakes. With real milk and real butter. Yeah, yeah.

Real milk and butter. Irish cream butter. I get the Kerry gold now. You know, so it's like, it's, it's, I'm, I'm blessed. I'm very blessed. And I try to, I try to be a blessing every single day. I try to, I try to sow back into the, the good karma piggy bank every day that I live. So and it's rewarding.

It's its own reward. It really is. Being decent is its own reward. I believe you are absolutely right. And thank you for blessing us here on The Three Questions with your presence. And everybody go look at Broken Diamonds because it's already out by the time this is going to be on. Yeah, yeah. So, but thank you so much, Yvette. It's great to see you again. Good to see you. We have to take our picture. Yeah, we do. We do. We're going to take a picture. But you all go away. This is the end of this episode of The Three Questions, and we'll be back next week. Thank you. Thank you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production.

It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pies, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blayert, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Your Wolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions at Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.