This content is a transcript of a live event featuring actress Lauren Graham discussing her career, her books, and her experiences in the entertainment industry, interspersed with personal anecdotes and audience interaction.
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and actor Sam [Applause]
pancake
of queen Queen City hello everyone thank
you guys for coming out I doing thank
you for coming out tonight we're so
happy to see this is our first stop of
so patience with me um I would like to
take you if I may back about 23 24 years
ago to the Autumn of 2000 where a bunch
of us were going to a place
where we went most weekends those years
and I I'm talking about of course a big
wild drunken party at Melissa McCarthy's
house yeah to do and on this one
particular night I I was you know I
couldn't be gayer but I
was shocking I was standing in the room
filled with people all these people are
famous now except for
me and I saw across the room this this
woman this girl this young woman who i'
had seen before on TV and in movies and
I'd seen pictures of her but I'd never
seen her in person and I was like oh my
God she's so beautiful and I knew she
was Melissa's cooworker on a show called Gilmore
Gilmore
Girls I went over to her and I was like
I started talking to her I was like it's
nice to be you I'm say she's like oh
yeah I've heard about you and we're
talking and I got to tell you I was just
dazzled by her right I mean she's she's
just a gem and I was dazzled by her wit
and her charm and her beauty of course
and as I as we fell in love with each
other a deep platonic love and realized
separated at Birth I later in life um uh
got to be dazzled by
how how truly kind and how generous of
heart and spirit she is and what a truly
wonderful person she really is and so I
speak from experience when I tell you
prepare to be dazzled when I bring to
we do don't we we forgot the sound check
part I'll put that on the
list literally is this thing
on hi Lauren hi what a nice welcome
thank you so much and even though I've
heard that intro a couple of times
before really got me tonight CU it's
been I haven't seen you in like three
days so that been all all afternoon and
evening together also we forgot to check
the chairs cuz sometimes you get like a real
real
like posture but I think this is I think
we're going to be okay think really
there favorite chairs we've ever had you
guys is the
best another thing for is like find out
what color the chairs are and dress
accordingly never had orange I don't
think no it's the I don't know anyway
hello um hi well we can sit and talk to
each other like with you all night would
that be entertaining for
you what about this french fries gu that
um we give the french fries a b and we
gave then then we were like embarrassed
that we gave them a bee so we ordered
nachos because we wanted other food they
were kind of A+ nachos the A+ nachos
Southern nachos do we know where they
were from much mucha does that s much much
much
anyway that doesn't exist they just made
them in the
back we're actually here to talk about your
your
book oh okay Lauren thank you for being
with us tonight oh my God Sam thank you
okay so this is your fourth book ma'am
you might recall that's come out so far
it's really the the third it's it's the
third real book okay those are your
words not all right okay now why are you
doing a books T this time for this
particular book and you haven't been
able to do that before tell us more about
about
that well you probably haven't been to a
lot of book parties for a paperback
that's been out for a couple
months um but over the years I have
never been able to do a book tour
because I was either working or when the
hard cover this came out literally the
day before I had a tiny whatever
everyone's Co story is so boring but let
me tell you not yours
honey I I taught my niece who's three a
game called lickys which is where you
try to come up without the person
knowing and you lick their
face my sister loves it but she was
playing lickies with me on a Saturday
the next day she's a child I want you to
make sure that's clear she's free I said she's
she's
fre she's a teenager but she's going to
grow out of it um so I remember out
about from Li but um I took I supposed
to do all this press for the book and I
took a covid test on Sunday because the
way they work it or the way they used to
work it then which is crazy is you go to
the talk show in you get hair and makeup
you wake up at 4: in the morning you you
you're like ready to go out and then
they give you do a covid test and I was
like I have to on the Today's Show at 4
in the morning if I have Co and I did
have Co and the end so when the when the
when we back came out um I'm holding it
like it's not right there every City's
different we started we got to do a
couple of dates and it's just turned
into something that is so fun for us and
hopefully fun for you and we just keep
getting invited nice places and it's so
fun it is but it can't really be called
a book tour anymore unless you bought
book in which case [Laughter]
[Laughter]
thanks okay if your first uh book was
your 2013 all someday
someday and next yes no no yes
yes I'm still waiting for the movie um
right next came the book of essays
talking as fast as I can colon from
Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls and
everything in between in 2016 which was
your year in the Life Diaries and other
industry Stuff Etc
and in 2018 you brought us in conclusion
don't worry about it which was an
expansion of the commencement speech
right that you gave at your hometown
High School um and now we have have I
told you this already which is also a
collection of essays now why this book
now um who is [Laughter]
[Laughter]
Man I so for first of all I don't even I
feel lucky to be able to have been
employed as a writer at all it kind of
was a turn in my career that it makes
sense to me because I came to acting as
a reader my my when I was a kid uh my
dad reads me every night and the stories
just kind of came to life and then I
would act them out and do plays into my
red Radio Shack tape recorder and and so
it was all kind of to me and um we'll
talk maybe more about the process before
while matter I'm just a writer um but so
for a while I had never done something
twice which is just bizarre I uh wrote
fiction and then I got to adapt that um
for a TV pilot that got made and then I
got to some I just kept doing something
once and thinking wow I wish I had a
chance to do that again because now I've
learned more about it and so when it was
pandemic times all right now that's
those that's the limit of talking about
pandemic or Co I mean I guess they're
um
I thought about uh writing another book
of essays and the way the essays come to
me the only way I can explain it is I I
start to get titles and I had been
collecting a list of of titles that
who's um who contain a kernel of an idea
and the best example I have in the book
is um I come from an extremely forgetful
family like nobody has keys or glasses
or purses or they don't know where they
are and you know my father's like famous
back in the hotel to get our phone that
we really know I it was
me um and
so like growing up I did not have keys
to the house because nobody knows where
their keys are why would you have have
keys if you can't find them so we just
left it open and my father would just
and then youd leave the keys in the car
because what if somebody needs to move
the car how am I supposed to know where
your keys are you just leave them in the
car that's convenient finally my dad got
his heartbroken into but he went for 35
years with like he like they'll just
break the window anyway why don't we
just leave it like that so anyway and
then I discovered years later that our
family motto um the Latin is n which
means do not
forget and it just got me thinking like
is this is this generational you know is
this like since the dawn of time the
grams can't find anything and um and and
it got me thinking about memory and how
all remember some something and what
that is versus the reality the truth of
it and um so that became an essay and
and so they they just come to me and and
then I write
them thats the title the chapter title
yeah we we come up with new ones all the
time but may or may not be followed
through yes and we we collect them now
it's fun when something happens you're
like maybe that's an essay and then the
title have I told you this already is
just comes from this moment in life
where I have had some friends dear
friends for so long like you and some
friends I've known since I was even
younger that they're such a part of the
fabric of my life and this and part of
the story that sometimes I can't
remember if they were there or if I told
them already or if like frequently now
somebody will say yeah I I was there at
the theater oh
anyway so and I don't want to be like a
story repeater so I'm always like please
have I told you this already just stop
stop me I I don't want to you know so
that is sort of where that came from
well your stories are always
entertaining and sometimes I let you
tell them again yeah not as many as my
mother she has so many more um Now take
us back to your F first book The the
novel how did you first decide to write
someday someday someday maybe what led
you to be like Oh I'm not busy enough
for these 14 hour days
I think I'll write a
novel well um that came during
the the difference there was that I had
been hustling basically from the time
even even during college but
certainly from after college through I
went to an acting program for a couple
of years back to New York three
jobs you know no acting work unpaid
theater job jobs 3 day jobs all it would
go in a rotation and I was just on that
treadmill and doing free you know
theater for no money and eventually I
got like one line in a soap and it just
was years of hustle and struggle and
even once I got to LA and and um you
know started getting little parts and
things but then throughout Gilmore Girls
I was just there's something about
when you're in a time of success where
you have the least amount of time you've
ever had because and when Gil was doing
well it meant we're going on trips
there's photo shoots there's shows
there's stuff there's all this residual
stuff to try to like keep it going and
and you know that people could ask you
to promote it and so it wasn't until one
day in and when I was at work on
Parenthood where I was done at 3:00 in
the afternoon and that was so
unusual that it gave me a flash of the
person I was at the beginning of that
not that hopefully I'm not at the end
but when I thought who was that I had
nobody I knew in Show Business I had no
I didn't even at times have I had little
encouragements along the way but there
was no sign that like you know don't
worry kid someday you'll be Laura Li
Gilmore whatever nobody tells you
anything obviously so so I was really
fascinated and it felt so like it's it's
sort of me but it felt like such another
person that it just kind of started as
as fiction and then I also think I
didn't want to write a memoir I didn't
want I
didn't I felt more freedom in
fictionalizing something that I knew
something about and um and also you
talked about how it wasn't for those of
us that remember a different world which
was no social media and barely any
internet so that was a different CU it's
in like well this character you know was
it's it is replicating the time I came
up which is the 90s and um and yeah that
so that was part of it too is that I was
on a show with all these um people of
all different ages but all these young
kids who were pursuing their careers in
very different ways and and that's the
only difference between being 20 and
being older is is how people are
recording their lives you go from like
you know I had a filofax back then and
then that graduated to a Palm Pilot and
then I [Music]
[Music]
hadag and then like so you know and so
we're all living the same life it's just
communicating differently so I can hear
people explaining to Children what a [Laughter]
[Laughter]
home any sense um should have just
waited for phones um [Music]
[Music] [Laughter]
are there any similarities in your
creative process When approaching
writing essays or or a novel or creating
a character for a film or TV show in
terms of the imagination oh that's interesting
interesting
um I are there similarities well I guess
one similarity is that it starts as a
mess and and um and and it and and the
only thing I can say to writers or to
any creative person is it's I still have
not made friends with this and I I talk
about it all the time in terms of
process and you would think I I do feel
sorry to in myself but I do feel feel
EAS that was the night she
she [Laughter]
goodness um as you can see the way I
articulate anything it just really
starts a sort of pile and then it
becomes a little more refined and as
many times as I've gone through that
especially as a writer because as a
writer you see it like I could fake
something as actor if I had to go on
before I was really ready as long as you
know the lines it will get better you'll
get more more experienced but you can at
least do the the part in some kind of
way in and I guess that's true in
writing as well but my stuff starts out
just I couldn't I would not you would
not be able to understand it it's notes
to myself it's it's shorthand it's um
sentences that aren't that are
unfinished and and so the processes are
similar I guess um I especially in
fiction I think about it the same way in
fiction or in screenwriting it's really
fun because I get to play all the
characters and I think screenwriting had
I worked on it more might be the place I
kind of belong in a way because um I I
hear all the characters and I think that
was one of the beautiful things about G
more girls for me is it had musicality
that I was lucky enough to inhabit but
also understand it's like when you hear
a song you feel like you've heard it
before like you know it it just speaks
to you and that is that so that I think
at its best is what a good scene gives
you is somebody's up here and somebody's
down here and there's you know it's
music so I guess it's a little bit
similar so when what is your writing
process when you sit down I know what's
your ma'am do you have writing proc I
mean I know what it is but talk about
your writing process I procrastinate
[Music]
comes you um it's really a silly way to
work but I I think there the the thing
that stops us all is when we get in our
own way is when we think we're not good enough
enough
we can't finish this why how dare we you
know I'm in a one of my couple of
writing groups where a guy said the
other day he's like who would care and I
was like I don't know but you have to at
least to start and then you know who
like that's really that's the the
finished product voice that's that's
saying like who would buy this well
we're not there yet so um you just have
to kind of keep doing it for yourself um
so the process
is that I do better when um when I'm
really busy because I think it takes my
mind off of it like Jen E Smith who we
have mutual friend here today um who was
my first editor who's like the most I've
told the story before but when Jen and I
sat down to work together for the first
time um I said just so you know I was an
English major I wrote my senior thesis
like on the it was then a word processor
but I say computer now cuz nobody knows
I wrote it on my
pal don't try to do a call back it's
fresh it's too new um and I turned it in
like you know like the clock is ticking
like under the thing and she said oh
okay well just so you know I was also an
English major and I finished my thesis
two weeks early and I lied about it
because I didn't want people to think I
was a
nerd I was like well this might work but
um it did and she's an incredible author
as well Y and adult author um so but so
she came to the set of a year in the
life when we were and and my laptop
would be like on the coffee table and
I'd be like and they're like and we are
rolling and and I'd like shove it into
the thing i' be like Rory listen I mean
I don't
know she was like she was like you kind
of finish this is crazy and I like no
I'm actually getting a lot of work done
so the problem is when I'm an employed
as an actor and I have writing work to
do and then the day just is like you
know it's just hard but you just it's
whatever you can do to trick yourself
people use timers or you [Music]
know coffee coffee
but well because that's a different I
but that's a different that's that's
Focus or that's energy I I think it's
the voice in your head that is the
tougher obstacle which is just the
despair of of how how can I ever finish
this and you know am I worthy I mean
that's that's really what it kind of
comes out so let's get back to the the
beginnings of your becoming an actor
were there things at Barnard and SMU
that you've learned or discovered that
really significantly served dur in your
acting career later because I know a lot
of us went to theater school but we
don't always use what we learned
especially because we didn't learn
camera stuff so no how did you talk
about doing cam on camera stuff leading
up to Gilmore oh boy I don't know well I
I went so I was an English major
undergrad and then I I went to this um
grad program at
SMU mainly I mean this was a good
program but I I didn't have any money
getting out of college I had huge debt
University oh oh maybe we do know Tores
tacos did we get here does that make
sense no the place with the okay
glorious glor uh and I felt lost in
theater school I have to say a lot of
the time first of all my casting was way
better in high school in high school I
was like a lead and in grad school I was
like fifth banana and I but I I was like
oh this feels backwards in some weird
way and and there was so much input and
and so much scrutiny and so much like
comparing yourself to others and I I
just felt strange but I did it and and
it yeah I'm only interrupting what that
oh what if you were a talk show host and
you were like Jim and you were like hey
so don't about like like to your guest
I'm I'm open for employment after this tour
tour
for Charlotte what you got well I don't
remember who said this but I said you
know it's somebody who grad school I was
like in high school I was Hello Dolly
and they were like yeah here everyone
was hell doll like oh
sad that was true and it only gets
harder there were only you're only
competing against more H dollies as you
go as you go through Jennifer Anderson
is probably H Dolly and
um but I so I got into this class in New
York and it was a hard class to get into
so that was cool but I really wanted to
impress this teacher and I was doing a
scene from I believe check on the night
and Gale and I couldn't I just couldn't
get there I didn't have it emotionally I
I I was pushing and I just I was like
this is such a beautiful part such a
beautiful opportunity I've been given
and I'm terrible and I should quit and
he's going kick me out and this is bad
and he said you
know I don't think you have a feel for
this material and he said that's okay
he's like you don't have to have a
connection to everything he said you
know he was an older man that and this
is an older reference but he said
Charlie Chaplan did one thing sometimes
you just find the thing you do and you
enjoy that and be good at that and you
don't have to and and part of grad
school was like training us in a weird
for regional theater where you're
playing the nurse one day and you're
playing the you know Chef jul yeah Julet
the next day or whatever and that was a
really powerful um it took away some of
the anxiety of like having to do
everything good um so up I'm excited for
your directing career to continue
because I know you want to move more
into that so let's talk about dirting I
was particularly fascinated by your
essay Red Hat blue hat in which in this
book which you write about gearing up
direct an episode of uh Mighty Ducks 2
what the puck
quacking never give
it some the sage advice given to you by
the director John your friend John
Turtle talk but could you talk about
that some more and share any other vital
aspects of directing you learned while
being an
actor well there's two different things
the things I've learned about
when you're on TV in particular
directors come in they're kind of
somebody described it once as your as a
director in television you're being
invited to somebody else's house to cook
dinner for them with only the
ingredients they have on hand and like a
meal that they want you to make like
it's not you your input you're there to
serve the pro the piece that kind of
exists already um so as an actor in that
situation I probably have as much
experience with the character as anybody
and I know the show and the tone of the
show and so I probably
have maybe not the beginning but you
know over six seven seasons or something
um there's that but so what I
learned and then it's very different in
film but you just want to have a good
day and I think that's true in any job
and over the years I got a a pretty good
sense especially on Long shoots or long
run TV shows what makes a good day and
what puts everybody in a place to do
their best job and and also you learn
what all the jobs are like what
department heads do and what they
contribute so it's not just the actor
and the director it's it's so many you
know it's the set design it's costumes
it's the lighting and the DP and um so
what's fun for me now was fun
directing um directing was like it's
feels like a dance where you just can
kind of um make decisions and set
everybody up to to do a great job as an
actor I'm probably a pain in the neck
because I I like to kind of stay in it
and I usually I this I'm not I'm sure
I'm wrong many times but usually if a
director coming up to me I know what
they're going to like I can feel what
went wrong or what I'd like to do
differently so I just kind of go like
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah because I just want to do
it again because I find that the more we
talk about it some directors are real
talkers and I'm like the more you talk
the worse I get like the you know and
conversely I don't mind if I'm like I'm
not I don't get it just tell me how you
want it like that's fine there's a big
thing with in acting where you don't
give somebody a line reading I that's
I'll take I'll take it because I'm not
getting it then let's just get there the
quickest way but um that's all good night
night
um now I am very well acquainted with
your friend in mine old lady Jackson if
you've read the book do you guys even
know who that
is and her friend Uncle pea pancake no
no he's not yeah he's and and have very
much come to appreciate her preference
we've come to appreciate Jackson's
preference for it very early and I mean
early dinner date um so talk a little
bit about um old lady Jackson where she
came from
um so it was when I was on Parenthood
and I'm working with a lot of younger
people and I still think of today but
then especially I'm the young person I'm
the young person and so when these
younger people would look at me like I'm
like you know James Taylor song like who
I'd be like I'd be like literally
playing your children too they're
literally playing my children and I've
played a cool mom like I'm like I didn't
want them to think I was uncool which is
the most uncool thing to possibly
say and and so I've created a character
to kind of be like I mean I get it but
old lady Jackson over here thinks maybe
you got one tattoo too many don't you
think like all up the arms now what's
happening and I it's unpopular though
everybody has it but um so that's where
old Jackson came from and these kids who
are now not kids May and miles in
particular my parent kids who two of my
dearest friends jumped on it because
they're so smart and they're like oh
really old lady Jackson doesn't want us
to stay out late like they just
m and and so one year may actually gave
you the birthday cake it said oh happy
birthday old lady jacks
you refers to your as OJ
Jr sometimes we all feel too old for
Show Business and like what's happening
in Show Business and like we're like
What Now with the Tik Tok What I I can't
like it's just
so she's like in her 30s I know I know
but still to me she's 14 and and but may
and I have been in Show Business the
same amount of time because she started
TW four and like a chicken
nugget she does feel tired we both feel
tired sometimes
yeah yeah but I love this passage it's
one of my favorite in the book from the
old lady Jackson chapter about
friendship and I wanted to read it to
out loud because I love it so much um
and I think it's so true um it's very
useful to always have a friend who is
much older and one who is much younger
the older friend will remind you what
there is to look forward to and the
younger friend will keep you telling
your stories over again so you'll
remember not to forget
them an older friend will tell you you
have plenty of time yet and a younger
friend will make you forget time all
together because when you're with them
you'll feel even for a moment you're
that you're the exact same
oh giving you that same more look um
here are some of my my other favorite
sentences and phrases in the book in
Squirrel signs I felt like I was in an
improv class whose rules I didn't
understand and that was about the
industry and I think that is so on the
nose because people don't tell you
nobody tells you anything until it's too
late and and I don't know what the fix
is for it maybe it's different now
because there is more Community although
I don't think so because when I when we
were auditioning in you know whenever
starting out you'd sit in a room waiting
with other people and you start to see
the same other people and you're like oo
this one got it o that one got it I
wonder how she got that and like you
hear people through the door and like
the day I first arrived in Los Angeles I
had an audition and the casting person
was like you're really wrong for this
and I was like wah back to New York and
he was like but I'm I have a friend
who's casting something across town can
you get there by two just getting you
know blah blah blah I'm going to call
the person and like that kind of stuff
used to happen where you just you you
were learning as you went and now
predominantly people make tapes in their
living room and there's no interaction
there's no like huh try it again or you
know and some of their lighting is
terrible because as a director I I've
been casting this thing and and um I
just you know it's little things it's
like make the light nicer so I can see
your face and you know stuff like that but
but
um what was the question oh
I'm just reading on some of my favorite
things oh yeah so you just don't know
and you wish I mean maybe we should
write the handbook I know it is be
outdated by the time it came out well
and the um I was which leads me to like
I I wish that I had your essay actory
Factory to read when I was just starting
out and what advice would you give
either young Lauren in '96 when she was
starting her film and television journey
and also like a young person now well
the the essay to which you are referring
is sort of my attempt to break down
what's a day on a set cuz I was
fascinated some of my writer friends
have become people in movies in
television and why would they know they
wouldn't know how you create a scene
from pieces as a director where you need
to show I was telling a story about this
theater I I'm going to show the outside
so we know where we are I'm going to
show all the audience and then maybe
we're going to come in closer to two
AR say argument then I don't put that on
you two people are having a wonderful
time and um and you know we get we need
to see the two of them and then you need
to see this person you see that person
like that's all a different setup and so
that was my attempt to kind of break
that down in terms of speaking to my
younger self
it's they they would always say this
when you walk into a room to audition
they want you to do well
but as a young performer and probably as
a young anything or even not so young
you you walk in the door sometimes to a
date or a meeting or something and you think
think
like you know you have to apologize or
kind of you put yourself down or I did
anyway I was and and not only does that
not help you it doesn't help it doesn't
help the the person you're in a doesn't
the project no it doesn't help anything
and but I don't know how you get over
anxiety except to just pretend you don't
have it but I mean really that's kind of
what you do to you know uh convince your
your nervous system that you're doing
better than you are because I just I
tanked so many things because I was just
so nervous and um and so
today I think there might be a different
thing like somebody I did a talk the
other day and they asked me you know who
was my mentor and I definitely had
teachers and mentors and encouragement
along the way but for us I think growing
up we were we were largely ignored and
it kind of worked like it was like the '
80s like and ' 90s was like light
neglect like nobody knew where you were
in the afternoon they hoped you came
home for dinner I mean I don't know I
I'd have to call my dad at his office
when I got home and then I was free for
a couple hours and and so I'm always you
know with friends and their kids and
stuff I'm like they're fine they're fine
them out and I know the world's were all
connected in some ways that's good in
some ways that makes you can see what's
scary and but um I was thinking about
this today at this is nothing to do with
anything but I think it's fun as a
side hobby to become a student of
whatever it is you're interested in like
I'm always interested when I meet actors
and I say the name of somebody to them
and they're like I don't know who that
is and I'm like why why don't you like
we watch old movies because we like them
but also to see how things have evolved
and there's that exists in in everything
you know there's so many books my father
used to say like everything you want to
learn you can learn in a book and and
you know he was a real like I be like
what does this mean he's like go look it
up in the encyclopedia
britanica 29 on but it made me work for
it a little bit and now I think the
version is when like one of our friends
can't think of a word or can't think of
like who who who's Ryan Gosling married
to or whatever I'm like I'm like don't
make your mind work for it like don't
device P
again okay this one I know I've asked
you this before is a it's one of the
first things I asked you back in the day
but in 199 and only your second movie
you got to work with my and many
people's Idols Merill
Street tell them about talk about
working with her we talk about being
petrified the entire time I I I played
Rene zwicker's friend small part really
sad movie uh about Rene and Marl plays
her mom One True Thing One True Thing
which is based on a wonderful book by
Anna quinland and I was just out of my
mind to be in this um movie and I had
yeah done one movie before and Renee had
just done Jerry Maguire and we went out
a couple of times and people would be
like like it stop like it was was insane
and um but Merl was very nice to me and
at the
premiere um she came over and she said
you know I want to tell you something as
a as an actor you're a very good
what I was so nervous still in your
presence that I couldn't like take in
she's G me a compliment the move I
literally it is like that is not good
listening to
say um she was wonderful and warm and um
I I just remember she she was uh she
said this thing I I I knew nothing about
box office or any of that then she said
she said the hardest thing with the a
movie that focuses on women is women
don't feel compelled to go opening
weekend and I thought that's so
interesting and is that true and and she
was like wishing you know that we're
different for the success of the movie I
thought that was interesting I want to
point out that we restarted 10 minutes
late so that's not we're going to go
past that I don't know if you looking at
that we have a clock here and started L
right I'm some Ming so
we yeah yeah
but is now the time okay go I have a
couple more that I got under control
mom I you because it's always comes up
in the questions and we'll get you all
questions don't worry but talk about our
beloved tell Bishop a little [Applause]
[Applause] bit
bit
I I I wish I was
um I just went to Kelly's 80th birthday
a and then she went and did like an
episode of shrinking the following week
like she's Unstoppable and um just a
fantastic person and speaking of mentors
was always just a kind of champion of
mine and also very bossy about my love
life I tell her something she well he's
terrible never call him
again okay and off correct I think she
was off of correct um and you know
she uh was dancer and was aigal cast of
A Chorus Line on Broadway one the Tony
as Sheila she has a book coming out by
the way called the third Gil
girl and um Kelly's gonna I don't know
what's in it but Kelly really tells it
like it is
so I can't wait
yes um and she's just been an incredible
friend um we signed she refers to me as
her TV daughter so she signs her texts
to me TVM for TV mom TVD and you know
it's just one of the gifts of this work
and this life to have someone who's not
a blood relative but who is as close as
as any and um yeah I'm just really proud
to call our friend yeah and also I
thought it was cool at our birthday
she's so close friends with Priscilla
who Lopez Priscilla Lopez who in course
L saying you know nothing you tell the
story no I don't know there's that's all
I know is is she's why don't we remember
that character's name anyone Morales
Morales um a table ice cream cone it's
the song she
s I just thought it was cool you told me
at the dinner she was there show me
pictures and she they're still really
good friends from bir L still really
good friends and um there were all these
pictures of Kelly I won't do it because
I'm a lady but like with her leg in the
like up here you know I'll do
it and just an incredible life an
incredible career um yeah it was just
great to be there I and many people here
probably would like to hear you sing [Music]
[Music]
more yeah so you did see a wonderful
show with our friend Jane Zoe's extraordinary
extraordinary
playlist talk about that it was
fantastic it's just that kind of music
is if you're not a pop star to see like
I'm vaguely Broadway and and that was my
sort of training coming up and I did
Hello Dolly don't make me talk
about me
too everyone was
dling um but yeah it's different doing
like a Kesha song and plus that show was
I wish it had gone on forever on the
other hand we'd all be dead because it
was like at the Mandy Moore not that one
the choreographer Mandy Moore was like
the like insane dance uh choreography
and and these beautiful um numbers that
are very hard to capture on television
because they they were so it was it was
the most ambitious show I have ever been
a part of and I was only there a couple
days a week Jan was like you know lying
on the floor it's just incredible job B
of A Dance step like that it's just you
don't the whole point of a show like
that is making it look easy and it was
really just incredible that they even
put it on the air cuz stuff like that is
so expensive but um but yeah I I I did
my best but that's not my kind like
Skyler ason who's on the show like
that's he can do everything he's like
Broadway and can do amazing pop music
and he's like you know that's
yeah that made me think of something
this is how my brain works the other
Mandy Moore played your sister in the in
the movie because I said so did your mom
that just a little bit about just a
little bit she was unbelievable she
wrote me a letter at the end of the
movie that I framed and yet I can't put
it up anywhere because it's um because
first of all she says such nice things
about me and then also she on the other
hand told me to get back together with
boyfriend she's like call that blah blah
um so I can't put it on the wall
anywhere but like she loved my dog I had
this big German Shepherd at the time and
she's such a dog person and she like she
was just incredibly generous but you
know she does speaking of people who
kind of H embody Earth sort of um have
their characters in them I ran into her
years later in a restaurant and I could
see her but she was with somebody and I
was going to talk to her at the end and
not interrupt her her lunch and she saw
me she came over and she was like you
think you rat think why didn't you come
over you and she just she speaks like
like like Annie I mean you know she
she's well can't I'm not going to try
but yeah she's like I'm so impressed
sidebar by actress in particular who get
to work looking like a million bucks
like I I'm in a Seven ugs and like a
hat you know she's just an incredible
lady in in her way and just very loving
and warm and great but that was another
one where I could never calm down
working with her and it it robs
everybody of the experience you know and
and I'm sure it was uncomfortable you
like still you have to be annoyed by
your mother you're a terrible actor
speaking of amazing we we finally
learned that we're going to do the photo
now and then we're going to do the
questions because if we do when you're
supposed to be applauding and what
applauds they have their phone up so
this is the moment where get out your
phon wait wait wait Listen to
Because you explain it I went to see
Bruce Springstein okay when he was
ioud expen on Broadway you're seeing him
like this close and it's incredible and
at the end and people were going bananas
and then at the end it was
like because everyone was filming it and
I just thought that's so sad and like we
missed that moment for us all so we're
going to pretend now that the end of the
show but then we're going to do your
questions so thank you so much for coming
now the clock is TI wait
did then and then at the end you're not
going to and you're going to clap you're
the all [Music]
[Music] right
sorry sorry we failed we failed we'll
fix it in DC we'll fix it in oh take
them back out of is they're so high I
don't know what is happening why are
they all like this now want getting tis
to James Taylor in Virginia want to go
in August so he said that's not a
question but sure I probably been to
James Taylor because I grew up in
Virginia where used to play Merryweather
postan like every summer thank
we're going to click clue through these
I'm the boss now Kelly Bishop we covered
that what is your favorite snack Cheetos
yeah um what advice would you give
16-year-old Rory in
phone uh oh I led your wardrobe more
girl did you have any part in choosing
those clothes or was it all done with
the costume designer and did you like
the clothes I love the clothes I did
have a part in choosing it I don't know
that it was very um fashiony but I would
always say to Brenda our wonderful
costumer was like I just want things
that are kind of funny like I want a a
t-shirt with a sense of humor which is
why I'm wearing so many like t-shirts
with like dog faces on like this person
like just enjoys her wardrobe choices
what is it one acting role you'd love to
do vep oh W these are good I'm going to
seal these from Charlotte take you see
taste their question St [Laughter]
[Laughter]
oh oh oh do you see any similarities to
your we kind of hit this relationship
with May that laurelai had with Rory it
I um it's just these relationships are
so crazy
because again it's like a Kelly Bishop
is she my mom or my sister my friend or
my mentor my like and it's the same with
me and and Alexa May and I live close by
so I just get to see her more but it's
like we it's that feeling of oh I it's
that feeling of falling in love frankly
and it can be with anybody and in in
those cases it was just like a a love a
love friendship we can't get around this
one we've learned which of Ro's
boyfriends was your [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause]
favorite um I will never I will go to my
grave but I will tell you this this is
this is this I can say because it is no
basis in any fact or anything my guess
um is that Rory's baby is
Logan and unless unless it's the wookies
and we just go in a
whole and the guess is that it's a girl
and her name is another permutation of
flori and I'm guessing
Lola that was completely out of my own
i' I've never spoken to anyone about it
trouble um oh oh I like this Gilmore
Girls is something I return to over and
over again when I'm anxious or need
comfort what she right what shower book
uh serves as that for you thank you may
a May wh everybody
um thank you so much and that gives me
an opportunity to say thank you in
general for because I I do get to hear
that fairly frequently and it
never doesn't uh wait too many double it
always it always touches me it's always
the nicest thing to hear and I am so
thankful to have been part of something
that takes even a little bit of the edge
off of your day so I really appreciate
that for me there are some older movies
like Splash or When haret Sally or some
of the like classic wrong that I can
just watch anytime what to see is one I
TR to show people and I guess cuz I
things are more politicized now they're
like so wa he's dressing as I'm like
it's okay it's
okay 81 81 but I also cuz I just find
Old New York so soothing just like tax
and just was a simpler was it a simpler
time I don't know but it feels like it
was and then I will just put Sex in the
City on and let that like in the back so
um this is a great one um I think we've
talked about this before too this person
says to me Mo the Mochi is the most
vulnerable chapter in the book was it
difficult to write and was it difficult
to read for the audio book that's good
question yes and yes um for those of you
who don't know I adopted a dog and it
didn't work out and
it it is not at
all like the experience of not growing
up with my mom but it gave me Insight in
a new way at a new age into her she
passed a while ago so there are
questions I could never ask her and
issues that could not be resolved and I
aim in these to mainly just be funny and
thoughtful and and um I I'm not
comfortable going
like real I want to make something
that's that's light that's that's my
goal but I did want
know well it was that my grandmother her
mom finally passed at age
101 and I felt a little Freer to talk
about my mom without it hurting her
feelings or without it invading her
privacy so that was my attempt I think
there's a lot more to uncover but um
yeah that was that was the the most
vulnerable I think I've been in my
writing and then it's always hard in the
audio book you know what I really I I
did Rebecca sur's audio book of one
Italian summer which is just yes exactly
yes why
why um and that is a real really moving
um especially at the top the woman loses
her mother and then goes to Italy but I
didn't exactly know what it was about
when I said I would do it and um that
was really hard to the degree I was like
I might have to call her and say you
know and then and then very freeing and
liberating and stuff to to be able to to
get through it speaking of moms I want
to salute my Aunt Maggie who's like my
second mom that she's here tonight
[Music]
and my friend The Fabulous writer Sarah
um I like this one if you were some
people signed and some didn't because
they're not if you were forced to live
the rest of your life as a character you
played on TV or in a movie which
and when I played uh what was her name
Santa I think Sue had a lot of fun but I
a I'm just going to say one thing we me
and you and Connie were together
recently and um uh and then I was
reminding Connie that like we used to
hang out with Rob Zombie a lot I don't
know if you guys know who Rob Zombie is
what what
a and you played his Billy B with
girlfriend and that in b s and then
Connie played his wife and Friday Night
Lights and Rob Zombie turned to me he
said like first Lauren now Connie I
guess you going have to play his wife next
next
I would love to um I like this one if
you could go on a vacation with one
person from a show you started who would
it be that's her M Baker who's not
afraid to sign her name a person or a
character from the
show Person
actor me
yeah sorry no I'm sorry I mean that's
a my right I want to play the character
perfectly I don't know I mean it would
it is you I'm sorry it's I sorry I don't
know I to say that just was I'm sitting
here oh yes I
doal I just want to say this Lobby have
Donald and both may agree too but I was
like why aren't there more gay people in [Laughter]
know
oh my gosh we have we have like 3
minutes I'm going to find a question Sam
is like so um a clock watcher which I've
learned as doing these
shows when you're in Soul cycle anyone
anyone and I don't like when they're
like 30 more seconds I'm like well now
you're ruin it I was just on to the song
like this is going to be 3 minutes of
freestyle go
ahead going to say I'm silent that's a
good one cuz I had mine too cuz I did it
too Larry David when you do kker
enthusiasm oh my God I I love it I loved
it so much and
attention performance thank you sir my one
one
thing but like because frankly like I
Instagram I like to really make sure
something going to take
off years
later but um but they sent me whoever
sent me the analytics of like my first
two weeks on it and it's like 98% women
following me 2% guys and I was like a
where my and because the only I mean
very stereotypically obviously everyone
should be watching anything they want
and I think the guys are I I have a
couple like they'll come up and they'll
be like I just want to tell you I like
like you're okay you can say
that but um Kurt was the other one where
I was like oh you know I'll get more
like cool guy energy but no um but I had
this funny conversation with Larry one
day where he threw a he threw gum I
guess he was chewing gum and he threw it
on the ground and I said Larry that's
trash and he said no gum's not trash and
I was like in real life in real life I
was like what do you mean gum's not
trash he's like birds can eat it so it's
not tra no the gum the bird would be
dead that's
tra and like as we're having this
conversation I was like Larry is this is
this like material like could this be
like in the show and he was like it's
not a big enough
idea I was like what constitutes trash
that's an entire episode so just stuff
like that like you're you're you're
time yeah yeah did you feel that way no no I I had I can't talk about my episode
no I I had I can't talk about my episode because of the things that happened in
because of the things that happened in it I can't it's not for family okay
it I can't it's not for family okay remember
remember but call me that word sometimes in
but call me that word sometimes in public and I'm like what and I'm like
public and I'm like what and I'm like oh I said to him like he like you have
oh I said to him like he like you have to be afraid of me in this one I'm like
to be afraid of me in this one I'm like I am afraid of you ler what what you
I am afraid of you ler what what you afraid of
afraid of me you SE your show yeah um do you have
me you SE your show yeah um do you have any final
any final thoughts that's been a fun one I was
thoughts that's been a fun one I was worried about time this is like time's
worried about time this is like time's up um see you next week we your
up um see you next week we your therapist um no I just want to say thank
therapist um no I just want to say thank you to you and thank you to this
you to you and thank you to this beautiful town I picked the wrong Hotel
beautiful town I picked the wrong Hotel so I'm not staying right in town which
so I'm not staying right in town which is crazy and we have to leave tomorrow
is crazy and we have to leave tomorrow but I hope we can come back and um and
but I hope we can come back and um and visit and nachos and
I don't know I I love you all so much it's such a treat for me to be able to
it's such a treat for me to be able to do this so thank you for inviting us and
do this so thank you for inviting us and now
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