SmartLess: "Jennifer Garner"

Wondery | Amazon Music | SmartLess LLC Wondery | Amazon Music | SmartLess LLC 6/19/23 - 1h 12m - PDF Transcript

Hey guys listen, I'm super high energy. I'm high energy. You think you're high energy? I'm high energy.

No, I'm probably the highest I've ever been. I just got a call from the High Energy Institute.

Guys, I shot the coffee in the back of my knee. I'm on fire right now.

Listen, I just pulled my car here. I didn't even have time to let it drive.

You didn't even turn it on? I just had two pints of Hagen Dazs.

Let's make sure we get this episode started while we still got the gas. Ready? Here comes Smartless.

Jay, I don't know if you want to start or I'm going to start.

Wait, are you retiring from Smartless?

No, no, no. I'm not. Wait, why are you?

Well, we do have a very great replacement waiting whenever you're ready to. It doesn't have to be now. It can be next year or whenever.

I feel fucking sideswiped. I feel sideswiped. I just want to give them a heads up.

You're not retiring.

No, what I was going to say was, Jesus, how excited we are for Shawnee winning the Tony.

Oh, well, there's that. I mean,

Shawnee's won a fucking Tony.

Tony, best actor for Good Night Oscar.

We don't have that level of class here.

I know. It's so funny.

That's very nice. Very nice.

Remember when you said you were going to go do this play in Chicago?

An idea that you had. You got this great writer and gosh, you're scared and you don't know how it's going to go.

Doug, what's his name?

I don't know.

I remember you guys were doing great reviews and there was a possibility of it going to Broadway.

Remember you and Scottie were in that shitty apartment in Chicago right above the fire station.

He's got such a deal on it.

And then you go to Broadway and you're not sure.

Quick name in the theater, Jason.

Seats in the West, and then you do a great job

that you get great reviews, and then like,

don't talk about Tony nominations because your jinx hit,

and then you got a nomination.

Unbelievable, he's never gonna win, right?

They can't give Sean A's a Tony nomination.

They give him the drama desk in the outer circles,

but then Tony, he's not gonna get, well, men.

But yours is spelt with an I, right?

And it's dotted with a heart, right?

I mean, it's more of a certificate than an award.

The Tony, Tony, Tony's.

Tony, Tony, Tony's done it again.

But no, that's very kind of you.

Sean, fucking congrats, man.

That's very sweet.

You guys already have showered me with so much love

and praise in our texts and things, so thank you.

And it is wild.

It's wild to, Jason, what you just said about doing,

the week we shot that documentary,

or the two weeks we shot that doc series

that's now airing.

I was trying to memorize lines.

We always see that, by the way,

if somebody wanted to see that.

If somebody wanted to talk about it, where would they go?

It was really Max.

Oh, Max.

That's where they find it.

Sean, none of you are learning, we arrived,

we did those shows on the weekend

and the next day you flew to Chicago.

That's right.

And the next day flew to Chicago to do it.

After the last show.

But Jay, you were sleeping or something

and I had to wheel to run lines with me.

Yeah, really?

And Will ran lines with me on the couch

and I was like, that's so bizarre to me.

That's why I got the special,

You got a certificate?

I'm on the Tony.

Yeah, they engraved it just a little spot.

It just looked underneath it, Sean.

It says ran lines with.

It says ran lines.

Will's name sketched into it.

But we just could not be prouder.

And the fact that we've both seen it

and can attest to its quality is also.

Well, you know, you get so nervous

when you get up there and you receive an award

and you forget to thank people.

And I really honestly forgot to thank two of my best friends

in the whole world, you guys.

Oh, wait, what?

Oh my God.

And my family too.

I thought about that.

No, I was actually taken by how together you were up there

with them.

Oh my God, I was like, Rick, you're an incredible actor

because you seem not nervous at all.

I love when you said Scotty.

It's Scotty, right?

And you were so funny, Sean.

Yeah, and the only one liner I had ready should I had one

was this has got to be the first time an Oscar won a Tony.

Yes.

And in the room there, didn't land so well.

It was like TV played great.

So who cares about the room, right?

But, listen, I was watching that thing

and I was just thinking you see all these theater people

in there and they got there in the biggest night.

And I thought, man, this is showbiz for losers, you know?

Will texted that, Will was texting me in real time

while he was watching the Tony Awards saying,

this is the first time I've ever watched the Tony Awards

because of you.

And you better win.

But it was wild.

When, you know, it's that also when they call your name,

it's that weird thing where you watch TV your whole life,

whether it's Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, whatever,

and you watch other people walk up there.

And you're like, oh, that's so nice.

I'm a big fan or I love that show or that whatever,

that actor.

And then when you're, while I was walking up the steps,

it was like, I'm not supposed to be walking.

Like other people walk up the steps.

That's supposed to be you.

Didn't you get used to that walk with the,

what is it, half a dozen Emmys you've won?

Golden Globes, SAG Awards, all these other things.

I was just thinking between us,

between us we've won a handful of Golden Globes

and Emmys and SAGs and then Tony.

I mean, that's amazing.

Isn't that the cumulative?

We did an Oscar to be an EGOT group.

No, but between the three of us, we've won all these,

I mean, I haven't won any of them,

but you guys and then I, but between the three of us,

you ran lines with both of us.

I've run lines with both of you guys

and you've both been one.

So yeah, if you look at my thing like,

yeah, technically I've never won an award,

but you know, that's it.

Hey, we all three won a Webby.

We did, we did.

How about that?

We did a few of them.

We did a few of them, yes.

Guys, thank you so much for saying that, truly, truly.

Thank you for all the love and support you've shown me

and the show by talking about it on the podcast.

And you guys are the best.

I love you very much.

No, we love you.

And anyway, we had to talk about it

because it was just, it was too important.

And now we can get to our regular scheduled program,

which is the Fantastic Jennifer Karner episode.

Welcome to Smartlist.

Welcome to Smartlist.

Welcome to Smartlist.

That was very sweet, you guys.

Thank you.

Shawna, are you happy that we're on day two

of your days off?

Yes.

This is your weekend right now.

Monday, Tuesday is your weekend.

It is Monday, Tuesday is my weekend.

How's your eyeball?

Have you been performing?

I don't know.

I'm gonna go back after we're done here.

I'm gonna go back and see if my retinas detached.

Isn't that crazy?

Yeah, but did he re-stick it last week?

Well, I don't know, do you guys,

we talked about vasovagal, right?

Where you get sick and you faint.

Yep.

Yeah.

He puts the anesthesia in your eye and then opens it

and sticks something in your eye to keep it open.

This is an eye doctor or just a fella downstairs?

It's a proctologist.

He's a good guy.

And then he shoots lasers in your eye

and it's kind of painful.

Like from the hip?

Yeah, shoots from the...

Yeah, and he puts those Star Wars sounds in it

to make me sooth me.

He does, huh?

Pew, pew, pew, pew.

Yeah, that guy's not an accredited doctor, Shawn.

But Shawn, you've been doing the show, right?

Didn't you, what did you have?

Like one day off or two days off

with the eye after the eye surgery?

Monday's and Tuesday's off.

No, no, but I mean, after you got your lasers in the eye.

Yeah, I did the laser thing on Tuesday

and had two shows the next day.

You did seven shows after the laser thing?

Yeah.

Did you bump into any cast members or set decoration?

No, no set decoration.

No, I did okay, but I'm supposed to bang my head,

you know, when I try to get those voices out of my head.

So I cut that and I just grabbed my head now.

That's good.

Not as good.

Do you feel like it might be a nice kind of homage

if eventually you end up using your mom's eye?

Well.

No, I'm serious because I know that Tracey's got it, right?

Trace.

I could use that.

Trace, get it shined up.

I could get, I could finally see how my mom saw.

No, you're not gonna have to do that.

I think you're okay because you made it through last week.

Well, we're gonna find, I know, I made it through one week.

So we're gonna find out what happens today

after we're done here and then I'll let you guys know

because I'm sure you'll be on the edge of your seats.

Hey, quick question.

Jason, are you wearing one of those sauna sweatsuits?

That looks like it.

Things, are you trying to, are you trying to cut weight?

It's just a crappy overthrow.

It's a little cloudy today.

You know, speaking of proctologists guys, our next guest.

Wait, what?

It's not my guest.

Jay, me and you have the exact same glasses on today.

And same hair.

We should start at the end.

Well, your partner's in the middle.

No, it's not meant to be in the middle.

It really isn't, you know, I look like a water yak

when it goes down.

Well, we've been through what it looks like in profile

when it's just the outline.

Yeah, on the smart list logo, I look like a dickhead.

Yeah, a literal dickhead.

But let's not, by the way,

let's talk about our FaceTime last night.

Well, for two seconds.

FaceTime for two seconds.

Was I on it?

No, no, and he in literally never seen

any human being eat this fast.

He's talking, he's talking, he's talking.

While I'm talking to him, he's making a sandwich.

Maybe 30 seconds later, the entire sandwich is gone.

It's a ham and cheese sandwich, gone like that.

Was it a small-sized bread or something?

No, it was a full-sized bread.

Yeah, big sandwich, I just hammered it in like four bites.

And then he went on a hike.

I needed fuel.

To go on your hike.

You know, and I went on a hike.

Did you put on, did you strap on the heavy hands

and the heavy ankles and walk up the hills?

Yeah, I wore the weight vest.

Did you zip into the rubber suit?

I wish.

Do you ever talk on your hike while you're on the phone?

Do you ever pass anybody?

Wait, what kind of question is that?

Meaning like when you're walking

and you talk to people on your hike

because I don't like it when people are like,

so I'm-

I do sometimes.

What are you doing tonight?

And I'm like, just call me when you're done.

I'll roll calls sometimes.

What if you got one of those, you know,

they use information capture

where you guys wear the helmet with the camera

that's looking back at you.

You could do face times while you're walking.

You could do full face time.

But you know what I mean when people are like talking to you?

I do.

Of course I do.

I'm that guy.

And what happens is also is that that street is,

I will have, and you don't always look the best

because it's quite straight up hill

and you get quite tired.

Jay, we've done it before together.

And remember Amanda's mom used to do it every day.

And people go like, yeah, man, I see you.

I saw you out there the other day.

I'm like thinking like,

I just looked like a sweaty slob.

There was often a puff in my wake up.

At noon on a weekday.

Actually, you saw me there a couple of weeks ago

you pulled over.

Yeah.

But you pulled over.

You didn't know it was me.

You thought I was just a hot guy walking up the hill.

That's what you said.

Hey, hot guy.

And then you saw me.

I mean, ha ha ha.

Hey, well.

Hi, guy.

Hi, guy.

Instead of a hot guy.

Hi, guy.

This, our guest doesn't need to hear us.

Oh wait, really quick.

Sorry.

Go ahead.

I guess our guest doesn't need.

No, no, just really quick.

One of the most embarrassing moments of my entire life.

I was driving off the NBC lot.

This is decades ago.

And there was this really good looking guard.

And I rolled down and a friend of mine

was in the car with me.

And I looked back just as I passed him

and I went like that.

And the guard, I noticed the guard saw me do that.

And all of him and the five other guards were laughing so hard

because they knew it was me that checked him out.

And it was so embarrassed.

That's my story.

Well, we always need something to cut.

Will, your guest.

I don't know why that's pretty good.

I don't know if you're going to want to cut that all the way there

and no destination.

I tell you who never gets cut.

Oh, great is our guest today.

This person is not going to get.

Because you're going to want to see this person.

And the people who hire this person

want this person to be in every frame of everything they do.

Because this is somebody who has been in many frames

for many years.

This is a person who's done the,

it really run the gamut.

Started in New York.

First professional job was an understudy.

The queen job.

Yeah.

And then moved into TV.

Did the whole thing, paid her dues in TV,

guest stars on all the biggest shows and pilots

and shows that lasted three episodes and six episodes.

And then got a show that clicked.

And clicked in the biggest way that people,

it's not Frank Drescher, clicked in the way

that people just loved and couldn't get enough of.

And guess what happens when you do that?

People start saying, we need to put you into our film.

And boy did she start doing films.

Big, huge commercial films.

Big, huge award nominated and winning films.

This person has done it all.

You're not saying anything.

All while being a mom to three kids

and maintaining a consistency over time,

which is really the mark of somebody who's incredible.

Guys, I haven't given it away yet,

but you know her from Alias.

You loved her in Daredevil.

You knew her in Pearl Harbor.

Is this Garner?

You liked her in Yes Day.

It's Jennifer Garner.

Jen Garner.

Look at her.

She's back up.

She's back up.

Look at her.

Hello.

I usually have a baseball.

Okay, wait a minute.

Jennifer Garner.

Yeah, you always have a hat on.

I always do.

Yeah.

You and Jason have the exact same glasses frames

on right now.

Listener, we've had a lot of nice people on this show.

Sure.

None as nice as Jen.

Baby, I'm so happy to see you.

Hi guys.

I'm so nervous.

Do people get nervous when you're about to introduce them?

No, I have.

I have a runny tummy right now.

Always.

Well, let's not.

People do, I think that,

I don't know if people get nervous,

but I think that nerves are always a good sign.

Okay, great.

That means you're ready.

I'm a real person.

It means that you're in the moment.

Hi, Jennifer Garner.

We've never met before.

I know.

That is so weird to me.

Because I really remember you from the Venice days

and the whole, yeah.

Your whole compound.

Yeah, the whole,

I was in the compound with everybody who was in your show.

What, you guys have never met?

One compound.

I know, isn't that weird?

When I was living out with Bradley,

Bradley and I were in the back

and Ron Riskin and Iva were in the front.

And where were you, Jen?

How could you never meet if you guys were that close?

I would kind of skulk around to try to avoid him.

But when you were living in the same building, Jen?

No, no, I wasn't.

It's just like, Ron and Iva,

Ron Riskin and his wife were in one part of this compound

and they, Ron was on the alias.

He played Sloan and Bradley Cooper was there.

Right.

So when Transpo was driving the van in the morning,

picking up all the cast members,

you're surprised.

Oh, you must not have seen the show.

No, no, no, it wasn't that kind of, this is.

Sometimes I saw Will taking out the garbage, but.

Yeah.

By the way, I didn't take out the garbage.

That's why Ron got mad at me.

Do you know that story?

No, but I'm not surprised.

I thought that's why you brought it up.

You don't want Ron Riskin running after you.

Ron, I used to, we were, I guess,

working on a rest development at the time

and I was never there first thing in the morning

on Monday morning, whatever it was, or Thursday mornings.

And at this point, Bradley moved out

and Robbie Bates had moved into Bradley's place.

Right, right, right.

Right?

So Robbie was there and I go,

and all of a sudden like Ron was kind of,

I go, I think Ron's mad at me

because I haven't taken the trash out

because I don't get.

Why is it your job?

It was anybody's job, whoever could do it,

but Ron would do it right at 5 p.m.

The moment you're allowed to put it out the night

before he would put it out.

And I'm like, I didn't get home

till seven, eight o'clock from work.

So I think he's mad at me and Robbie's like,

oh, you're reading into it.

You're being crazy.

I'm like, okay.

And like two months later, two months later.

Who was it who I saw?

I saw, I saw somebody and they said to me,

oh, I ran into Ron Riskin at a party

and he says that you never take the trash out.

I said, I knew it.

And I said to Robbie, I'm like, who's crazy now?

All right.

If we don't cut me.

You don't want that story?

Checking out the NBC guard.

You don't want the Ron Riskin trash story?

The people just run into it in double time.

See, Jenna's nothing to be nervous about.

We don't let you get a word in edge words.

I know.

We just like talking.

Wait, it's Jennifer Garner, everybody.

By the way, you're the most delicious person.

You're so sweet and kind.

What's with the 1950s microphone?

I don't know.

This just came, your lovely guys sent it.

We sent it over.

So Jennifer Garner, and again, can I call you Jen?

Yeah, unless you're gonna use the whole thing.

I mean-

And does anybody call you Jenny?

No, very few people.

There's a first AD that I love who calls me Jenny.

Like people like that, just random people in my life.

But I never mind, but-

Well, you call Aniston Jenny sometimes.

I always find it very cute.

I think it's very, very affectionate.

Yeah.

I like Jenny as a nickname for Jen.

Yes.

In a weird way, but I didn't grow up as a Jenny.

But I bet Jen Aniston would agree with me

that we, you know, why weren't we named like Savannah

or Ireland or something?

Savannah.

Well, I also call, Jason, I also call your wife Mandy.

Nobody else calls her Mandy, but-

That's true.

I like calling her Mandy.

But so Jen, I wanna go way back

because I love your trajectory.

It's so great.

And I mentioned it in the lead-in

when I was reading about you that-

All the frames.

Yeah, well, I also, I felt very similar

in that like I could, when I looked at all the stuff

that you did and the shows that got canceled

and the three episodes and this stuff,

that was my pain for so many years as well.

You had all these near-missing, you think like,

oh, this is the one, I'm so excited about this show.

And then before you-

This is the one.

This is the one before you know.

And JB, you know what it's like too.

I mean, all of a sudden it's gone.

And you're like, what?

I remember, I did a movie.

My first like movie, movie was Mr. Magoo

with starring Leslie Nielsen as Mr. Magoo.

Oh my God, I remember that.

Sure you do.

I do.

And when it was coming out, I knew so little that I thought,

well, I guess I get to go to the Oscars this year

because I'm in a movie.

I seriously was like, well, I guess-

Get a dress.

I better get ready.

I better go shopping.

Is it true that Leslie Nielsen every day of his life

walked around with a little fart machine in his pocket?

He did.

There was a fart machine.

Oh my God.

There was a fart machine.

I think that's so awesome.

That'd be good.

There's also this guy, and I can't remember who it was.

Or there wasn't a machine, but there was farting.

Oh boy.

I was just gonna say-

There maybe there wasn't a fart machine.

As I say, Jay doesn't need a machine, yep.

There's a guy, I feel like, it's not Jeffrey Tambor,

but it's somebody like that, equally hilarious,

that his whole life is to walk around

with a little bit of loose change in his pocket,

and he just drops it as he walks by people.

Which is because you can't help but go,

oh sir, you just keep walking.

It's a fun bit.

He just drops loose change.

It's a great bit.

It keeps it fun.

So you're shopping for the Oscars after Mr. McGoo.

Happy birthday.

It's another great bit.

Just say that like in an elevator.

I don't know.

Sorry, Willie.

So you're ready to go to the Oscars after Mr. McGoo.

What was the thing?

What had you done before Mr. McGoo?

Had you done a bunch of shows before then?

What was the first?

And by the way, weren't you a theater nerd too?

Yeah, I was a theater nerd.

Well, let's just go back then, Will.

Let's go back.

You started as a, you weren't a theater major

to begin with, is that true?

Correct, I was a chemistry major.

Wow.

Are you still, do you have like that kind of the brain

that loves that still?

No, no, no.

I don't think I had it then.

I just think my dad was a chemical engine.

He's a retired chemical engineer.

And I come from a chemistry town.

Like it was Union Carbide, Dow, DuPont.

Yeah, there are like five people left.

No, not really.

Do you ever like it?

Drinking water must be delicious.

It's all different colors, rainbow flares.

Do you have a sci-fi brain though

that you do like sci-fi because of alias and all that or no?

No, mm-mm.

All right, well, you don't have to be.

No, I'm just thinking, like you would think that,

but no, I just.

Your girls aren't taking chemistry yet,

are they?

Franny's taking chemistry.

I don't know how she's doing it.

Oh my gosh, my daughter's a junior.

Yes, so then she is, yes.

She's, yeah, she's.

But she's done with chemistry.

Yeah, how old are yours?

Franny's 16 and Maple is 11.

Oh wow, okay, I have 16, 14 and 11.

Are you helping out with chemistry at all?

No, no, no.

No, you didn't retain any of it.

I don't remember, I mean, truly,

I can't help with that homework of my high school junior,

not even, I can hardly read it.

What about math, what about math?

She had her AP, her BC calc AP, whatever,

her exam yesterday, so no, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Derivative, like I don't even.

When's the last time you dealt with a parabola?

You know what I mean?

Wow.

Today?

I mean, what time?

I feel like we really shouldn't have to do it.

Jason, I haven't seen you in a long time.

I know, I know.

Remember when we used to work together,

like once every eight or nine months?

Yeah, remember when we worked together all the time?

You guys did Juno?

We did Juno.

What else?

But before that, we did the Kingdom.

Well, you did the Kingdom, of course.

Was Kingdom before Juno?

Kingdom was before Juno.

Didn't we do a third thing together?

We did, and I always forget,

and I actually looked it up

because we didn't have scenes together, that's why.

Oh, it was the Ricky Gervais thing?

It was Invention of Lying, yeah.

Yes, yes.

Ooh, I love that movie.

Yeah.

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And now back to the show.

So you become a theater nerd.

You're at Denison.

You switch majors.

You don't wanna become a engineer.

You're working on the sets.

You're doing all this stuff.

Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.

And then what?

You're like, all right, I graduate.

I'm out of here and I'm gonna go and work all the time.

Okay, so then I worked at a Shakespeare Festival

in Atlanta, Georgia the summer after I graduated.

And while we were there, there was a musical

because I really, I loved musicals.

And there was a musical, a new version of,

what's it called, Taming of the Shrew.

Okay.

No, what is Taming of the Shrew is the name of the,

which is Kiss Me Kate, there's Kiss Me Kate,

but apparently there needed to be another one.

So it was called Dancing with the One I Love.

And so that show was taken to a theater in a strip mall

in Fort Lauderdale.

Sure.

Called the Brian C. Smith Off-Broadway Theater.

And I-

This is next to Turbo Tax, right?

It literally was.

It was shut down for tax evasion later.

Oh no, sure.

But I went down with that show and performed there.

And I was there as a non-equity performer

because I had been hiding from my equity card

because I could work more, you know?

Yeah, right.

So I was working as a non-equity performer.

So I didn't have, they didn't have to put me up.

So in exchange for being someone's roommate,

I was in charge of the laundry for the entire cast.

And there were 35 men.

We did eight shows a week.

So I washed and ironed all there,

but I got really good at ironing.

No way!

Yeah, I did all of,

all of the washing, drying, all of the dry cleaning.

I can't touch anyone's dirty clothes.

I love dirty clothes, okay?

I can't do it.

I wanna iron your little ponchos so badly.

What if your hand goes in the wrong spot?

Oh gosh.

How dirty can it be?

I'm gonna look for the waistband.

Grab that.

Oh my God.

Do you love that?

Of all household chores, you love ironing?

Like, do you love that?

I have a friend that loves ironing.

Yeah, I get that.

I got really into it at the time.

I was so, I just ironed all, I ironed all the time.

So, yeah.

I used to be one of my chores on the weekends.

I just learned a new hack is to,

if you have rings on a wood table,

something like that,

and you put just a damp towel on it

and you iron it, and it'll bring the ring mark off.

Maybe it's all you do.

I'll tell you that.

Oh my God.

I learned it on the TikTok.

Hey, so listen.

YouTube shorts?

Yeah, YouTube short shorts.

They're called culottes.

So, Jen, so you're in Florida,

you're doing a ton of laundry, and Hollywood calls?

I was doing a ton of laundry,

and after it was over,

I was driving north to audition for...

To Georgia.

From, yeah.

I was driving up north to audition

for Utah Shakespeare for the next summer.

And when I was on my way there,

I met a casting director in Philadelphia at a restaurant,

and he said, you should come and read for this little movie.

Anyway, I ended up in New York for a couple of days,

and while I was there, I went on an audition,

and I, actually, I opened the backstage,

I went on a bunch of auditions,

and because I was so green and so fresh off the bus,

like West Virginia Girl,

I just got everything that day that I went on.

They were all these little non-equity jobs.

It was just one of those days, you know?

It was just like, it's my first day in New York.

Hi.

I hire you right now based on this interview.

It's unbelievable, right?

So somebody said you should meet an agent.

I met this agent.

She said, I want to send you to the roundabout

to see if you could get an understudy job.

And so, anyway, then I did,

and then I started working at Isabella's.

Do you remember Isabella's?

On the southeast corner of 77th Street and Columbus Avenue.

Yes.

That's a bar?

Yes, I do.

A restaurant?

Yeah, it was a cross from the Natural Museum of History.

Yes, I know Isabella's, yeah.

Did you ever get loaded in there, Will?

I sure did, but that was a different lifetime.

How quickly after that were you back on the bus

out to Hollywood?

A few years, because I only wanted to do theater.

Right.

And you have this amazing singing voice

that not a lot of people know that you have, but you do.

No.

Yes.

But so that was the dream to do musicals on Broadway,

never to go out to Hollywood?

I mean, it was just to be in theater.

I didn't really, I mean, I love dancing.

I don't really have a voice

that could be a professional singing voice,

unless it's the range from here to here.

But Broadway quality.

Yeah, I don't have a Broadway voice,

but I have a karaoke voice.

We've done karaoke, sort of fancy karaoke.

But anyway, yeah, then I was super broke

and I had just finally auditioned for a TV thing

this agent sent me on and she said,

well, they want to test you for this.

But it, and I said, I'm understudying right now.

And she said, they'll give you $150 a day cash per diem.

And I so badly needed that cash.

I was so broke that I came to LA to test for something.

And I got that job and it was to play Melissa Gilbert's

daughter in a Daniel Steel mini series.

So then I did that.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

I was up for the same part.

Wow.

I love, Melissa Gilbert was one of my first crushes.

Yeah, no.

You guys are so, you guys are so tied to each other

because I was just thinking, Jay,

you worked with Melissa Gilbert on Little House.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

That's right.

That's when things all started to happen for me.

Testosterone.

I kept calling her Laura.

I remember in hair and makeup,

I kept calling her Laura.

Did you really?

Yeah.

She taught me everything.

I'd never been in front of a camera.

I'd never paid attention to any of it.

She taught me what a call sheet was,

who to talk to for things.

She taught me about the camera turning around.

I had no, I was totally clueless.

Oh my God.

She was really good to me.

That's so sweet.

That's so nice.

Did you guys, did you stay connected with her at all after?

Yeah, you did.

Yeah, I have.

You know, she's in government and politics

I had a fundraiser for, yep.

Married to Timothy Busfield.

Yeah, very happily.

Really?

The great Timothy Busfield, yeah.

Couple of gingers.

Yeah, yeah.

Found each other.

Well, my son's a ginger, so I always have a soft spot.

One of my sons.

Sweet ginger.

Sweet able.

So you do the movie with, now you've,

and then she's taught you everything you need to know

about showbiz in half an hour.

So then I'm in.

So now you're in.

No, then I went back to New York and I was still,

and I would, every time I would get some kind of play,

I would be so broke.

I would get like an episode of Law and Order

or of some dumb thing.

And I would have, I would take that job

because I needed that top of show.

Well, you did Law and Order, right?

I did.

I did.

Scale plus 10.

Scale plus 10.

You're just so stoked.

But also you're working in the city.

And as you, like you, like you're working in the city,

you're so excited that you get to shoot in the city.

And you end up like shooting on,

you're like, I was just here yesterday buying milk

and now I'm here shooting, you know what I mean?

You're so.

It's so crazy.

Isn't it when you first are drive,

or going up somewhere and you see like,

you know, big caravans and a whole set in a base camp.

And you're like, wow, there's a movie shooting there.

And you're like, wait a minute, that's me.

Did you remember that?

Yeah.

I mean, I still feel that way a little bit.

I still get that way, yeah.

I'm driving up to a location and just seeing all the trucks.

It's like, yeah.

Yeah, because I remember like moving to Los Angeles

for the first time seeing that, like just waiting tables.

And you're like, that'd be so cool.

What are they filming over there?

I'd love to be a part of it.

Yeah.

So right off the bus from West Virginia,

you're in New York, you're very green.

How did you find the city?

Was it scary or did you adapt immediately?

I was pretty happy.

I mean, I just, I really went right into it.

I just would pay my $20 to stand at the back

of the Broadway house to watch every show

that I could by myself, like this.

And I would go to museums.

And I mean, I just was, I was nerding out.

So you weren't going to the discos and the bars and the.

No, I wasn't doing that.

But I, my mom always told me that the more people you make

eye contact with and smile at during this day on the street,

like strangers, the happier you are as a person.

So, oh, the cuckoo clock, sorry.

But so as I was walking.

Does that go off every time you quote something cuckoo

Yeah, it would be very busy.

Wait, wait, wait, by the way, by the way, Jen,

that was cuckoo.

There's a lot of wisdom in that because I like that your mom

said that and I was just listening to a thing today

because it is, it lends itself to the cuckoo clocks.

We get locations on the cuckoo clock.

I wish Melissa Gilbert had told you about the sound while

rolling with that cuckoo.

So there's a, there's a lot of wisdom in that.

I like this idea that it's kind of, you know,

you get what you put out there.

And so, and I think that that's true.

If you go out and you make eye contact and you smile at people

and you kind of, you project joy,

you're going to get joy coming back.

Right, okay.

But when you first moved to New York.

Well, that's crazy.

Yeah, no, that's insane.

That is very hard on the population of New York.

It's very tiring.

I was like, hi, hi, how you doing?

Nice day.

I like your shoes.

I mean, it was a lot.

I was, I was a lot.

They were a lot for me.

You can't compliment people's shoes in New York.

But, but when you're,

where was your first apartment?

Do you remember what part of the city?

Yeah, I lived on a woman's kitchen floor

on 85th and Broadway.

Wow.

She had a studio,

but the kitchen was kind of its own alcove.

And I had a little futon in my suitcase for nine months.

Wow, like a puppy.

What year, what year was that, do you think?

A puppy, 1994.

Okay.

Why were you on 85th and?

No, I was, I lived at,

I lived at 87th and West End with five other people.

That was like 90, 91.

And then by 92,

I was living on the Upper East side

and in a railroad apartment with two other dudes.

Wait, are we, are we finally seeing?

Jen, I'm on 81st and Broadway right now.

Oh, no way.

No way.

Maybe no one cares.

Wait, so.

So.

That's a nice apartment.

Is that your apartment?

Yeah, it's brand new.

And all he does is watch TV in there.

Yeah.

So you do this, now you're living there,

you're living in New York and you're doing some,

you're doing Law and Order, you're doing Spin City.

Kind of go back and watch your Spin City episode.

Yeah, you do.

I'm shocked that you haven't.

I know, I know.

And then, where does Alias fall into all of this?

Like, well, sorry.

You meet J.J. Abrams because you do Felicity.

Yes, so a few years go by

and it's, I had been working probably seven years

by the time I met J.J. and did Felicity in Alias.

And how'd you meet J.J.?

I just auditioned for Felicity for a guest spot.

Oh, gotcha.

Wow.

And then it was like, you remembered you.

But I had heard, and J.J. is a friend of the show,

so he's listening, I had heard that you,

that he wrote Alias with you in mind.

He did, I know, isn't that cool?

He gave it to me and I stood in one spot in my kitchen

and read the pilot, I didn't even move.

I was so, it was, it's still,

I think it's the best pilot, I think.

That's awesome.

He's such an incredible director, too.

Yeah, it turns out, yeah.

It's such a great, it is a great pilot

and it was a great show and you're great on it.

And I-

What about just his general energy?

I mean, it's pretty infectious, it's so positive.

Yeah.

He gives you his full attention, he's super sincere.

I just, there's not a lot like him.

And is that where you met our lovely Victor Garber

that we have in common?

Yes, that is where I met our lovely Victor Garber.

Although I'd been a big fan of his, I'd seen him in art,

I'd seen him in the one with Billy Crudup

that started with an A at Lincoln Center.

It's, you know, the one I'm talking about.

Arcadia?

Arcadia, thank you.

Whenever we have dinner, whenever Victor and I go out

to dinner, he's a very close friend of both,

yours and mine, and I'll-

He was at your premier party or your opening night party?

Yes, he was at the opening night.

And anytime we go out to dinner,

I'll always say super, super loud.

Oh my God, were you in Titanic?

And everybody looks, and he's your motherfucker,

fuck you, fucking asshole.

Is everyone's looking for Leonardo DiCaprio?

Did you guys see him in God's Bell?

Yes.

With Martin Short and every other Canadian actor

that we've had on this show.

And they're all still super close, that entire cast.

They're really, it's like 40 years later.

I love that.

Wait, am I showing my dumbness by wondering

why would they all be Canadians?

It all really started.

There was like, so God's Bell was this thing on Broadway.

It was a huge sensation.

Wait, wait, Jen, Jen, before, I hate to interrupt you,

but I have to, Jason, we've had at least five members

of that production on the podcast

who have talked about the fact

that they were all in that production.

No recollection at all.

I just thought maybe God's Bell was written by a Canadian.

It's a Canadian story, and no?

Yeah, Jesus.

Jesus, it turns out, was a Canadian.

Everyone knew it.

So do we, Jesus is in God's Bell?

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

God's Bell's not one word.

Or is it two words?

How do you spell?

How do you spell God?

G-A-W-D?

Oh my God.

Victor, and you know, I used to see Victor too

back in the alias days through Bradley.

All the time, yeah.

Yeah, and we would have dinner out on the west side

with that little, me and the rest of the cast of alias

all the time, because Bradley was on alias.

I felt like a sort of an eighth member of the cast,

if you will.

You were, you were.

No, you won't, no, you won't.

So alias comes about, and then I remember at the time

when alias came out, and it was so good,

and it was so kick-ass, and there was so much written about,

first of all, you were the lead of this show,

and you were a kick-ass lead too.

Like you just kind of, it's like you were shot out of a cannon

and you were beating fools up and knocking people out

and karate chopping heads and doing shit

and like all this spy stuff.

And I remember the stories about you,

your training regiment and how insane it was at the time.

I still think about it to this day sometimes.

I'm gonna admit to you something.

I think about it sometimes when I think about getting up

and working out before work,

and I'll think about you,

the stories of you are embedded in my mind,

and I don't know you working out before doing alias.

I swear to God.

That is really-

Wait, you would work out before shooting 12 hours a day?

Yeah, I would, because Carl Lumley, who was on the show,

I started saying like, it's so hard for me

to keep a workout or hours were so insane,

and I said, and I need to be warmed up,

and I just can't seem to get it all done.

And he is such a stately, gorgeous man

and a theater actor and somebody I just respect so much.

And at the time, like I had all these, I had Ron,

I had Victor, and I had Carl all on the show.

So I was looking up to them so much for anything.

And Carl said, you can always do half an hour.

You just set your clock, just get up and do it.

You can always do it.

And so from that day, I was just like, oh, okay, then I will.

And so just no matter what,

I would crank my clock earlier, 3.45,

you know, I would do anything to show up to work warmed up

because there was so much action

and I never, I didn't know when things were gonna happen.

And I just, I wanted to be ready for whatever.

Now I don't do that.

Now, like a six and an occasional five,

but I don't, you know, not really.

But isn't it depressing how much harder it is

to stay in shape as we get older?

I mean, it's almost like it doubles the amount of time

you have to spend at it almost every year.

I remember you solidly running six or seven miles every day.

Never, it never helped.

Never helped.

It's still, I'm running like I'm being chased.

I also remember you spinning upside down in a car

and just losing it upside down.

And then you, I remember you,

who were you pregnant with when you threw up,

was it Violet?

No, you already had Violet.

I was nursing, that was the issue.

It was so hot where we were shooting the kingdom.

Like we were in Arizona and it was August and September

and 120 on asphalt and we were wearing big boots

and hats and bulletproof vests.

And we, I went, that's the only time, knock on wood,

I've ever had to go to the hospital during shooting.

I would get so dizzy, I couldn't see.

And I was nursing, I should have, you know.

No way.

But I see, but I, but on your Instagram,

I see like you working out all the time.

It's so inspiring.

Like first of all, your mom, you work constantly,

you work out, you're doing all these things.

I see you do so many things.

Like is there, I asked this question a lot

because I find it fascinating.

Is there a thing or a person that inspired you

to be ambitious and to have this drive?

Like where does that come from?

To just do all of these things?

I don't know, but don't you feel like you get older

and you look around and there are people you admire

and just like that moment with Carl?

Like something just like makes you realize,

oh, I can do that.

I can reach for, I can go harder.

I can reach for that.

I can be more.

Yeah, why not you?

Jen, you're my Carl.

That's what I'm trying to tell you.

Oh good, I'm so glad.

I'll see you at, let's set the alarm.

Let's face time.

You can join me.

But when you were younger, was there like a family member

or a person where you just like something clicked

in your head and you're like, wait a minute,

I like how they live their life.

I like how they kind of make the decisions they've made.

I mean, I don't know.

I have pretty great parents.

Like they just, yeah.

I'm pretty great, yeah.

Do you find that your children are as motivated

as you were at that age?

They are each of them in their own ways.

The hard thing is that you think it's gonna be your ways

and their ways are things I could never do

and they're amazing, but they are not,

they keep forgetting to be me.

Yeah, yeah, well they,

because it is fun watching them.

Do you find, well, Sean, do you find your dad?

Oh, period.

Sorry.

Sorry, that was just it.

Just that one question.

Sorry, sorry.

No, but it is funny watching our kids,

and this kind of goes out to everybody.

Like watching our kids go about it a different way

than we went about it.

And I constantly find myself wanting to say like,

hey man, maybe if you,

and then I just go, no, no, no, no, it's okay.

He's gonna do it his own way.

I'm just here to kind of act as bumpers on either side

to keep them within a certain range.

Well, that's interesting though,

because my, because of the way I was,

we were raised and my dad left early that old story.

Because of that, my two brothers who have kids

are phenomenal dads.

Wow.

They're amazing.

Yeah.

I mean, it doesn't always go that way though.

That's right, but I mean,

that was the inspiration to be a great dad.

Can I tell you something that happened the other night

that I found really nice?

I was with Jason and Amanda and Maple,

who's 11 now, Maple, right?

Yeah.

And we were just talking about something,

and Maple was so honest and comfortable in this way

and whatever, we all spent a lot of time.

So.

When she told you to shut your mouth.

When she said shut your stupid mouth,

your stupid Canadian mouth.

Yeah, you were saying something dumb.

And I've been trying to keep from her

that I'm Canadian for a long time.

No, but she said, we started talking about something

and she was really candid with you guys and with us

in this way that felt that I really,

I kind of loved, it was such a reflection of you and Amanda.

And I love seeing that in kids

when they feel this level of comfort to share

and be able to speak openly.

I think that's so important.

That's really rare.

And it was really heartwarming.

Yeah.

Well, that's nice.

Thank you for saying that.

I'm always surprised at how little children

really take from the parents,

this whole question of nature versus nurture.

And I think I've hammered this one before,

but for, whenever somebody says something nice

about my kids, it's my instinct to deflect anyway,

but I do think it is them, it is nature.

It's not nurture.

I think you can affect your kid

probably 5% left or right,

but for the most part, you get what you get.

Cause like, Jen, I'm sure you've got three

to compare against.

I've only got two where they're same parents,

same roof, same upbringing, and they're wildly different.

So there it is, you know, it's, so it's not nurture.

And from the minute they were born too,

like their personalities were already intact.

That's why I don't have kids.

I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night

and have them killing me.

Right. Yeah, exactly.

You could have an axe murderer

and you'd have nothing to do with it.

You know what I'm saying?

Sean recognizes that if he had other,

that they would want to kill him.

And I think that that is a great room.

It's totally true. Jen, what do you find,

now that we're on this, what do you find has,

what do you find challenging as a parent?

And I know the list is long

cause as a, I have three kids as well,

but doing what you do and again, our jobs are no,

lots of people have very busy jobs,

no matter what it is you do,

if you work in an office or you work outside

or whatever it is you do,

but what are the challenges that you find?

Our job is just a selfish job, honestly, you know,

it's really, it's not,

even in the best of circumstances,

we're really like, well, it's all about me right now.

I'm in production and I've got to go to bed

or I've got to, I can't be there

because my production, this might, you know,

and it's like, that doesn't, that's not the way

and the travel and that's not the way kids' lives work.

If something is happening for them,

it's happening for them and you're missing it.

And that's basically it.

So there's so much, I mean, there's so much challenging,

like teenagers and what they all have to absorb

and go through.

And, you know, if you like, when I go to my kids' schools

and I'm there, I have three kids at three schools.

And when I go and I see the energy swirling around

and the kids chattering and arguing and back and forth

and what's important and like struggling for hierarchy,

I just think, oh my gosh, it's so exhausting.

I forget what they've been through

by the time they come home every day.

Right, yeah, right.

What do you do about the social media stuff?

This goes out again to everybody,

but Jen, what do you do about the social media stuff

with your kids?

Because I find it challenging.

Well, so far, and I say, because it feels like,

like there's judgment inherent in what I'm saying

and there isn't, it's just so far I have not,

I don't have kids on social media,

like traditional Instagram, TikTok, all that stuff.

I don't know totally everything they're on.

So, you know, I could be totally wrong.

Yeah, there's some workarounds there.

There are plenty of workarounds,

but they're not checking for likes

and they're not posting themselves.

And I think, you know, your rules are very different

for your first than they are for your third.

So don't hold me to it, but that is kind of my goal.

I just say to them, guys, show me the evidence

that it's good for a teenage brain.

Just show it to me.

And then, you know, some people say, well,

my kids really, that's how they converse.

They converse over Snapchat or whatever.

So far, I've been able to avoid it.

And, you know, we'll just keep down that, you know,

and Ben and I are on the same page about it.

We'll just keep down that road as best we can.

Yeah, we're trying for the same thing

or sort of a limited version of it all.

I want to go back to, for a second,

because, you know, one of my stock questions,

the theater, I need like a terrible theater story

that you have like a favorite horrible,

something that went wrong or a horrible like set

that something happened on a set.

Mostly theater stories.

He's just looking at checkboxes.

Or any kind of personal tragedy.

Any sort of person, a big regret,

something embarrassing.

No, I like, I think theater stories,

theater stories go wrong or hysterical.

Unearthed trauma would be fun.

They're super relatable, so.

I mean, I run when I, like, I basically,

my instinct, like, I just have a lot of, er,

and so I run onto stage or I run, you know,

like I just do.

So I was doing Cyrano at the Richard Rogers

with Mr. Klein, Kevin Klein.

It was, it was heaven, it was wonderful.

But I got into a spell where I fell at some point every night.

And there was this, the back, the upstage

was this huge staircase that was like two stories

straight down, fully exposed.

And I would come like, like really fast, it was so fun.

So I go to, to, to, and the last 10 steps,

go, go, go, go, on the elbow or I would fall in the fifth act

or I'd fall at the curtain call.

I just, once you, once I started,

I couldn't get my feet back under me.

And people would say to me, hey, I saw you in Cyrano.

Oh man, you were amazing.

You know, I was there the night you fell.

It was every night, yeah.

And it's like, did you start padding up?

I mean, I should have.

You know, when like, when stunt doubles take a stair fall

and they're like, well, I put a powder puff under my wig.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Now, did you, did you end up coming up

with a funny line at the bottom of your tuck and roll

every night?

No, because it's, it was so, it was so serious.

You can't, you know, you just have to.

Yeah, it's so serious.

Oh my God.

Yeah, it's so serious.

Cyrano-yus.

I want to know about, Jen, I, I love,

you mentioned Kevin Klein.

He's one of those guys that I've always admired

and think is so great.

What was that like?

I've never come close to the guy and I'm just,

I don't think any of us have.

Have you guys ever seen him out?

Never, not once.

And I lived in New York for 20 years.

I never saw him.

He lives way up on the Upper East Side.

He's still, he's married to Phoebe.

Cates, they are.

Yeah, yeah, never seen them out.

They are, they're like king and queen of their neighborhood.

He has a big show on Apple coming out, I think,

that they shot in London.

Anyway, he is the most literate.

He's one of those people that is just always

taking in art.

He's always reading.

He's, there's always a play in his, in his back pocket

or something.

There's just, he's always taking in poetry

and using it as a reference.

And it makes you kind of panic.

Yeah.

You gotta go around the show.

Of course he is.

No, wait, he's my idol.

So wait, Jen, with everything that you've done,

everything that you've accomplished,

is there something, is there a role or a thing

or something that you're like, you know what?

I've always wanted blank.

I've never gotten it.

I still want it.

This was kind of it, guys.

You know, I'm a friend of the pot.

I'm, yeah.

Yeah, sure.

This was kind of it.

I'm a listener.

Oh guys, when you had that Simon, Simon.

Le Bon?

Le Bon from Dredd Dredd.

I know.

That was cool.

Yeah, he's very cool.

He's very cool.

It's like that Chris Farley,

Saturday Night Live talk show.

That was cool.

And it was when you guys had,

that was cool.

No, do you know what, when my kids go to college,

I keep, you know, I feel like it's healthy

to have something you're looking forward to

besides it's just panicking.

So I think I want to go to New York and try to be,

you know, there's always like a little old lady

and a musical.

Yeah, that's my dream.

When the girls go off to college,

it's time to go to New York and try theater.

Do it.

Yeah.

Right?

I'll see you there.

What do you want to do?

I'll do it.

Let's do it together.

We'll just do it.

We'll start with love letters.

Great.

Right?

Sean, is that that's a good one?

Why don't you reimagine the odd couple

as just a girl and a guy instead of two guys?

I'm not rapper port.

I'm not rapper port.

We could call Pete Burke, he could direct us.

Direct us in the odd couple, could you imagine?

It becomes War of the Roses.

We blow up the whole stage.

Yeah, totally.

So when did you do the app, sorry to switch,

when did you do the Apple TV, your limited series

that you produced to?

A year ago, right now, I was in production.

The last thing he told me.

The last thing he told me.

Out Now on Apple TV Plus.

It's out now.

Yes, it is out right now.

We shot it a year ago here in LA with a sometime in Austin

and sometime in Sausalito.

How'd you like Austin?

I love Austin.

Austin's just, what a beautiful city.

It's so cool.

And then you have the, everyone's drawn to the lake.

It's so nice.

Sorry, I just got to say just it

because I keep Austin weird.

Anyway.

So.

Getting paid by the Chamber of Commerce there.

People used to have those bumper stickers.

I mean, I'm really dating myself as an old Jen.

They still do.

It was poorly made.

Yeah, they still, the bumper stickers are still a thing.

Yeah.

But good call back.

Great job.

I'm so old.

I'm such an old, all my musicals.

I'm just like realizing I'm old.

Jen, do any of the kids wanna go into this business?

Have you got a sense of it?

I think we may have one, but I don't know

if that child knows it yet, so I'm not gonna.

And how do you feel about that?

Will you be encouraging if and when

the light shines on him or her?

What about you, Jason?

What are you gonna do?

I know, I feel like Franny, Franny's starting

to get interested in directing,

which is really exciting to me.

That's really great.

So we're like watching movies together

and talking about all that stuff.

It's kind of like on my dad and I were.

I know, just like about a year ago, right?

Or a year ago, Franny was like.

Maple, I think, is interested maybe in acting,

but neither one is frothing at the mouth,

super passionate about it.

I'm not a big fan of kids going into this business

only because you could spend all of that time

studying for a career where if you're the best at it,

you're guaranteed employment, and this is not that.

Or any form of the arts, pardon the term,

it's also objective, so I don't know, it's tough.

It's a tough business to make a big commitment.

You certainly can't say no if they become adults

and that's, you know.

Correct, yeah, I'll be encouraging

if they're overwhelmed with desire for it.

But kids acting, little kids on set, I don't know.

Well, that's the other weird part for me too,

it's sort of heady where you're trying to train yourself

to be other people at a time when you're learning

who you are.

Ooh.

And it's kind of heady.

That's profound.

Yeah, it kind of messed me up a little bit.

Yeah.

I never thought of that.

It should be done a little bit later, I think.

Do you feel like sometimes you're like,

am I a werewolf?

Am I a werewolf also?

Yeah, yeah, well listen, when I don't shave,

when I don't shave every other day,

it just starts to let my nails grow, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, just scrape.

Yeah, no, it is a little schizophrenic, definitely, but.

Thanks for bringing it down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's just take a break.

Ah.

Ah.

Ah.

She also tells us that we're going down

to take a tour of Highlight Reel.

She just told us a great story the other day

as she went to a party of a bunch of people she didn't know.

And she came out on the second story balcony

and she just screamed downstairs to a bunch of party

growers that she didn't know they didn't know her.

She just said, hey guys, sorry, excuse me.

Hi, yeah, up here.

I just want you guys to know I'm going to bed

in like 10 minutes, okay?

And they just went back into the upstairs balcony.

And everybody's like looking at each other.

She and her friend, well, she and her friend,

who was she talking about?

She and her friend were doing what they call party bits.

And she agreed to go to this party into this house

of somebody she didn't know.

And she would walk into the kitchen

and just kind of like slap the wall and go like,

hey guys, they're like six people.

Like, hey guys, I'm probably going to turn it

in about 10 minutes.

And they're all like, uh, okay.

By the way, such a fucking God.

Sean, how fun is that?

That is such a good bit.

Kind of bad.

What are the other bits?

I want to know.

I want to do the thing when I want to drive around

all the fancy neighborhoods in Los Angeles,

like Beverly Hills and Bel Air,

and then like drive up to like crews

who were like gardening and stuff and go,

hey guys, you can knock off for the day.

Yeah.

And then drive away and then just be like,

yeah, don't worry about, don't worry about the front guys.

Don't worry about it.

I talked to the guy, you guys are good to go

and start wrapping crews who are doing work.

As if you live there.

Yeah, as if I live there.

That's a good party bed.

Not bad.

Jen, what's the rest of your day today?

You're not working on something, are you?

No, I'm not working on anything.

No, what is my day?

I'm gonna...

You worked out at 3 a.m.

Yeah.

I worked out this morning

and actually I actually have a boxing session after this.

So I work out all the time.

I box at Pete's gym.

Do you really?

Is he still going in there?

This is Pete Berg.

He still goes in there.

Who's Pete Berg?

Peter Berg is an actor, director, director.

Oh, Peter Berg.

Yeah, I was like Pete.

And has been ripped to shreds for years.

He has always an incredible shape.

You can really box.

You can, right?

Yeah, you can really box.

I boxed this morning

and then my 14-year-olds has just started boxing at a gym.

I'd rather play Rockham Sockham.

Oh, remember that?

Remember that?

Yeah.

Sean, what time are you working out today?

And be honest.

Oh, God.

Look around.

Look around the both weeks.

Look around.

So wait, today's Tuesday.

You have a show tonight, yeah?

No, off Mondays and Tuesdays.

So do you have two on Saturday, two on Sunday?

Are you doing seven?

We're doing seven, yeah.

Gosh, that's nice.

Yeah, it's really, really nice, yeah.

Well, what's normal?

Eight.

Eight.

And where's the eighth show on a Tuesday, night?

Tuesday, yeah.

It would normally be tonight, Tuesday, yeah.

But we don't, yeah.

I guess so.

It's really nice.

It's really nice.

Actually, it feels like you have a weekend.

Jen, what are you and Jason,

what are you and Jason,

when you and Jason do your show on Broadway,

when you guys moved to New York,

let Jason get into the deal

because you guys would be on four shows a week.

Oh, I know, we're gonna do only matinees.

That's it.

I heard, I don't know if that's true,

but I heard Dolly Parton,

somebody came up to Dolly Parton and asked her

if she wanted to do some big musical,

can't remember the name of it,

and she said, sure, I'll do four shows a week.

They're like, no, wouldn't you do,

wouldn't you say yes to Dolly Parton doing,

yes Dolly Parton.

Who wouldn't buy a ticket,

even if it's four shows a week?

Yeah.

I would buy a ticket for the show I don't go to,

just to have the ticket to go to Dolly.

Yeah.

Did you ever go to Dollywood?

Is that West Virginia?

No, it's in Tennessee.

It's in Tennessee.

It is so, it's so great.

All the rocks have Dolly music,

playing Dolly's music everywhere you go.

The rocks have speakers.

The rocks have speakers.

It was the first time I'd ever seen that,

and I was like, the rocks are singing Dolly Parton.

And I took my grandmother, XC May,

and I hoisted her up over like a merry-go-round horse.

And I just, I can't believe I did it now, thinking back.

Like, I'm so glad I didn't break that little lady.

But XC May was in heaven.

All right, so after boxing today,

where there's then, I would imagine

you're gonna pick up at least one of those kids.

Well, yeah, I gotta pick up some kids.

I have this little company called Want Upon a Farm.

Yes, yes. Yeah.

So tell us what that's, tell people what that is.

Tell me about that, I don't know about that.

Oh, it's actually, it's awesome.

It is this all super clean, super organic kids

and baby's food.

And it is pureed and it's cold pressed,

so it's not, it's not like.

Garbage.

Yeah, it's not garbage.

There's no sugar added, there's nothing added.

It's just pure goodness. I would eat all of that,

but I would put the sugar in it.

Yeah, you would.

You actually, you don't need it because it's all fresh

and it's not cooked down, so it has to.

He loves sweet and low though.

He just loves sweet and low and everything.

You could add a little sweet and low.

You put it in a blender, Sean.

Sean put it in a blender and then he'd add,

he'd add some Reese's Peanut Butter Goat.

What is it?

Sweet and low right there.

Oh, there's sweet and low.

Oh, that's Scotty.

That's Scotty.

That's Scotty.

Good to see you.

Sweet and low.

That's a great dick day for you.

All right, so you're gonna go and work on.

So I have that stuff today.

I have calls and stuff like that.

All right, but wait, let's get,

I want trying to get to the evening time

and I wanna know, I like to do, I like asking this,

what do you curl up and watch

that you're a little bit embarrassed that you're watching?

Yeah.

Oh, well, I still watch, I mean, I still watch Seinfeld.

Pretty much all the time,

but that's nothing to be embarrassed about.

It's just that I've seen them all a thousand,

but I'm watching Diplomat.

Oh, that's great.

Oh, Terry Russell.

Yeah, I love Terry.

Oh, I heard that's really good.

Love her.

Yeah, she's so little felicity.

What's that on the Amazon?

Netflix.

It's on the Netflix.

On the Netflix, very nice.

The kids and I are about to start jury duty.

We just need to get someone in the house

past AP exams and then we're gonna watch jury duty.

I hear that's good.

It's really good.

Jury duty is a show.

Yeah, it's James.

Marston.

James Marston.

James Marston, that's right.

And he's the only one who knows what's going on

and the rest don't.

No, they all know, he's just playing himself

as like a, he's playing a bratty actor.

He was prepping for it.

We shot party down together at the beginning of last year

and he was getting ready for it.

And he was like, what am I going into?

This is going to be a disaster.

And is it ethically okay to be messing with this person?

And there's one person who thinks he's just part

of a documentary and has no idea that everyone else is in.

Yeah.

Wait, this sounds really cool.

They just think they're on jury duty.

He thinks that they're making a documentary

about this particular trial and he's the only person,

everything else is made up.

Yeah.

Oh wow.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

There's so much to watch.

And that's good for kids, kids and adults.

I mean, I don't know that it's appropriate for kids,

but I feel like my kids have probably been exposed to plenty.

Even Sam's watching the R rated movies now.

My 11 year old is at times.

Yeah, I think from time to time.

Yeah, it squeaks through there.

But you know what?

Now, do you curse in front of the kids?

I find that I'm starting to get very, very loose

with all of that.

Very loose, do you see?

Yeah.

I don't.

Yeah.

On purpose?

Or you just don't curse on them?

Do you curse a lot?

You don't seem like you do.

I learned to curse.

I didn't used to, but I can.

And I do.

I mean, maybe occasionally something slips out,

but I really don't want them to curse in front of me

because I feel like you need to know

that there are grownups you talk a certain way around

or that you behave a certain way around

and it might as well be me.

So yeah.

I really love that.

You're a good mom.

Yeah.

I don't know.

You know what you're doing.

And you also have a busy day

and we've taken up way too much of your time.

Way too much of your time.

You have so many things to go do,

more important than talking to us.

But you started our day with a nice big shot of sunshine.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jen.

So pleasant.

At least I didn't show you my bad hair.

Let's take a look.

I can't believe that it's any.

How can it be bad?

It's long.

Let's take a look.

I don't know.

We're gonna.

Is that a scrunchie on your wrist?

Yeah.

You gotta be ready.

I like to do a scrunchie.

I'm always doing scrunchie bits.

Oh yeah.

I like to watch him do a scrunchie bit.

Yeah, I think my hair.

And then he's ready to go.

And I'm ready to go.

Thank you for that.

And then stretch out the ponytail.

You gotta stretch it out.

No, I always take, yeah, you do this.

I'm always doing this with it, you know?

Like you're doing this.

Hey guys, did anybody see where I parked?

Where I left my hair spray.

I love when, I love Sean will pick up somebody's purse

at a party and just throw it over your shoulder.

You go, guys, anybody need anything from CVS?

Yeah.

I'm just running to CVS.

And which way is out?

Is that way?

How do I get out of here?

Also, anytime there's a candle anywhere on a table,

whatever, Sean always grabs the candle and then he goes like this.

Shield the wind from the front of it.

Shield the wind.

And I go, guys, to the bathroom.

Which way is that?

This way.

Stick those to the candles.

Same bit.

We now truly wasted your time.

I've learned so much.

Thank you guys.

Sorry, Jen.

No, we learned a lot.

Thank you, Jennifer Garner.

We love you.

So good to see you all.

Thank you, Jennifer Garner.

Love you, Jennifer.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Last thing you told me on Apple Plus with Jennifer Garner,

go and watch it immediately.

Yes.

Do the right thing.

Do the right thing.

Bye.

Bye, Jen.

Guys, how'd you feel?

I feel like I got a personality shower.

Yeah, I feel better.

You know, I'm all clean.

Speaking to a flower who is just easy breezy, lovely,

gorgeous, fun, funny, talented.

Right in the day.

She made me feel better.

Yeah.

She made the day better.

You know, I am db'd her page while we're talking.

It's unbelievable.

Like she has 8,000 credits.

Yeah, she's been at it for quite some time.

Like, remember 13 Going On 30,

which we didn't even ask her about?

Yes, 13 Going On 30.

That was the movie I was thinking about.

She did it with Ruffalo, right?

I think so, yeah.

Is that right?

Yeah, what about dresses?

Wasn't there a bunch of dresses?

Did she do that one?

19 dresses?

21 dresses?

I don't know.

17, 25 dresses.

No, that was...

Remember she was in Dallas Buyer's Club?

She was in Dallas Buyer's Club.

Oh my God, she was.

13 Going On 30.

I'm pretty sure it was, yeah, it's a Ruffalo.

Listener doesn't want to hear us going down

that her I am a db'd page.

Well, I just looked it up.

I was like, oh my God.

No, she's done so much.

And she's always so...

I always feel like she's one of those people.

You're, whatever she's in,

whether it's in a movie or on TV or at something

or even on a commercial,

you're always like, boy, I'm delighted to see Jen Garner.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know what I mean?

One of America's sweethearts.

Absolutely.

Even if she's asking me what's in my wallet

is she's brightening up my commercial break.

It's true.

I know.

Yeah, she does a bunch of those things

and it's so delightful and that's almost...

I don't mean...

She's got that it thing that everybody talks about

where you look at her and you're like,

oh, she's my friend, I want to be friend with her.

Exactly, I don't want to just sound condescending.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, you want it like,

I want to talk to Jennifer Garner.

I feel like my day would feel better.

Guess what?

We just did.

But conversely, it would be awesome

just to see her in some gnarly dramatic part

where she's just fucking ripping

something apart to say,

you son of a bet you're just unleashing.

I bet she's got that.

Dude, cool it, man.

Why?

Well, just to see,

like to see an actor go from zero to a hundred.

Right?

I don't know.

Absolutely.

I don't know if everybody needs to do everything

to do the thing we're like,

be good at the thing you're good at.

Well, put it this way.

Can you imagine her in a bad mood?

No, right?

So wouldn't it be fun in a character,

in a part to see her just like?

Yeah, I guess.

It'd be like so shocking.

Yeah, for sure.

Like if you were to see me in a part

just being super nice and genuine to somebody.

I wouldn't believe it.

I wouldn't believe it for a second.

But if I was doing a good job, it would be nice to see.

They'd give you an Oscar.

If you did that, you'd get a lifetime

achievement award for that.

That's her.

I don't believe it.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

I would say like when she, when I see her.

Here he comes.

Oh boy.

Here he comes.

Sean, can I tell you something?

I can see you coming from a mile away.

Cause you know why?

Cause it always starts with, can I stay for?

Here comes the bye.

Cause if I find a friend, if I find a friend,

can I find a friend?

Well, I never would.

Whenever I see a friend.

I never, Scotty and I find a friend.

I know.

Wait a minute.

Why don't we just, why don't we just go back?

Start again.

Why don't we just go back to saying goodbye?

Why don't we just say, Hey, what a great show.

I'll see you guys later.

Never happens.

Bye.

Why don't we just do that?

So, so for five.

So when I see Jennifer coming towards me,

I always want to say hi.

I never want to say, oh, bye.

Bye.

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.

“When’s the last time you dealt with a parabola?” is one of the many questions we explore with the lovely Jennifer Garner. So grab your scrunchy, sit back, and relax, because the rocks are singing Dolly Parton songs tonight… on an all new episode of SmartLess.




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