Lauren Lee

On this week's episode I sit down with the wonderful, the talented, the hilarious, Lauren Lee. We discuss everything from early-life expectations to succeed to her undying love for her dog, Dobby.

If you're looking for handmade wooden home decor then my Etsy shop is perfect for you! For a look at my catalog go to: JohnMadWoodworking.Etsy.com

You can find more info about my work as an actor and voiceover artist on my website at: www.johnmaddaloni.com

Thanks for listening to this week's episode. Be sure to rate the show, enable automatic downloads and, if you're interested in becoming a donor, you can go to workingclassacts.com and press the support button at the top right corner of the page to donate today!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Wait, let me okay, I got something. Ready? Three, two, one, frame. Brown frame.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Um, okay. Uh oh. Three, two, one. Wooden.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Did you say wooden? Yeah. I think that counts. I do, I think. Wooden, wooden. I've actually been good with the like, this is the set the third time I think I've played where I've gotten it on the second go with a person.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Ugh, I wanted to feel special. Oh no, that doesn't mean you're special. Oh my god, Ross. You're actually the special one.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Oh, thanks, Lauren.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

You too.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Welcome to working class axe. As I talk over you. I'm like, yeah, you're special too.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Hello, and welcome to the Working Class Acts Podcast. I'm your host, John Mattalone. I'm never doing that again. I scared myself doing that.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Comedic timing was perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Oh, you heard her just now. You might even see her depending on how you're looking at this or taking in this medium. Um, but I am here with such a lovely human being and an extraordinary actress. You can catch her right now on an episode of Ellsbeth on CBS. And if you were around last year, she was part of a fundraiser for the New York stage and film, yes, uh, in which she got to act alongside John Traturro, Rose Byrne, and Bobby Canavale, yes, uh, which is fucking awesome. She did that at the Music Box Theater on Broadway. And I'm here with Lauren Lee. Hello. Oh my god, Lauren Lee has arrived. Hey, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

That was really good. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Absolutely. I'm so happy you're here. It's been a little while.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

I know.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

I mean, we saw each other at NYU. Oh, she's also an NYU grad. That's where we met. Yes. Um, we saw each other the other month. Yeah, it was after Angels in America, I think.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

It was actually after the other show.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Oh, oh no, it was after which, yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Oh, wait, but did you see in America?

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Oh, yeah. My my girlfriend uh assistant directed it. Right, that's right. Yes. And I loved it. Incredible. I thought the set in particular was really fucking cool. Amazing. Um, but just great performances by everybody. That's the class is really strong. Really strong. Um, Lauren!

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Hello! How have you been? I've been really well. Good, good. I've been really well.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

How is your time? Oh, what? It's a full moon. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

What do you mean by that? Had to say that. The moon is full moon.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

It's a full moon right now?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Yes. Wow. It's a hundred percent full moon in Libra.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Libra.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Sorry, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

What does that mean? Are you are you into uh every want it mean, John? Okay, but are you into that sort of uh are you into astrology and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Or only as much as it benefits me.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Only as much as when I notice the moon is full.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Only as much as when I read something and I'm like, that is happening to me right now. No, I feel that.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

I love that.

unknown 3:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

So if you're feeling crazy, oh it's because of the full minute. Yeah, it's also Rabbit Rabbit.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Rabbit Rabbit. April 1st. Oh, yes, it is April 1st right now. Or is it? Oh, yeah. April Fools? Do you hate pranks? I hate pranks. Do you really?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

I really hate pranks.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

I grew up with two older brothers.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Oh, I was just gonna say, me and my brother used to like to play pranks on each other. We tried to like prank our dad every year because he would be like unfazed by anything. You couldn't scare him. And we got pretty close to getting him.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

What was the close time?

SPEAKER_02 3:57

It was a really weird prank. It was a really weird prank, and my brother had this trick pen that when you opened it, it snapped. Like it popped. You had to put like a little it was it was actually like a a weapon. It was like you'd have to put in this little, like, if I remember correctly, like uh like a little bit of it's not gunpowder, I don't want to say, but you didn't say that. You remember those poppers like on 4th of July, and you'd throw them on the ground and they'd explode. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

It was like something. We call them snappers.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Oh, snappers. We call poppers is probably not great.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Poppers. Remember those snappers.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

We were doing poppers on July 4th. We were kids. Um But it was like a thing like that, but in like smaller form. You put it in the pen and when you pull it apart, it would just it would pop. That's horrible, I think. But here's the thing we didn't just give this to our dad and he opened it or whatever. We set it up in his walk, he had a walk-in closet, um, and we tied it to the door and uh some something else so that when you open the door, it would pull apart on its own. And then we set up a camera inside of the Oh my god, you're like impractical jokes. Oh, yeah, we really were. Um me and my brother would film like everything. We would love making little like fun movies together. We did parodies of like The Matrix.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Is that kind of where your love came from?

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Oh yeah, absolutely. Definitely it was a lot of fun. Um love you, brother. Um and uh yeah, so we filmed him, and we I'm sure my brother still has this somewhere. Uh my dad opened the door, it went and he just went, Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

And then was looking around, saw the camera, and then was just like, oh god. And then that was it. So it was like the closest we ever got was him saying Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I like that, actually.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

It was quite fun.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

It's really beautiful. Lauren. Hi.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Where are you from? Where did it all begin? Take us back.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Let me set the scene. Yes. It's a little town, not so little, called Burke, Virginia. It's about 20 miles south of DC. Okay. Um if you would like a sort of uh, I don't know, vibe representation. Sure. David Lynch once said about this particular northern Virginia suburb that it had a poison seeping deep within. And it was like infesting the town.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Oh my god. Wait, what do you mean by he thought there was a po like a literal? I mean, I don't deny it. You're talking you came in hot with the uh what it's the full moon. It's the full moon.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Ever seen Scooby-Doo?

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Know what that means? Okay, that's wild. Do you think he was like inspired to to make what uh didn't he have like a sort of a horror film that was about like suburbs, the like sort of the blanking of blue velvet. Oh, blue velvet, yes. Yeah. Do you think he was sort of cut that out? No, no, I'll be able to get it.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

But I think it is yeah, replace that with what it actually is. Someone else's voice.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

It's gonna be a terrible dub over the it was blue velvet.

unknown 7:15

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Well wow. What did you feel that pose? Oh yeah. Oh, did you really? Oh yeah. What do you think it was?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

I think that it was not to get political. I think that it was being so close to DC. Oh, a lot of men working in politics had families who lived in the suburbs outside of DC. Sure. And the pressure to keep up, it's very much keeping up with the Joneses, while also being like really haunted by the realities of the country. Yeah. And the expectation for men to be powerful and successful.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah. Yeah. But no, I feel that. That's a thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So did you like growing up there or was it? Not particularly.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Did you feel that a lot? Yeah, I think, yeah. Especially, you know, growing up as you know, in I was doing kind of arts. I was doing everything. I was doing anything that would keep me busy. My mom was so terrified that I would there's also a lot of drugs, you know, there's a lot of like wealth. Yeah. And so there's wealth and drugs behind the scene. And so like hiding the realities not to get so dark.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

But it's true, like it no matter what community going, if there's if there's ultra wealth, there will be ultra poverty and there will be other things going on.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Absolutely, yeah. And I think, you know, growing up, my mom was both my parents, uh my dad worked in the government, and so he was. Oh, I was gonna say, was he was one of those? And uh and my mom was desperate to keep me busy, and so I was I played every sport, I did every program, every hour of my day was spent doing something.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Uh and so I think there was a lot of pressure on me to be on on a lot of young people growing up in that area to be something. Yeah. And it fell a lot of times on women, on girls. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Oh god. Well, I'm so sorry. Yeah. Um No, it's okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

I don't know how this got so No, it's okay. It's less than that. That's kind of like why I turned to the arts, was because I mean it didn't feel healthy the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

No. And my mom watched Carol Burnett every night. Oh hell yes. So Carol Burnett is the queen. She's a god. Yeah. And so that was sort of you know on m you know, the the soundtrack of of my life growing up.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Do you feel like she inspired you a lot to get into the arts?

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Like, did you really watch a lot or is that more like your mom and yeah, I think that I think I think female comedians really, you know, from from that time especially were so rare. Oh yeah. And um I think it's really hard to to even discern what a comedy like that is when you're young. Yeah. And um and Carol Burnett was so direct. Yeah. And she was like, This is actually the purpose of it is to make you laugh before you go to bed. Yeah. And to maybe like close your day out with a smile and instead of the worries, a tummy pain from laughing so hard.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Instead of yes, the woes of life.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

They'll get you done.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

I love it. I love it. They'll get you done. So where do you feel like your bug, the proverbial bug, bit you in terms of performing and becoming a well trigger warning, I grew up in the church.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Me too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Wait, which one? Or or like Southern Baptist. No. Wait, did you really? Did you? No. Oh, yes, I did. Oh no, I'm sorry. I was thinking of the Westboro Baptist. Holy shit. I was like, wait, I need to do like another interview with you because I would be fascinated to learn what there.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Hey, darkness.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Oh, they're definitely a darkness there.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Um my god, okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

So did you feel uh And so I played the angel in the Nativity.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Oh, there you go. That was their your first like ever performance. That was my first ever performance.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Everyone was looking at me and you're like, I love it. I oversaw Jesus being born.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Yeah, and I fully believed it.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

That you saw Jesus being born. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

And it was a classmate of mine.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

So did you pick that up and and go? Like, were you like, oh, I love this. I want to like join your drama club or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

No, I didn't do drama club. I I did choir a lot, and I performed like every child in the living room. Oh, of course. Yeah. And that's like sit down, I've got something really important to say. And it was You're like, pull my finger. Look at this pen. It's really funny. Yeah, yeah. Don't tell them it's snaps. Oh shit. Um, yeah, and it was mostly like lip syncing to Hillary Duff. Oh, hell yeah. Was a huge my performative upcoming um upbringing, I should say. And yeah, I I caught the bug then and I did choir, you know, all through I did choir and band. Um I played the flute.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

You play the flute. I played the flute. I play trumpet.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

That's so true. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

My grandpa played it, my dad played it, my brother played it, I play it.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I got trumpets in my bedroom.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

I um was obsessed with Lord of the Rings. Hell yeah, who isn't? Still am. And um the flute is just very elfish to me.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Yeah. Elfish to you, yeah. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Um, pan flute would be even better, but they don't have those in the band for some time.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Oh, do you know how to play it though? The pan flute? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

No, I'm sure I could. Do you have one?

SPEAKER_02 13:34

No, I don't. I've got some harmonicas laying around.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Then I definitely can play it. And I'm really good at it.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

I feel like everyone's really good at the harmonica, but also you really? Well, it's like one of those things that it's like it's hard to play it out of tune because it's like no matter what you play, it will be something. Um, but to play it well, like genuinely proficiently, is very difficult. Super hard. Very difficult.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

I feel like my lips have only touched a harmonica a handful of times. And was that weird the way I said it?

SPEAKER_03 14:06

It was like I had my mouth has only a handful of times, and I was about a foot away from it when knee deep.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Um and every time it's been really unenjoyable for me to hear.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

So not a Bob Dylan fan, I take it.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

I didn't watch that movie. Oh, I haven't seen it either.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Um, yeah, no, I I'm not kidding. I actually didn't watch that movie. Yeah. But you know, I saw a picture of his fingernails and it really put me off.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

His fingernails? Yeah. Bob Dylan's or Timote Chalomet.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Both of them. I think gnarly stay true to the character. He like grew them out really long.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Oh, oh, oh, because he was playing guitar. I think that was a thing. Yeah. That's a lot of guitarists do that, I suppose.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

The nails are the picks.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

And that's a pole quote.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

And that's the quote. The nails are the picks.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Uh of the hand. I love it. They are. Oh my god. What? Yeah, the nails are the picks of the hands of the hand.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

The nails are the picks of the hand. Yeah. Oh my god. So anyway, how did you get into theater? When did you really start pursuing it? Did you feel?

SPEAKER_00 15:10

I was cast in eighth grade in my I went to a secondary school, which is seventh through twelfth grade. Oh, okay. And I was cast in our um. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

You call it a secondary school for seventh through twelfth grade. Yeah. We call it middle school, then high school. What are you from England or Europe or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

I hear and I validate what you're saying.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

What are you not Americans?

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Are you saying that you went to one school, one building that was seventh through twelfth grade?

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah, actually. Yeah. They had built a wing onto our. We didn't call it a school. We called our the wing that they call that they added onto the high school, the middle school. And then the high school, which was it you were just attached to it. So uh maybe my my distinction of it is different, but nobody calls it secondary school. Um agree to disagree. Maybe you're out east.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Um they did, they called it a secondary school. And um in eighth grade, I was cast in our production of uh high school musical. Oh I was not yet in high school.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Oh, so did you feel like really hip that you're playing? Of course. Wait, who'd you play? Did you play?

SPEAKER_00 16:22

No, like a thespian.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Oh, oh, just like it was I I wasn't sure if you were playing oh, what's her name?

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Uh which one? Gabriella Sharpay.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Sharpe. Sharpe. I'm like, I know I'll know it when I hear it.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Sharpay Evans, Ashley Tisdale Extraordinary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um no, I did not. I I I definitely had dreams of auditioning and being the eighth grader that they were like, How did she get here? Oh my god, is she Sharpay? And I was like, you're welcome. Yeah. But um, I'm not like a great singer, so I got ensemble. There you go. And that was it. History was made.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

I can tell you a very funny quick story, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Tell me.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

So when I first started acting, I don't think I've told this yet. So this is a new story.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

This is actually a little embarrassing at the ego that I think I had. It's okay. Which was so a lot of people told me that it was very funny, and I did impressions all the time. So I was just like, thank you. Um thank you so much. And then you're welcome. Um, and so people were like, You should try out for the drama club. And I was like, okay, and I finally said yes to it. This was like, I was in middle school at the time. I think it was in like eighth grade, maybe at the time. Okay. Uh, and they were doing Annie. And I was like, Oh, this is a great one. Is it classic, good one to start on, or whatever? Um, but I was like, oh, who should who should I play? And I was like, oh, that would be fun if I was like the the villain or whatever. Rooster? Yes, Rooster, what's his name? I almost said Cogburn, but I don't think that's right. I think that's from uh Rooster Cogburn? I think that's from Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth. Whoa. Um Rooster, but yeah, Rooster.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Rooster Hannigan, right? Because they're brother and sister. Yes, I think so.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Yeah, the Hannigans, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

The Hannigans.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

I guess I mean if if we're wrong, roast us, I guess. Um I wanted to play Rooster. I was like, oh, that'll be fun. I'll play the villain or whatever. So I go to the I'm like learning the line. I'm like, easy street, easy street. I'm like trying to learn the song. Yeah. Um is my first time singing publicly. Oh. I get to the audition. We all we it's a it's group auditions. We do them together. Okay. And I remember this, and uh to his credit, he did a very good job. John Lopez, who is our director at the time, he was like the king of the drama club uh at the time, uh before he moved on to uh I think he got another job somewhere else. Um was that I said the next one. No, he's still around.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Long live John Lopez.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

But uh we all came in. There was like five of us. We all sat down and he was like, all right, we're just gonna like go down the line and we'll sing a little bit of the songs or whatever, and was like his way of like get getting us to like, you know, sing a little, see what it's like to sing publicly. Yeah. Everyone goes, and then it's my turn, and I'm like, it's tone deaf. It's tone deaf all over. I'm forgetting the words.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

You know, in the moment.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Oh, yeah, it's ha it's it's a car, it is it's a car wreck into a train wreck into like a zeppelin falling on top of the train.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Really bad.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

That's what it felt like to me. Um, oh god, this whole wall falls down. Um and like I it I am so embarrassed. And he like he's he stops and he was like, let's everybody sing with John. And I know he was trying to just like help me feel less uh whatever. Um we finished that, and then we had to fill out a little form saying like, you know, just basic information. Yeah. Uh and one of them was like, if you don't get the part that you want, would you be willing to be an ensemble? Classic question. I wrote, no.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

I was like, it's rooster or nothing.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, that's a that's a boundary. That was sad.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

That was no, it was it was overconfident, is what it was.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

And uh he gets to that on my form and he's like, John, I just want to make sure I'm reading He's like, I don't know if you're but um you don't want to be in the ensemble if you don't get the part. And I was like, correct. Mortified. I'm like, correct. Yes, I read that. Uh yes, sir. And he's like, okay. And then we left, and I just felt like shit, and I didn't start acting for like another couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

I was so mortified. I was so mortified.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Okay, but can I really say that is really beautiful that you knew what you wanted. Oh, well, thank you. And you said, I deserve this. Here's and I won't be your little playing, dancing, little troll. John Lopez.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

But the thing is, is like ensemble is fine. Like, I should have done that to a channel.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

You definitely should have that was a wrong choice you made.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

It's like, I'm just commending you for the fact that you made the wrong choice.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

It was your wrong choice.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

That was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

I wouldn't have done it, but never. Here's what I found about my life. It usually takes the second time around for me to get it. Really? Yeah. It took me two years to get into NYU, and like I do feel like there are times when I look back on things and I'm like, why didn't I know that? And sometimes I get in my head a little bit about uh the notion of like, am I could I be further along had I just known these things that to other people seemed obvious for some reason. Um Yeah, it's a weird thing. But then I look back and I'm like, no, because if I was where I was then and I knew where I'd be now, I'd be very happy. Um, even though I'm still Like trying to figure it out and I'm still trying to find that like consistent livelihood. Yeah. Uh there is a part of me that's like, no, if I I have to remember that my past self would be like, Oh, finally, good. I'm glad I'm I'm there.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

John, that's so nice. Oh, thanks, Lauren. I mean, it's such a lesson in like that learning is so important, and that maybe missing something and knowing what you missed, being able to recognize a mistake, a failing, a redirection, something that you thought was right, but in hindsight is maybe not the right thing. It's it's a really beautiful lesson in learning. Totally. And at any age, you can my favorite thing about life is that we're constantly making mistakes and learning and learning from it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

And then in in that same context, too, I'm like, okay, well, if that's how I felt, if that's how I would have felt back then, then my current self, when I'm in the future doing the stuff that I want to be doing, I'm gonna look back on this and be like, it was all worth it. Totally. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Um the editing that's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

This is about you learn Yeah, oh my god, uh donate. Um, please.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Anybody got a million dollars? But what about you?

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Have you ever had that experience where you like like an experience where it was like you look back and you're like, I am making strides. I know I'm like moving forward. Even in this moment, I may not be happy with where I th thought I should or shouldn't be or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Oh, every day all the time. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I think back on my my years in between undergrad and grad school, and I was I was like in a race for nothing. Yeah, you know, and I I was yeah, I I was so concerned with the time that I was losing that this isn't groundbreaking by any means, but I that I was missing the time that I was living.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

No, but I I I totally feel that.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yeah, yeah. And and then I got to grad school, and I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have said this on this podcast, so I won't, you know, take too long, but just fucking say damn it. Wait, I also just want I I want to say really quick. I recently figured out I'm a I'm a very slow talker. Oh, that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

And as I'm like, fucking talk!

SPEAKER_00 24:32

I know I'm totally joking, but um but and so bear bear with my slow it or put it on really nice 1.5. Have you ever thought about doing audiobooks? I have thought about doing audiobooks. You've got a great voice. It's like the you have a great pace for it. Thank you very much. That's kind. Um yeah, what I I got into NYU and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Yeah. Um bar none. I mean I had no idea that I could be an artist and cultivate community uh in the way that I have and been able to learn from the people that I've been able to learn from. You included. I learned a lot from you. Thank you. Um and that came with at NYU, even though the pacing was quick and it was, you know, like every second of every day was devoted to something. It taught me to stop and and look this thing, you know, right in the face and look at this thing that I love so much, that I want so much, that I see as sort of the the building blocks of my whole life and be able to like swim in it and and not have to paddle to shore to take a break and focus on something else, or like, you know, lift my head up out of water just to be able to make a uh some money to be able to, you know, grad school really let me it's three years of just one thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

That's what you do.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

It's one thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

And it's really great. It's fucking tiring as hell.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Um and you came in at a time, I mean, we both went through this with the pandemic and stuff like a shifting program, a constantly shifting program.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Um, but I actually I'm so glad we went through it during the pandemic. I'm like, I learned so much, especially this, being on camera doesn't scare me anymore. At least not as much. Or like I don't get like I don't take notes to heart anymore about it because I'm like, oh okay, yeah, it's just a matter of framing. Yeah. This has nothing to do with like my performance. It's just like we need to see you. So just tilt your head or whatever the fuck. No, literally, it's those little things though, but like you can really go. I know before grad school I had that, I was always terrified of the camera.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Yeah, me too. Froze. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Yeah, but it's like I I was really happy for that. Yeah. It was a really unique experience. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

I also think, you know, just in terms of the state of the world, it was Oh yeah. It was really I I I feel very grateful that I was able to be in community during that time and like around people, even if we were distanced and masked and maybe the the program was slightly altered. I I don't care. But the thing is you don't know what the program is until you're going through it. So it's like, no, this is my program now. This is how I'm gonna go through it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Um, yeah, going through it during that time with like, you know, Black Lives Matter, yeah, and also like self-care becoming a much more prevalent topic. And like these conservatory programs, they they tell you right off the bat, or at least this was uh conveyed to me, and I was like, I get that, that makes sense, which is they're like everything you're gonna do in grad school is way fucking more than you will ever have to do in the real world. Yeah. So that when you get in the real world, it doesn't seem that hard. Yeah. Um, when you're in grad school, it's like hellish, or it can feel hellish. Yeah. But if you keep that at the back of your mind, it's like, oh yeah, that the that's there's a purpose for that. Yeah, there's a lot to get through, and also it's like it's meant to be difficult because they want you to sort of just get out of your head and make instinctive decisions and choices.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Well, yeah, and like around those conversations in 2020, you know, George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, like I was able to have those conversations face to face with other human beings that weren't like maybe my partner at the time that I was living with, you know, who like if I were if I weren't in school and it obviously we would have been like quarantined or not not out as much, and I would be having these conversations with one person or you know, hopefully more people, but I was able to to have conversations and to, you know, make small changes in my life because I was surrounded by community.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

And that's something that I don't take for granted, and that I never will. I think probably before grad school I did take community for granted. I didn't really understand the aspect of community.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Uh until really until COVID hit and I we didn't have you didn't have community.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Community. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

And then I mean, I was so lucky that that cov that I got into grad school essentially right after March of 2020. And so I had this community just built in that I got to join. I and that's such a gift.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah. It was something too about like I was so thankful to have school to go to during that time simply to keep myself busy. Yeah. Because I knew when when I was home alone, dealing with like I was going through a breakup at the time too, and just like that it was just like really difficult to go through the day just being like in a room alone. Um, but also going back to like the Black Lives Matter of it all, uh, is like it was the first time I grew up in a very white town. It was the first time that I was able to like have conversations about race and build a vocabulary around how to talk about race that wasn't um you know offensive or like like stepped on people's toes or just like learning the basics of how to ask people about their experiences or not. Yeah, you know, like because at the end of the day, there is like the education is on me, you know. Um and that being said, because I developed such wonderful relationships with my class and uh a lot of my my very dearest friends, this is gonna sound so white what I'm about to say, but I have a lot of black friends, but it's like I am so thankful that I have these friends who I could have really honest and sometimes hard discussions with about my privilege and uh their experiences and they were willing to share those with me.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Even when it was difficult for them. Um and being able to gauge when I could and couldn't ask those questions. Absolutely, yeah. Uh that I think that's where a lot of people get mixed up. Yeah, because I've gone through that myself.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yes, yeah, I I feel the same way. I think uh yeah, I think NYU gave me at a really specific time in the world, gave me this vast like ocean, this like worldwide ocean of people that like got to grow with me. And I mean, my my dad was uh quite a bit older, and he was from like a tiny town in West Virginia, a tiny, very white town in West Virginia. But he was mama uh exactly, yes, and that that song was actually based on my dad.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

My dad is the mountain mama, yeah. Um I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

No, I love that. Um, but he talked about race a lot, and he worked in the government, and he was just he was an extremely political person. Yeah. Um and he talked about race a lot, but he was really the only person in my life like growing up um that was was uh like telling me that those conversations were really important. Yeah. And so then when I got to grad school and those conversations were happening and the train was moving, whether I was gonna get on it or not. And I feel grateful that like someone was conducting the train.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

You know? Yeah. And that space is just very sacred in a lot of ways, and I'm really grateful for it.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Yeah. A lot of great books came out of that time too. If you're if you're if you're ever interested, there's a really great one that's sort of like a workbook. It's called White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad. It's excellent. Yeah. A lot of introspective questions about white privilege and race, and it's really worth giving a read. Yeah. Um what was it like coming out of the grad program? You're now, as we mentioned earlier, I cannot believe it. You're three years out, and I'm coming I'm on four years out, which is really weird.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

It's okay. You can say coming up on. Coming up on, yes. We're coming on, you're coming up on three.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

I'm coming up on four. So I'm still within three.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

It's not it's not actually. Yeah, it's not yet actually.

SPEAKER_03 33:38

It's in a couple of months, though. Yeah, we're fine. But once it's there, we'll fall apart. Yeah, no, I won't be okay. By the time this comes out, we'll be upset. If you find this, we're both dead.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Um yeah, my time at well, I mean, here's the thing. I got into school right after COVID hit. I graduated when the strikes were announced.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

So many So trials and tribulations really abound. But but it was okay. Yeah. I mean, I again, I don't know anything different. I was never repped before grad school, and so my auditions before grad school were me scouring backstage and actors access by myself and sending in maybe tapes or like driving to go to I was living in Los Angeles, and so it I was driving.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Were you right out of grad school? You went to Los Angeles? No, no. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Um I'm sorry. It's it's complicated. I'm so sorry. No, no, no. Never apologize. I'm just sorry for the way that this is gonna go. I was like, when the hell were you in LA? I graduated undergrad. I moved to New York with two of my very good friends. We lived in a three-bedroom apartment by the water in Astoria. I had to walk 17 minutes to even get to the train. Oh, I don't know who was guiding me, but nobody knowledgeable. The moon? Hey, Jesus. Care to help the moon.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Um, and wait, what did you study in undergrad? Did you study theater and or acting?

SPEAKER_00 35:12

I studied theater, yeah. And but I also studied uh medieval and renaissance history.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Yeah, of course. So what did you think you were gonna do with that? I don't know why I said that so contradictory or so critically. But I'm also like that sounds fucking rad, actually. Medieval and Renaissance that history, that sounds really cool.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

It was the coolest thing, and it was mostly literature. It was mostly Oh, okay. Um, and I mean it was incredible. I I loved it a lot. Yeah, um, it was a lot of studying Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Oh, that's fucking like yeah, you I'm totally applicable. Yeah. Um and maybe museum curator, but not a lot. That's maybe the only thing. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

At the Met.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah, catch me at the Met.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Catch me at the Met. Um then catch me at the Met.

unknown 36:01

Hey.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

In a show.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

You know, that's that was what I was doing with it.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Sure. Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

I meant Lincoln Center. You know, it's the Met, the Lincoln Center. Yes, of course. They're two separate entities, I suppose, but they're on the same property. Uh what was the question? So you you studied at undergrad in uh Medival. I was just wondering because I was like, I don't know if she did uh if you were doing acting before.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

I was doing acting, yes. And then I moved to New York, and then it was hard.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

And to be honest with you, I saw La La Land.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

And were you like this is phenomenal?

SPEAKER_00 36:48

I was like, oh, of course. It's not working because I'm in New York.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Oh my god, you were swayed by La Land. Yeah, La La Land.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

Oh my god. That's so funny. That movie had an impression on me too, and then a week went by and I went, oh yeah, it's not that great.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Oh yeah, no, I don't work that way.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

No. Oh, did you do you still love it?

SPEAKER_00 37:11

No, if I get like no, I I think it's just a no, no, no, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

I should I shouldn't yuck people's yum. I think the sound editing is terrible on that film. Sorry!

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Okay, great. I probably if you pointed it out to me, I would agree with you.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

If you watch it again, you'll notice how egregious it is.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

And I will. I'll hate watch it now. Um no, I I love everyone in it. Very good.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Very good.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

I just like when I get an idea and I see a potential outcome, and I see a potential missed opportunity if I don't follow through, I have to follow through.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Yeah. So you were like LA.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

And so then I moved to LA.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

So you were in New York City, and then went to LA, and then you came back for NYU.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

How is LA?

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Here's the thing. I right after I moved back to New York, I spoke very poorly of Los Angeles. And some of those things I stand up.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

And I'm blacklisted.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Um I Oh, you were on the blacklist? Really amazing time on set. Everyone was so nice. James Spader is amazing. Um, and but the more that time has passed, the more I realized again how lucky I was. I I moved to Los Angeles and I was dating somebody that I had met on a set, and we moved in together, and wow, we had I had this again community that I didn't even know was a community, and it was a lot of behind the camera people. Yeah. Because the person I was dating worked behind the camera. Gotcha. And and I look back on my time in LA, and though I again wasn't getting a lot of auditions, I then I I worked with this Shakespeare company called Porters of Hell's Gate.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Porters of Hell's Gate.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

That sounds fucking rad. They are rad.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Um, and they're doing Shakespeare in North Hollywood, and it's never been done before. Um I'm sure it has, but not well. And they're doing it well. It's full of people who love Shakespeare and who love LA and who think that there's, you know, a a gap in absolutely. And so they're they're making it accessible, and it's so great. I had the time of my life. I played Petrucchio in the shrew.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

Nice. Oh, that would be a great part for you. It was so fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

And um, and I found community that way, and I found community through my partner at the time, and um, and then I you know, I I was sort of itching, and I had I had known that I wanted to go to grad school because uh I had a professor in undergrad. My undergrad was extremely lacking in just a a a a well-rounded arts education. Sure. But there was one teacher who came. Um, his name is Jim Iorio. He uh he took over the like voice and speech classes, the acting classes, um, the movement classes, and changed my whole life. Changed the trajectory of my life. I wouldn't have known what grad school was if it weren't for him. He graduated from NYU grad in like I was gonna say that name sounds so familiar. Yeah, it was like I wanna say early nineties, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

I think Andy, maybe of Andy Ingalls, I think, maybe told me about him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Um, and now he's I believe that he is the our he's the the chair of the program at at Chicago Oh great Roosevelt College. They do have like a really great um acting program anyway.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Sounds prestigious and great.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Yeah, he's amazing. And he uh put NYU on my radar and he was like something you might want to think about in the future is grad school, and he was like, uh it'll be um the hardest but the best thing you'll ever do. Yeah. And then four years out of undergrad, I was like, I I'm returning to that recommendation from him. Um and and yeah, and so I I f I actually flew, I was living in Los Angeles. I thought that it wouldn't be enough to go to the California auditions, and so I flew to New York. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

Oh, so you flew to New York. You didn't think it would be enough to do the audition in LA. I said no, it's not good enough.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

I gotta go to the school.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

This is what's actually like kind of Did they know that? No. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

No, this was like my I have like a problem. I don't think so because you got in. That's true, that's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

But if that's what you needed too, yeah, you felt like that was what you needed, and you're like, I'm gonna feel more empowered or what have you to be there doing it.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Yeah, and I needed to like, you know, be in the space and see the school, and I had never seen it, or so and I felt super, I felt so welcome. I I that's yeah, I told it I told this story a lot, which is that like when I walked in the door, Donathan Walters being with like the most beautiful face. Donathan, I love you.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

And I just like felt like Did he give you oils as you walked in?

SPEAKER_00 42:47

He gave me hand sanitizer because of the times.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Oh, yeah, so yeah, fair enough, fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Um and and yeah, and I I had a really great audition process, really great um callback weekend, and and I this yeah, something I I feel like I there's obviously doubts that creep in, but I like knew I was like, I belong here.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

That's that seems to be that's a very recurring theme with the people who talk about their grad school experiences being like, yeah, there's a feeling when you know you want to be there and you know you that's like that specific community is the one you want to belong in. Yeah. We kind of Tarantinoed your story. We sort of started at the end a little bit and went back or we jumped around a lot or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

This is yes, no, and sometimes why. This is a game in which we go through three rounds of rapid fire questions, the answers to which are yes or no. And every so often, intermittently, when I am curious, I will ask Lauren why, and then she'll answer and we'll see what happens. Are you ready, Lauren? What's that?

SPEAKER_00 43:54

I said, or I won't.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

Oh, you won't. I mean, you don't have to. I'm an open door.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

Um, I'm ready, yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

All right. Here we go. And these questions were sourced from teambuilding.com. Thanks, teambuilding.com.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

They need that shower.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

They I they might. Because I'm not sure if it's around or not. Um, here we go. Round one. Ready? Do you vote? Yes. Have you ever been grounded? Yes. Do you drive? Yes. Do you live alone? Yes. Are you married? No. Do you have kids? No. Do you have pets? Yes. Why?

SPEAKER_00 44:24

That's my dog Dobby.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Dobby! Oh my god, sweet. I haven't seen Dobby in so long.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

You could see him any time. Oh my god, please. Um, the light of my life. He's such a sweet seven years old. He's the best thing that has ever happened to planet Earth. Um he's the sweetest, most snugly, playful little boy. In the last year, he has started, he's always been a huge snuggler. In the last year, he has started really loving being under the covers. Oh. And so he will, right when I go to bed, he'll come up to my left shoulder and he'll paw at it and wait for me to lift the covers up so he can curl out. Oh my goodness. And then at whatever time he decides to during the night, he wakes up and comes to my right shoulder and paws at my right shoulder, and I pick up the covers and he curls up on my right.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

And it's just a little rhythmic ritual that we have every single night. That's beautiful. And sometimes I'm like, I was asleep. But then every time I'm like, you're so perfection. Yeah, you're so precious. Of course, you can snuggle on my right side instead of my left. He's the best.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

What kind of dog is he?

SPEAKER_00 45:42

He's a lab shepherd. There's a little bit of poodle. He's got 12% super mutt.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Super mutt? What's that? Like it's just they're so it's such a mix of dogs that they're just like, we gotta it's not mud anymore. It's super mutt.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Super mutt, I think, is made up of this is I'm gonna get roasted. But I think I think that it's a mix of all the bullies. And so I think it's like Staffordshire, um. Oh oh, I see, I see like the bully breeds.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

I get you. Um I thought you meant like dogs with bad reputations.

SPEAKER_03 46:20

Oh, bullies. These dogs are bullies.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Yeah, well, I mean, the reputation is for those dogs, sadly. That's why we're fighting the stereotype.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

Oh, there you go. Are you an only child? No. Do you work full-time?

SPEAKER_00 46:36

More or less, I'd say. The hours vary. I'm an artist, so did not ask why. That's right. And that's right. And see, this is what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

Uh do you have a second job? Yes. Why?

SPEAKER_00 46:48

And now you're getting your description. Um, I have a second job because I well, I have many jobs. Um, but I would say my favorite second job is I teach one-on-one yoga to senior citizens. Oh my god. That's wonderful. It's so, so amazing. It's so fulfilling. Yeah. I love it very much. They are incredible enough to let me in their homes. Oh my gosh. Oh, so you go to people's homes. Oh my god, wow. Yeah. Wow. And they're usually like 85 plus, and their goals are so why I love it is because their goals are so anti-fitness. Their goals are always like to be able to walk in the park and listen to the birds, to be able to lift my grandchildren up when they come and visit. Yeah. And so there's nobody who's ever like, I'm trying to get swole and count my fucking macros.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

Yes. This is like I want this for practical.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

These people, they still call me bitch, but it's because I'm a bitch.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

I want to be able to hold my grandson, bitch.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

Yeah, exactly. They have a lot of comments about my clothes. Do they really?

SPEAKER_04 48:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Oh my god. They're always like, why do you wear colors? They're like, make yourself smaller.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

It's a different generation. I know. Different generation. Do you know how to ride a bike? Yes. Have you ever had stitches? No. Do you know how to cook?

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

Do you like spiders?

SPEAKER_00 48:21

I don't mind them.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

Have you ever been to summer camp? Yes. Do you have an imaginary friend?

SPEAKER_00 48:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

Why?

SPEAKER_00 48:27

Currently? I mean, I think we all have imaginary friends. Imaginary rant.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Why?

SPEAKER_00 48:34

Who do you talk to when you're talking in your apartment?

SPEAKER_02 48:37

That's true. How do you know I'm talking in my apartment when I'm alone? Maybe I was a little bit more than a little bit of a little bit of a little bit all night. This is something full moon. This was actually a bit that's that. This is something I actually sort of discovered about myself when I was working one of these jobs that I had, where I was I was a director at a showcase company for a couple of years. Cool. And I kind of came to the realization about like when people do monologues, I'm like, you're never, and maybe this is like just so on point, but I'm like, even when you're home alone, like when you talk when you're home alone and you're having a phantom conversation, you're not saying it to yourself. You you have someone in your head that you're imagining. Whether you can conceptually see who it actually is, you always have an idea of who that person is.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

And for some reason, when I f like I that just like clicked for me. It helped me do monologues a lot better.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Yeah. Um that's great.

SPEAKER_02 49:34

And it I I I felt like I was like, oh, that's a good advice to pass on to the people that I was doing showcase stuff with.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

That's really great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:41

Um, but that just sort of ignited that memory for me.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 49:44

That's round one. How you feeling? How you feeling, Lauren? Be honest, Lauren.

SPEAKER_00 49:48

I wish there was someone here to like massage my shoulders. Like I was in a mid-fight.

SPEAKER_02 49:54

Are you ready for round two?

SPEAKER_00 49:56

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

Do you like riding motorcycles?

SPEAKER_00 49:58

No.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Why?

SPEAKER_00 50:00

I've only done it once, didn't do it for me. I'm not like an adrenaline person.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

I don't know that I've ever been on a motorcycle. I mean, like, here's the thing. You're gonna die. I know. I hope it's not now. Like the everybody knows this. Yes. But the risks on a motorcycle come on.

SPEAKER_02 50:21

When you hear about a motorcycle accident, it's never like I know.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

It's never No, it's never like, oh dang. I got a little thing.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

No, you have head trauma now. Your arm is dead or your head was taken off. Yeah, it's always gruesome.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

Yeah, I was recently talking to an orthopedic surgeon who told me that he used to love motorcycles until he saw what it does every single time.

SPEAKER_02 50:50

Yeah. Like you never, yeah, like you said, you never get it's like if you're gonna be on this thing, you better know exactly how to ride it and like and maybe go to the dirt roads in West Virginia, Mountain Mama.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

Mountain Mama, where no one is there to watch your head fall off.

SPEAKER_02 51:07

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

Yeah, die alone. Come on. Nobody wants to see that.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

No one wants to see that. Are you a twin or a triplet? No. Can you recite pie to more than 10 digits?

SPEAKER_00 51:17

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

Yeah? Why?

SPEAKER_00 51:22

I don't know. Well, I think one day when I was little, I was like, I'm gonna do this.

SPEAKER_02 51:27

Here's the thing. I ask sometimes when people say yes, I'm like, I say why.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

But then you just want to hear me do it.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

But the thing is, even if you do it, I'm not gonna fucking know because I can't. You can say any numbers.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

How much can you do?

SPEAKER_02 51:41

3.14.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

15926. I think that's all I can do. Three? Do you count the decimal point?

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Uh I think we have to count everything past the decimal point as the ten digits. What? Because three uh okay, fine. Fair enough, fair enough. But you're you're right, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

I don't even think I'm there though. Hold on. I'm gonna count the decimal. I think it's like eight. 3.14159269. Oh, nine. All right.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

Is it the last number?

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Came in close. Is it nine?

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Do you believe in ghosts?

SPEAKER_00 52:12

Yes, of course. There's one sitting right next to you.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Is there? Oh god. Is this the Haunted Mansion? I always have to fight the urge to ask why on that one every time.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

Is it Eddie Murphy at Haunted Mansion?

SPEAKER_02 52:23

That was one of them. And then they did another one that was even worse.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

Sorry! Haunted Mansion is really good.

SPEAKER_02 52:30

The ride is great. Oh my god. You mean the first one with Eddie Murphy?

SPEAKER_00 52:34

Of course that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Oh my god. I don't know. I don't remember liking it. Oh my god. Have you ever been to a live rock concert in the past year?

SPEAKER_00 52:45

No.

SPEAKER_02 52:46

Have you ever gone? Have you ever done stand-up comedy?

SPEAKER_00 52:49

No.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

Have you ever written a song for someone?

SPEAKER_00 52:52

To my dog every day, yes. You didn't ask why, but I gave that to you for free.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Do you have a best friend?

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

Why?

SPEAKER_00 53:02

We grew up together.

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Oh yeah? Yeah. Oh, so you have like a long-term best friend.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

Oh yeah, we've known each other since. Oh wait, I know her. Yeah, you met her. Alex. Allie.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

Allie. But her name is Alexandra. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

Okay, there you go. Um yes, you met her. She's amazing. She lives in Ohio. She is also the light of my life, the second light of my life. And um yeah, we grew up. I've known her since I was probably like six or seven. Um we didn't get close until we were like seventeen. She ten years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

What was it?

SPEAKER_00 53:36

Was it just like you were both growing into yourselves and uh yeah, we ran in different circles and then we sat next to each other in choir. And we made each other laugh. No one else is funny. I like it. Just us.

SPEAKER_02 53:48

Yep. That's the best type of friendship.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

Yeah. And we uh truly have like a cosmic, like inexplainable friendship. It just like did you say inexplicable to me?

unknown 54:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

Inexplainable. Inexplicable. I'll cut this. I'm sounding like a fucking mansplainer and I'm an asshole.

SPEAKER_00 54:13

Oh bad.

SPEAKER_03 54:14

I think that's uh what you said was probably perfectly reliable.

SPEAKER_00 54:20

If you keep that in, I'll sue. And you will never get an editor. I'm gonna say we have a cosmic inexplicable friendship that has like stood the test of time and it has stood true through the most insane hills and valleys and Mountain Mama. Mountain Mama, West Virginia. Yeah. Um, and I'll never be able, that's like why I'm struggling. I'll never be able to really put into words. It's inexplicable. Explainable.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

That's beautiful though. I that's so beautiful. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 55:06

I love her.

SPEAKER_02 55:07

Well, that's round two. Let's move on to round three. How are you feeling? Round three is a little more existential. I will put that out there.

SPEAKER_00 55:13

I love existential. There's a ghost next to you. Oh, good.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

Ready? Yes. Here we go. Would you risk your life to save a stranger?

SPEAKER_00 55:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 55:22

Why? Any stranger.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

I do think that that is an impulse thing.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

I think that um I mean, no, not any stranger. No, if that stranger is harming someone else, I it would be circumstantial, of course.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

If you knew they were a harmful person, but that's tough.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

Yeah, that is tough. If I knew they were a harmful person, would I still risk my life to save them? If they were the only person in danger at the time, yeah, I think so. Sure. Um if I have to choose two people that I'm saving, one a bad person, two a good person, obviously I'm saving the good person. Hopefully I never have to choose.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

I asked them really quickly. Wait, wait, wait. Are you a bad person? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you a bad person? Are you a good person? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 56:12

And they're and they're gonna be really honest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

Would you fake your own death to save your family? And I want to be clear about this one too. You fake your own death. Your family believes you are dead too.

unknown 56:29

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

This is how I hear. So you're just gonna let your family die.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Well, can I be honest about something?

SPEAKER_02 56:36

What?

SPEAKER_00 56:37

They would be miserable if I died. That would be no life for them.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

They're like, they'd basically be dead anyway.

unknown 56:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:49

It's it's those are the same thing happens.

SPEAKER_03 56:52

Oh my god. It's like this is a lose-lose situation here. I might as well live my life as Lauren Lee and not in some witness protection program or whatever under a different name.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Yeah, kind of.

SPEAKER_02 57:06

Fair enough. If you know that that your family would be torn apart in that way. Oh my god. Oh my god, that's brilliant. Would you accept your dream job if one of the conditions was not communicating with your family and friends for one year?

SPEAKER_00 57:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

I think I'd say yes too.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

Yeah, a year.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

That's not that bad. And it also doesn't specify the parameters around not talking to them. So you could be like, look. If it's just like a year of not talking, they don't get to know what the what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 57:43

Yeah, can I walk by them?

SPEAKER_02 57:47

Can you I don't know. Body language is a form of communication.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

Oh, oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

You know? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

If you're walking by like slumped over, like to let them know you're sad. I miss talking to you. That's what that means. So you tell them this before your year. You're like, okay, I'll walk by you. And if I'm doing this, if I'm hunched over like a crone, that means I'm sad and I miss you and I'm gonna talk. I'm so glad I'm not talking to you, fucks. I'm thriving.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

Thriving. My life is going great.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Um, I think a year is nothing.

SPEAKER_02 58:24

Yeah. If everything were to end tomorrow, would you be happy with how your life turned out?

SPEAKER_00 58:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:31

Why?

SPEAKER_00 58:33

I love my life. Obviously, I have, you know, there are hard times and there are easier times, but I'm I'm so grateful. I'm so sorry, that's my guest for tomorrow. Wow Gail Shallon. Um go on. I have so many friends. I am surrounded by love. I love what I do. I don't get to do it as much as I would like to, but isn't that great? Like that I'm that I am yearning for something. It's very I've I'm very lucky to be hoping and yearning and to have something to work for, to have people who I love so much that I that are role models that I want to emulate, that I um I have a beautiful dog. Yeah. I love him so much. He greets me every day when I come home with like he's been waiting his whole life to see me and to kiss my face. And to be loved like that is unparalleled.

SPEAKER_04 59:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

And so I'm very, I'm yeah, I'm very happy. If it all ended, I don't know, maybe I'd want to like get drunk tonight, but we know your family would be sad. They're not.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

Well, no, they wouldn't. They wouldn't know. They'd be dead too. We'd all be dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:04

Yeah, everyone would be dead.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:07

And on that note, Lauren. Oh my god, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

Of course, thank you. For coming. This was so much fun. This was really nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:16

Um, anything you want to promote? I mean, you got Elsbeth coming out, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:20

Yeah, take a look at Elsbeth. Um, season three, episode 15.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

Season three?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:26

They're already on a third season. They're really. Did you get to work with um Oh my god. Wait, what's her name? I'm sorry. Carrie Preston. Carrie Preston. She is she was excellent in the holdovers. Um small but mighty part. She was great. She seems lovely.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

Is incredible. Yeah. Not only an incredible actor, but just the greatest human being.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:51

She seems like a lovely energy.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

Yeah. I I have a small part on the episode, and she made me feel like I was number one on the call sheet.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

Oh, that is so lovely to hear. But I do think that like last little bit about acting that I'll say, like, the leads, they set the mood.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:09

Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

And it's night and day. When you're working with someone who really ingratiates you into the set, onto into the story. Absolutely. It's night and day.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

And can I just say, last thing, the Moonstruck reading was exactly like that too. Was it really? All of those people were fantastic. I was like, so happy to be there and so kind and generous and open and playful. Not truly not an ego in the house.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:43

That's so beautiful. It was crazy. Because those are three in particular. Huge.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:47

Well no, Steve Buscemi was there. Steve Buscemi was in it? Yeah.

unknown 1:01:51

Dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:52

My brother and I saw Steve Buscemi on the street once.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:54

It was great. We were like, Hugo Buch. Buscemi. You go Bush. Bush. That's huge. I love to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

I mean, he walked right up to me and he was like, hey, I'm Steven. What's your name? Oh my God. I was like, yeah, I know you're Steven.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

You're a fucking legend. All of them are legends. They're amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Randall in Monsters Inc. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:13

I always forget he's Randall in Monsters Inc. You know, my girlfriend and I, we just recently rewatched Troy. If anybody was watching Troy, Roseburn is the best part of Troy. She is delivering so hard in that film. She's amazing. She's incredible. And Bobby Conavale.

unknown 1:02:31

I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:32

What a power couple, too. Oh, yeah. Holy shit. Yeah. Um, he's so good.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

It was the best day.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:41

Well, anyway, Lauren, that's the end of the pod. Thanks for coming all the way out here.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

Of course. Thank you. This was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:47

We should hang out more.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

We should.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:49

Please.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:49

Let's do something.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:50

Let's do it. All right, y'all. That's this week's episode of the Working Class Acts podcast. We'll see you next week.

unknown 1:02:59

Bye!

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

Do you do that every time?