transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:06] Is it about hooker number two?

Speaker 2:
[00:08] No, that was my first job out of college. That was my first yes. Dang it.

Speaker 1:
[00:18] Hey everybody, it's Bobby. On this BobbyCast, I'm talking to Melissa Peterman. You may know her as Barbara Jean from Reba, which I think I've seen every episode at least twice. Maybe you know her as Brenda on Young Sheldon. Now she has reunited with one of her best friends, Reba McIntyre, on the NBC comedy Happiest Place, which is really cool. She's toured with the country legends. She's hosted game shows. She's done it all. She's so funny. Here's my conversation with Melissa Peterman. All right, Melissa Peterman's on and she's so funny. And so we almost started talking and then this started. So we haven't met, but we were at the same place at the same time. Do you know that place?

Speaker 2:
[00:59] We were at the Kennedy Center Awards, was it 2017?

Speaker 1:
[01:04] Yeah, my years are bad, but yeah, it was when Reba got the award and we were both part of the presentation for Reba.

Speaker 2:
[01:10] Yeah, and it was absolutely so out of my like box and like zone. And I was so thrilled to be there. It was one of the shows I would watch every year because I just loved learning more about like artists and watching other artists celebrate them. And it was the year that Cher was there, Lin-Manuel Miranda. What, who else was there that year? Oh my gosh. Was it Ira, not Ira Glass. What was it?

Speaker 1:
[01:43] I remember Lin-Manuel Miranda for sure and Cher because I looked, so what I remember from that show was I got a call from Reba going, hey, would you come out and do the very beginning of my intro? And so I'm like, sure, whatever Reba wants. I love Reba. And so, yes, I'm in whatever you want. It's like, go tell a couple of jokes and do this lead in. And I didn't know she was first off. And that, and I do enough stand up that I'm not so intimidated by people in the crowd, but there were like Supreme Court judges, Cher and Reba were sitting right up there in front. That to me was a heavy room.

Speaker 2:
[02:17] Oh, yes. And you know, I'll tell you another, on my way there, as I landed in Washington or in DC, I had an email that said, would you like to do the presentation at the state dinner the night before? You know, when they get, when they get the necklace and you have to go up and speak. And I was, I thought, oh, all right. And, you know, you're in, you know, you're in the room. It was, it was like the Martha Washington bathroom was down the hall, you know, which I probably stole some paper towels from their share there. It's like, you know, you're at, you recognize the room you're in and I had no notes. I just made it up and got up there and it was so terrifying. I believe I said something like, and Cher's looking at me. And if I looked at her, it'll be like looking into the eclipse. And, you know, I just, it was so much, it was just a different room. And, you know, you're, yeah, we've been in rooms. I've been in front of a lot of people, but it is a different thing. You know, people are like, oh, it's just like, it's just like the people's choice. No, it's not. It's not like the people's choice. Not at all. There's somebody who just got back from the G7 summit. So no, it's not the same thing. So it was this very strange mix of just politics and entertainment. And then like, I was, do you remember being downstairs before the actual, the televised event? Were you down underneath?

Speaker 1:
[03:45] I was, yes.

Speaker 2:
[03:47] I was there and I heard all of the Shuler sisters that were coming to sing from the, were warming up in like a room next to me. And I thought, how, why am I here? How am I even in the same room as these amazing voices? I feel like I should write them a check and just slip it under the door. Because that was just the price of admission to hear them sing like that. It was just, it was very intimidating. It was an intimidating audience. But of course you say yes, because it's Reba and, and I wanted to honor her because she deserved it. And it was a thrill. It was truly a thrill to be there.

Speaker 1:
[04:22] Yeah, it was a special night and then I think if I were betting money, I think CBS piped in laughter for a couple of my jokes because I don't remember getting the laughs that I got in the room. I really don't. And I thought, man, I'm going to be embarrassed because I went up and I told a couple of jokes and I thought, eh, opening stiff room and also Supreme Court justices and then they aired it back. I swear to God, they piped in laughter and I was so thankful that they did that.

Speaker 2:
[04:46] Well, you know, I was there and you were funny and you were great and you were perfect and you were very funny. And you probably don't know if you got laughs because it was a weird, it's just such an odd, it's just a weird room, but you were great. You really were.

Speaker 1:
[04:59] So you and Reba go back to Reba, is that when you guys first started? Did you know each other pre Reba the show in like 2001?

Speaker 2:
[05:07] No, we did not. The first time I met her in person was the first day of the table read for the show.

Speaker 1:
[05:17] And so you didn't audition for her or with her?

Speaker 2:
[05:21] No, I didn't. I had auditioned, when I auditioned, the show was still called Sally, I believe, because they didn't know she wasn't attached yet. So at that point, I was auditioning for this show Sally. And I believe by the time I got to like that call back where you're in front of network, at that point she was attached to it. And I thought, oh my gosh, please let her be attached to it. Because I just feel like it will, she's sort of like everything she does sort of works and turns to goals. I'm like, I just wanted her to do it. And I just wanted to meet her. And, but I never auditioned with her. No, I did not.

Speaker 1:
[06:00] What was your process like even auditioning for Sally? Cause she's told that story before about how it wasn't about her until she accepted it. So was that initially just a large casting where you went in with a bunch of other people that look like you and had your characteristics?

Speaker 2:
[06:15] Yeah. I mean, I went in and to me it sticks in my mind because it was one of those auditions where the script was really funny. I love the idea of this character that they were creating of the other woman, the new wife. And I just, but I didn't quite know how to attack it. I was like, usually when you know this, when you get it, you're like, oh, I see who this person is. And it wasn't until I was, I remember sitting in the parking lot about to go in. And I just went, I got it. I got it. I have to play her that she has no idea that they are not best friends. I have to play that I have no idea that whatever insult or anything she throws is like, I don't, I wouldn't, it doesn't register with her because I have to think that of course we're going to be best friends. We have so much in common, you know, we like the same guys or whatever it was. But I just go, she has to be, she can't fight back. She has to just know like, oh, we're going to be best friends anyway. So I just remember having that click and go, oh, that's what it is. And then going into the audition, I leave and one of the producers came out after me, which never happens unless they're like, oh, we don't validate. That's usually what it is. But he came out and said, he knew I was going out of town. I said, he's like, where are you going? I said, I'm just going out of town for the weekend and I'll be back in LA on Monday. And again, that doesn't happen. And by the time I landed in Seattle, I'd gotten a callback. So I go back to, I think a network callback and then it was studio. But if I'm remembering correctly, and I feel like again, it's clear to the people that we didn't research this before we talk, because otherwise we'd have better idea of when the Kennedy Center honors was we were at. And I would remember this. But I believe that the three at the final was Rachel Harris, who's a brilliant, funny comedian, actress, who's very successful. And I think Suki was married to Kevin Nealon. And I'm going to butcher her last name. Suki was the three of us. I think we were the three women that were last up for the rubber gene. And very, very funny and sort of just different flavors of that character. And by the time I went in, I did the final test, which is nerve racking. And when I was driving out, I got a call from my agent that I booked it, which I was didn't think I would because I was standing next to two other actresses who I knew were hilarious and very funny.

Speaker 1:
[08:45] At what point can you feel a shift in a sitcom where you know it's being taken by the audience and that there's probably a good chance that it gets renewed?

Speaker 2:
[08:54] I don't think as an actor you really know that because you sort of do your thing and then you put it out there and it's sort of up to the other things that are out of your control. And also the time we did that show, there wasn't a ton of initial feedback we can get now on social media. It was there but it wasn't quite like it was today. So you're doing this show and you kind of put it out there. It felt right while we were doing it. It felt like there was this chemistry there. And specifically for season two, I remember there was this click with the cast and with the characters of Barbara Dean and Reba like, oh, okay, this is the show. But for me anyway, I don't think I even understood what it was until we were off the air for how many years. And it was in being syndicated and the love that it got there. That's when I sort of went, oh, you know, I truly sort of felt the audience love for it and how people were taking it. So I think during the actual shooting and running of it, those first six seasons, I don't know if I ever really had a grasp of what it was gonna be or what it was to audience. I mean, obviously people liked it. They loved meeting you in person and talking about Reba. I felt the chemistry of the cast and it felt like we were doing really good work, but I don't know. I was also just sort of, it was my first series regular. I felt like my job was just to come in and do my work. And I didn't know a lot either. I was really young and naive too.

Speaker 1:
[10:28] For me, I would watch the show, but I never watched every episode until it was syndicated. And that's when I really felt like I had a relationship with the show. It was on USA, it was on CMT, because it was on a lot so you can catch all the episodes. Did you feel that when it went into syndication, that you could feel the show's popularity and even your star rise because it was just so present?

Speaker 2:
[10:51] Yeah. I mean, when something's on every day and people are consuming it, yes, I definitely felt that. And it was where you got recognized a lot more. I felt like in that syndication, there was so much more love and consumption of the show just because it was there all the time. And then people really loved it and it was fun to see that. And then TikTok, even years later, where there's this other resurgence of it. And ultimately, I do think that all of those things, if the writing wasn't great, if they hadn't created these characters that people wanted to be around, that wouldn't have mattered, but they did. And I can watch it. I hate watching things that I'm in, unless I have distance from it. Distance is a lot easier for me. And I can watch those episodes now of that show and just think, it's really funny and it holds up. And we did do some really fun and great things. And I love watching the chemistry between everybody. So yeah, I feel very grateful that I'm in one of those shows that people still watch today.

Speaker 1:
[12:04] Can you educate me and us on especially that show, because there's an audience, what a week is like of doing that show and what would happen on a Monday versus a Saturday and what day it actually was recorded?

Speaker 2:
[12:16] It's a, Multicam is a five day. It's one episode is in five days. And what we're doing right now in Happiest Place is the exact same sort of schedule we did on the original Reba show, which is we're a Wednesday to Tuesday show, which means Wednesday is our table read. We come in, that's our day one of our five days. So we come in and we do our table read in front of the studio and network. And we read it out loud for everybody in the writers. And then we would go away and maybe go to a costume fitting or hang out in our dressing room for a while while they get notes from the studio and network. And then we would come back in after they all give their notes. And our director would usually say, all right, this is going to change, some changes here, but we're going to put it on its feet. And we'd have a light day of rehearsal on that first table read day. So we got in there at 10 o'clock for table read. We were probably done by two. So it's a great schedule for that way. And then the next day is we come in. They probably got a new script overnight. They address the changes from studio network. We get there probably nine. And if we need to, we might read it again, just for the writers or maybe just for the cast, if there was a lot of changes. And then we would start rehearsing it. We'd start blocking it with our director and we rehearsed the whole show, have a lunch and a break maybe have fittings during that day. And then you do a studio or which is first network or studio. Oh my gosh, I've been doing this how many years. I think it would be a studio run through that day. So then the writers come down studio and we do the whole show as we rehearsed it that day and then we would get notes. And Kevin Abbott who is our show runner, him and Matt Berry were the two leaders in the first Reba show and Kevin Abbott's our show runner this one. And Matt Berry has been there since the original Reba show. And what's great about Kevin is that a lot of times you don't get to like sit in with the producers or have an opportunity to ask questions. After that first run through, we sit with the after this network would leave, we'd sit and Kevin would say these are some of the changes and maybe ask us if we had any ideas or anything that was bumping us and and blah, blah, blah. And then we would go home, get a new script that night coming on Friday, read it, rehearse it, and then do a network studio run through with the writers. And then they would give maybe even more notes. And then over the weekend, the writers might address those. Coming on Monday, you camera block the whole show in front of the cameras. So they know exactly what we're going to do. And then you might do some pre-shoots. If there's a set that's way far away from the studio audience, or a set that's only there for a few days, or an outdoor scene, you would do a pre-shoot that day that you would plug in in front of the studio audience. Is this boring? This is so long.

Speaker 1:
[15:12] No, I won't cut it down at all. I'm super interested in like all the nuance of it. So I'm paying attention here.

Speaker 2:
[15:16] Okay. And then so Mondays is camera blocking, maybe some pre-shoot days, and then you go home and then Tuesdays are show day. We tape it. We're in a Tuesday night show. You come in maybe later than the other days, you come in and camera block, refresh, they call it camera refresh. So you refresh all the scenes that you're going to do that night in front of the audience with your camera guys, so you know where we're going to be, where you need to get for your camera or how this is going to go. Then you would, cast would be sent away to hair and makeup. We'd get ourselves glammed up and have dinner, and then we would meet in the makeup room for touch-ups, and we'd usually do a quick spree through of the script, which is we just quick do it as fast as we can, off-book and just do it as a cast. Then we have a little cast and our director, we have a little prayer, hands together, hands in pray. We go out, have cast intros, and we tape that show in front of a live studio audience. Usually for us, Kevin Abbott keeps things running. We usually do maybe two, three takes per scene, sometimes more if there's just a different, something we need to pick up. We usually start at six o'clock in front of the audience, and we're usually done by 8.30 or nine. Then maybe have a little glass of wine with the cast, and then you go home and then you show up the next day for your table read of next week's episode.

Speaker 1:
[16:39] You just start all over again. Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. And we're back on the BobbyCast. Is there ever a moment where you're in front of the studio audience and a joke really doesn't hit, and then you just, you rewrite the joke, or do you just repair it in like post?

Speaker 2:
[17:07] Oh yeah, you find out right away. That's the beauty of this medium, which is why I love multicam so much. It's the closest thing to live theater you've got. So they'll tell you, oh, that didn't work. And our writers usually will have a line for you. Sometimes the actors will have a pitch, and that's again, what's so great about Kevin is that he lets us pitch stuff or try stuff. I love it when that happens. I mean, I don't love it when a joke doesn't land, but I do love it when you get to try five different jokes in front of that same audience and see which one lands. But yeah, they let you know if something works, and they'll let you know if it doesn't either. And I love that part. But yeah, the writers are usually there with another blow ready to go.

Speaker 1:
[17:47] With Reba and with Happy's Place, those are shot very similarly, but Young Sheldon was not. Is that just a different mindset going into a show like that, or are you prepared differently?

Speaker 2:
[17:57] Yeah, because that's a single camera, so that's shot like a movie. So it's, and often you're not, if you don't have a scene with an actor that day, you might never see them. Like the difference between multicam is you're with your cast all day, usually rehearsing and playing and playing around. So in single camera, it's a completely different mindset where, you know, the writing is funny and there's a laugh there, but you're not going to get that feedback from the studio audience. I don't know, my read is if you see one of the gaffers or a camera guy, if somebody maybe, if you get a tiny little something, you're like, all right, that worked. But yeah, it's as much smaller. It's, you know, everything's just a little bit smaller, a little quieter and you don't have to, it's just a different mind. It is a different mindset, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[18:48] With Happy's Place and with Reba coming back and you guys are all together again, how long ago did this bubble up as an idea? And did you think it would manifest itself into like version two of you guys?

Speaker 2:
[19:00] You know, after the Reba show ended, immediately I feel like we knew we wanted to do something together again. You know, she, I think she made up jobs for me sometimes just so we could hang out. You know, she took me on the road and I did stand up. I was open for her and for her and Kelly Clarkson and then her and George Strait when they were on the road, which was such a wonderful experience. But, you know, we were sort of always looking, it was sort of out in the world that we'd love to, you know, some time would pass, we'd love to do a project together. And some came and went, some were like, you know, and the reboot was always sort of in that world too. Like, could we get a reboot? And, you know, that never seemed to come to fruition, whether it was like who owned the rights, who was going to do this? So that didn't come. And, you know, you know, Reba, and I always trust her because she's so great about this business. And she has such a great perspective of, you know, when the time is right, it'll happen. When the project's right, it's yours. You don't lose a job that wasn't yours to have, you know? So she was very, I just sort of trusted her that, you know, it will come when it's supposed to. I mean, I had no idea it would be this many years later, but there were some ideas that were floated. They weren't the right ones anyway. So Julie Abbott, Kevin Abbott's wife, who is our original showrunner in the first show and the showrunner on Happiest Place, came to Kevin with this idea about sisters, someone finding out they didn't have a sister. So Kevin took that and ran and brought it to Reba and I, and we loved it. I mean, I don't know how much sway my love happened, but I loved it too. And, you know, we sort of, that's where it was born. It was Julie Abbott, Kevin's wife, who has been, you know, part of, we've all known each other for, since the original Reba show. And yeah, I had no idea. And then even when that happens, you know, even when that happens, yes, Kevin's going to write this idea. Okay, great. Well, that doesn't mean anything. Well, he's going to go pitch it. Great. That doesn't mean anything till someone buys it. Then someone does. And then you make the pilot and then, you know, you don't know if that's going to get picked up. So, you know, another good thing that Reba's great about is saying, you know, I'm excited, but I won't get excited yet. I'll get as excited as need be, as every level has passed. So you sort of go, well, that was great. That's one hurdle. And now we have to get to that one. And here we are, you know, here we are, just in the middle of season two airing and a pickup for season three, which is a crazy sentence to say in this day and age of, you know, where the industry's at and to be working. And we are very grateful to be working and doing what we love.

Speaker 1:
[21:40] Your background is in improv. When did you start doing stand up? Like what were you doing in high school?

Speaker 2:
[21:46] High school I was doing theater and some improv. Then I went on to college and did, I got a theater degree and improv was part of my life there. And when I graduated from college with a theater degree, I went to Minneapolis, which is a great theater town. And I did improv at Brave New Workshop, Dudley Riggs, which is very similar to Second City where you write five shows, original shows a year. And every night you do improv with your cast. And then I did Tony and Tina's Wedding, which was all improv, which I did for, I don't know how many performances in Minneapolis. And then standup, where am I? I'm on a tangent. So many after college was doing improv, doing theater. And then standup really didn't come into place until Reba sort of gave me that chance to do it. I feel like I would MC a lot of stuff. And in improv, you learn to think on your feet. I was always writing stuff too. Part of what we did where I was doing improv was you had to write stuff all the time. And so she sort of said after the Reba show, I said, what you want to do it? And I'm like, I say yes. And then you hang up and you go, oh my God, what did I, I know I have to have 25 minutes and I have to have, you know, be ready to go and sort of got the luxury of a learning curve on the road with her. And frankly, and I know you're so good at it and you do it and you have to do it all the time, but there's nothing scarier to me. Improv does not terrify me. Stand up is to me the most terrifying of all, all mediums at all, any sort of form of the most terrifying form of entertaining ever is stand up.

Speaker 1:
[23:34] When did you decide then from Minneapolis to move to Los Angeles? What was it that triggered that?

Speaker 2:
[23:39] I always knew I was going to do it. I mean, I felt I needed to try. I wanted to, I knew I was going to do, I sort of had a New York or LA, but ultimately it was LA. I love TV. I wanted to be on a sitcom. I wanted to make people laugh and I thought LA was a place to do it. So I knew as I was doing improv and theater in Minneapolis, I was trying to save money to move to LA. Within the form of that improv troupe, we came out to Los Angeles to do a showcase at the HBO workspace, and our improv troupe did this showcase. And I got some interest in me there, and some meetings were set up. And I was like, great, I have to go back to Minnesota. I'm getting married. So I did that, married John Brady, who I was doing improv with, who's the funniest human, and got married to him and put out those meetings, went to do Tony and Tina's wedding in Baltimore to save up more money so we could go to LA. So we saved up money and then went to LA, and then followed up on the people that wanted to have some meetings with me there, and then just started hitting the ground and auditioning and trying to become an actor.

Speaker 1:
[24:53] What was your first yes?

Speaker 2:
[24:55] In LA or in?

Speaker 1:
[24:56] Yeah, in LA. When you get to LA, what is your first yes?

Speaker 2:
[24:59] I think it was a sketch show for Oxygen that I don't think it ever aired, but it was really funny and really funny people. Maya Rudolph, Seth Rogen, I'm trying to remember all of these. It was a sketch show and it made me confusing two sketch shows that I was casting called Running with Scissors and that was my first yes. I knew that it was really funny people that are all working now and that was my first yes and then it never aired. I don't know why. I don't even know what happened to it, but I know that it was really fun and yeah, that was I guess and then I got a Kia commercial. That was another first yes. Oh my gosh, guest spot on Just Shoot Me.

Speaker 1:
[25:47] Oh, nice. I love that show.

Speaker 2:
[25:49] I was living, I was subletting at an apartment right across the street called the Starlet. If you're ever in LA, you'll see it. It's still there and we were still subletting at this tiny apartment. Right across was Warner Brothers Studio and you could look at your little window and you'd see, that's where they're shooting Friends. I booked this guest spot on Just Shoot Me and it was one funny scene. I think it was the check-in girl for somebody's high school reunion. I was terrified. I was so excited to drive onto that lot. And George Siegel, who was so kind to me, and he was kind to me twice in my career and it's such a way that I will never forget. And I hope it's what I bring to every show I'm on. I didn't even have a scene with him. I didn't have a scene with him. I'm trying to remember who my scene was with. I don't think it was David Spade. Who was it? Anyway, everyone was very lovely, but he made a point of walking up to me. And he said, is this your first thing in LA, like in front of an audience? And I said, yes. And he says, you're really funny. Go out there and have fun tonight. It's supposed to be fun. And he shook my knee. And he was so, and I'll never forget that. And then years later, I did another show called Retired at 35. And he was on that show. And I went up to thank him and I said, I was so terrified. I was so nervous. And you were so nice to me. And you reminded me that what we do is really fun. And I was doing what I dreamed of doing as a kid in Minnesota. And it was happening tonight. And it may have been a couple lines, but to have fun. And I, so I went up and thanked him and he couldn't, and I just said, I'll never forget it. You just made that such a wonderful experience. And he did the same thing for me on this show. He just said, you are so funny. You're just, and he, I don't know. It was, I'll never forget it.

Speaker 1:
[27:46] The BobbyCast. We'll be right back. This is The BobbyCast. When you were a kid, who did you look at and either mimic or think, I want to do something like they do because they do it so well?

Speaker 2:
[28:08] Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin. Those were my like kid ones that I just, I would watch SEC SCTV. I would watch that, I believe it was on PBS is when that aired for me. And I'd watch it on the phone with my friend Jenny Howell because we both would laugh together watching SC, our second city TV, SCTV, which is where I saw Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin. And then I would stay over at my aunt's house on Saturday nights when my parents were like gone and they would let me stay up and watch Saturday Night Live. And I loved Gilda Radner. I loved Jane Curtin. I just knew, but Carol Burnett was one that I could watch all the time and just knew that I wanted, I didn't know what, I just wanted to do that. I wanted to do that.

Speaker 1:
[28:57] You know, so much of what we turn into is because of things that we're exposed to. And I think I grew up in the South, so I didn't get to watch anything Canadian. And there were so many funny things that as I got older, I was like, man, I really missed out because I had no, no influence on me was Canadian. However, you lived in Minnesota where you actually got the best of America and you got the Canadian like the SCTV like that feels pretty fortunate looking back, right?

Speaker 2:
[29:20] Oh, yeah, absolutely. And by the way, how many people, well, most of the funny people we know are Canadian.

Speaker 1:
[29:27] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[29:28] Martin Short, John Candy, I think about that entire SCTV cast was just geniusly funny. And then Mike Myers, like I think about it, but I feel very grateful that I got that. I don't even know how I found it. I just remember finding and this is the funniest thing I've ever seen. And I love it so much. And I'm really grateful that I saw that. And I'm grateful that my parents let me sleep over at my aunt's who's in Cathy's and be unsupervised and watch. We stay up way too late to watch and listen. And my aunts too, by the way, were very instrumental because they had Steve Martin comedy album and I would listen to that. And they exposed me to a lot of things that I would probably not have found on my own. And yeah, we are a product of that. So I feel really lucky about that.

Speaker 1:
[30:18] Did you ever have dreams or did you audition for SNL?

Speaker 2:
[30:22] No, but I will say that when I was doing this sketch show that we were shooting, and Maya Rudolph, I remember we were doing a sketch. And I think this was at the time that she was maybe about to like fly out for her, an audition or maybe it was her call. But I'm not sure, but I remember that that was in the process. I remember sitting across from her and just thinking how funny she was. And she had said something like, well, you're going to be auditioning soon, aren't you? And I just like, I don't know. I thought, who knew? And so, no, I never did. And then I remember about the time that I had gotten maybe a few, I believe my manager had said, you should get a tape together for SNL that we can start sending in. And at that point where we started thinking about that I was maybe in that sort of that window of time that that would have been appropriate, I booked the sitcom. And once you book a sitcom, you're no longer really, they don't really want to see you, I guess, at that time. But yeah, it was one of those who knows, and I ended up where I was supposed to. But yeah, I dreamed of SNL is, I mean, I don't know if you can see behind me, that's still like, I, oh, that didn't turn off. I still have that, the album. And I still listen to my Gilda Radner, like live in New York album. But you know, I'm not dead. Maybe someday they'll let me do a walk on. I work for NBC Universal. I mean, I'd be happy if they let me just sit, you know, I'd be, I'd do anything. I just, that show is huge to me. And I still, I still fight with people who go, oh, it's not good anymore or this wasn't good or now this cast. I'm like, no, no, no, no. It is always, it's always good because what they are doing. Yes, there's ebbs and flows, there's cast that you might connect with more. And there's maybe years that there was more sketches that you remember. But the reality is it's always good because what they're doing is they're creating a live show and they're creating this amazing variety show every week. And real fans, you don't leave them in any year. You watch it every year all the time. And I love it because I love watching just how things change, but yet they stay the same. And I'm loving Ashley Padilla and this new cast I think is brilliant. So I still dream of SNL, even though I realize that train has probably left the building.

Speaker 1:
[32:43] I often will do a thing where I'll go through and try to guess what the most asked question is to the people that I talk to. And I never really want to jump into the most asked questions, but can I try to predict your most asked question?

Speaker 2:
[32:58] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[32:59] Is it about hooker number two?

Speaker 2:
[33:01] No.

Speaker 1:
[33:01] It isn't?

Speaker 2:
[33:03] No.

Speaker 1:
[33:04] Okay. So then I don't feel guilty asking it. So I love Fargo.

Speaker 2:
[33:08] I do too. I mean, again, that was my first job out of college. That was my first yes. Dang it. I need to walk around with my mom or dad behind me, who actually keep track of my career. I have no idea. I am so bad at it.

Speaker 1:
[33:27] Tell me that story.

Speaker 2:
[33:28] Oh my gosh. I was a kid. I was working at TGI Fridays. I got my theater degree. Jane Brody, an amazing casting agent, who I believe is still based in Chicago, came and taught a semester at my college and I took her class. I think she was teaching auditioning for film or maybe cold readings. She was amazing. I took her class as she liked me. I graduate. She's in town in Minneapolis casting for Fargo. At first, she hired me to run camera for her too, to earn some extra money, which was a lovely skill to learn. I run camera for a few days, but then she calls me in to audition for the Coen Brothers. True story, I'm in the lobby. I want to get a Mountain Dew before my audition. I don't have change. I ask who I think is, I don't know, somebody who works there, I ask for change for a dollar so I can get a Mountain Dew. By the way, all of those are poor decisions before an audition, drinking a Mountain Dew. I don't know, all of it. I get in the room and I had asked Joel Cohen for change, for the vending machine to get a Mountain Dew. Again, this is pre-social media. I had seen Rays in Arizona. I knew who the Cohen brothers were, but it wasn't like they had this hot instance. I didn't know what they actually looked like. So I go in, I audition. I don't hear anything for quite some time, and I think it's done and it's over because it's a small town. You hear people that have been going in for this big Cohen brothers movie. I get called back in maybe like a month later, but again, don't trust me in any timeline because clearly, I have no idea what I've done in my life. I go back in and this is for hooker number. This is for when the pair of hookers and they start to match us up with other girls. So I go in and read, and I read with a couple of different people. Then when they put Larissa and I together, I felt like, oh, this works. It's that thing you know, where this is supposed to be. So once they paired us together and we read this scene, I felt like, oh, that felt pretty good. That felt right. And then I leave, and I think I still don't think I hear for maybe another week that I got it. And then I got it. And I went in and my first day, the first scene we shot was, I believe the scene where it's the, oh yeah, we're at the scene with Frances McDormand, which she's so, was so, even only in hindsight would I realize how generous she was as an actor. I just remember she treated Larissa and I both like we were peers, which she, we were, but in my head, I was just, I was going, I had a shift at TJ Friday's the next day. And this was Frances McDormand, who was well into her career, but also just such a brilliant actress, she was so kind and just, I remember she, I felt like we were, we were equals, we were equals in a scene, which wasn't just in hindsight, a lovely gift to give a really young, new person who had no idea what she was doing. And who at the rat party at the bowling alley, asked William H. Macy, what party was in the movie? Because I had an, I didn't know the whole script. I just, I asked, I asked so many questions. And in that, in hindsight, I never would have asked, I would have been too nervous. Like if I was doing a Coen Brothers movie today, I would be nervous, right? But back then I'm like, hey, Steve Buscemi, do you remember when you were Mr. Pink? I was like Chris Farley in that sketch. I was like, remember when you were in-

Speaker 1:
[37:16] You were awesome.

Speaker 2:
[37:18] I was such an idiot. And Ethan Cohen, people have heard this story, but true story, I just graduated. So I was living with my parents while I saved money for my apartment. And Ethan Cohen called my house to talk about a scene or something. And my mother answered and was screaming upstairs going, Missy, calling me Missy, by the way, which I'm like, I'm Melissa, I'm an actress. And Missy, the phone's for you. And I'm like, who is it? And she said, Ethan Cohen. And I was mortified, mortified.

Speaker 1:
[37:49] So that was your first yes.

Speaker 2:
[37:50] That was my first yes.

Speaker 1:
[37:53] What was your last yes?

Speaker 2:
[37:56] My last yes? Well, getting a, saying yes to a third season of Happy's Place, I guess, that's, that's a giant yes. And in today's world where, you know, TV's changing and I know so many people not working, that feels like a really, really big yes that we get to do a season three.

Speaker 1:
[38:16] Do you still cook?

Speaker 2:
[38:18] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[38:19] Oh, so you, with your reaction, must still cook a lot.

Speaker 2:
[38:23] Yeah. I mean, I'm just, my reaction is why? Do you think I have someone cook for me?

Speaker 1:
[38:27] Well, I know you from cooking on television a bit. And so I didn't know if you really did that a lot, or if you're just good at it and you kind of break it out occasionally for on camera.

Speaker 2:
[38:37] No, I like to cook. I mean, I don't cook as, I mean, my husband actually cooks a lot of the stuff, but I do like to cook. I love to like be able, and my son is 20 and so he's moved out of the house. He's actually in going to culinary school. So hopefully he'll cook for me. But yeah, I love to cook. I'd rather stay in and eat at home than I, I guess it's not true. I like both, but I do like to cook. Yeah, I like it when I don't have to. I like it when I can putter around and go, oh, I'm going to make soup. I love making things where I can just throw whatever I have and see if it works. And it usually does actually.

Speaker 1:
[39:13] What is your signature dish?

Speaker 2:
[39:16] Hmm. Oh, wow. I make really good. This sounds like a dumb one, but I make really good. Like I can do like every really good homemade, like black bean dip. I make really good soups. I make a really good garden vegetable soup. I don't know if I have a signature anymore. Oh, you know what? This is going to make me very Midwestern. I can do a really good hot dish. I can do a really good tater tot hot dish. I'm really good at it. But as far as like this, I don't know if I have a signature. I mean, roast chicken, that's easy. But no, I don't have a signature.

Speaker 1:
[39:52] You got to talk me through a tater tot hot dish. I'm from the South. I don't know what that means. I know what tater tots are, but what's a hot dish tater tot?

Speaker 2:
[39:58] You'd call it a casserole, right?

Speaker 1:
[40:01] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[40:02] No, it's the same thing. It's where you take ground meat of any kind, maybe a cream of mushroom soup, some green beans, some onions, whatever. You mix that up. Maybe you put some cheese in it. There's a debate between the cheese and a hot dish sometimes. And then you would layer tater tots on top. So ours would be ground beef, browned ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, green beans. I like to go, I like to sass it up with some onions, maybe some real mushrooms in it. Then you put that, line tater tots on time, build it, bake it, and you've got a hot dish.

Speaker 1:
[40:38] So hot dish is midwestern for casserole. Do people often think you're from the south?

Speaker 2:
[40:44] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[40:44] I did until I started researching you.

Speaker 2:
[40:48] I just met somebody actually yesterday somewhere that was like, so wait, you weren't from Texas? I'm like, no, I just, I did my barber chain. I just did it. So I think there's something like vibe wise that's very similar. I think Midwest and South has a similar vibe that I think connects people in a way where we like to hang out with our friends and family. We like to eat. We like to, you know, we like our neighbors. We, you know, I don't know. I think there's a little more of a laid back vibe that I connect with, with people from the South, maybe.

Speaker 1:
[41:20] Well, congratulations on getting renewed for a third season. Again, that is such a big deal. I bet it's so fun to do Happy's Place because it's new.

Speaker 2:
[41:28] You need to come out to a lot. You need to come to a taping or be on it.

Speaker 1:
[41:35] Yeah, I guess.

Speaker 2:
[41:36] That was not the reaction I was hoping for.

Speaker 1:
[41:38] Well, I just have been, Hollywood is so, and I'm not comparing you to this, but everybody in, anytime I do any meetings, and I was talking to someone about this recently, I was talking to Tom Bergeron, who I love as a host, right? And he's the greatest guy. And I was like, every time I come and do any meeting in Los Angeles, they promise me the world, they tell me they're going to make me the biggest thing ever, they're going to give me millions of dollars right there in the room. And then I walk out and I never hear from anybody. And so, you know, I just have that association with anyone in Hollywood that's like, you should do this. And I just should react like this. Oh, thank you. That's so nice of you. But I have this reaction. Yeah, you know, right?

Speaker 2:
[42:13] I get it. I mean, I remember there's so many times like, oh, my gosh, you are the funniest person we've ever seen today for this. And I'm like, great, well, hire me because that doesn't pay my rent. Or like, I get it. I hear that all the time. People say that all the time. They say, I get it. I believe you. That was, you know what? That was a proper reaction. But no bullshit aside, you are beloved by Reba. I would like us to like, I think, I don't know. You know what? Don't believe me, but you should.

Speaker 1:
[42:49] Fair enough.

Speaker 2:
[42:51] But I get it. I bet you hear that all the time because you are so good at what you do. You have this massive following. You can do many things. You wear a lot of different hats. People say things, and it never comes true.

Speaker 1:
[43:03] I should have reacted better to that, though.

Speaker 2:
[43:04] I had that thing, too, of like when people, that all of these things don't pay my rent.

Speaker 1:
[43:10] I should have reacted to that better. I apologize.

Speaker 2:
[43:13] No, I love that. This is the best, most perfect reaction you should get to anybody in Hollywood who says you should or you know what? Come out here. I've got something for you. Don't believe them because you know what? I didn't come till I'd saved up a lot of money on my own to pay my own rent, and I knew I could try to make it here.

Speaker 1:
[43:31] Well, congratulations again. I really love it for you guys. I love it for Reba. I love Reba, obviously. She's been so kind to me over the years, and it's so cool that you guys are real-life friends. I think that's cool because a lot of people are work friends or we've done stuff together, but you guys are like real-life friends, and I love to work with my real-life friends. That's got to be super cool to be able to do that.

Speaker 2:
[43:51] It is, and people can tell. It translates into the final product. People, they maybe don't know what it is or are able to put their finger on it, but they can tell when there's chemistry and there's real friendship there, and yeah, and we have a shorthand. We don't have to explain stuff to each other because we already know.

Speaker 1:
[44:08] What does Reba like to work with professionally?

Speaker 2:
[44:13] She's a great example. She is prepared. She treats everybody with respect, and she likes to have fun. She doesn't need to do this right now, and she wants to do it because she really loves it. She has so much fun. You know Reba, she's lovely, and the goal is that anybody who leaves that set, they walk away saying, I had a great time, people treated me great, and I want to come back, and she does that. It's really fun watching her and Rex together. You would think that you would get tired of seeing how much in love they are, and how cute they are, but I'm not yet. And they really are quite fun together. And he's great because I don't know how much time you've spent with Rex Lynn, but he is such an actor's actor, and he loves what he does so much, and he loves to rehearse, and he makes us all better, I think, because he really respects that process. And he's got stories. He's fun to talk to. He's been doing this for a long time.

Speaker 1:
[45:19] Melissa, thank you so much for the time, and thanks for the generosity with your stories. I really appreciate it, and much, much success, and hopefully someday we'll be in the same room and we'll actually talk to each other. That was a busy day we were together. We were running all over the place.

Speaker 2:
[45:31] I know, and I was really hoping to do this in person, so I hope that you'll let me do it in person.

Speaker 1:
[45:36] I would love to.

Speaker 2:
[45:37] I like to come out there and my folks are around there, so I'll do it.

Speaker 1:
[45:40] Please do. Next time you're in town, please. Hey, come on by next time you're in town. I hit her with that. Can't wait to see you. I got something for you. I got a show.

Speaker 2:
[45:47] Here's my reaction. Okay. You bet. I'll be there.

Speaker 1:
[45:53] Thank you. Hey, great to see you. Thank you so much. Hope you have a great rest of the day.

Speaker 2:
[45:57] Thanks. You too.

Speaker 1:
[45:58] Bye, Melissa. Thanks for listening to a BobbyCast production.