April 4, 2025 • 15 mins
Our Melrose Place ladies talk about seeing Daphne dazzle on the improv stage!
What was supposed to be a night of innocent comedy and improvisation, hear how things went south on stage (pun intended)!
Plus, find out which actress from 'Friends' gave Daphne the best acting lesson ever, and why Courtney says humiliation can actually be healthy!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Still the Place with Laura Layton, Courtney Thorn Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
And Daphne's Aniga an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Hey you guys, Oh my gosh, Daphne, you were so
cute at King for coming.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Yes, So, first of all, welcome to our Melrose Minute.
We had the super crazy fun thing of getting to
go see Daphne at Upright Citizens per Grade, which is
an improv show, and it was really the best one
I've ever seen. I never stopped laughing. Normally there are
awkward pauses. I never did.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So Daphne, please tell us what it was like for you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, UCB is, you know, started in New York. This
is the La Theater and within that somebody, I think
it was Amy Poehler was one of the founders, and
then another actor started ascat a double four s's and
the format is.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And I said, you say, ass cat. I've never said
it that way, but that would be the appropriate I'm
just trying it out.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
And I don't know where that came from, but I
think you see be the theater itself has at least
that night, there were three shows, so people come, they.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Line up, but like they're you know, five, Almost every
night there's two or three shows almost every night, and
they're just like a different themed, recurring show.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And if they and.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
This particular one with Ascat, which is not in all
the shows, they invite a guest to come in and
they say, we're going to ask you to tell three stories.
They have to be true, and then our improv troupe
will act them out. And obviously, you guys saw they
take you to start with your stories and they go
off from there.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, they weren't really acting out your stories so much
as they used it as a trigger to spark ideas
for themselves. So they would take a piece of your
story and just go off on that became a tangent
and it.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Was hysterical, shysterical.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
And by the way, Daphne I thought about this later,
like your stories were great because you provided just enough
detail for them to like grab onto things that they
wanted to like store away and go, oh, I want
to I want to do something on that beat.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And they weren't always like truthful to your story.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
It was just like that beat of the story that
they took and told another tangential story off of. And
just the way they work together and they you know,
they as improv artists. They're like ready to jump in
and go I see where this can go and how
I can contribute. And they tap the shoulder of one
of the other actors out and they tap out and
(02:37):
they step in and all of a sudden, they pivot
the story and everybody's just like they don't miss a beat.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It was so fun to watch. Yeah, it made me
wish that I had had the courage to do that
as a actor, and I thought I wish I had.
I wish I had done it because it looked so
much fun and they were enjoying themselves. And Daphney, what
I think you did so beautifully.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
First of all terrifying, like when they say, like when
you're doing a pre interview for a talk show and
they tell me a funny story like the only can't
remember anything. Yeah, it was that moment on a stage
in front of people. But the stories you told were
really charming and funny in and of themselves, and you
were so relaxed and you seem so happy to be there,
and I think it gave them permission to really be
(03:20):
funny and do whatever they wanted. And we could see you,
so we were on the opposite side of the stage.
We could see you. I don't think you could see
us because we were in the dark.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
No, you were just smiling, you delighted. We were across
the stage from you, on the other side of the stage.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And once you sit down after you've told your stories,
you sit down as an audience member, and you watched
the troop just do their thing, and you're laughing.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
As the thing. You honestly were like beaming. It was
so fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was cringing because they get a little like pro genitalia.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, was there.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I told the story of our blind date, and I
was like, I did not mention anything about what I could.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Kill someone body part. Yeah, and it was very dirty
and they get.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Dirty, but they let's see my stories. The first one was, oh,
someone said desert, so I still.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I told a Spaceball story.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So we had guys acting out mel Brooks and the
other characters and.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
All different versions of mel Brooks.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
All different versions of him. And then I told a
story about our blind date, and so I kind of
was regretting. I don't know, because it's I've never done
that before. So these stories came up, you know, as
you saw, they asked the audience for words and they
were giving me words like ginger vitis.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Like no kept coming.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, because the audience first is supposed to throw out
words for you, the guest to think of a story
on that theme, and then you have to think of
a story sort of on a theme based on the
audience suggestion, and then the improv actors tell off from
tell their thing, do their thing based on yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's all like a very sort of collaborative yea, yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
And I know why it would feel weird for you
because one of this phrase you told it was so
adorable was that you were talking to your now husband
and you hadn't met yet, and he happened to be
in your mom's town and he said, can I take
your mom to coffee? Which is so such extremely charming,
I can't even so, and the whole audience went, oh
so after to take your mom to coffee, So they
ran with that. But as just so you know, as
(05:25):
an audience member, I'm not thinking that the mother character
saying ridiculous things to the boyfriend character.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Is it all you and David? Like that wasn't the truth?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
The sweet part was, I can imagine why it felt
sort of personal deal, like are people going to think,
but it's not.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It was so ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
And as you said, they said penis more times than
I can count, and then Wiener and I was saying
to I went with my friend Dan, and I was like,
the embarrassing thing is it.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Makes me laugh every time he goes.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I was getting kind of calm by the penis because
then they said Wiener and I lost it, like why
is it so funny?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
How young?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, it's also silly and stupid, and yeah, it
was so silly and great, but yeah, that's absolutely true.
Daff Your story was so sweet and genuine, and everybody
just kind of went, oh, my gosh, that's so cute.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
But like they completely turned.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And then it became animal crack and lizard planning, and
then that lizard someone mentioned Meryl Streep and then I
was like, oh, that's they had told me before. Don't
prepare anything, but if something while they're doing an improv,
if something there trigger something, So I like, okay, well
there was a sort of a story about Meryl Streep,
(06:36):
not that I've worked with her, but that so I
told that story of my audition for the first theater
troupe that I ever auditioned for first and last musical comedation.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I love that story and I don't say money.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
But because Meryl Streep went to the same Summerstock theater
years before, I use that because they said do that, And.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Then I'm great.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I kind of learned, like, Okay, I get it. Now,
these are acts, their improv Let's give them some visuals,
you know, and they can just go off from there,
because clearly I know they will. And yet they turned
it into more genitalia and.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Right, well, I'm like, did you know did they ask
did they say, hey, this is an over eighteen crowd,
like this is adults only, because or somehow in your
gut you knew to ask for it. Right at the beginning,
You're like, wait a minute, is everybody out here over eighteen?
And they haven't turned that into a joke, which was
really funny for them, but like, I wonder you even knew, Like, hey,
(07:30):
I just just.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Want to check who's my crowd here. I want to
read the room.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well I was saying that more for my stories, right yeah, yeah,
So but then I thought I'm not going to divulge
any like stories that I don't want out in the
public anyway. So they're going to stick to like really fun,
you know, save stories. But boy, when you have like
really talented if some of those people are second city,
there us be. They used to came up in New
York when it started with the Amy Polar group and
(07:55):
all of that, so they're very talented. They do this
all the time and they go off. I mean, they're imaginations.
You know. I was relieved when I was asked to
do this. I was relieved that he said, don't prepare anything.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They because I do improv.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I've studied with Gary Austen, I've studied with you know,
my friends, Helen Hunt and Helen Slater. I've Jason Alexander
had been in there. Lisa Kudre is there in the
very beginning when she came up with her character for Friends.
I mean, these are brilliant people who just have but
you have to be open to your own inspiration because
it kills you if you think too much. And so
I'm always terrified over the years to do it, and
(08:31):
then i keep doing it because it's fun.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
But you really, I.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Really saw because I got to just tell this story
and then sit down like there, imaginations just keep going. Yeah,
never stop and that's a real ability. That's a real,
real ability. I hope you guys do it. I hope
you guys do it. You said Doug might want to
do it.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I mean it's just like if between Doug or me,
like who's sort of more brave about that, that would
be Doug I have. I'm like, like panic, I'm not
going to be able to think of something in the moment,
you know that that fear like you said, like going
on a talk show and like, ah, I can't.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I felt scared, But it looked so fun. Yeah, do
it fun?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
And what I saw because I always think I wish
I could be as relaxed in my work as an
actor as I am with my friends. Right, Like, I'm
much funnier with my friends, and you guys are now
my friends, so we're nice and relaxed.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
But it's like you're hilarious.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
But I always thought, like I look at and that's
what they felt, like friends making each other a laugh
and they were like the guys weren't actually on stage,
were waiting, were laughing hysterically at their buddies.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And I thought that's why the show was so.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Magical, because it wasn't all these people trying to perform
and be funny for each other. They were making each
other laugh, and I think that's why it felt so
relaxed and easy. So then as an audience member, I
could relax because they were having fun. Like I said,
we could see you you were having fun, so that
made it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It was such a great show. I was so impressed.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, I actually have I have a really good friend
who is not an actor, and she has always just
sort of had this. She has a kid, a grown
child who's pursuing acting as a career and stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And she just said.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
You know, I wanted to put myself in an improv
class because it's one of the scariest things I can
think of doing, but I think it would be so
good for me.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Whatever, And she just.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Went and did this super brave thing and put herself,
as a middle aged mom person in an improv class
with a bunch of people who were like pursuing it
for all of their reasons. And she said, she was,
you know, by far the oldest person in the room,
but like the super scary and vulnerable thing to do.
And I'm just so impressed by her. Say it was
she was terrified, she was She said it was horrible
(10:47):
and wonderful, you know, but like horrible just because it
was just so vulnerable, like horrible in a way, like,
oh my god, I had to learn so much about
myself through the process, Like just so much is revealed,
and it is everything she probably went there for and more.
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
The main thing that we get afraid of is judgment, right,
we judge ourselves and we're afraid of being judged by
the audience. And I remember again twenty something thirty. I
don't know if this was in the nineties, but I
was in one of my early classes with Gary Austin,
who was a co founder of the Groundlings, and his
opening exercise was to get up on stage alone and
(11:25):
make a fool of yourself for two minutes, so you
get it out of the way to the Cudro Lisa
Kudro blew my mind. And once you get that out
of your like just doing crazy stuff, Wow, you all
sort of connect and unite in Okay, it's safe to
just be goofball, just being nice, not pretty, and we survived.
(11:46):
And then once you can break through that, you access
other parts of yourself and you just play.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
You know, that is so brilliant because it's one thing
to say, you know, I'm really funny and easy with
my friends.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
It's very different to do it on stage. That's a
brilliant an exercise. Yeah, a few minutes and that's going
to feel like forever. And I will say, like I
have had talk show appearances go very badly and it's
actually healthy because you go, that was as awful as
I feared it was going to be, and here I am.
I'm still here, right.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
It's that sense of I did the humiliating, horrible thing
and I'm still here.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
It's really healthy. Maybe I should take an adult.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
It is sort of a good lesson, and I'm going
to take a little kid in prov class then I will.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
But I tell you one thing that I remember with
Gary's class much years later. I did he I didn't.
It's called the theatrical. I forget what the name of
the exercises. But I was on stage for thirty minutes
by myself, just following movement and making a story out
of it, and things came to me. This is many
years ago, so my memory is more intact. But I
(12:48):
remembered thing my childhood and cinequel just that's working. But
I know, but still I think I need to up
my dose because that's a great brain.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
We just went off on that tangent.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
But you know, anyway, we got to have a whole
other Melrose moment, middle aged Melose moment.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Do you remember what you were saying?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, I do remember that. I remember the experience. I thought,
I was terrified. What am I going to do?
Speaker 1 (13:11):
We all had to do it, and and it just.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Turned out there are instincts in us. If you've been
acting for a long time and you have to access
and give yourself freedom, but the instincts are there, and
if you just let yourself go into the the rules
that he lets you, that he lets you in on,
then you're going to be fine.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I was.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It was an amazing experience that class. And he said
that was so theatrical, It was so you have it
in you. You just don't know because regular life doesn't
ask this of us.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
And by the way, can I just mention that Melrose's
place never allowed it either.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Like we were not open, we were not welcome to improv.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
As a rule there was like state exactly is written
and yeah, no the Mary Donner out.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
No, no, no, I should have married Donna Onda we
should be so fun.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yes idea, yes, not to self married.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Honnor love her, But like we weren't really welcome to
improve in any way. And it wasn't like this collaborative,
you know, creative process. It was really like figure out
how to tell this exact story in the way that
is expected.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Although I will say like in.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Later seasons, I did feel like I got a little,
a little opportunity to do some improving and stuff just
with that.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Within the realm they.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Did loosen and well, in the beginning, we were young
and people were changing the script in ways that changed
the meaning, and that's why it got so strict.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
And then later on I think they loosened.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Plus everyone's tired.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Season seven, you're just like, say, launch whatever whatever I
want to go, Yeah, do it with chop stick.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
But I just want to say, we're going to wrap
this up, but I want to say it, so just
a shout out to the theater to uc b LA.
It's that's their instagram and it's right there on Franklin Street,
right there in Beechwood Canyon and they have shows all
the time and I really recommend people.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Going all the time. It was super much fun. Yeah,
I brought my kid and shows called ass Cat the
Sunday night shows.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
All right, it was super fun watching you daff and
super fun to talk about it and always start to
see you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
On a Melrose minute. Ladies, Yay, see you guy soon,
you se. Bye bye
Still the Place with Laura Layton, Courtney Thorn Smith.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
And Daphne's Aniga an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Hey you guys, Oh my gosh, Daphne, you were so
cute at King for coming.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Yes, So, first of all, welcome to our Melrose Minute.
We had the super crazy fun thing of getting to
go see Daphne at Upright Citizens per Grade, which is
an improv show, and it was really the best one
I've ever seen. I never stopped laughing. Normally there are
awkward pauses. I never did.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
So Daphne, please tell us what it was like for you.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, UCB is, you know, started in New York. This
is the La Theater and within that somebody, I think
it was Amy Poehler was one of the founders, and
then another actor started ascat a double four s's and
the format is.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And I said, you say, ass cat. I've never said
it that way, but that would be the appropriate I'm
just trying it out.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
And I don't know where that came from, but I
think you see be the theater itself has at least
that night, there were three shows, so people come, they.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Line up, but like they're you know, five, Almost every
night there's two or three shows almost every night, and
they're just like a different themed, recurring show.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And if they and.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
This particular one with Ascat, which is not in all
the shows, they invite a guest to come in and
they say, we're going to ask you to tell three stories.
They have to be true, and then our improv troupe
will act them out. And obviously, you guys saw they
take you to start with your stories and they go
off from there.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, they weren't really acting out your stories so much
as they used it as a trigger to spark ideas
for themselves. So they would take a piece of your
story and just go off on that became a tangent
and it.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Was hysterical, shysterical.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
And by the way, Daphne I thought about this later,
like your stories were great because you provided just enough
detail for them to like grab onto things that they
wanted to like store away and go, oh, I want
to I want to do something on that beat.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And they weren't always like truthful to your story.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
It was just like that beat of the story that
they took and told another tangential story off of. And
just the way they work together and they you know,
they as improv artists. They're like ready to jump in
and go I see where this can go and how
I can contribute. And they tap the shoulder of one
of the other actors out and they tap out and
(02:37):
they step in and all of a sudden, they pivot
the story and everybody's just like they don't miss a beat.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It was so fun to watch. Yeah, it made me
wish that I had had the courage to do that
as a actor, and I thought I wish I had.
I wish I had done it because it looked so
much fun and they were enjoying themselves. And Daphney, what
I think you did so beautifully.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
First of all terrifying, like when they say, like when
you're doing a pre interview for a talk show and
they tell me a funny story like the only can't
remember anything. Yeah, it was that moment on a stage
in front of people. But the stories you told were
really charming and funny in and of themselves, and you
were so relaxed and you seem so happy to be there,
and I think it gave them permission to really be
(03:20):
funny and do whatever they wanted. And we could see you,
so we were on the opposite side of the stage.
We could see you. I don't think you could see
us because we were in the dark.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
No, you were just smiling, you delighted. We were across
the stage from you, on the other side of the stage.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And once you sit down after you've told your stories,
you sit down as an audience member, and you watched
the troop just do their thing, and you're laughing.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
As the thing. You honestly were like beaming. It was
so fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was cringing because they get a little like pro genitalia.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, was there.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I told the story of our blind date, and I
was like, I did not mention anything about what I could.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Kill someone body part. Yeah, and it was very dirty
and they get.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Dirty, but they let's see my stories. The first one was, oh,
someone said desert, so I still.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I told a Spaceball story.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So we had guys acting out mel Brooks and the
other characters and.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
All different versions of mel Brooks.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
All different versions of him. And then I told a
story about our blind date, and so I kind of
was regretting. I don't know, because it's I've never done
that before. So these stories came up, you know, as
you saw, they asked the audience for words and they
were giving me words like ginger vitis.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Like no kept coming.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, because the audience first is supposed to throw out
words for you, the guest to think of a story
on that theme, and then you have to think of
a story sort of on a theme based on the
audience suggestion, and then the improv actors tell off from
tell their thing, do their thing based on yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
It's all like a very sort of collaborative yea, yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
And I know why it would feel weird for you
because one of this phrase you told it was so
adorable was that you were talking to your now husband
and you hadn't met yet, and he happened to be
in your mom's town and he said, can I take
your mom to coffee? Which is so such extremely charming,
I can't even so, and the whole audience went, oh
so after to take your mom to coffee, So they
ran with that. But as just so you know, as
(05:25):
an audience member, I'm not thinking that the mother character
saying ridiculous things to the boyfriend character.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Is it all you and David? Like that wasn't the truth?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
The sweet part was, I can imagine why it felt
sort of personal deal, like are people going to think,
but it's not.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It was so ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
And as you said, they said penis more times than
I can count, and then Wiener and I was saying
to I went with my friend Dan, and I was like,
the embarrassing thing is it.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Makes me laugh every time he goes.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I was getting kind of calm by the penis because
then they said Wiener and I lost it, like why
is it so funny?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
How young?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, it's also silly and stupid, and yeah, it
was so silly and great, but yeah, that's absolutely true.
Daff Your story was so sweet and genuine, and everybody
just kind of went, oh, my gosh, that's so cute.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
But like they completely turned.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And then it became animal crack and lizard planning, and
then that lizard someone mentioned Meryl Streep and then I
was like, oh, that's they had told me before. Don't
prepare anything, but if something while they're doing an improv,
if something there trigger something, So I like, okay, well
there was a sort of a story about Meryl Streep,
(06:36):
not that I've worked with her, but that so I
told that story of my audition for the first theater
troupe that I ever auditioned for first and last musical comedation.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I love that story and I don't say money.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
But because Meryl Streep went to the same Summerstock theater
years before, I use that because they said do that, And.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Then I'm great.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I kind of learned, like, Okay, I get it. Now,
these are acts, their improv Let's give them some visuals,
you know, and they can just go off from there,
because clearly I know they will. And yet they turned
it into more genitalia and.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Right, well, I'm like, did you know did they ask
did they say, hey, this is an over eighteen crowd,
like this is adults only, because or somehow in your
gut you knew to ask for it. Right at the beginning,
You're like, wait a minute, is everybody out here over eighteen?
And they haven't turned that into a joke, which was
really funny for them, but like, I wonder you even knew, Like, hey,
(07:30):
I just just.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Want to check who's my crowd here. I want to
read the room.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well I was saying that more for my stories, right yeah, yeah,
So but then I thought I'm not going to divulge
any like stories that I don't want out in the
public anyway. So they're going to stick to like really fun,
you know, save stories. But boy, when you have like
really talented if some of those people are second city,
there us be. They used to came up in New
York when it started with the Amy Polar group and
(07:55):
all of that, so they're very talented. They do this
all the time and they go off. I mean, they're imaginations.
You know. I was relieved when I was asked to
do this. I was relieved that he said, don't prepare anything.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They because I do improv.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I've studied with Gary Austen, I've studied with you know,
my friends, Helen Hunt and Helen Slater. I've Jason Alexander
had been in there. Lisa Kudre is there in the
very beginning when she came up with her character for Friends.
I mean, these are brilliant people who just have but
you have to be open to your own inspiration because
it kills you if you think too much. And so
I'm always terrified over the years to do it, and
(08:31):
then i keep doing it because it's fun.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
But you really, I.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Really saw because I got to just tell this story
and then sit down like there, imaginations just keep going. Yeah,
never stop and that's a real ability. That's a real,
real ability. I hope you guys do it. I hope
you guys do it. You said Doug might want to
do it.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I mean it's just like if between Doug or me,
like who's sort of more brave about that, that would
be Doug I have. I'm like, like panic, I'm not
going to be able to think of something in the moment,
you know that that fear like you said, like going
on a talk show and like, ah, I can't.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I felt scared, But it looked so fun. Yeah, do
it fun?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
And what I saw because I always think I wish
I could be as relaxed in my work as an
actor as I am with my friends. Right, Like, I'm
much funnier with my friends, and you guys are now
my friends, so we're nice and relaxed.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
But it's like you're hilarious.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
But I always thought, like I look at and that's
what they felt, like friends making each other a laugh
and they were like the guys weren't actually on stage,
were waiting, were laughing hysterically at their buddies.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
And I thought that's why the show was so.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Magical, because it wasn't all these people trying to perform
and be funny for each other. They were making each
other laugh, and I think that's why it felt so
relaxed and easy. So then as an audience member, I
could relax because they were having fun. Like I said,
we could see you you were having fun, so that
made it.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
It was such a great show. I was so impressed.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, I actually have I have a really good friend
who is not an actor, and she has always just
sort of had this. She has a kid, a grown
child who's pursuing acting as a career and stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And she just said.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
You know, I wanted to put myself in an improv
class because it's one of the scariest things I can
think of doing, but I think it would be so
good for me.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Whatever, And she just.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Went and did this super brave thing and put herself,
as a middle aged mom person in an improv class
with a bunch of people who were like pursuing it
for all of their reasons. And she said, she was,
you know, by far the oldest person in the room,
but like the super scary and vulnerable thing to do.
And I'm just so impressed by her. Say it was
she was terrified, she was She said it was horrible
(10:47):
and wonderful, you know, but like horrible just because it
was just so vulnerable, like horrible in a way, like,
oh my god, I had to learn so much about
myself through the process, Like just so much is revealed,
and it is everything she probably went there for and more.
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
The main thing that we get afraid of is judgment, right,
we judge ourselves and we're afraid of being judged by
the audience. And I remember again twenty something thirty. I
don't know if this was in the nineties, but I
was in one of my early classes with Gary Austin,
who was a co founder of the Groundlings, and his
opening exercise was to get up on stage alone and
(11:25):
make a fool of yourself for two minutes, so you
get it out of the way to the Cudro Lisa
Kudro blew my mind. And once you get that out
of your like just doing crazy stuff, Wow, you all
sort of connect and unite in Okay, it's safe to
just be goofball, just being nice, not pretty, and we survived.
(11:46):
And then once you can break through that, you access
other parts of yourself and you just play.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
You know, that is so brilliant because it's one thing
to say, you know, I'm really funny and easy with
my friends.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
It's very different to do it on stage. That's a
brilliant an exercise. Yeah, a few minutes and that's going
to feel like forever. And I will say, like I
have had talk show appearances go very badly and it's
actually healthy because you go, that was as awful as
I feared it was going to be, and here I am.
I'm still here, right.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
It's that sense of I did the humiliating, horrible thing
and I'm still here.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
It's really healthy. Maybe I should take an adult.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
It is sort of a good lesson, and I'm going
to take a little kid in prov class then I will.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
But I tell you one thing that I remember with
Gary's class much years later. I did he I didn't.
It's called the theatrical. I forget what the name of
the exercises. But I was on stage for thirty minutes
by myself, just following movement and making a story out
of it, and things came to me. This is many
years ago, so my memory is more intact. But I
(12:48):
remembered thing my childhood and cinequel just that's working. But
I know, but still I think I need to up
my dose because that's a great brain.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
We just went off on that tangent.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
But you know, anyway, we got to have a whole
other Melrose moment, middle aged Melose moment.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Do you remember what you were saying?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, I do remember that. I remember the experience. I thought,
I was terrified. What am I going to do?
Speaker 1 (13:11):
We all had to do it, and and it just.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Turned out there are instincts in us. If you've been
acting for a long time and you have to access
and give yourself freedom, but the instincts are there, and
if you just let yourself go into the the rules
that he lets you, that he lets you in on,
then you're going to be fine.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I was.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It was an amazing experience that class. And he said
that was so theatrical, It was so you have it
in you. You just don't know because regular life doesn't
ask this of us.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
And by the way, can I just mention that Melrose's
place never allowed it either.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Like we were not open, we were not welcome to improv.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
As a rule there was like state exactly is written
and yeah, no the Mary Donner out.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
No, no, no, I should have married Donna Onda we
should be so fun.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yes idea, yes, not to self married.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Honnor love her, But like we weren't really welcome to
improve in any way. And it wasn't like this collaborative,
you know, creative process. It was really like figure out
how to tell this exact story in the way that
is expected.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Although I will say like in.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Later seasons, I did feel like I got a little,
a little opportunity to do some improving and stuff just
with that.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Within the realm they.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Did loosen and well, in the beginning, we were young
and people were changing the script in ways that changed
the meaning, and that's why it got so strict.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
And then later on I think they loosened.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Plus everyone's tired.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Season seven, you're just like, say, launch whatever whatever I
want to go, Yeah, do it with chop stick.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
But I just want to say, we're going to wrap
this up, but I want to say it, so just
a shout out to the theater to uc b LA.
It's that's their instagram and it's right there on Franklin Street,
right there in Beechwood Canyon and they have shows all
the time and I really recommend people.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Going all the time. It was super much fun. Yeah,
I brought my kid and shows called ass Cat the
Sunday night shows.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
All right, it was super fun watching you daff and
super fun to talk about it and always start to
see you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
On a Melrose minute. Ladies, Yay, see you guy soon,
you se. Bye bye
Hosts And Creators
Laura Leighton
Daphne Zuniga
Courtney Thorne-Smith
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