Fan Q and A with Hannah Simone

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ring Ring Ring Ring, May I please speak with Zoe. Oh, Hello, Lamar,
Let's patch in. Hannah, God, I forgot what it was
like working with you guys. Hello, Welcome to our show.

(00:32):
Welcome to our show. It's me Hannah Simone. Um. It
is one of my favorite things to do on this podcast,
which is to answer questions from you the listeners. Um.
You guys send so many great questions in all the time.
You send them into Welcome to our Show podcast at
gmail dot com, and I go through that email personally

(00:57):
look through all of the questions. I gotta say this too.
I would say half of the emails that we get
our people just thanking us for the show and saying
that they've gone through they're hard times or lonely times
or COVID when everything was locked down and they were home,

(01:22):
and that this show kind of helped get them through it.
And there's such sweet emails to get so nice to
hear that our show has had this slightly bigger purpose
than just making people laugh, but providing company and family
and all of that. Um. And I'm happy that I
was like a small part of it. But so much

(01:45):
of that goes to Liz Merryweather the creator of our show,
and to be honest, so much of it goes to
all of you for watching the show, which is why
we got to keep on making it. So thanks for
those emails too, I just want to acknowledge that. So
I'm going to just dive in and answer to the
best of my ability a lot of these New Girl questions. Um,

(02:09):
you also sent in so many great voice notes, which
I think is always cool because then you get to
hear your own voice here on this podcast. So let's
start with a voice memo that was sent to us.
Let's listen to this question. Hi Hannah Zeeen l More
and my name is Nathra. I'm a high school student.
I'm the biggest fan of New Girl. My question is

(02:32):
for Hannah, what was it like for you to portray
Indian woman on screen as Indian your myself? As soon
as I saw CEC walk on the screen, I was
thrilled to see the representation as I knew the show
was widely popular amongst people of all races. I thought
it was really cool to see the best friendship between
CC and just the interracial relationship between CC instrument obviously

(02:53):
end game and they arranged marriages that a lot of
Indian women actually do experience. Also, did you get to
meet he was swift after she went to read ship
on that question goes for all of you guys the
morning Zoe as well. Thank you so much. I love
you guys, I love this show, I love the podcast,
and I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you,

(03:14):
Thank you so much for that question. Yeah, it was incredible.
It was incredible to portray an Indian woman on mainstream
American network television. I mean, this show came out now
over a decade ago New Girl, Isn't that wild? The

(03:36):
two eleven is when the show first premiered, and at
the time, there wasn't many people on mainstream network American
television that were of Indian descent that didn't have to
do the accent or weren't the butt of a joke.

(04:00):
So the fact that I played a woman named Cecilia
who was Jesse's best friend and Schmidt's love interest and
who was trying to figure her life out, um and
those were her big defining story points and character points

(04:20):
and that had nothing to do with her ethnicity was
shocking to me and so exciting and liberating. So it
was really wonderful, and it felt to me groundbreaking because
I didn't grow up seeing that at all on American TV.

(04:42):
So I was stunned. And then, and this is why
representation matters so much, because they happened to cast someone
of Indian descent in that role. They then started to
incorporate part of my culture into the show. Oh and
for me, that's the the best way possible, right is

(05:07):
that they write this incredible character and then they cast
the best actor for it, and then they start to
infuse because of representation of who they've cast, parts of
that person into the character. And you know, they did
it with Jake, they did it with Max, you know,
they did it with Lamore, and they did it with Zoe.
All of us UM had little bits of our life

(05:30):
or where we're from um infused into the show. So
that natural way of doing it felt really cool. And
I just felt so lucky to be in the right
place at the right time to get the opportunity to
play that character. So it felt really great, and it
felt great that the best friendship like you you know

(05:52):
you asked about, which is an authentic best friendship between
two women. That was awesome, And again, it just happy
to be an interracial relationship between c C and Schmidt
due to who they cast. But they didn't cast me
because I was Indian. It wasn't some sort of quota
diversity box they were trying to tick if we need

(06:13):
to get an Indian on the show. But I just
happened to be and therefore, all of a sudden you
saw something like an Indian Jewish relationship represented on TV.
It was really cool. I still think it's really cool. Oh,
the last part of the question you asked, UM, did
we get to meet Taylor Swift? I think we'll talk
about this a lot when we finally get to that episode,

(06:35):
which I'm really excited about. We'll unpack all of our
Taylor Swift stories. But I do remember she was so
kind and so sweet and so beautiful, by the way,
so beautiful in person, inside and out that at the end,
the unit sales photographer, the person who comes and takes
all the photos on set that then you then see

(06:56):
in UM magazines or for social media, said they could
get a group photo. And I've been wearing these crazy
heels under my wedding outfit, and I had just taken
them off because my feet hurt and That's when they
were like, oh, Hanna, jump in this picture with the
cast and Taylor, and I was like sure and stood

(07:17):
next to Taylor Swift, who I feel like. She still
had her shoes on and I was barefoot, and I
look like I'm literally half her size. She's very tall,
and uh, I felt very short. Um. That is my memory.

(07:40):
Every time I look at that picture, I'm like, wow,
I look up very tiny. She was very sweet and
very kind and I'm so happy that she was on
our show and agreed to do it. That was a
wild casting moment. I can't wait to get to that episode.
All Right, we have another voice memo question emailed in.
This is a good one. Okay to listen to the question. Hey, so,

(08:02):
my question from season one of New Girls is if
you could pick one guest star um that was only
in season one to come back for the rest of
the show that you would have liked to see more of.
Who would it be and why? Of course? Thanks? So,
which guest star from season one would I like to
have come back? Okay, So I'm going to answer this selfishly, Um,

(08:25):
Natasha Leon because I'm a huge fan of hers. I
think she's a phenomenal actress and so funny and layered
and cool, and we were so excited when we found
out that she was going to be on the show.
But I had zero scenes with her, zero scenes, So
I wish she would have come back and they would
have done a fun um cc moment with her. I

(08:48):
think that would have a been a fun pairing. So
that's who I'd like to have come back. That was
one thing that happened on the show. A lot would
get these cool guest stars, but they would break our
stories up. There's usually in a story B stories. Sometimes
I have been a small, tiny C story. So often
you aren't in a guest stars story and you get

(09:09):
no scenes with them. You're not even working the days
they're working. So so many people we had on our show,
and my path never crossed with them. So all of
those people, all through the seasons, I wish they would
come back um and uh and being a story with me.
That would have been great. Hopefully my path will cross

(09:32):
with Natasha and all the other guest stars I didn't
get to work with. And another show you never know.
Welcome to all right. Here is an email question from

(09:58):
Amy Jansen. I love so much you're all doing this podcast.
It's a nice way of pretending the show never left
and we'll go on forever, missing Max and Jake, but
hoping for a future involvement. Here is some questions. Okay,
I'm gonna read. Maybe I could do two of these
amy these are great. What was the hardest episode slash
scene to shoot? Oh? Okay, I'll say this. The one

(10:21):
that comes top of mind for me. The one that
comes top of mind for me is the episode where
Schmidt comes and meets my grandma played by the incredible
Mother Geoffrey, and he is wearing a cast because he

(10:42):
has a broken penis, and we say some sweet words
to each other, which causes him to have an uncomfortable
reaction in his cast. And I remember sitting there, We're
having this emotional moment scene um, real heart to heart,
and then Max has to make this sound of discomfort,

(11:04):
and they wanted him to yell in pain, and Max
went for it and yelled in a way that got
me so off guard that I started laughing so hard
out of shock and awkwardness and all of it, that
I started to hyperventilate laughing. I fell off my chair laughing,

(11:28):
and I crawled under the table we were shooting up
laughing and I was crying, and then I couldn't stop laughing.
I don't know if you ever got the giggles like that,
but you can't stop. I just couldn't stop because now
everybody's looking at me. We're supposed to do another take
and I can't and I can't stop laughing. I'm just
I'm rolling on the floor laughing. Now we've got to
bring hair and makeup back in because my hair is
as calf cry in my makeup off from laughter. Um.

(11:51):
So that was one of the hard disease to shoot
because I had to keep doing it and now I
had the giggles. So it was at this ass start,
but it was really funny. That was one of the
greatest parts of the show too, is that was like
a hard you know, like you talked about hard scenes.
It wasn't like we were up all night in the rain,
you know. It's just that someone would make you laugh

(12:13):
and you couldn't recovery. That was a really funny scene.
I was just so surprised. I didn't expect him to
yell like that. If New Girl ever returned, yes, I hope, yes,
I will hope for this forever, Amy, What would your
character be up to if New Girl returned? What would

(12:34):
my character be up to? Well, this is interesting because
it's kind of like how they ended the show, right,
They ended the show with kind of seeing into the
future a little bit, so I kind of feel we
have a glimpse of what the characters would be up to.
I don't know. That's what I actually really loved about
doing a TV show that was so long running is

(12:54):
that we kind of found out week to week all
of these twists and turns, which is kind of parallel
to our own lives. We can't see deep into the future.
I'm sure sometimes we wish we could, but we can't.
So it just kind of unfolds in front of us.
So we can't make our choices now based on what
we know is coming because we never really know what's coming.

(13:15):
And I love that about TV, and I love that
about playing a character for a long time, is that
your kind is on the ride with them. Nobody ever
told us, you know, season one, your character is gonna
end up with Schmidt, You're going to have kids, You're
going to run a business. This is what's the trajectory
for c C. No, we just kind of walked through
the mess of her life as she figured it out.
So I don't know what I would want for her.

(13:37):
I just hope that she's happy. I know that her
and Schmidt have such a bond that I hope that
that relationship would still be going and they'd be happily
raising their kids and some funny we're we're to future universe.
Who knows, maybe we'll do it, you never know. This
is from Oghana and yeh HeLa. Hi there. You all

(13:59):
drink a lot out of beer and pink wine on
the show. What were you all actually drinking? And did
it taste good? Love y'all? Oh good question. So we
did consume a lot of liquid on the show because
we had at a bar, so we were always parked
at the bar and asked for something to drink. I
feel like we always had um. It was always like

(14:22):
a sparkling apple juice something like that, or a iced tea,
green tea. We have an incredible department that helps with
those things, with kind of those food and drink props,
and they really asked us what we're in the mood for.
Some people like caffeine, some people don't. Some people like
a sweet so people don't. I used to drink a

(14:44):
lot of just I think it was like soda water
with lime. But I don't exactly remember what they used
for the pink wine. Uh, that's a good question. It
might have been like a dryp of cranberry juice or
something with some sort of water, just water, something very simple,

(15:06):
something that you can drink a lot of at probably
seven in the morning when you're shooting it. They all faked.
This is a question from Christiane. What was my favorite
moment with the Ruth twins. Oh, you know what I
immediately think of because those girls were so sweet and

(15:28):
so kind um and lovely and funny. My favorite moment
actually was in the casting I remember we were casting
for for Ruth and they asked me to come in
and read with these little kids, and I just, I

(15:48):
don't know, I've never actually been in an audition room
with small kids. And all of the kids that auditioned
for this role were so sweet and talented, and it's
just you know, a bunch of moms that were casting
this show, um from our show, and it was just
this tender environment to make the kids feel really safe

(16:11):
and walked in and out, you know, hand in hand.
I just remember that, I remember that moment of the
girls coming in and just feeling that little bond and
sense of protection and chemistry, which then lasted that entire season. Yeah,
it really warms my heart. They were really wonderful. So

(16:32):
is our family that was on set with us. It
was really great. I think they had a good time too.
There was another question here from Christiane. I love that
you guys sending multiple questions. That's something I so would do.
I don't usually have just one question. I have a
whole suitcase full of questions about my favorite shows. So
I'm gonna answer another question from Christiane. Favorite Schmissy moment,

(16:55):
Favorite Schmissy moment. We just talked about this, but I
really did of in the Kids episode, the reaction they
wrote for Schmidt when he thinks that CC is pregnant,
just that absolute joy. Then the freedom for him to

(17:16):
open up to a commitment so easily because he's realized
so much about his own feelings for her, And it
was sweet and tender and loving, and as she doubts
herself as a mother, he is already caring for her.
When you really get such an insight into the layers
and depths of Schmidt and I just love that sweet moment.

(17:40):
That caramel miracle moment was really really lovely, And when
he tells her she's pregnant near the end of the series,
it was also a very sweet moment to shoot. Remember
they must have bought like all the flowers in Los
Angeles and filled that set, and that was a sweet moment.
There's so many funny, funny, funny moments on our show

(18:02):
where we would laugh until we would cry. Like I've said,
but there was so much hard on our show, so
and I got to do so much of that with
Max and um yeah, I really like those those moments
between uh c C and Schmidt. They were heartwarming and
they were fun to do. It always made me smile.

(18:31):
Welcome to this is a question from Sophia Hi. I
love your podcast so much. What was your least favorite
part of filming? What was my least favorite part of filming? Honestly,
it's just the hours. I know that sounds crazy, and

(18:52):
of trust me, it is a tiny price to pay
for the best job in the entire world. But you
asked the question, so here's the answer. I think the
hours are really tricky because you start at sometimes five
thirty in the morning, so that means you're up at
four thirty in the morning to go to the job.

(19:15):
So it's like constantly living in jet leg I don't
think you ever fully adapt to it because then you
shoot a day and then get home and have dinner
and the hours are kind of wild, which is why
I think comedies are kind of great, because at least
you have some sort of release where you can kind
of act wacky and weird, and they capture some of

(19:36):
that in the show from people who are sleep deprived
and a little delirious. Yeah, I can't think of anything else.
The cast is wonderful, the story was always wonderful, super
fun things that we got to do. We had the
best fans watching the show that supported us, that kept
us going. The press was also really nice to us

(19:56):
on that show, so there's nothing really to complain about.
But getting up in the dark and coming home in
the dark definitely started to wear on your sense of
sanity a little bit um having zero sleep. This is
from Amber Low. First off, New Girl has made me
connect with so many people and has become a pinnacle
part of my relationship with my best friend. I'm a

(20:19):
wedding photographer, and every chance I get to dance at
a wedding reception, I'm always doing the slow motion chicken
dance and there's always a few people that join in.
Oh that's nice. So thankful for all the joy and
hard work y'all brought to that show. Y'all are awesome.
I have a few questions for y'all. Can you tell
them from Tennessee? Yes, y'all, I can't. Oh, this one

(20:39):
is for la mourn and I what was your favorite
CC and Winston mess around? I'm gonna answer for Laurence.
It's just me here today. I love the babe. I
know that's technically not like a mess around mess around,
but I love the babe moment. There were so many
things because Lamien and I are genuinely very close friends
in real life, and like I've shared this podcast, we

(21:01):
shared a trailer for eight years and we made each
other laugh and we had a lot of little is
ms between each other. So things like you saw, like
the babe babe Babe, Babe, Babe babe babe. That was
something that we just kind of let unfold between us

(21:21):
in a take, I think, and they just told us
to go with it. That's a definite like spill over
from Hannah Lamore and into Cec Winston, and we also
did kind of our own little snap snap point, little
secret handshake thing Cecy and Winston, and I remember pitching
that idea to lamar and I was like, I feel

(21:43):
like they've got all this little stuff that they just
do together, and so we created it between us and
then brought it onto the show. So I love that.
I love that the handle Lamore and mess Arounds that
we had for years was kind of seen by the
writers and the creator of the show and they just
kind of let that become part of the show. So

(22:03):
all of it that was just the closest relationship I
really had. And the fact that we then got to
do it on TV and you all saw it and
love it as much as you do, um makes me
super happy. Here's a question from Malcolm Best. What made
all of you want to play the characters that y'all played? Huh?

(22:25):
I love this question because if I could have chose
what character I would want to play, it would be
a ride or die, solid best friend. But I was
definitely not in a place in my career in two
thousand and eleven, where I was getting to choose the
characters I wanted to play. I was just auditioning like crazy.

(22:46):
I was out there auditioning and auditioning and auditioning. And
I remember reading this pilot and I saw who was
attached to it because so he was attached and Liz
Mary whether I had done it, and Jake Kasden was
attached of this project. And I read the character of
c C and it just felt like the biggest extension

(23:07):
of who I am in real life towards my girlfriends,
and I'm never related to a character more. And I
was so excited just to even go in an audition,
and in no world that I think that I would
get this role. It just felt like too much of
a dream come true on every single level. But I
just wanted to audition and I got that opportunity to

(23:31):
audition and then they cast me. But it definitely Malcolm
wasn't because, like I chose the character that I wanted
to play. But if I had been in that part
of my career and I had seen this role on
this show, I would have been like, yes, please, I'll
have some of that, all right. Last question, this isn't

(23:51):
a New Girl question really but kind of a New
Girl question, I think so it's from what does pets Nicole?
Let's see Hi, Hannah. I saw on social media that
you and Katrina balf are friends. I'm a huge Outlinder
fan as well as a huge New Girl fans. I'm
super curious how you two met and became friends. That's

(24:14):
a friend group I love to be part of. Ps
I love the podcast, Thanks Katrina. Katrina and I met
it was I feel like the like a few months
before New Girl, before I even auditioned for New Girl,
and we had both been cast in a project called

(24:37):
h Plus. It was a YouTube red series I think,
and we shot it down in Chile and that's where
we met. We met in Santiago, and we were doing
this web series together and we both had not worked
a lot at all, and so this was a big
deal for us to be on this web series and
we became immediate fast friend. We became really close, and

(25:05):
I've left that set and flew straight back an audition
for a New Girl and ended up booking it. And
she was the greatest support and the most lovely friend
as I navigated this new job in this new network
TV world. She was so incredibly wonderful, and then a
year later she got Outlander, which then moved her to Comland.

(25:32):
Um she has been basically on the other side of
the world ever since. But I love her. And it's
those people that you meet right in the beginning of
your career, before you have made it that I feel like,
deep down, you feel like truly know you because they
know you before all the stuff happens, you know, all
this good, big stuff happens. They saw you when you

(25:53):
were struggling and grinding, and I saw her doing it,
and she saw me doing it. We had each other's back,
so we believed in each other. And I love her
so much. One of the kindest, sweetest and as you
all know, most talented people out there. Katrina, if we
ever do a a new season of New Girl, who

(26:14):
knows now I'm just saying crazy stuff. But if we
ever did um, because I know there's so many Outlander
references I feel like on New Girl, because I know
Liz really liked um Outlander too, that could be a
fun cameo. I'll Texas, Katrina. Let's see if New Girl
ever came back. Let's get Katrina balf on the show,
right this is a good idea. Thanks for that question.

(26:36):
You've started a whole thing now, all right, everyone, That
was me just trying to answer as best I can
some of your wonderful questions. There's so many here. I
will definitely do more, and we'll get La Moreen and
Zoe to do more. Maybe Lamour and Joe and I
will do one altogether. We'll really unpack a lot of
these questions at the end of recapping the first season.

(27:00):
Maybe that would be fun. Get Liz Merriweather involved because
she actually knows the answers to so many of these questions. Um,
there's so many questions about like Banion Canyon and all
of that that came in in the email, and I
don't have those answers, y'all, but Liz would. Um, so
keep sending your emails into Welcome to our Show podcast

(27:22):
at gmail dot com. Send them as a voice memo
so you can hear your beautiful voice right here on
the podcast, or email them in and we will read
them out loud and we'll try to get through as
many as we can as we do this podcast. I
love doing this podcast and I love answering the questions.
That was why we created this entire thing, So thank

(27:42):
you for listening, and next week we will all be back.
Well you've been listening to Welcome to Our Show, a
New Girl recap podcast. Welcome to Our Show is a
production of I Heart Radio, hosted find Zoey Deschanel, A
More and Morris and Hannas a month. Our executive producer

(28:03):
is Joel Monique. Our engineer and editor is Daniel Goodman.
The Welcome to Our Show theme song was written by
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(28:23):
share far and wide. Thanks for listening. We'll hear you
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