Lisa Kudrow

This week we were joined by the brilliant Lisa Kudrow, who came by to chat about the new season of The Comeback. Over lunch we talked about everything from acting opposite her son Julian in the new series, the inspiration behind Valerie Cherish, filming Friends in front of a live audience, to growing up in Tarzana and her mum’s roast chicken with parmesan, garlic and paprika. We also discovered her sweet tooth, her love of KFC, the famous Jennifer Aniston salad, the reason she gave up cooking and the comfort foods she craved while pregnant. Thank you Lisa for coming over! The Comeback is available now on Sky and HBO Max. Listen & watch Table Manners here - https://tablemanners.komi.io/ Follow Table Manners on: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tablemannerspodcast/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@tablemannerspodcast Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tablemannerspodcast YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TableMannersPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 0:32Speaker 01

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• 1:08Jessie Ware?

  Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware, and we are in spring. Here we are. Daffodils all around, sun shining. Very exciting. I love it. I'm quite tired, and my eye is twitching a lot.

• 1:21Speaker 03

  Why are you tired, darling?

• 1:23Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 1:23Speaker 03

  Anything on with you right now?

• 1:24Jessie Ware?

  No, no, just haven't got a record coming out or anything like that. But no, I, but my eye is twitching. So sorry for the people on YouTube, because I'm going to look like I'm winking to this guest a lot. We are so excited. Forget the intro. Let's just launch straight into the guest.

• 1:40Speaker 03

  I just wonder who she loves more, Phoebe or Valerie?

• 1:44Jessie Ware?

  I have to say, I think I love Valerie each iteration more. Lisa Kudrow is coming on Table Manners to talk about the third season of The Comeback. It's on HBO Max, and I've binged it.

• 1:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:57Jessie Ware?

  And I'm completely mad about it. This is a series that started in, I think, 2005. It's had stops and starts. It's kind of been every decade. So the next season was in two thousand and fifteen, I think, and the new season two thousand and twenty six. Yeah, we're there. And it's really fascinating to watch. It's about a sitcom actress that has this kind of fly on the wall documentary crew following her whilst she is also making a comeback into sitcom TV. And and it's really, really brilliant and she's amazing. Just go and get your guitar out. Smelly Cat.

• 2:37Jessie Ware?

  I mean, not just Smelly Cat, you know, I also watched like a YouTube of fifty minutes of Phoebe guitar songs. I have to say quite a lot of the chords are the same and I want to ask her about actually playing the guitar. Guitar, where is your guitar? I don't know, Mum. Go and get it, darling. Anyway. Just one, one round of Smelly Cat, we can all sing. I have been on the cooking. I haven't made this recipe, so I'm slightly worried because apparently Lisa Kudrow is quite a good chef. So however, I do trust this chef, Ed. Ed Smith. Peckish. Rocket and Squash on Instagram. He's got a new cookbook called Peckish out and it's just all about chicken.

• 3:20Jessie Ware?

  And I've gone for Sata chicken thighs with butter bean puree and chopped salad. Right. Then on pudding, we've both done something. We thought maybe she should try banana bread from the Wares after. The disparaging remarks from her. David Schwimmer. Her co-star. Alex, the doctor, didn't make this banana bread. No, mummy, mummy, the. Mummy? Mummy. Is that what we're calling them? Mummy? Mother. Mother? Mother made this one. Okay. You're also talking about yourself in the third. Wow, you've changed, Lenny. Yeah. Um, okay. And then I got given this at a drag bar in New York. Oh, wow. Last week. By a lovely person. Why did they give it to you darling? Cause he made the book. Oh, right, okay.

• 4:04Jessie Ware?

  And he thought I needed a cookie. And did you? Well, Vaughan, Vaughan Freeland. Thank you. Yeah, I've done three cookies out of it so far. So today, we heard that Lisa really likes a chocolate cookie. So we've done a kind of Nutella chocolate cookie. Oh, you can't go wrong. We were like, yeah, but maybe we can just try something else. So, and I say we because my sweet Rosie helped me with them. Um, I am, we've done this gotcha Chang, um. Is it gotcha Chang? Yeah. I thought it was gua- guachang. I think it's gotcha Chang. Is it gotcha Chang? We could both be wrong and I'm sorry about that. I have no idea. A gotcha Chang. Um, I think it's gotcha Chang. John Chirod uses a lot of that. John, John.

• 4:49Jessie Ware?

  John Chirod uses gotcha Chang. Anyway, we've got a chewy cookie, so we've got a couple. So we've got a lot of sweet stuff. Lisa Kudrow coming up on Tater Manners.

• 5:06Jessie Ware?

  Lisa Kudrow, thank you for being here.

• 5:07Speaker 04

  Hi, thanks for having me. Oh, really?

• 5:10Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 5:10Speaker 04

  Well, that's good.

• 5:11Jessie Ware?

  Absolutely thrilled.

• 5:12Speaker 04

  Oh, thanks.

• 5:13Jessie Ware?

  But you're one of those guests, when we've said who's coming on the podcast, everyone's gone.

• 5:19Jessie Ware?

  Lisa Kudrow. Oh, yeah. You're a big deal. You're a very big deal. But I have, we have to just acknowledge the, well, actually, it was an accidental elephant in the room. But the fact that you just asked to use the bathroom and I took you to the, you know, the family bathroom and.

• 5:34Speaker 04

  Which is nice. Thank you.

• 5:35Jessie Ware?

  It's so welcome.

• 5:36Speaker 04

  Cause that's private stuff.

• 5:38Jessie Ware?

  No, you're, you're very welcome, but I, I didn't hide something that you just pointed out.

• 5:43Speaker 04

  I know, but why? Why would you need to hide?

• 5:45Jessie Ware?

  Cause it looks like I'm gonna like.

• 5:47Speaker 04

  Friends on it?

• 5:47Jessie Ware?

  Cause I'm like gonna misery you or something and like lock you here forever.

• 5:51Speaker 04

  Can I tell you, the whole time I've been here, everyone has been, I'm so sorry, but can we talk about friends? Is that an okay subject to talk about? Yes. What do people put you through? You know, like you may not ask me about my.

• 6:06Jessie Ware?

  No.

• 6:07Speaker 04

  Professional life and that's why everyone's here.

• 6:10Jessie Ware?

  No one told us not to speak about friends, but I did get from my, basically for the people that don't know what just happened in the loo. You were having a wait and you looked to your right.

• 6:20Speaker 04

  No, I told her.

• 6:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, I was sitting there and you know, it takes a minute to get comfortable. To pee. Right. And so I'm just sort of, all right, looking around.

• 6:32Jessie Ware?

  Sorry.

• 6:33Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 6:33Jessie Ware?

  Oh, don't worry, life.

• 6:38Speaker 04

  And I'm looking and I'm looking around and there's it's something it looks, it says, oh, it's a smelly cat. And it has the Friends lettering.

• 6:45Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 6:45Speaker 04

  Like, what is that, I wonder? And then it's cat shaped bath beads.

• 6:50Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 6:52Jessie Ware?

  Smell good or not, actually. We should knock one open in a minute, but I mean, it's like knockoff merch, basically. So I feel like you are very welcome to have a bath with your smelly cat and bathers later if you want.

• 7:04Speaker 04

  Thanks. My first question looking at him was, I wonder if they give you a rash. You know, like some like really cheap bath beads.

• 7:10Jessie Ware?

  Yes.

• 7:11Speaker 04

  You know.

• 7:12Jessie Ware?

  No, they were.

• 7:12Speaker 04

  Irritate your skin.

• 7:13Jessie Ware?

  They were stocking full of my daughter and um.

• 7:16Speaker 04

  Who loves cats.

• 7:17Jessie Ware?

  Loves cats and doesn't yet know about Friends, but I feel like, when do you think it's the right age to start?

• 7:22Speaker 04

  Twenty. No, I don't know. How old is she?

• 7:25Jessie Ware?

  She's nine.

• 7:26Speaker 04

  Yeah, I don't know. You know.

• 7:28Jessie Ware?

  When did you, has your son, has your son watched it?

• 7:31Speaker 04

  He watched it in junior high because the other kids were talking about it. And he didn't see, wasn't that interested. He watched it just like, okay, so he knows what they're talking about, but he hasn't seen all of it.

• 7:43Jessie Ware?

  I mean, yeah, I mean, the majority of the world has.

• 7:46Speaker 04

  But.

• 7:47Jessie Ware?

  Why would he want to watch his mum every day when he can just?

• 7:50Speaker 04

  Well, he genuinely wasn't interested.

• 7:52Jessie Ware?

  Right.

• 7:53Speaker 04

  He really wasn't. And um, he has a girlfriend now who's fantastic. Yeah, yeah, they're in love. They've actually been together a couple of years. Um, she had no idea. Who I was because she never watched Friends. She didn't like ninety sitcoms.

• 8:10Jessie Ware?

  Well, that's quite a strong opinion.

• 8:12Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:12Jessie Ware?

  No, but. And did you love her for this?

• 8:15Speaker 04

  He did. He was so relieved. You know?

• 8:20Jessie Ware?

  Of course.

• 8:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:22Jessie Ware?

  He was at your premiere for the comeback, wasn't he?

• 8:24Speaker 04

  He was, cause he's in the comeback.

• 8:27Jessie Ware?

  Which which episode is he in?

• 8:28Speaker 04

  Four, he starts in four.

• 8:30Jessie Ware?

  I haven't seen four yet.

• 8:31Speaker 04

  Oh, okay. He starts in four.

• 8:33Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 8:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 8:34Speaker 03

  Four in season three?

• 8:35Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 8:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, okay. So I've only seen one episode of season three.

• 8:38Speaker 04

  The grown man, young man, who's, yeah, turns out to be the A I guy, Evan.

• 8:45Jessie Ware?

  How was it acting opposite your son?

• 8:47Speaker 04

  It was great.

• 8:48Jessie Ware?

  Okay, that's good.

• 8:49Speaker 04

  I mean, and we were both af- after the first take, you know, that we did together, we went, oh, my God, he said, oh, my God, you were Valerie and I was Evan, and it was not even weird. I said, I know, me too.

• 9:03Jessie Ware?

  Oh, that's great.

• 9:04Speaker 04

  Later on in a take for that same scene, like Lisa crept in and went, but he looks like Julian, don't you think? Oh, it is. It is Julian, you know, ah, and then I had to send myself away and get back into the scene.

• 9:18Jessie Ware?

  Did you like give him any tips? Cause I mean, you're like an exec on it. You write it. You like, so this is how I'd like you to play Evan.

• 9:27Speaker 04

  No, I mean, Michael and I wrote it for him.

• 9:32Jessie Ware?

  Right, okay.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  We wanted that character to be just like a sweetness coming out of him, like a goodness. And um, I was like, maybe that feels like Julian. And Michael went, yes, Julian, yes, you know? And um, yeah, so all I did was tell him we're writing something for you. And and when I told him what it was, he's like, sweet nerd, you know, and he went, oh, that's like ground zero for me. Great. That's, you know, that's exciting.

• 9:59Speaker 03

  Is he an actor?

• 10:01Speaker 04

  Yeah, he really is. I mean, he always wanted to be a director and writer. And then it turned out he could act. And um, you know, we just went, okay, you go for all of it. Let's see which door opens first.

• 10:13Jessie Ware?

  How old is he now?

• 10:13Speaker 04

  Twenty seven.

• 10:14Jessie Ware?

  And when did you all discover that he could act? What was the, what was the show or the the scene that really got you?

• 10:22Speaker 04

  He was in a play in high school and he was, uh, it's a really intense play, The Laramie Project.

• 10:30Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 10:31Speaker 04

  Uh huh, about someone in America. Matthew Shepard was killed by other kids because he was gay. And. In this production, all the kids in his high school, and by the way, there are a lot of like actors' kids and directors' kids in this production.

• 10:48Jessie Ware?

  Right. You do you live in Los Angeles?

• 10:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:50Jessie Ware?

  Right, okay.

• 10:50Speaker 04

  Yeah. And um, they all had multiple parts and sort of there was like a not competition, but well, how come he has eleven parts and I only have ten parts sort of thing. And Julian had one part. His, he was one of the, he was the driver of the car. So he didn't actually kill Matthew Shepard. It's based on a real thing.

• 11:12Jessie Ware?

  Tragic.

• 11:13Speaker 04

  But he was the driver of the car and um, and really felt terrible.

• 11:20Speaker 04

  So he's on stage the entire time in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs, you know, at the trial. And everyone, you know, was sort of like, you know, but I should have eleven roles and I should have ten roles. And also one role is, is that bad? You only have one role and I'm thinking it's actually much better because you're on stage the whole time listening. And then at the end, there's a monologue. He is doing such a great listening. He's really listening and he's, oh, you know what's going on in his head. And he delivers this monologue. My husband and I start boo hooing so loud. Because that's our son and he was, it made us so sad. Yeah.

• 12:05Jessie Ware?

  That's not my alarm.

• 12:06Speaker 04

  That's.

• 12:07Jessie Ware?

  That's just making annoying. That's um, yeah, because I guess like, look, you're, you're his parents and you'd be thrilled to see him do whatever he wanted. But was that?

• 12:18Speaker 04

  But he was good.

• 12:19Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, but were you a bit like, there's a bit of me in it there? Yeah.

• 12:23Speaker 04

  Kind, well, better than me.

• 12:25Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 12:26Speaker 04

  And, and then in college, he had to do something because he was in a program, you know, US Film School, you know, USC. And um, a directing class and then it was COVID, so they had to be the actor too and self tape and do stuff. And um, he did a monologue from The Normal Heart. Um, which is a phenomenal play. Do you know it?

• 12:47Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 12:48Speaker 04

  You know it, yeah. And um, this, and he was really good and a lot of good actors have played that part and he really made it his own. And my husband and I saw that and went, okay. Yeah.

• 13:00Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 13:01Speaker 04

  He should probably pursue this too.

• 13:02Jessie Ware?

  Right.

• 13:03Speaker 04

  So he did for he four years.

• 13:05Jessie Ware?

  Do you?

• 13:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, acting classes and stuff.

• 13:08Jessie Ware?

  Do you get to um where where do you go for your theater? Do you go to New York for like trips to theater? Do you like going to the theater?

• 13:14Speaker 04

  I don't.

• 13:15Jessie Ware?

  You don't?

• 13:15Speaker 04

  Theater.

• 13:16Jessie Ware?

  Oh. Oh, I could. I guess because we were talking about plays, I thought maybe you went.

• 13:20Speaker 04

  I know.

• 13:21Jessie Ware?

  Is that just because you don't like it?

• 13:22Speaker 04

  Didn't.

• 13:23Jessie Ware?

  Um, do you live in New York?

• 13:25Speaker 04

  I live in LA.

• 13:26Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 13:27Speaker 04

  So there's not a lot of.

• 13:27Speaker 03

  There's not that much theater there.

• 13:29Speaker 04

  But here I I don't know how this is gonna come off, but it's the truth. Um, you know, if you you're bored in a play.

• 13:38Speaker 04

  And you can leave.

• 13:40Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 13:41Speaker 04

  I can't.

• 13:42Jessie Ware?

  Okay, yeah, fair enough.

• 13:44Speaker 04

  I can't.

• 13:46Jessie Ware?

  Would are you the type of person that walks out of a cinema then? You can kind of get away with it in the cinema? You you sit at the back?

• 13:52Speaker 04

  Mm hmm. I could. I don't. I haven't been in a long time.

• 13:56Jessie Ware?

  Because of this anxiety that you would. Get judged if you left.

• 13:59Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:00Speaker 03

  We're slightly obsessed with theater, aren't we?

• 14:03Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, and I, yeah, but I.

• 14:04Speaker 03

  We've always gone a lot.

• 14:06Jessie Ware?

  I can't imagine that fit. Well, I can now, but I guess I we're very British and we just suffer and stay.

• 14:13Speaker 04

  Yeah. Mm hmm. And I could do that.

• 14:16Jessie Ware?

  You could have a little nod off. Alice loves to nod off.

• 14:19Speaker 03

  I nod off.

• 14:20Speaker 04

  Oh, no, I would. My husband does. And also, it I can't. If I have to go with him, I'm definitely not going.

• 14:27Speaker 03

  Why?

• 14:28Speaker 04

  Because he's a rude. Ah theater.

• 14:31Speaker 03

  Then you have to be extra.

• 14:32Speaker 04

  Audience member.

• 14:33Jessie Ware?

  Well behaved.

• 14:34Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 14:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:35Speaker 04

  And and then I can barely pay attention because I'm so aware of him, you know, doing like, ugh.

• 14:44Speaker 04

  Falling asleep. Like, I just so aware.

• 14:47Speaker 03

  Is he an actor?

• 14:47Speaker 04

  No.

• 14:48Speaker 03

  Well, I was thinking that your son was. In your tummy when he first had you had a big part and he was. Written in. A pregnancy was written in. So he's been acting in in utero.

• 15:00Speaker 04

  Yeah, I know. He was really, uh, he was. He acted very nicely. He was really a nice fetus. He was.

• 15:09Jessie Ware?

  Member of the team.

• 15:10Speaker 04

  He was.

• 15:10Speaker 03

  Did he jump about or just? He just was very.

• 15:13Speaker 04

  He moved.

• 15:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:15Speaker 04

  Very smoothly. And like, if he ever like stuck his elbow out. I would just gently rub it and it just came right back in. He was so nice. Isn't that nice?

• 15:25Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, lovely.

• 15:26Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:28Jessie Ware?

  Can I just ask about, because Friends is kind of the, was kind of like the end of the live, it was like a live.

• 15:35Speaker 04

  In front of a live audience.

• 15:36Jessie Ware?

  So I guess you were kind of doing theatre every night, kind of?

• 15:39Speaker 04

  Kind of, yeah. But you know what? I think it goes back to the early days and in L A, you know, it wasn't like great shows were coming,

• 15:50Speaker 04

  maybe to the bigger theatres, but I couldn't afford to go to those. But there were a lot of plays that weren't great, that, you know, Friends wrote, you gotta come see it, okay. And, oh, yeah, it was a little painful.

• 16:03Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 16:03Speaker 04

  So I think it's that and just feeling trapped.

• 16:08Jessie Ware?

  Well, I want to know, basically, I, in anticipation for you coming on, I hadn't watched The Comeback, and I have missed out for two decades because it's amazing.

• 16:19Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 16:19Jessie Ware?

  Valerie Cherish, and I don't know what this says about me, whether I'm a narcissist, but I saw a bit of me in Valerie in some of those awkward situations, like the red carpets where like the publicist is trying to get the shot with Juna, and it's just, and she's got the dress on back to front. I wore, I wore a dress back to front on Graham Norton. I didn't know it was the wrong way.

• 16:38Speaker 04

  Right. Yeah, that's why we did that.

• 16:40Jessie Ware?

  It's so good.

• 16:41Speaker 04

  People do that. Yeah.

• 16:43Jessie Ware?

  But like.

• 16:44Speaker 04

  Yeah. No, but everybody, everybody thought, oh, God, I think that's me. And some people thought I was actually making fun of them.

• 16:53Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 16:53Speaker 04

  Like, really great actresses like would come up to me somewhere. It's like, your show is, makes me really uncomfortable because is, um, is that me? Like, no, of course that's not you. I don't know you. No. It's a composite of, no.

• 17:10Jessie Ware?

  But is it because we're all narcissists?

• 17:12Speaker 04

  I, it's not, I don't, I object to the word narcissist in this case. I don't think that's it. I think we're all. Terrified that what we think we're covering, which we do every day, sort of little like, uh oh, did I just? Or I really wanna go over, you know, and then you hide it, you cover and Valerie doesn't. She doesn't know that you can't, you don't just go over to that, you know, showrunner and tell them what to do. Especially back then, you know?

• 17:44Jessie Ware?

  Right.

• 17:45Speaker 04

  And back then, two thousand four, there was, it was different.

• 17:50Jessie Ware?

  But I, I have to say, I think Valerie Cherish was always very polite on set. She kind of led the way with the, in season one, you know, she tells those kids how to behave.

• 18:00Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:01Jessie Ware?

  In a kind of, I think in a respectable way, right? Even though she's getting treated like shit, like poorly, like they're awful to her.

• 18:09Speaker 04

  Yeah, Paulie G, we, I think we could have told his story a little more. Cause a lot of people would and still say, but why is he so punishing to her? And because she's got reality TV cameras there and he is required to adjust his show. To her, he's already been required by the network to adjust his show. It was a different show, you know, just, and he knew who she was when she was younger and now she's older and he's pissed off that she got old.

• 18:41Speaker 03

  There's a kind of ingenue quality about Valerie.

• 18:44Speaker 04

  Well, there is now, but at the looking back.

• 18:47Speaker 03

  Yeah. But there's just this vulnerability, her vulnerability, that she allows herself to be filmed. Even when she doesn't even look great, but she thinks that's what she needs to do.

• 18:59Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:00Speaker 03

  And it, it, there's just a kind of, she's a very sympathetic character. But because she's making mistakes all the time and, and she just doesn't.

• 19:11Jessie Ware?

  She doesn't protect herself in a way.

• 19:13Speaker 04

  That's what it looks like. Then why isn't she, that I think is the frustration. Why isn't she protecting herself more? I don't think she knows she needs to.

• 19:21Jessie Ware?

  But I think, yeah, but also it you.

• 19:23Speaker 04

  Maybe she doesn't need to.

• 19:24Jessie Ware?

  Maybe she doesn't. But this has been.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  Watch the third.

• 19:27Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, okay, right, okay.

• 19:29Speaker 04

  But go on.

• 19:29Jessie Ware?

  But no, I was gonna say, cause like, you know, you were ahead of your time with the character of Val- Valerie. And also the comeback and you know, it got cancelled and did it, did it get cancelled? Is that what we say?

• 19:40Speaker 04

  Yes, oh, yeah, yeah.

• 19:42Jessie Ware?

  Okay, so it, it, you know, you were ahead of when the Kardashians was coming out. Yeah, The Office had come out, I think a couple of years before, and I definitely felt like.

• 19:51Speaker 04

  The UK, the office. Yeah, yeah, I saw that. I thought it was fantastic.

• 19:55Jessie Ware?

  And so do you, were you inspired by that kind of mockumentary thing?

• 19:59Speaker 04

  Yes, I think so, but using reality show, cause I was really hit hard by reality shows. Cause there weren't Housewives of anywhere in two thousand four.

• 20:09Jessie Ware?

  When did Housewives start? Because Andy Cohen then is in season two, which is the greatest play within a play bit when you go. Valerie goes, I get it now. And it's like, it's like the whole world has cottoned on to what this is.

• 20:23Speaker 04

  Right, I get it now. I know what I need to, yeah.

• 20:26Jessie Ware?

  It was so good. But yeah, when did the Housewives start?

• 20:28Speaker 04

  Two thousand five or six, there was Housewives of Orange County.

• 20:33Jessie Ware?

  So then like, the comeback's just kind of not been understood fully and then Housewives comes on and then, I mean.

• 20:40Speaker 04

  Yeah, but I think there were people that got it anyway.

• 20:43Jessie Ware?

  Yes, yes.

• 20:44Speaker 04

  You know.

• 20:44Jessie Ware?

  Yes, it's.

• 20:45Speaker 04

  They got it anyway, but they knew, yeah, reality TV, there was already Survivor, there was already Amazing Race. There was the Osbournes for the biographical ones and Anna Nicole Smith. And that was brutal.

• 20:59Jessie Ware?

  Did you, uh, did you watch, were you watching those shows?

• 21:03Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 21:04Jessie Ware?

  You couldn't really avoid them and.

• 21:05Speaker 04

  Right, I wanted to see and, you know, the fact that season one of Surv- of Survivor, that. Richard Hatch, that this guy won who was despicable. And it was between him and this woman and she was great at all the challenges and she was a really decent human and helping. The other contestants along the way and still coming out ahead. And then the other contestants on Survivor, of course, vote on who should win. And they all voted for the despicable guy, that he played a better game. That that was the game.

• 21:43Speaker 04

  And that blew my mind and made me scared, a little bit scared, just like, why doesn't decency? We don't value decency? What's happening? This is bad.

• 21:56Jessie Ware?

  I mean, Trump's your president, so it's like, it's not even more insane, hasn't it?

• 22:02Speaker 04

  Well, he had a reality show too.

• 22:03Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, exactly. And he was celebrated, wasn't he? As this kind of.

• 22:07Speaker 04

  Well, people liked the show.

• 22:09Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, right.

• 22:10Speaker 04

  For sure.

• 22:10Jessie Ware?

  He was entertaining.

• 22:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, but he also, yeah, I won't get into it. He's running the country in the same way. He saw an opening.

• 22:18Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, open the window, uh, the door. I'm gonna put the chicken on.

• 22:21Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 22:21Jessie Ware?

  Okay. Let's talk about who was round your dinner table when you were younger? Where were you growing up and what were you eating?

• 22:29Speaker 04

  Okay, I grew up in Tarzana, which is a suburb in LA.

• 22:36Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 22:36Speaker 04

  In the valley and um, my mom made dinner every single night.

• 22:41Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 22:42Speaker 04

  And my brother and sister, my sister is eight years older, my brother's six years older.

• 22:47Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 22:49Speaker 04

  And yeah, so we would all have dinner together every night. Went to school in LA? Yeah.

• 22:53Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, but you're clever.

• 22:56Speaker 04

  I wanted to do well.

• 22:57Jessie Ware?

  About herself.

• 22:58Speaker 04

  But I did well in school. I don't know if that has anything to do with being clever.

• 23:02Jessie Ware?

  Oh, no, you're clever.

• 23:02Speaker 04

  How's that? Clever. Well, but, okay, thank you.

• 23:05Jessie Ware?

  Studious?

• 23:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, I wanted to do well.

• 23:07Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 23:08Speaker 04

  I wanted to win.

• 23:09Jessie Ware?

  Are you the, sorry, are you the first born or?

• 23:11Speaker 04

  Third.

• 23:11Jessie Ware?

  Third.

• 23:12Speaker 04

  And you're competitive? Yeah, uh, yeah. Are you all quite academic? No. Oh, okay. No, I mean, I think my, well, my brother's a neurologist, so ultimately he's. Well, he's done all right. Did pretty well in school, but I think when he was in grade school, he thinks he probably had some kind of like um, attention deficit executive function issue. Um, so school didn't come easily to him. Yeah, and it took him a while.

• 23:40Jessie Ware?

  So your brother and sister.

• 23:42Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:43Jessie Ware?

  Um, what, what were you all eating round the dinner table? Did I miss that?

• 23:47Speaker 04

  No, you didn't. I didn't get to it.

• 23:49Jessie Ware?

  Okay, sorry.

• 23:49Speaker 04

  So um, chicken dishes, roast chicken. I always liked that.

• 23:54Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 23:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, I liked the way my mom made it.

• 23:56Jessie Ware?

  How did she make it?

• 23:57Speaker 04

  Um. Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt. And paprika.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  On top or in under the skin?

• 24:06Speaker 04

  On top, just on top.

• 24:08Jessie Ware?

  Oh, that's nice.

• 24:10Speaker 04

  I know, I feel like it might have been a Hungarian thing, cause her.

• 24:14Speaker 03

  Is she Hungarian?

• 24:15Speaker 04

  Well, her father was Hungarian.

• 24:18Jessie Ware?

  Oh, wow.

• 24:18Speaker 04

  And his family.

• 24:19Jessie Ware?

  Is this your Jewish side?

• 24:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, they both are.

• 24:22Jessie Ware?

  Oh, you're you're, oh, you've got.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  My dad too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 24:25Speaker 03

  Are you still observant?

• 24:27Speaker 04

  I'm not.

• 24:28Speaker 03

  No, so you won't be celebrating Passover next week?

• 24:31Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah, no, we usually don't get to because my father and I end up, you know,

• 24:37Speaker 04

  being a problem. My father, when they started talking about Passover and Moses, you know, and did this, and my father's like, you know, they haven't proven that there was a Moses. I'm just saying biblical archaeology still hasn't, there's still doubt, there's no evidence that there was a, yeah. Gets into that and then, yeah, we just start picking apart.

• 24:56Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 24:57Speaker 04

  Things.

• 24:58Jessie Ware?

  So the roast chicken with Parmesan and paprika, that sounds delicious.

• 25:03Speaker 03

  Did she make chicken soup as well?

• 25:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, she ultimately did.

• 25:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:08Speaker 04

  My dad's mom made chicken soup. It wasn't very good.

• 25:11Speaker 03

  Oh, okay.

• 25:12Speaker 04

  And she wasn't a good cook.

• 25:13Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 25:13Jessie Ware?

  But you're, you're quite a good cook.

• 25:15Speaker 04

  I'm not.

• 25:16Jessie Ware?

  I've heard that you have opinions, though.

• 25:18Speaker 04

  Oh, well, I mean, I used to cook and then no one liked it.

• 25:23Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 25:24Speaker 04

  I know.

• 25:24Jessie Ware?

  But hold on, I read something about you that you said that basically you have an opinion on everything where you'll be like, I think I could just add something to this to improve it.

• 25:32Speaker 04

  Right.

• 25:33Jessie Ware?

  Do you not improve it when you add that thing?

• 25:35Speaker 04

  I don't do it, I don't do that anymore, ever.

• 25:37Jessie Ware?

  What happened to make you stop?

• 25:41Speaker 04

  It didn't matter.

• 25:42Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  It wasn't important.

• 25:43Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 25:44Speaker 04

  Anymore. That I honestly, I mean, I don't know how this will sound, but I honestly became more grateful that someone went to the trouble to cook something for me.

• 25:53Jessie Ware?

  I agree.

• 25:54Speaker 04

  Do you know what I mean?

• 25:56Speaker 03

  Do you cook now?

• 25:57Speaker 04

  I don't anymore.

• 25:58Speaker 03

  So how do you eat every day?

• 26:00Speaker 04

  Well, someone cooks for how I think. We have a housekeeper.

• 26:03Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 26:03Speaker 04

  Who would rather be cooking than doing anything else.

• 26:06Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 26:07Speaker 04

  So, yeah, she cooks.

• 26:08Speaker 03

  So what's on the list when you get home?

• 26:10Speaker 04

  Uh huh.

• 26:11Speaker 03

  From all this promo?

• 26:12Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 26:12Speaker 03

  You'd be like to your housekeeper, please can you make that?

• 26:16Speaker 04

  Beef with broccoli.

• 26:17Speaker 03

  What, like on stir fried?

• 26:19Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 26:19Speaker 03

  Noodles rice?

• 26:21Speaker 04

  No, well, maybe some rice, but just the beef with broccoli. Oh, my God.

• 26:25Speaker 03

  And what's the seasoning?

• 26:26Speaker 04

  Ginger in it.

• 26:27Speaker 03

  Ginger.

• 26:27Speaker 04

  There's real ginger and um.

• 26:31Speaker 03

  You are so decisive with that answer, by the way.

• 26:34Speaker 04

  Because, yeah.

• 26:35Speaker 03

  I think we need to get her a beef and broccoli tonight, team.

• 26:38Speaker 04

  I don't know. It's so good. The way she makes it, it's so good.

• 26:42Speaker 03

  What's her name?

• 26:43Speaker 04

  Zoila.

• 26:43Speaker 03

  Zoila.

• 26:44Speaker 04

  Yeah, you know, it you feel when someone's cooking with love.

• 26:47Speaker 03

  She has.

• 26:48Speaker 04

  Right?

• 26:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:49Speaker 04

  And she is, and she's just like magic about flavors. She look at a recipe, but somehow she's altering it a little bit and it's that much better.

• 27:00Speaker 03

  Yeah. Where does she come from?

• 27:02Speaker 04

  Nicaragua.

• 27:03Speaker 03

  So is it a Nicaragua style?

• 27:06Speaker 04

  No.

• 27:06Speaker 03

  Or more Asian?

• 27:08Speaker 04

  No, it's very, it's it's very Asian, the beef with broccoli.

• 27:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:11Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:12Speaker 04

  No.

• 27:13Speaker 03

  Now, when you were on Friends, I read that Jennifer used to make a salad for you and your co-stars.

• 27:22Speaker 04

  Is this folklore? She used to order a salad that we all would order.

• 27:28Speaker 03

  Oh, she didn't make it.

• 27:30Speaker 04

  Courtney and I. Quinoa? No, no, it was a chopped salad from the commissary, but with shaved Parmesan. And I can't remember a specific Parmesan. Yeah.

• 27:42Speaker 03

  I love a good chopped salad.

• 27:43Speaker 04

  Right.

• 27:44Speaker 03

  It's delicious.

• 27:45Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:45Speaker 03

  Yeah. So she ordered, she didn't make it?

• 27:49Speaker 04

  She would just say, oh, could I get that set? Cause we, at a certain point, we weren't leaving our stage.

• 27:55Speaker 03

  You would just say?

• 27:56Speaker 04

  We wouldn't, we couldn't really go to the commissary. We would just stay on our stage.

• 28:00Speaker 03

  How long did it take to make one episode of Friends?

• 28:03Speaker 04

  A week.

• 28:03Speaker 03

  A week?

• 28:04Speaker 04

  But you rehearse for a week, like a play, and then the audience comes

• 28:08Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 28:09Speaker 04

  On the fifth day.

• 28:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:10Speaker 04

  Or fourth day.

• 28:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:12Speaker 04

  And you shoot it in front of the audience.

• 28:14Speaker 03

  Okay, can you do retakes?

• 28:16Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:16Speaker 03

  Okay, so they did retakes?

• 28:18Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah, and rewrites.

• 28:20Speaker 03

  And rewrites. So if they didn't laugh as loud as they should have done, you might take that joke out.

• 28:26Speaker 04

  It might not be funny enough, right?

• 28:27Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 28:27Speaker 04

  Or let's see if we can improve on it. Not us, the writers. Our shows took, you know, normally, a half hour show took around two, two and a half hours, maybe three to shoot.

• 28:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:39Speaker 04

  Ours was six or more hours.

• 28:42Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 28:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:43Speaker 03

  God, you had a patient audience.

• 28:45Speaker 04

  We had two audiences. We had an audience that was waiting outside to come in.

• 28:50Speaker 03

  So, so did they, did you exclude ones after the first bit? You'd say we're bringing the fresh audience in now.

• 28:58Speaker 04

  They were happy to leave.

• 28:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh, they probably needed to go to the loo.

• 29:02Speaker 04

  It had been three hours.

• 29:03Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:04Speaker 04

  I think if someone, if they wanted to stay, they could. I don't know.

• 29:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:08Speaker 04

  Actually, I don't know how that went. But I know at some point they'd bring in pizza.

• 29:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:12Speaker 04

  We'd be going for so long, they'd bring food in for them.

• 29:16Speaker 03

  They must have been exhausted.

• 29:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:19Speaker 03

  How old were you when you were doing it then?

• 29:21Speaker 04

  I was, um, I thirty, thirty-one when we started.

• 29:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:25Speaker 04

  And, yeah, and I was pregnant during that.

• 29:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:28Speaker 04

  And I was tired. And we're shooting till two in the morning.

• 29:32Speaker 03

  Crikey.

• 29:33Speaker 04

  Right.

• 29:34Jessie Ware?

  Oh, my God.

• 29:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:35Jessie Ware?

  How does that work with like unions and stuff?

• 29:38Speaker 04

  Well, oh, well, that's an excellent question. What? How did that happen?

• 29:45Jessie Ware?

  How did that be allowed?

• 29:47Speaker 04

  Wait a minute.

• 29:48Speaker 03

  It's like, like you're a pilot.

• 29:51Speaker 04

  Because it was a multi-camera show, so we were just rehearing. Hey!

• 29:55Speaker 03

  But what about the crew and everything? Because they wouldn't work.

• 30:00Speaker 04

  Wait a minute, no, they were there at ten in the morning.

• 30:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:05Jessie Ware?

  Did they have a new set of crew that part?

• 30:08Speaker 04

  I guess everyone got overtime.

• 30:10Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 30:11Speaker 04

  The show was doing well.

• 30:12Jessie Ware?

  It was doing well, so like everyone was happy to do overtime.

• 30:15Speaker 04

  They didn't mind. Maybe, you know, they could afford it, the studio.

• 30:18Speaker 03

  Did you love being Phoebe?

• 30:20Speaker 04

  Yes, I did.

• 30:22Speaker 03

  What was the best thing about Phoebe?

• 30:25Speaker 04

  She lightened me up.

• 30:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:27Speaker 04

  For me, was the best thing. Yeah, she lightened me up. Yeah. Yeah, just and her worldview and.

• 30:34Speaker 03

  She she was so bonkers.

• 30:36Speaker 04

  She was, but now when I watch, because I only honestly just started. Like committing to watching every season.

• 30:46Speaker 03

  Oh, I think it's wonderful.

• 30:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, it is. But as I'm watching Phoebe, now I'm saying, oh, that's actually not crazy anymore.

• 30:55Speaker 03

  No, she's not.

• 30:56Speaker 04

  Like, okay.

• 30:57Speaker 03

  She was quite insightful, old Phoebe, wasn't she?

• 31:01Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 31:01Speaker 03

  She had a.

• 31:02Jessie Ware?

  She had real strong values.

• 31:04Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 31:04Jessie Ware?

  She was always worried about, you know, whether they were doing the right thing.

• 31:09Speaker 04

  Right.

• 31:10Jessie Ware?

  And she voiced that, and I thought that was very healthy.

• 31:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, I know. She was admirable.

• 31:14Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 31:15Speaker 03

  You like yourself as Phoebe?

• 31:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, I forgive certain things.

• 31:21Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 31:21Speaker 04

  You know, as an actor going, why do you have to make it such a thing? Can't you just say it? Why can't you just say it?

• 31:27Speaker 03

  Were you all good friends? Or did you have a best friend on set?

• 31:32Speaker 04

  No, the girls had lunch every single day together. And sometimes, you know, the guys would join, but, you know.

• 31:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:40Speaker 04

  But we were all close, and especially in the beginning, we were like puppies, just climbing all over each other and playing, you know?

• 31:47Speaker 03

  Was anyone well established when they first got the roles?

• 31:50Speaker 04

  Courtney Cox.

• 31:51Speaker 03

  She was.

• 31:52Jessie Ware?

  Has she been a nice venture by that point?

• 31:53Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 31:54Jessie Ware?

  Her.

• 31:55Speaker 04

  Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

• 31:56Jessie Ware?

  And the video, the music video for Bruce Springsteen.

• 31:59Speaker 04

  Springsteen, yeah. And also she was on a show called Family Ties, which was Michael J. Fox. She played his girlfriend. Um, so, yeah, she was known. She was the only one of us that was known.

• 32:12Speaker 03

  But it changed your lives.

• 32:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, it did.

• 32:15Speaker 03

  Yeah. A lot. We were lucky to have each other. Yeah. For that. And you probably needed the support of each other because it was such a. But it it became so big. I can remember the very last episode. People just didn't go out because they wanted to watch it and celebrate it and Yeah. Have a bit of a party. Yeah. And it was so sad that it was finishing. I know. We couldn't stop crying. What did you cry? Yeah, didn't you see us crying? Yeah, I did, but I thought I wasn't sure whether you were relieved or just. No. You were just sad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, we weren't relieved. No. Are you still good friends with all of them? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

• 33:00Jessie Ware?

  We had David Schwimmer on this years ago.

• 33:03Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:04Jessie Ware?

  And we had this guy, the poor bloke, it was one of the, like, it was a press junket that, like, we'd gone to this hotel. It was kind of the first time we'd done it. It was just poor Covid, wasn't it?

• 33:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, at the Soho Hotel.

• 33:15Jessie Ware?

  So tired. You could just see he'd done a whole day of promo and he looked at these two women and he was like.

• 33:20Speaker 03

  Why are they here?

• 33:21Jessie Ware?

  I've got to be with you for an hour and

• 33:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:22Jessie Ware?

  A half, like, okay. And then, but he was so polite and lovely.

• 33:27Speaker 03

  You think that's what he was saying?

• 33:28Jessie Ware?

  No, and maybe, maybe, maybe.

• 33:30Speaker 03

  If I were in here. But we did fall in love by the end.

• 33:34Jessie Ware?

  No, we we we loved it, but he made us laugh so much because my mum, we'd bought like Meals on Wheels, which never travelled that well.

• 33:41Speaker 03

  Well, he didn't bring much. We just.

• 33:43Jessie Ware?

  No, but we bought and you proudly gave him this banana bread.

• 33:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:47Jessie Ware?

  That your son had made.

• 33:48Speaker 03

  Who's a doctor. Okay. Okay, so I was very proud. You've got a doctor in the family too. So we made, he brought this banana bread and.

• 33:57Jessie Ware?

  He had a taste and mum went, well, what do you think? He went, it's dry.

• 34:01Speaker 03

  It was.

• 34:02Jessie Ware?

  And I loved him for that. And then my mum went, my son has been up all night saving lives. And he went, well, he just took one.

• 34:08Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 34:09Jessie Ware?

  Felt like a roast, like it was.

• 34:11Speaker 03

  Oh, my God. And then it was got even funnier because Jessie said she was going to have a bat mitzvah.

• 34:18Jessie Ware?

  Did I?

• 34:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, and he said, who's catering? If it's your son, I'm not coming.

• 34:23Jessie Ware?

  He was amazing. Anyway, it was very, he was brilliant.

• 34:25Speaker 03

  And he is now a friend of the podcast.

• 34:27Speaker 04

  Competitive and I'm sad that I'm not being funny.

• 34:30Speaker 03

  You're very funny.

• 34:32Jessie Ware?

  Um, chickens come now.

• 34:33Speaker 04

  Funnier than him. No, I'm not.

• 34:35Jessie Ware?

  So, you know.

• 34:36Speaker 04

  It smells delicious.

• 34:37Jessie Ware?

  Okay, good.

• 34:37Speaker 03

  It does smell great.

• 34:38Jessie Ware?

  Okay, good. The chicken, like, it's, it's, I'm gonna say, we're about five minutes away.

• 34:43Speaker 04

  Okay, I really hope it's good.

• 34:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:46Jessie Ware?

  Me too, me too.

• 34:48Speaker 03

  Five minutes, it's.

• 34:49Jessie Ware?

  I've been very stressed. I thought you were gonna let out shit. You did? Well, I don't know. I've, I've read off.

• 34:55Speaker 04

  But that's a crazy thing. That's if, no, it's not if someone cooks me something. I go to their house and say, all right, you know what you need to do. I don't do that.

• 35:03Jessie Ware?

  No, I can't imagine that you would do that.

• 35:05Speaker 04

  I mean, yeah.

• 35:06Jessie Ware?

  But I would like to have.

• 35:07Speaker 04

  Raised in a barn. I know how to behave.

• 35:10Speaker 03

  Do you go out to eat a lot in LA?

• 35:12Speaker 04

  Not a ton.

• 35:13Speaker 03

  No.

• 35:13Speaker 04

  We don't, because Zoila cooks so well.

• 35:17Speaker 03

  So do you have dinner parties and she cooks for you?

• 35:19Speaker 04

  Not so much.

• 35:20Speaker 03

  That would be my dream, actually.

• 35:22Speaker 04

  I know, we don't so much. What's going on with us?

• 35:25Speaker 03

  I don't think people do have dinner parties. You do?

• 35:28Jessie Ware?

  I don't know.

• 35:29Speaker 04

  We also used to have Sunday night dinners, mostly at my house with my whole family.

• 35:35Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 35:36Speaker 04

  Uh huh, and nephews and then their girlfriends. And it grew to like sixteen people that don't fit around my table. So then it's two tables and then some people are like, oh, I liked it better when it was one table. It's like, all right, well, who do not want to invite? And by the way, it's my house. So like, I don't know what to do. And then we had to stop doing it just because I got tired.

• 36:00Speaker 03

  Fair enough.

• 36:01Speaker 04

  Hosting. And it's not even that I'm cooking, because I started just bringing in food.

• 36:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:06Speaker 04

  Since, here's what happened. Here's why I stopped cooking. We would do Thanksgiving and I would always make the turkey because I made, made it exactly like my mother made it. And, uh.

• 36:17Speaker 03

  And that was good?

• 36:18Speaker 04

  It was good. It's the Parmesan, that thing.

• 36:21Jessie Ware?

  Oh, you did that on the turkey as well?

• 36:24Speaker 04

  And I basted like crazy.

• 36:26Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 36:26Speaker 04

  Okay, and also add chicken stock, you know, and just basted. It's so moist. And one year.

• 36:35Speaker 03

  Uh oh.

• 36:35Speaker 04

  I think it was my brother, who I love beyond. And he said, hey, what if I make a turkey this year? And I went, oh, okay. Well, there's a lot of people. Should I make one and you can make one? Oh, okay. And then it just sort of kept growing from there where another person after that would say, yeah, you know what? I'm gonna make the potatoes.

• 37:01Jessie Ware?

  But that's helpful, Lisa.

• 37:03Speaker 04

  Well, it was just that, cause one, yes. Then one year, no one was offering anything.

• 37:08Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 37:09Speaker 04

  And I had my, so I was, that's fine. I can do it all.

• 37:12Jessie Ware?

  Oh.

• 37:13Speaker 04

  And I.

• 37:14Jessie Ware?

  You weren't used to it.

• 37:14Speaker 04

  The way to do it is, everything's pureed. Not the turkey, but you know, like the sweet potatoes.

• 37:21Jessie Ware?

  Dude, I've done that before.

• 37:22Speaker 04

  The mashed potatoes, um, you know, but green beans I actually made, you know? But there was so much pureed stuff that it was like turkey and baby food, basically, is what I was serving. And everyone after that went, I think next, you know what? I can have it next year.

• 37:41Jessie Ware?

  They went off it.

• 37:43Speaker 04

  And no one ate much.

• 37:46Jessie Ware?

  Oh, I'm sorry.

• 37:47Speaker 04

  And so I just went. Yeah, totally. And I lost it so much that I was even just gonna make, Courtney Cox is a phenomenal cook.

• 37:54Jessie Ware?

  Is she?

• 37:55Speaker 04

  She really is, yeah. And she made a roast chicken once that was so delicious and it was simple, just like what people do. Salt, pepper, some rosemary. That's it. And I thought, oh, I think I'm gonna try that. And, um, for my husband and my son, and I over-salted it so much that it was inedible. It was, it was toxic tasting.

• 38:19Jessie Ware?

  Oh, God.

• 38:21Speaker 04

  And that's when I stopped.

• 38:22Jessie Ware?

  How many years ago was that?

• 38:25Speaker 04

  Five.

• 38:26Jessie Ware?

  Lisa, I think you need to get back on that horse.

• 38:29Speaker 04

  I don't know.

• 38:29Jessie Ware?

  I can help you with the chicken. I'm worried my chicken's gonna be too salty.

• 38:32Speaker 04

  I love salt. I'm telling you, you couldn't, it was a salt lick. It's not an exaggeration. No one could put another bite in their mouth. And they were sweet about it. It's like, no, no, I mean, yeah, it's salty, but we love you. And you made an effort.

• 38:47Jessie Ware?

  Couldn't they just take the skin off and then eat the underneath?

• 38:50Speaker 04

  It wasn't on, it was in, it was everywhere.

• 38:52Jessie Ware?

  It was everywhere.

• 39:01Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini. That's go.o.gle/workspacewithGemini.

• 39:34Speaker 01

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• 40:10Jessie Ware?

  What?

• 40:10Speaker 04

  What's that's beautiful.

• 40:12Jessie Ware?

  Ooh, that salad looks so good. We have zatar chicken with a butter bean puree. Okay. A chopped salad of sorts, and then tabouleh with celery and green beans, and then a garlic yogurt. And it's all from my friend's new cookbook called Peckish. But what's it called, you said? It's called Peckish. No, but, um. Oh, zatar, zatar chicken thighs. Oh, it's thighs. Yeah, so it's kind of juicy. Yeah, all right. And I was gonna put the barbecue on. Should I take two pieces or start with one little one? No, I've just had them all on. Say five pieces. Take a whole thigh. All right. What am I looking around? What am I looking around for? Come on, don't be polite. Okay. And you're hungry. And what did you have for breakfast this morning? Hotel breakfast?

• 40:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, but I didn't eat all of it. It was uh, eggs and cheese. That was good. Okay.

• 40:58Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 40:59Speaker 04

  There. It smells really good.

• 41:00Jessie Ware?

  Um.

• 41:01Speaker 04

  And it was just okay.

• 41:02Jessie Ware?

  Okay, fine. So you haven't eaten since the morning?

• 41:05Speaker 04

  I mean, someone gave me a cookie, but I didn't eat it. I didn't eat because I knew I was coming here.

• 41:09Jessie Ware?

  That's very sweet.

• 41:10Speaker 04

  To be honest.

• 41:11Jessie Ware?

  Yeah, I read, because I have made cookies for um, dessert. You do like a cookie. You've said this somewhere.

• 41:17Speaker 04

  I do like a cookie. And I used to bake a lot. More than cooking, I baked a lot.

• 41:22Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 41:22Speaker 04

  Brownies from scratch. It's so easy, right? And chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookie bars.

• 41:28Speaker 03

  Where is, where is um, the comeback filmed?

• 41:31Jessie Ware?

  L A, right?

• 41:32Speaker 04

  L A, we, well, this last season, we shot up Warner Brothers on the Friends stage.

• 41:38Jessie Ware?

  Oh, wow.

• 41:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 41:41Jessie Ware?

  Just the most intrusive doorbell, sorry. How did that feel to be back? Did you do that on purpose?

• 41:48Speaker 04

  We didn't, but Warner Brothers felt like we needed a big stage and it was gonna be available and they offered it.

• 41:56Jessie Ware?

  Did you nearly say, "Thank you so much, but can we have a different one"? Or were you like, no, you were like, this is good?

• 42:00Speaker 04

  I loved it. It became very emotional, but at first I thought, huh, finally. Valerie and Friends are gonna collide. And I was dying, you know, for her to say something about, you know, how fantastic that like, you know, Rachel and Monica, great characters. And the other one, I can't remember her name, you know, but we didn't do that. Instead, just have her in front of Stage 24, all the great movies that shot here, you know, and now, and didn't even look at the, only saw the movies, didn't even look at the TV shows. She, the movies talked about that and said, "I think our show will be the first hit for Stage 24." And she walks off and the camera just shows you Friends.

• 42:43Speaker 04

  Mike and Molly, Friends reunion, yeah.

• 42:46Jessie Ware?

  You've had some amazing cameos.

• 42:48Speaker 04

  Oh, my god.

• 42:49Jessie Ware?

  Everyone from Andy Cohen to RuPaul to Seth Rogen.

• 42:53Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:53Jessie Ware?

  I mean, who else? Let's think, um.

• 42:56Speaker 04

  Um, well, now Marlon Akerman is.

• 42:58Jessie Ware?

  Marlon Akerman, who is so wonderful. And that relationship is so beautiful between you two.

• 43:03Speaker 04

  Right, because.

• 43:04Jessie Ware?

  It feels true.

• 43:05Speaker 04

  Yeah. You know, the actors aren't the enemies.

• 43:09Jessie Ware?

  No.

• 43:09Speaker 04

  Of the actors.

• 43:11Speaker 03

  Have you started filming season four?

• 43:13Speaker 04

  No, we're done.

• 43:15Speaker 03

  That's it?

• 43:16Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:16Speaker 03

  Are you sure?

• 43:17Speaker 04

  This is the third and final.

• 43:19Speaker 03

  You're sure?

• 43:19Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I'm not being coy. This is it, because.

• 43:25Jessie Ware?

  Cause you have had big gaps.

• 43:27Speaker 04

  We have had big gaps.

• 43:29Jessie Ware?

  So you might in six years' time think.

• 43:33Speaker 04

  But the big gaps make it kind of an event. And it needs to be about something big if we're gonna come back. And um, this is pretty big.

• 43:44Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 43:44Speaker 04

  So, yeah, and now, you know what, we went from canceled after season one to it becoming an event. There was season two that was, oh, wow, now they're looking at.

• 43:58Speaker 04

  Single camera, edgy, moody, thirteen episodes of premium cable and, you know, and. Now the third season is sort of, oh, another potential extinction event with AI like the reality. Shows were in two thousand four, so it just feels like it's full circle and that's a trilogy and. It went from like, shoot, it was canceled to it's a piece. You know, like a complete piece and that is really nice. That feels good.

• 44:29Jessie Ware?

  Can we bring it back to food for a second, please?

• 44:32Speaker 04

  No, I wanna talk more about the comeback and why it's a trilogy.

• 44:36Jessie Ware?

  Listen, I, I can keep on talking about the.

• 44:38Speaker 04

  I'm kidding. Yes, I don't really want to. Let's talk about food.

• 44:42Jessie Ware?

  Okay, can I ask you what your last supper would be? You're going to a desert island. You're not gonna have your favorites.

• 44:49Speaker 04

  Right.

• 44:50Jessie Ware?

  Starter, main dessert, drink of choice.

• 44:53Speaker 04

  Oh, my god.

• 44:56Speaker 04

  There's so many.

• 44:57Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 44:57Speaker 04

  Things, but okay, well, I mean, you know what? I had macaroni and cheese while I was here.

• 45:02Jessie Ware?

  Yum, where did you have?

• 45:03Speaker 04

  At, um, at the hotel.

• 45:04Jessie Ware?

  Was it good?

• 45:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, cuz it's macaroni and cheese. Why do I care?

• 45:08Jessie Ware?

  So where are you putting that in your last meal? At the beginning of the meal or?

• 45:13Speaker 04

  I should probably have a set, well, my last meal, who cares?

• 45:16Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 45:16Speaker 04

  And I like fried chicken.

• 45:18Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 45:18Speaker 04

  That's really good.

• 45:19Jessie Ware?

  Where'd you get good fried chicken?

• 45:20Speaker 04

  Well, I mean, I like Kentucky Fried Chicken, sorry. That's what I grew up.

• 45:25Jessie Ware?

  Mum loves.

• 45:26Speaker 04

  You do too? What do you think is wrong with it? What could be wrong with it when it tastes so good?

• 45:32Jessie Ware?

  Should've just got a bucket.

• 45:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, he should've got a bucket.

• 45:36Speaker 04

  Easier?

• 45:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:37Speaker 04

  And then you just throw, would get paper plates and stuff.

• 45:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:42Speaker 03

  And what would you have with that? Would you have the coleslaw?

• 45:45Jessie Ware?

  How many things can you eat?

• 45:46Speaker 04

  No, no.

• 45:47Speaker 03

  No, none of the things. Just the chicken.

• 45:49Jessie Ware?

  Do you like a condiment? Do you need a dip with that?

• 45:51Speaker 04

  No, no.

• 45:53Jessie Ware?

  You're just sucking that bone dry.

• 45:54Speaker 03

  And then you have to suck the bones, don't you?

• 45:56Speaker 04

  I do not suck the bones. I think that's a European thing.

• 45:59Speaker 03

  Oh, okay.

• 46:01Speaker 04

  My dad sucks. He used to suck the bones and my grandmother used to suck the bones and and marrow bones they loved.

• 46:08Speaker 03

  Oh, my god. Do you like marrow bones?

• 46:10Speaker 04

  No, I don't.

• 46:11Speaker 03

  Me neither.

• 46:12Speaker 04

  But my dad loved it and my mom used to get it with pot roast and throw it in.

• 46:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:16Jessie Ware?

  So we've got KFC, we've got mac and cheese.

• 46:18Speaker 04

  I know.

• 46:19Jessie Ware?

  I like this. Drink of choice? Do you drink?

• 46:22Speaker 04

  Water.

• 46:23Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 46:23Speaker 03

  Oh, you do another drink wine or?

• 46:25Speaker 04

  No, I don't like wine. At all.

• 46:28Speaker 03

  Do you like cocktails?

• 46:29Speaker 04

  Sometimes I like a vodka tonic.

• 46:32Speaker 03

  A vodka tonic?

• 46:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's it. Why?

• 46:34Speaker 03

  But you don't drink a lot?

• 46:35Speaker 04

  No, I don't. I know. Look, it's all so disappointing.

• 46:39Speaker 03

  No, no, no. I.

• 46:41Jessie Ware?

  No, go on.

• 46:42Speaker 03

  I would drink wine. I like wine.

• 46:44Speaker 04

  Yeah, most people do.

• 46:45Speaker 03

  But you don't like it?

• 46:46Speaker 04

  I don't at all.

• 46:52Jessie Ware?

  Would you, would you kindly, Luca, bring over some dessert, please? Thanks, doll.

• 46:56Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 46:58Jessie Ware?

  I forgot. I could cry. Oh, a cookie.

• 47:01Speaker 04

  It's so exciting.

• 47:02Jessie Ware?

  Okay, we have an assortment. You do have a banana bread that mum's made. I hope it's not dry.

• 47:07Speaker 03

  I hope it's not.

• 47:08Jessie Ware?

  Um, we also have.

• 47:09Speaker 04

  What if I swimmer you?

• 47:10Speaker 03

  You might swimmer me or you might not.

• 47:14Jessie Ware?

  Then we have gotcha chang, gotcha jang. Do you know what gotcha jang is?

• 47:19Speaker 04

  No, I don't even.

• 47:20Jessie Ware?

  A chili, a Korean chili paste.

• 47:22Speaker 04

  Oh.

• 47:22Jessie Ware?

  It's not very spicy.

• 47:23Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 47:24Jessie Ware?

  But a cookie. And we heard that you liked chocolate cookies. So there's a kind of a Nutella chocolate cookie.

• 47:30Speaker 04

  Oh, my god.

• 47:31Jessie Ware?

  So you can just have a little bite of everything if you want.

• 47:33Speaker 04

  Okay, yeah. So can I start here?

• 47:36Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 47:36Speaker 04

  What do you suggest? Less or more brown?

• 47:39Speaker 03

  I'd go there.

• 47:40Speaker 04

  Like that. Can I just take a piece of it?

• 47:42Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 47:43Speaker 04

  Oh, yum.

• 47:44Jessie Ware?

  It's quite good, right?

• 47:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's buttery, right?

• 47:47Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 47:47Speaker 03

  It smokes you a bit dry.

• 47:49Jessie Ware?

  Go on.

• 47:50Speaker 04

  Oh, there's a little.

• 47:52Jessie Ware?

  You getting heat?

• 47:53Speaker 04

  There's a little, yeah. Yeah, I'm on hot ones.

• 47:55Jessie Ware?

  Is that too spicy for you?

• 47:57Speaker 04

  A little bit.

• 47:58Jessie Ware?

  Oh, shit, have some water. Or some dry banana bread.

• 48:02Speaker 03

  Oh, shush.

• 48:03Jessie Ware?

  Let's try.

• 48:04Speaker 04

  Wait, there's chocolate in it.

• 48:05Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 48:06Speaker 04

  But how can there be a complaint if there's chocolate? Can I break it off? I saw you use a knife. I don't want to get in trouble.

• 48:13Jessie Ware?

  You have you got a sweet tooth?

• 48:15Speaker 03

  I think it's too dry.

• 48:18Speaker 03

  I think that's okay. Slightly touched a bit more than I would have done.

• 48:23Speaker 04

  That's good.

• 48:24Jessie Ware?

  It's kind of healthy. Is this all recipe?

• 48:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's all recipe from our cookbook.

• 48:29Jessie Ware?

  It's like, maybe because I've just had the cookie.

• 48:31Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 48:33Speaker 04

  I think the chili did something to your taste buds. I like this because it's not too sweet.

• 48:39Speaker 03

  No.

• 48:40Speaker 04

  And it's dark chocolate, right?

• 48:42Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:43Jessie Ware?

  What are you having as your last supper dessert?

• 48:46Speaker 04

  I think I like the banana bread. I know the world's my oyster.

• 48:50Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 48:51Speaker 04

  I didn't even try that.

• 48:52Jessie Ware?

  No.

• 48:53Speaker 04

  All right.

• 48:54Speaker 03

  Those too spicy.

• 48:56Speaker 04

  You think so?

• 48:58Jessie Ware?

  He's a pussy.

• 48:59Speaker 03

  Who?

• 49:00Jessie Ware?

  She's a pussy. It's not spicy.

• 49:02Speaker 04

  You're a pussy.

• 49:04Speaker 03

  I wouldn't eat spicy. I don't like spicy.

• 49:08Jessie Ware?

  Really good.

• 49:09Speaker 04

  It's that wit.

• 49:10Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 49:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 49:11Speaker 04

  Just put you right in your place.

• 49:12Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 49:13Speaker 03

  I don't like spicy.

• 49:14Jessie Ware?

  Now I'm embarrassed.

• 49:18Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 49:19Speaker 04

  It's not that spicy. Yeah, yeah. You'll be fine, Lenny.

• 49:23Speaker 03

  That's not spicy.

• 49:24Speaker 04

  See, pussy.

• 49:25Speaker 03

  Pussy.

• 49:26Speaker 04

  All right.

• 49:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, maybe I am a delicate flower.

• 49:30Speaker 03

  Oh, no, it's hitting.

• 49:32Speaker 04

  See?

• 49:32Speaker 03

  Oh, for God's sake.

• 49:33Speaker 04

  Okay, thank you.

• 49:35Speaker 03

  Right, it's just hit the back of my throat.

• 49:37Jessie Ware?

  Calm down, have a drink.

• 49:39Speaker 04

  Now try to taste that.

• 49:41Jessie Ware?

  It's pretty hot in here. It's not the got chit chat.

• 49:45Speaker 04

  Well, you can do it in this. Not that hot. Here, let's tell her it's not that hot in here.

• 49:50Jessie Ware?

  They're never gonna invite us on hot ones. Have they invited you on hot ones and do yourself? And you said thank you, but no, thank you.

• 49:55Speaker 03

  I could not do it.

• 49:56Jessie Ware?

  I wouldn't get past.

• 49:57Speaker 04

  We have Valerie on hot ones.

• 50:00Jessie Ware?

  In this season?

• 50:01Speaker 04

  Uh huh.

• 50:03Jessie Ware?

  So how much did you?

• 50:06Jessie Ware?

  Do, how hot did Valerie go?

• 50:08Speaker 04

  Well, just between us.

• 50:10Jessie Ware?

  Yeah.

• 50:12Speaker 04

  Oh, kidding.

• 50:13Jessie Ware?

  Oh, yeah.

• 50:13Speaker 04

  Um. Yeah, Valerie, you have to go far, you know, but. And that was acting, but. I, at some point, because I got worried, like, I don't know if I can act this well, so. Put some Tabasco. I can't even handle Tabasco.

• 50:29Jessie Ware?

  Neither can I.

• 50:30Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 50:30Jessie Ware?

  I hate it. I really shouldn't have done these cookies then.

• 50:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 50:33Jessie Ware?

  Sorry.

• 50:34Speaker 04

  Why? It has Tabasco in it?

• 50:35Jessie Ware?

  No, but it has chili paste in it.

• 50:37Speaker 04

  All right. It's actually okay.

• 50:39Jessie Ware?

  Okay, great.

• 50:40Speaker 04

  So I put a little Tabasco on a, on a thing and I, it was really okay. It wasn't so bad. But, um, it helped me.

• 50:49Jessie Ware?

  Um, a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere, happy or sad?

• 50:54Speaker 04

  Happy.

• 50:56Speaker 04

  SpaghettiOs with Franks.

• 50:58Jessie Ware?

  What's Franks?

• 50:59Speaker 03

  Frankfurters.

• 51:00Jessie Ware?

  Oh, Frankfurters.

• 51:01Speaker 04

  It's like cut up little.

• 51:02Speaker 03

  Viennese.

• 51:03Speaker 04

  Hot dogs. Yeah.

• 51:05Jessie Ware?

  When was the last time you had a SpaghettiO and Frank?

• 51:09Speaker 04

  When I was pregnant.

• 51:10Jessie Ware?

  Oh, really?

• 51:11Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm, because that was from my childhood and yeah, and I would have two cans.

• 51:16Jessie Ware?

  A two can girl.

• 51:17Speaker 04

  Just when I was pregnant and Biferroni. Do you know what Biferroni is?

• 51:21Jessie Ware?

  No.

• 51:22Speaker 04

  Oh, God.

• 51:24Jessie Ware?

  Is it good?

• 51:24Speaker 04

  It's just, what is it? It's a pasta. If, to be generous, and there's no hole in it, but it's like a, a full, small tube of pasta. And with, um, meat sauce. That's a, the tomato taste of it is a lot like the SpaghettiOs.

• 51:43Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 51:44Speaker 04

  Also Chef Boyardee.

• 51:46Jessie Ware?

  Okay.

• 51:46Speaker 04

  And I had a lot of that when I was pregnant. From my childhood.

• 51:52Jessie Ware?

  Have you given your son these meals?

• 51:55Speaker 04

  No.

• 51:55Jessie Ware?

  Right.

• 51:56Speaker 04

  It wasn't allowed. Not by me. I would have given him anything. I think he should taste everything. But he had more of a, he, a palate for, um, mussels and clams. Isn't that something? Like, six years old and mussels and clams. Thank you. I love it.

• 52:12Jessie Ware?

  Fabulous. Um, Lisa Codro, thank you so much for being on the podcast.

• 52:16Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 52:17Jessie Ware?

  You're amazing and we're so lucky to have you.

• 52:33Jessie Ware?

  Lisa Kudrow. Legend. Legend. Lovely Lisa, who enjoyed the puds. Yeah. I can't stop eating these cookies. Why? Oh, it's so chewy. Try that. Um, I think I preferred the chocolate. Mmm. I mean, I like the chew. It's really nice. The chew is better than the snack. Chew is great. Thank you for your banana bread, Mum. It's a hefty loaf, isn't it? It's our recipe. Massive, isn't it? It's great. Four bananas. Can't wait to eat that. Hmm. For the next week. Thank you to Lisa Kudrow for coming on the podcast. The Comeback is out on HBO Max. You can also watch it on Sky. I think Valerie Cherish is one of the most fantastic

• 53:16Jessie Ware?

  characters on screen and I think you're going to love her if you haven't watched it already. And Ed Smith, that cookbook is so good. I, I need one. It was a really good. Yeah. Recipe, really good for a big meal. And the tabouleh. Yeah. You know it's springtime or nearing summer when the tabouleh comes out. I like the tabouleh had the beans in it. It was, it was a green tabouleh. It was delicious. It was actually bolognese. It was a bolognese salad, but yeah, it was like a tabouleh. Anyway. We will see you next week for more guests on Table manners.