Regina Hall

The nunnery's loss of Regina Hall is our gain. Amy hangs with the actor and talks about the pains of getting a mammogram, watching 'Dateline' before going to bed, and working with Leonardo DiCaprio. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Andrew Rannells and Regina HallExecutive Producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-BermanFor Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel LovellFor The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson and Aleya Zenieris; audio producers Devon Baroldi and Kaya McMullen; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal Music: Amy Miles Order Sephora on Uber Eats today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Amy Poehler?

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• 0:33Speaker 01

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• 0:59Speaker 02

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• 2:03Amy Poehler?

  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. So excited to talk to Regina Hall today. I love Regina. Regina, I love her work. And we're gonna talk about a lot of fun things today. We're gonna talk about her incredible range as an actress. We're gonna talk about the difference between phobias and phonias. We're gonna break down what it's like hosting award shows. And we're gonna discuss her new movie, her great new P T Anderson movie, One Battle After Another, which is in theaters this week. But we always do this before we have our guest. We talk to someone who knows our guest, who wants to speak well behind their back. And we have a great guest today, the extremely talented Andrew Rannells.

• 2:46Amy Poehler?

  Andrew was Regina's co-star on Black Monday. He is the imaginary father of the imaginary twins Dawn and Dawn that they seem to share, a little inside joke on set. And you know him from Book of Mormon. You know him from Girls 5 Eva. You know him from Too Much, Lena Dunham's new show. He's just a real peach. So let's get him on. Andrew? Andrew? Are you there?

• 3:24Speaker 04

  Amy?

• 3:27Speaker 04

  There you are on your set and everything.

• 3:29Amy Poehler?

  There you are. It's so good to talk to you.

• 3:33Speaker 04

  It's great to talk to you. Thank you for asking me to do this.

• 3:35Amy Poehler?

  Are you kidding? Thank you so much for doing this. I know you and Regina are good buds.

• 3:40Speaker 04

  We really are.

• 3:42Amy Poehler?

  And she has such a great rep.

• 3:44Speaker 04

  She really does. I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't say like, ah, she's the best. It's always a good idea to hang out with Regina Hall.

• 3:54Amy Poehler?

  Okay, we're gonna get to Regina. But first of all, I'm very, very excited to talk to you.

• 3:58Speaker 04

  To me?

• 3:59Amy Poehler?

  Of course. I hope I can get you in the stewed. One of these days.

• 4:05Speaker 04

  I would love it.

• 4:06Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I haven't got a chance. I feel like you and I probably crossed paths and like been in the same room at a fancy event. But I am a very, very big fan of your work.

• 4:17Speaker 04

  Well, that's very generous of you to say because I am a huge fan of your work and I always get very nervous when I see you.

• 4:24Amy Poehler?

  Oh, tell me why.

• 4:26Speaker 04

  Well, I just get nervous that I'm like, should I talk to her? Should I not talk to her? Am I talking to her for too long?

• 4:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 4:31Speaker 04

  Should I?

• 4:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 4:32Speaker 04

  You know, it's like, should I get in, get out? It's one of those things.

• 4:35Amy Poehler?

  I appreciate that.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  At some event.

• 4:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 4:38Speaker 04

  That like, there's a bunch of people around and it's like, I don't know, there's like a receiving line of people who want to like, talk to you and I just sort of, I choose to do the um, like.

• 4:48Amy Poehler?

  Well, I will say, if, if you have chosen not to talk to me, I appreciate that because I have a lot of social anxiety, which does not look like I do, but I, I do in those events and I get overwhelmed.

• 5:01Speaker 04

  Same, same, same. One of the first like big parties I went to when I first moved to LA, I was very lucky. And I walked in with Jessica Lange.

• 5:10Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 5:11Speaker 04

  And I know, right?

• 5:12Amy Poehler?

  You floated in with Jessica Lange.

• 5:14Speaker 04

  I floated in with Jessica Lange and Jessica Lange just wanted to like, hold on to me because I'm sort of tall. And um, and I think she likes that. I think she likes that. So then all night, I got to be the gatekeeper to Jessica Lange. And people, people I really respected who didn't know me were coming up to me and saying, could you introduce me to Jessica Lange? And I was like, absolutely.

• 5:36Amy Poehler?

  You were like, let me check with Jessica first.

• 5:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was, that was, so I guess my advice is if you can go to one of those events with Jessica Lange, do it.

• 5:45Amy Poehler?

  That makes sense. God, I would, you two would make a very nice couple, I have to say, a handsome couple.

• 5:51Speaker 04

  I think we um, yeah, I've got to, to, to be with her a couple of times and it's um, it's always successful. But you know, how's this for a segue? You know who's very good at those events? Regina Hall.

• 6:02Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, tell me why.

• 6:04Speaker 04

  You go to a party with Regina Hall and she, first of all, everybody loves her, so that's great. And she just sort of, I don't know, she just kind of floats above it and just has a very kind of um. Just kind of like chill attitude about everything. Now, whether or not that's actually what she's feeling.

• 6:22Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 6:23Speaker 04

  I'm not sure because, you know, we all, you know, process those things differently. But it is really fun to go to those events with her because she just kind of, she just sort of always is herself. And I will say from like, you know, we got to work together for three years on the show Black Monday and on Showtime. And whether it was like 4:00 AM in the makeup trailer or 3:00 AM on a night shoot, she always maintained the same level of like cool and, you know, happy to be there and like sort of calmed everybody down. Because Don Cheadle and I on that show often had to do some like really wacky stuff.

• 7:03Speaker 04

  And she not only could match that, she, you know, oftentimes like outdid us in that arena. But then also, um, just brought like all the heart to it. She really like anchored it in a way. And it was such a good lesson of like how to be, you can be absurdly funny and really broad, but still have a lot of thought and heart behind it, which I learned a lot from working with her that like, you can, you can do all of the clowny silly stuff, but unless there is some kind of heart to it, it, it just looks like faces.

• 7:43Amy Poehler?

  You know, I think that way about you too. Like, I feel like there's, there's the, sometimes there's the exceptional eccentric, really kind of out there funny person who's their own island. But for the most part, I find that people that are very good at comedy have a switch or a gear where they can really, like, they're just very good at being in the moment and being present when asked to do that. And it, and it's kind of the theme that I want to talk to Regina about today is, her career is really, really diverse and really wide. Her range, she's done a lot of different things. And she can do really dumb, fun comedy.

• 8:23Speaker 04

  Totally.

• 8:24Amy Poehler?

  And very deep grounded stuff. And that's not, a lot of people don't have that range.

• 8:30Speaker 04

  I don't know. There's, it sounds maybe trite to say that she has a light to her because that usually is reserved for people who get murdered. But she does have a, she really lights up a room.

• 8:41Speaker 04

  She really lights up a room and not in a way.

• 8:44Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 8:45Speaker 04

  She's gonna get murdered.

• 8:45Amy Poehler?

  No, not in that way, in a different way, in a very different way.

• 8:49Speaker 04

  In a better way.

• 8:49Amy Poehler?

  In a very different way.

• 8:53Amy Poehler?

  You know, this, I, I absolutely loved you in Book of Mormon. I was lucky enough to see the original cast and you in it with Josh and so many other great people and, um, but you bring something up that I always wondered about and I haven't been able to ask anybody who's been on Broadway for as long as you have.

• 9:11Speaker 04

  Sure, sure.

• 9:12Amy Poehler?

  Why is it unprofessional to see who's in the audience?

• 9:17Speaker 04

  Well, in theory, you should be, I guess, connected to your co-stars.

• 9:24Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 9:26Speaker 04

  And telling the story.

• 9:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 9:28Speaker 04

  But I think over time, you know, you're doing it eight times a week and you get to a place where you know eyes. I mean, you know, that's the tricky part about, one of the tricky parts about live theater is that of all of the whatever 1,200 people that are in that audience, somebody's looking at you at all times. And I just know that from an audience member. Like sometimes you drip to like an ensemble person, whatever. You're like, you're not watching the action. So you do kind of always have to be on guard.

• 9:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 9:58Speaker 04

  That like, okay, somebody's watching. So.

• 10:01Amy Poehler?

  But you never used to do what I used to do, which is literally peek.

• 10:05Speaker 04

  Oh, well, I mean, we got to a point where I could look into the audience at certain points and be like, oh, look who's there. Um, and sometimes the worst is when you make eye contact with that person.

• 10:16Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 10:17Speaker 04

  Ooh.

• 10:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 10:18Speaker 04

  Ooh, that's rough.

• 10:19Amy Poehler?

  That's rough.

• 10:20Speaker 04

  That's rough. I made, I made direct eye contact with Oprah Winfrey and I thought, I don't, that probably wasn't a great idea. And I reflexed, I smiled at her as if there was no fourth wall.

• 10:33Amy Poehler?

  You went, you went, hi, you went Oprah.

• 10:36Speaker 04

  Just like I'm doing like a nightclub act. I was like, oh, Oprah. I remember smiling at her and she smiled back because she's polite.

• 10:43Amy Poehler?

  She could probably, she's probably had a lot of experience with intense eye contact.

• 10:49Speaker 04

  And tears, I mean, the reactions to, to her must be extreme.

• 10:55Amy Poehler?

  You are so incredible in The Book of Mormon. I

• 10:58Speaker 04

  Oh, my gosh.

• 10:59Amy Poehler?

  I mean, you're, you've written two books. You have

• 11:02Speaker 04

  I have.

• 11:03Amy Poehler?

  You have. You are, you are, you're constantly in so many good things. We mentioned Girls Five Eva, the show that you did with Tina. You also are just in Lena's new show, Too Much, where you play her husband, which was so satisfying to see.

• 11:19Speaker 04

  I do. We've graduated from being like the messy kids to now being like the still a kind of messy adults.

• 11:25Amy Poehler?

  So my, I ask all of my guests if they have a question for our guest and, and like I said, I hope someday to get you in the hot seat. So what, what, do you have any question you think I should ask Regina today? A story you think she might want to tell, something you don't know about her, something you think people should know about her?

• 11:44Speaker 04

  Her career is so diverse and she bounces between all of these things. Like this Paul Thomas Anderson movie that she, that she is, you know, that's, that's coming out that it's wildly different from anything she's done in a lot of ways. And I, as much as I, I assume that she's like the architect of that, that she's like making these choices and doing these things. Like, I wonder, yeah, I do wonder, like, did she seek that out? Was she like, I wanna, I'm gonna switch this up?

• 12:15Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 12:15Speaker 04

  Or is this something that just sort of build, it was built sort of naturally?

• 12:20Amy Poehler?

  You're right. I don't think we know enough about like Regina's origin story. When I was learning about Regina, I know she wanted to maybe be a journalist at one point. So I'm very curious when she started acting. And then also, yes, the, her career is really, feels like a flow, basically.

• 12:39Speaker 04

  And also, you know, obviously, like, who does she like better? Does she like me better or Don Cheadle? I think that's an important, I think a lot of people probably wonder that.

• 12:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, and maybe you can stay on the Zoom while I ask her that.

• 12:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'll, I'll take my camera off and then, you know, and then I'll surprise her and be like, I knew you were gonna say Dawn. Regina and I would annoy the cast that we, um, she, she told everybody that we were married at one point. And some people, some people who didn't really know me very well, thought that that was true. And then she, she sort of in a, um, who's afraid of Virginia Woolf way, created children for us. That we would talk about Dawn and Dawn. And we would reference Dawn and Dawn, our twins. And who had the twins and where are the twins and how are the twins doing?

• 13:31Amy Poehler?

  She's so good. I can't wait to talk to her. I really appreciate-

• 13:33Speaker 04

  I know, it's better for you to talk to her.

• 13:34Amy Poehler?

  -your time. And how tall are you, Andrew?

• 13:37Speaker 04

  Six two.

• 13:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, congratulations.

• 13:39Speaker 04

  Thanks. Thanks so much.

• 13:40Amy Poehler?

  I just, that's so great. I, I like Jessica Lange, a tall man.

• 13:45Speaker 04

  Jackpot.

• 13:46Amy Poehler?

  Sign me up.

• 13:48Speaker 04

  I did it.

• 13:49Amy Poehler?

  It is so great to talk to you. Thank you so much for your time.

• 13:53Speaker 04

  Uh, thank you very much. And thank you for being so generous and so lovely as always.

• 13:57Amy Poehler?

  And I hope I see you at some event sometime soon and we just totally ghost each other.

• 14:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm not gonna look at you. I'm just gonna be taking care of Jessica.

• 14:08Amy Poehler?

  Okay, I'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye.

• 14:12Amy Poehler?

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• 14:54Amy Poehler?

  Additional terms apply. See app for availability. Delivery fees may apply. You're wearing formal pajamas.

• 15:02Speaker 05

  I am, I am. I was like, how can I be dressy and comfortable?

• 15:06Amy Poehler?

  And it's so hot out.

• 15:07Speaker 05

  Because I was gonna be in sweats.

• 15:09Amy Poehler?

  You look great.

• 15:10Speaker 05

  But not for you.

• 15:12Amy Poehler?

  Mm mm. You know what I insist on?

• 15:15Speaker 05

  I saw it. Yeah, if she's not beat, I don't want her. That's what I saw.

• 15:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I need two hours. I need you to have two hours of hair and makeup before we hang out. Wow, you look gorgeous. This lighting is nice.

• 15:28Speaker 05

  This is great lighting.

• 15:29Amy Poehler?

  Isn't it?

• 15:30Speaker 05

  You know what I realized? I'm not aging. Lighting's just getting bad. Because in my bathroom, I have really good lighting in my bathroom.

• 15:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 15:38Speaker 05

  And in my bathroom, I'm something else.

• 15:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 15:42Speaker 05

  In my car, not so much. But in my bathroom, I'm like, I'm chef's kiss. But in the car, when the sunlight, so it's the lighting.

• 15:52Amy Poehler?

  I always say this about, I mean, I'm probably saying something very obvious, but when I go into dressing rooms, I'm like, I can't believe the dressing rooms aren't better lit. I would buy so many more things. It would just be better for business.

• 16:04Speaker 05

  It was a dressing room where I honestly, for the first time, discovered like, the depth of my cellulite.

• 16:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 16:13Speaker 05

  That's the truth. It was in a dressing room.

• 16:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Yeah, it's super, super sad.

• 16:17Speaker 05

  It's when I started running. I started jogging. I said, I was shopping with my boyfriend at the time, and I screamed. I'd never seen, I did. I said, is this what he's looking at?

• 16:27Amy Poehler?

  Something's wrong with my legs.

• 16:28Speaker 05

  And I went and I said, baby, and he was like, what? He didn't, you know, they don't notice.

• 16:33Amy Poehler?

  No, they don't care.

• 16:34Speaker 05

  They just notice the legs.

• 16:36Amy Poehler?

  They don't care what's on it.

• 16:37Speaker 05

  They don't care.

• 16:38Amy Poehler?

  No. I feel that way too. One time when I got a mammogram, I turned to the person and I was like, it's just, it's shocking how this hasn't gotten better. How has this not gotten better? How have we still have to literally squeeze our boobs?

• 16:52Speaker 05

  I don't have a lot of boobs. I was like, what are you getting?

• 16:54Amy Poehler?

  And it's even sometimes worse.

• 16:56Speaker 05

  You're getting this much breast.

• 16:56Amy Poehler?

  It's sometimes worse when you don't.

• 16:58Speaker 05

  If it's larger.

• 16:59Amy Poehler?

  And you, they're both worse, I guess. But like, sometimes if you can't, if you don't have a lot to put in the machine, that we're squeezing it between two metal?

• 17:09Speaker 05

  No, like a, like a waffle.

• 17:10Amy Poehler?

  And that there's nothing to look at?

• 17:12Speaker 05

  No. You're just, and then they're like, if you just move your arm a little, like, it's not like you're, it's a, it's a, it's, you're kind of contorting your body.

• 17:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 17:21Speaker 05

  In a very...

• 17:22Amy Poehler?

  And I said, and I remember doing it very, you know, like, lucky me, I have a nice place to get my mammogram. I'm very grateful and privileged to have a nice place to get a mammogram. Not a poster on the wall, not a piece of art to look at.

• 17:37Speaker 05

  No, no distraction.

• 17:38Amy Poehler?

  I was like, you guys don't want to put even an inspirational.

• 17:42Speaker 05

  No, and it takes about, it takes a few minutes to get the right angle. Cause it's not just getting it in there. It's getting it in there. I need a little bit. And I was like, there's, there's no, there's gotta be a better way.

• 17:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I, it's shocking to me how things are done.

• 17:56Speaker 05

  My breasts gave up. They were like, well, fuck it. If we've got something in it, then we've got something in it. Cause after a while, I, they just couldn't get a photo.

• 18:03Amy Poehler?

  No, they can't get a.

• 18:04Speaker 05

  And then what about when it comes out cloudy? And they're like, we need another one. Or we need an ultrasound.

• 18:09Amy Poehler?

  Also, they're like, they squeeze you in the tightest vice ever.

• 18:13Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 18:13Amy Poehler?

  They say, don't move.

• 18:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, don't move.

• 18:15Amy Poehler?

  And then they leave the room because there's too much radiation.

• 18:18Speaker 05

  Yeah. That's the truth, right? So it's just you, your nodes and your breasts and the rest of your body exposed and contorted.

• 18:27Amy Poehler?

  Like, you don't even want to play an episode, an old episode of Everyone Loves Raymond or whatever during this?

• 18:32Speaker 05

  There's no sound, there's no music.

• 18:33Amy Poehler?

  I know, no music.

• 18:35Speaker 05

  There's no music, there's nothing.

• 18:37Amy Poehler?

  I, I remember talking to my great dentist. I love my dentist, but I remember saying.

• 18:41Speaker 05

  It's good to love your dentist. I love a dentist too.

• 18:44Amy Poehler?

  You like your dentist?

• 18:45Speaker 05

  I do.

• 18:45Amy Poehler?

  And I get nitrous every.

• 18:47Speaker 05

  A lot, I like my dentist.

• 18:48Amy Poehler?

  I do too.

• 18:48Speaker 05

  And my dental hygienist, I love, I love her.

• 18:51Amy Poehler?

  Did you work as a dental hygienist?

• 18:54Speaker 05

  A dental assistant, like, yeah, I just handed the instruments over and cleaned them and stuff.

• 19:00Amy Poehler?

  Do you feel like you have healthy teeth?

• 19:03Speaker 05

  I do for the most part.

• 19:08Speaker 05

  I grind my teeth.

• 19:09Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 19:10Speaker 05

  And I didn't know that when you grind, you can get a little recession from the grinding.

• 19:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, do you wear a thing?

• 19:16Speaker 05

  I wear a thing now.

• 19:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, we're with Regina Hall and we're just, we're just kind of, we're just kind of really into it. We were talking about teeth and boobs, we were right into it. But I feel like the last time we saw each other was on a dance floor at Rashida Jones' birthday party.

• 19:31Speaker 05

  But there was a time, I think after too.

• 19:34Amy Poehler?

  What was that? Uh oh.

• 19:37Speaker 05

  It was on a street and you were directing.

• 19:41Speaker 05

  And it was on a cul-de-sac. And I was like, what's going on down there? I think they're filming something.

• 19:47Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yes.

• 19:48Speaker 05

  Around the corner from, yep. And, and I walked down the street and I was like, who's directing? And they said, Amy Poehler. And then I made my way. I made my way. I was very excited. Do you remember that?

• 19:58Amy Poehler?

  I do remember that. That was pre-COVID?

• 20:01Speaker 05

  It was pre-COVID.

• 20:02Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 20:02Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 20:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And then everything else has been a blur.

• 20:05Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 20:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 20:06Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 20:07Amy Poehler?

  Cause I, cause I was trying to-

• 20:08Speaker 05

  Like that breast exam.

• 20:10Amy Poehler?

  Everything else has been, felt like a mammer ring.

• 20:16Amy Poehler?

  Everything was like, this is gonna really hurt. It's really weird. It's gonna take a long time.

• 20:19Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 20:20Amy Poehler?

  And everybody's gonna leave the room.

• 20:21Speaker 05

  Exposed to all things.

• 20:22Amy Poehler?

  Totally. But I feel like we've had a couple of times. So Rashida Jones often had a pajama jammy jam. And she talks about in this podcast and she had a dance party. And I feel like we've had a couple of good times on the dance floor together, dancing in pajamas. Do you, you like to dance?

• 20:39Speaker 05

  Here's the thing. I do like to dance. I wish I were a better dancer. I'm not a good, I can hold a beat.

• 20:46Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 20:46Speaker 05

  But I, I would love to be able to do, and Rashida does them very well. She can learn choreographed dances. And I, I, I wish I had that gift.

• 20:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, her and her sister Kadada can do like-

• 20:57Speaker 05

  Yes, Kadada's a great dancer too.

• 20:59Amy Poehler?

  Old routines from the 90s.

• 21:01Speaker 05

  They can get a choreographer in front of them and they're able to-

• 21:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:05Speaker 05

  To dance and learn that choreography.

• 21:08Amy Poehler?

  You can't do that.

• 21:09Speaker 05

  I can't, no. I was having a conversation with Sheila E and she was like-

• 21:12Amy Poehler?

  Wait, excuse me?

• 21:14Speaker 05

  I know.

• 21:14Amy Poehler?

  You just dropped that?

• 21:15Speaker 05

  I know. And I did, did you see how I dropped it like suddenly, like I said nothing? As I was like, yeah, so when Sheila and I were talking, E, you know, I know. I did, we were, I did a, a one-on-one interview and so she was my subject. And she's so amazing. And I was asking her, does she understand her impact on girls when she first came out? Cause like the drums, we hadn't seen a lot of women playing the drums necessarily. But anyway, she said, um, everything for her moves very separately.

• 21:48Amy Poehler?

  She can feel all the rhythms and everything?

• 21:50Speaker 05

  And every, she feels every limb and every portion. So everything is separate for her.

• 21:55Amy Poehler?

  Ooh.

• 21:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 21:57Amy Poehler?

  So if you feel like you're not maybe the strongest at choreography-

• 22:00Speaker 05

  I'm a unit.

• 22:01Amy Poehler?

  What part feels like, you're like, that's a good skill? Like I can do that well. Can you memorize fast? Can, do you have a good ear? Can you sing?

• 22:11Speaker 05

  I think I can, but I'm gonna tell you. You know, because I used to tell me that I had a terrible pitch.

• 22:20Speaker 05

  I disagree with that.

• 22:23Speaker 05

  And then I went on, I think it was Corden, and I was like, and they started and then I joined in, the harmony, and boy, was I off. So I'm not a harmonizer.

• 22:38Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 22:39Speaker 05

  I'm a soloist.

• 22:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, no one else sing when Regina's singing.

• 22:44Speaker 05

  But I have a good gift for...

• 22:48Speaker 05

  I can remember a face.

• 22:50Amy Poehler?

  Hey, that's good.

• 22:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, not a name. Terrible with names.

• 22:56Amy Poehler?

  But you'd be able to...

• 22:57Speaker 05

  You, remember me?

• 23:01Amy Poehler?

  I want to talk to you about so many things today, Regina, because the theme today for me with you is range. Like, you are, you can do it all. And how to approach you and your career and your work is really interesting because you can come in through a lot of different doors. And it's, it's... Well, first of all, let me just say that you have a great rep. Like, everyone loves working with you.

• 23:28Speaker 05

  Oh, I thought you were talking about my agent. I was about to say, he's lovely as me.

• 23:34Speaker 05

  I was like, I've got a good team. But yes, oh, thank you.

• 23:37Amy Poehler?

  A great reputation. Does it matter to you, like, how you, like, when you go to work? Like, what matters to you, like, how you show up and how other people show up?

• 23:49Speaker 05

  I think for me, like, if I, when I'm working,

• 23:54Speaker 05

  I think of everybody who put so much work into it before I got there. Writers, you know, people who write, that's... Once it's written, selling it.

• 24:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 24:03Speaker 05

  Like, sitting with studio notes. There's so much, you know this, you've done it all, directors that goes into it. So for me to come and be like, anything less than like, excited for what, like, they're bringing a vision together.

• 24:18Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 24:19Speaker 05

  In addition to what I get to do and have fun, then I think it's, I won't take it if I don't think I could come and, and bring something to the environment.

• 24:28Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 24:28Speaker 05

  Or, and to the work. So I think that, that's important for me.

• 24:31Amy Poehler?

  Okay. What kind of kid were you? Cause you grew up in DC.

• 24:34Speaker 05

  Uh huh.

• 24:35Amy Poehler?

  And, you know, went to Fordham, went to NYU to be a journalist. Like, very, you were not a kid who, were you around actors or anyone who was acting?

• 24:44Speaker 05

  No, because I just, we didn't, I guess we had, I was like, we didn't have any. But, yeah, I, I wasn't exposed to it.

• 24:52Amy Poehler?

  You weren't, you weren't studying in school?

• 24:55Speaker 05

  No, we had our plays.

• 24:56Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 24:56Speaker 05

  I went to Catholic school.

• 24:58Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 24:58Speaker 05

  And so we had the nuns, who I loved. I loved my nuns. I loved.

• 25:03Amy Poehler?

  What do you love about nuns? Because my mom went to Catholic school and she was very afraid of her nuns.

• 25:08Speaker 05

  Oh, I think I had some, hmm, I was respectfully afraid. I mean, I certainly had a reverence, um, where I wouldn't cross the line, but I wasn't afraid of being hurt. I was more afraid of them telling my mom and then getting in trouble. So I didn't, I didn't have that. They were, I found my nuns to be very, I mean, they were, I wouldn't say, they were strict.

• 25:33Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 25:33Speaker 05

  But they were, they were loving, I would say.

• 25:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:37Speaker 05

  Yeah, they were loving.

• 25:38Amy Poehler?

  And then, is it true that you thought about perhaps becoming a nun?

• 25:42Speaker 05

  I did, I did. Several times. When I was in high school, and then again, when I was older, and I was too old.

• 25:49Amy Poehler?

  You were too old to?

• 25:51Speaker 05

  Thirty-nine, that was a cutoff. I was forty-one. They were like, it's not a backup plan, miss. Get on out of here. But it's, oh, for that particular, for that particular order.

• 26:00Amy Poehler?

  Okay, got it.

• 26:01Speaker 05

  Cause there are different orders. You know, with some orders, it's a sleeping partner number thing.

• 26:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Right.

• 26:06Speaker 05

  Four. I don't know if anybody.

• 26:09Amy Poehler?

  Wait, you can only have slept with four people?

• 26:10Speaker 05

  Yep. Amy, can you make it?

• 26:14Speaker 05

  You don't have to count them, you know.

• 26:16Amy Poehler?

  Uh, no, I can't.

• 26:20Amy Poehler?

  I don't want to brag, but

• 26:24Amy Poehler?

  whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. So there is an, there's some orders where there's a number that you can only have had a certain amount of partners.

• 26:30Speaker 05

  Some are, could be a certain amount of partners, some might be how many attachments that you have. Some, you know, in the world, it's hard, and some is age.

• 26:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, wow.

• 26:40Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 26:40Amy Poehler?

  But, but what made you Regina, as a young person, what was attractive about that life for you? What did you think about, what was the fantasy of that life?

• 26:51Speaker 05

  I thought if, wow, if, if you, you know, you'd spend your life in prayer, prayer for others, I would imagine. Because unless you were like healing, because they don't, you're not really attached to anything material, right? So there, they wouldn't have an outward striving.

• 27:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 27:09Speaker 05

  Of like, oh, right, the, the, the thing of like, you know, success, whatever that is. And, um,

• 27:19Speaker 05

  no romantic heartbreak, right? You don't want to say love, because that part is beautiful, but it's the other side when.

• 27:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 27:28Speaker 05

  Whatever, whatever trauma, whatever reasons things don't make it. And then, um, you had that singular focus. I'm sure that it's not that easy. I'm just saying that was, that was what I romanticized it would be if I did it. And then I thought that was like lovely.

• 27:47Amy Poehler?

  And, and, and what is, how is your faith, like now, many years later, young Regina, looking out at the world that way, figuring that might be a way in which I can manage my own world? How do you practice your version of loving God now? What does it look like?

• 28:05Speaker 05

  I mean, I think, I really believe, if you believe in past lives, I believe I had a past life where I was that. I believe I've come from that. So I believe it probably exists within me because it has existed.

• 28:19Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 28:20Speaker 05

  And so it.

• 28:20Amy Poehler?

  It feels familiar.

• 28:22Speaker 05

  It feels familiar. And so there's a certain piece in that familiarity.

• 28:25Amy Poehler?

  And it makes sense to me then that you're, you know, for a while, thinking about going into journalism, because it's just like quite, it's like the idea of like unpacking big questions, finding out the truth, being curious, like all that stuff feels like it's connected. When did you decide, okay, I'm, I'm happy that I have my journalism degree, but I want to be an actor? What, when did that change happen? What?

• 28:49Speaker 05

  Well, my parents were like, you're not gonna, just my parents were divorced, but they were just like, you're not gonna be in New York partying. Cause I had also, I'd left the nun life behind.

• 29:00Amy Poehler?

  You were like, before, before I go in.

• 29:03Speaker 05

  And I loved partying. You know, I had great friends and from college and like, we finished. And then it was like, what am I, you know, but we were going out.

• 29:16Amy Poehler?

  Probably in New York at the same time, like in the 90s, right?

• 29:18Speaker 05

  In New York in the 90s. It was great.

• 29:20Amy Poehler?

  It was great.

• 29:20Speaker 05

  It was great. And so, we used to go out a lot and then my mom was like, well, my dad was like, well, what are you doing? You have to get a job or something. I either had to get a job or go back to school. And so I went, I was like, I'm choosing school, cause I could arrange my classes to still party. But work, I couldn't do it. I did work for six months.

• 29:41Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, what was your job?

• 29:42Speaker 05

  I was working at a director's office and their office was in their home. And so they really had to carefully vet who worked there. So I was like an assistant.

• 29:54Amy Poehler?

  Was that like your first job in, near the industry?

• 29:57Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:58Amy Poehler?

  And it was working with a director?

• 29:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, he was a commercial director. He did TV commercials. And, um, one day I fell asleep with my elbow on a button on the computer. And it was blinking. It was just like all X's. Whatever was at the end and the screen was blinking. And I woke up, cause I had been out too late. And, um, I was like, and then my roommate and I were like, we are gonna raise money and, um, I don't know. And I was like, we have to quit our jobs. Our jobs are holding us back.

• 30:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 30:33Speaker 05

  And then I had to borrow money and my parents were like, what are you gonna do? So I went, I was like, I'll go back to school.

• 30:37Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so you went back to study journalism then?

• 30:39Speaker 05

  I went back to study journalism and my dad had a stroke and passed away very suddenly, my first few months of school.

• 30:44Amy Poehler?

  First few months. And so you didn't, you stopped going to school after that?

• 30:48Speaker 05

  No. I finished, cause I knew he'd want me to, but I had a friend who said, do you wanna make extra money doing commercials? And she was like, I introduced her to my manager. I met her manager. That manager, I couldn't show up for auditions, cause I was like, I'm doing my thesis. I can't show up to an audition. But I did, and then I took a class in acting and I think it, it was very healing for me after my dad, to be out of my head a little bit. And that's how, and then I was like, oh, I love this. So then I finished NYU. And then decided to go to Columbia's bartending school.

• 31:21Amy Poehler?

  Whoa.

• 31:22Speaker 05

  Because I was gonna need to pay for acting school.

• 31:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 31:25Speaker 05

  And then I went to acting school. I remember my mom.

• 31:26Amy Poehler?

  Where'd you go to acting school?

• 31:27Speaker 05

  So you just don't want a job, huh, baby?

• 31:30Speaker 05

  And I could have been a professional student. I did love school. I studied at, uh, at, um, at the Esper.

• 31:37Amy Poehler?

  I could see you also being a great bartender.

• 31:40Speaker 05

  Oh, my gosh.

• 31:41Amy Poehler?

  I can see you.

• 31:42Speaker 05

  I would have been, but I don't know how to make any drinks because you were supposed to spit those drinks out in class. I was really tipsy after every class.

• 31:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But so much of bartending is faking, like,

• 31:56Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 31:57Amy Poehler?

  faking, like, you're just making the drink.

• 31:59Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 31:59Amy Poehler?

  But it's about the chit chat.

• 32:00Speaker 05

  Yeah. And I do like people.

• 32:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 32:02Speaker 05

  So I love to converse and meet. I find people to be fascinating.

• 32:07Amy Poehler?

  Hmm. Okay, so back to commercials. You're auditioning for commercials. Any commercials? Did you get any commercials during that time?

• 32:13Speaker 05

  I did.

• 32:14Amy Poehler?

  What did you get? That was a big deal to get a commercial in the 90s.

• 32:18Speaker 05

  It was national.

• 32:19Amy Poehler?

  Shit.

• 32:20Speaker 05

  McDonald's.

• 32:21Amy Poehler?

  What? You got a national McDonald's commercial?

• 32:24Speaker 05

  I did.

• 32:24Amy Poehler?

  How much money did you make from that? Because that could pay, that could change your life, a national commercial.

• 32:30Speaker 05

  Yeah. It was, yeah. My line, I had to say, "And some McDonald's fries."

• 32:36Amy Poehler?

  You were ordering them?

• 32:37Speaker 05

  I was at a movie theater watching, we were watching a movie about McDonald's and then.

• 32:45Amy Poehler?

  Were you watching a McDonald's movie?

• 32:47Speaker 05

  No, we were watching a movie about something and they were running, maybe, I don't even remember, but he says, "Mm, I could go for a Big Mac." Yeah, I think the movie that we were watching. And then I said, "And some McDonald's fries."

• 32:57Amy Poehler?

  And what do you remember about being on the set of, like, you know how sometimes you can remember the feeling when you're shooting something? What was it? Were you nervous?

• 33:05Speaker 05

  I was nervous, yes. I was nervous. I remember I was like, I don't know if I like my hair because they did these rods. But now I look back and I'm like, that hair was just fine.

• 33:14Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 33:16Speaker 05

  I thought everyone was gonna recognize me. I thought that commercial was gonna air. I was outside like this.

• 33:22Amy Poehler?

  You're like.

• 33:23Speaker 05

  Waiting.

• 33:24Amy Poehler?

  Waiting for people to be like, "The fries, girl. There she is."

• 33:26Speaker 05

  Did you just do a McDonald's? Not one. Nobody.

• 33:30Amy Poehler?

  But that's a big get.

• 33:32Speaker 05

  It was a big get.

• 33:33Amy Poehler?

  That is a big get. And it ran for a while?

• 33:35Speaker 05

  It did. It ran for like, you remember how they had to pay for your cycles? I think I made like, over a, like thirty, forty thousand, thirty.

• 33:43Amy Poehler?

  Yes, back then, you could make, you could live.

• 33:47Speaker 05

  And there were some people who made like, yeah. But I made like, I think I made like thirty.

• 33:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And if you could get a commercial and it could run and.

• 33:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, your residuals were nice.

• 33:56Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 34:01Amy Poehler?

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• 34:45Amy Poehler?

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• 35:31Amy Poehler?

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• 36:11Amy Poehler?

  It's been really interesting to look at your range, like we talked about. I mean, you have done all different kinds of work. You've been in big, huge franchises.

• 36:22Speaker 05

  Can I interrupt?

• 36:23Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 36:23Speaker 05

  I love this woman. No, I want to say that.

• 36:27Amy Poehler?

  Look at this.

• 36:28Speaker 05

  No, no, no, I have to say it because I have to say how profoundly inspiring you are, right?

• 36:40Speaker 05

  That's across all cultures, races, and genres. You know that, too.

• 36:43Amy Poehler?

  Thank you for saying that.

• 36:43Speaker 05

  In terms of comedy, yeah. Because it's like, you know, if you say Amy Poehler, it doesn't matter, right? We all know who it is.

• 36:53Speaker 05

  And so when I would watch you and Tina, I'd be like, they're beautiful, they're funny. And so you're always looking at people who you admire. And I think also how much fun they're having, right? And so whether it's conscious or subconscious, like, and Maya Rudolph.

• 37:22Speaker 05

  Um, who's also hilarious, but to see women be so funny and so like, um, beautiful and yet not vain.

• 37:34Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 37:34Speaker 05

  Because you can't really have that right when you're doing comedy.

• 37:37Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 37:38Speaker 05

  You can't be like, hmm, um, I don't know, but it would, that was profoundly like, um, impactful and inspirational with, I don't even think without me, without me knowing it at first. And then it became like, oh my goodness, I love them.

• 37:55Amy Poehler?

  Well, you know, thank you for saying that. It, it does mean a lot because I have followed your career and been, and been so impressed by how genuinely and deeply funny you are. You are really funny. And also you have played incredibly subtle, grounded, interesting characters, including the film that you're in, the new Paul Thomas Anderson film that you're in that we'll talk about. Like you are playing deep, complex characters and also getting to swing the other way. That's very inspiring because it's very hard to not be, uh, just limited or like, you know, to come in through the comedy door and never leave that way.

• 38:34Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 38:35Amy Poehler?

  Have you found that to be, like, was that, did that happen in the beginning? Like when you were doing more comedic stuff, did you feel?

• 38:42Speaker 05

  I think after Scary Movie. I think after, and the, the interesting thing with Scary Movie is after Scary Movie, then it was like, oh, she only does broad comedy.

• 38:51Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 38:52Speaker 05

  So then you have to say, well, can you get a, um, you know, a grounded kind? And a lot of them, I just, you know, I mean, a lot of stuff you don't get, right? Isn't there like tons?

• 39:01Amy Poehler?

  Well, I'd be curious because I was thinking like, what is Regina when you were, you know, we all have this thing where we get scripts sent to us or parts sent to us and we scroll down to see what people are thinking about us. And sometimes it's like, okay.

• 39:15Speaker 05

  I got, my first part, job I got was a stripper and I just was like, I'm gonna get inundated. I haven't been asked again. And I'm offended. I'm, I'm serious. I literally was like, watch.

• 39:28Amy Poehler?

  Here they come.

• 39:29Speaker 05

  I'm just, I do remember I had an agent, I love her so much. Her name is Jamie and she said, we've gotten a foreign film for you.

• 39:37Speaker 05

  I haven't read it yet, but we just got the offer. This was after Scary Movie and I was like, oh, gosh, I'm international. And this is before emails. And remember when you had to pick your scripts up?

• 39:50Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah. Physically go to someone's house.

• 39:53Speaker 05

  So I physically went to the agency and it was in the bin because I wasn't at the point where they were messengering them to me. So I got the script and I remember it was Playa Haters, which she was reading as Playa, the beach.

• 40:06Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 40:07Speaker 05

  Yes, Playa Haters. Playa Haters, that's what she said to me on the phone. And I said, it's Playa Haters. I was like.

• 40:19Amy Poehler?

  She was like, so it doesn't take place on a beach?

• 40:22Speaker 05

  No, and it's not a foreign film.

• 40:26Speaker 05

  There was nothing foreign about it. And so, and so I didn't end up doing Playa Haters.

• 40:35Amy Poehler?

  Playa Haters. Playa Haters.

• 40:39Speaker 05

  It's a foreign film. She was so excited too. Jamie, no.

• 40:43Amy Poehler?

  Do you feel like you were getting, after Scary Movie, were you getting a lot of the same stuff offered to you?

• 40:47Speaker 05

  Probably like more broad, like, yeah, yeah.

• 40:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, like I was, I was laughing because I was like, I bet Regina and I would be in a movie where we'd be playing like stereotypical versions of, because I still, to, you know, to this day, someone's like, we thought of you. We think it's great. And I'm like, okay. And I read the part and I'm like.

• 41:09Speaker 05

  I know.

• 41:10Amy Poehler?

  One of those characters that is just like usually very like, let me speak to the manager, very nuts and very like, get her out of here.

• 41:20Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 41:20Amy Poehler?

  And, and I feel like we would probably be cast in a movie where we would be.

• 41:25Speaker 05

  I'd be the one that you wanted to speak to the manager over. I'd be like, they'd always have it, like there's some hood chick and she's always like.

• 41:32Amy Poehler?

  And I would be like.

• 41:35Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 41:36Speaker 05

  Because you just can't do that, all this. You're like, what else? Right? And versions of that.

• 41:40Amy Poehler?

  Well, that, that's, leads me to my question. So we always, we do this thing on the show where we talk behind, well, behind someone's back. We kind of try to find out more about them, through people that know them. And so we talked to Andrew Rannells today.

• 41:51Speaker 05

  Hi, baby daddy.

• 41:54Amy Poehler?

  I heard you have twins together.

• 41:55Speaker 05

  Dawn is on. We had a child. We don't know where are our kids? Dawn and Dawn. I love Andrew. I love Andrew.

• 42:05Amy Poehler?

  I know. He's so, what do you love about him?

• 42:08Speaker 05

  Oh, he's just, he makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He's funny. So talented.

• 42:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 42:14Speaker 05

  But he's just such a nice human being. Like, I love Andrew. Like, I knew he was my baby daddy from the first moment I saw him.

• 42:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I know. I can tell you have a special connection with him.

• 42:25Speaker 05

  I love Andrew. Like, one day we did a scene and I said "decod" instead of "decade", and it was late. And then every time we had to do it over and it would come to the word, we couldn't say, you know how that happens?

• 42:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:38Speaker 05

  You get the giggles and we couldn't stop.

• 42:41Speaker 05

  I have, I have, I have a clip of that.

• 42:43Amy Poehler?

  "Decod".

• 42:43Speaker 05

  "Decod". And I was like, I was, it was just, we couldn't stop. And he was like, "Don't, don't look at me." And we couldn't do it. We couldn't do it. We had to break.

• 42:51Amy Poehler?

  He loves you and he loves working with you, loved working with you. And you guys worked together on Black Monday and, and he talked about, like, one of the questions is kind of like what we talk about, we're talking about now, because like whether it's, you know, Girls Trip, or Love and Basketball, or One Battle After Another, your new film, you've done Big Budget, you've done Small Independence, like, Support the Girls, you've done Scary Movie, you've done Big and Small, like, dramatic and comedic. And he was just saying, like, "I want to ask Regina, does she feel like she's the architect of this? Or does it feel like part of a, kind of a bigger flow? Like, like, are you feeling like you're adjusting the dials on those all the time? Or are you just kind of seeing

• 43:36Amy Poehler?

  what's coming up next?"

• 43:39Speaker 05

  I mean, at a certain point, you have more options, right, as your career. I mean, I think it was, I mean, I would love to say I was an architect. I think it was probably accidental, because in the beginning, you would just, you kind of said, "Yes."

• 43:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, totally.

• 43:52Speaker 05

  "I got a job. Play your height. When does it, when does it start? When does play your height? If that would have been my first offer, I would have been there." So I, it's kind of been like...

• 44:03Amy Poehler?

  I know. It is kind of funny in retrospect when people say, you know, "What, what made you make that choice?" And it's like, they just, they just, they'd asked.

• 44:12Speaker 05

  I know. And it, and it went well. But that's kind of how it was. I mean, Scary Movie was a little, I think Best Man in the Love, Scary Movie was different, because I was a huge fan of The Wayans and I, I mean, I was, really wanted to work with Keenan, but... And then that just ended up having, but it's, it's, I will say, for the beginning, it was kind of an accident. Everything was an accident.

• 44:33Amy Poehler?

  When that movie comes out and it's a huge hit, you've been in a couple of films that are just like giant hits right away, Scary Movie, Girl Trip, like where you're just on this train. What is that like to just have, you know, do something and then suddenly it's like, oh, we've got a franchise?

• 44:49Speaker 05

  Right.

• 44:51Speaker 05

  You know, nothing, I don't know, I'll ask you this, nothing necessarily feels like that in real time?

• 44:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's right. It's kind of like what is, what's discussed later.

• 44:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's later. I think in real time, it came out, it did well, and I was like, you know, that's great. But I did die in the first one.

• 45:07Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 45:08Speaker 05

  And I was, and we, you know, and I, and, and I didn't expect to come back for the second one. It was like, I didn't have a deal. I didn't-

• 45:14Amy Poehler?

  Remind me how they got you back after you died?

• 45:17Speaker 05

  It was a near-death experience.

• 45:19Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 45:20Speaker 05

  They described it as a near-death experience. And then I became psychic, but I really wasn't psychic at all.

• 45:28Speaker 05

  Brenda just swore she was psychic. But I think, yeah, that was like, it's kind of like, you know, you don't know, who knew?

• 45:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 45:38Speaker 05

  I mean, and that was kind of-

• 45:38Amy Poehler?

  Did you feel that way about Girl Trip 2, which, I mean, I can remember when that came out. Tracy Oliver, who I got the pleasure to work with, we produced a show together called Harlem-

• 45:48Speaker 05

  Oh, yes.

• 45:49Amy Poehler?

  For a couple of years on Amazon.

• 45:50Speaker 05

  I love that.

• 45:51Amy Poehler?

  And Tracy's-

• 45:51Speaker 05

  Megan.

• 45:52Amy Poehler?

  Yes, Megan. And Tracy's so talented and I just remember that feeling very exciting when that was a big-

• 46:00Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 46:01Amy Poehler?

  -big hit. What was that experience like?

• 46:04Speaker 05

  That was great. You know, I will say this, this is gonna sound crazy to many people, but my dog got really sick right before and my dog passed away like four days after Girl Trip came out. And he had been really sick. And I loved my dog, Zeus. So it was a bit of a blur. I was very sad.

• 46:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:21Speaker 05

  I was very sad because I had lost, I had lost my little, little fat little baby, you know, he was a little bulldog. And so-

• 46:33Speaker 05

  I was very happy it did well.

• 46:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:36Speaker 05

  I remember because at first I was like.

• 46:41Speaker 05

  I think I was not, I think the girls were a lot more um. Optimistic. I was like, should we be coming out in the summer? That was my thought. I was like against. I mean, he's not like he's very talented, but Chris Nolan. Um, and Dunkirk. I was like, we're coming out the same day.

• 46:59Amy Poehler?

  But sometimes that counter programming can really work.

• 47:02Speaker 05

  Sometimes and at the, and I guess at that time it did, I guess because I was, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm a, I'm a Nolan fan. So I was not, um, so, uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was great.

• 47:13Amy Poehler?

  But sometimes you've had a day and you're just like, I can't go see Dunkirk tonight. You're like, I can't do it. I had, I had my, my day was Dunkirkian.

• 47:23Speaker 05

  Yes, right.

• 47:23Amy Poehler?

  And I need to laugh.

• 47:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, I don't need Dunkirk again.

• 47:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:28Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 47:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, because I, I remember Tina and I did a movie called Sisters and it came out against Star Wars.

• 47:34Speaker 05

  Ah.

• 47:34Amy Poehler?

  And so it was like, hmm.

• 47:36Speaker 05

  I have a film I'm coming out in, um, an animated film.

• 47:39Amy Poehler?

  Ooh.

• 47:40Speaker 05

  SpongeBob.

• 47:41Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 47:42Speaker 05

  And that's coming out the same day as Avatar. So I was like, that, that, that, that's.

• 47:47Amy Poehler?

  But I like that programming. I like that because.

• 47:49Speaker 05

  Tell me how, because I don't understand that. Tell me, tell me.

• 47:53Amy Poehler?

  I like it.

• 47:53Speaker 05

  You like an Avatar.

• 47:55Amy Poehler?

  I like an Avatar SpongeBob, um.

• 47:57Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 47:57Amy Poehler?

  Uh, choice because.

• 47:59Speaker 05

  Cause I feel like I would take my kids to see Avatar as well.

• 48:03Amy Poehler?

  Dude, how much Avatar are we gonna get?

• 48:05Speaker 05

  But the thing is, this is the last Avatar.

• 48:08Amy Poehler?

  That's what they say.

• 48:09Speaker 05

  You gotta go see it, but he hasn't filmed anymore and it takes like.

• 48:12Amy Poehler?

  I mean, is it the last Avatar?

• 48:15Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 48:15Amy Poehler?

  I mean, how many times do we get fooled by that?

• 48:17Speaker 05

  Right, that's true.

• 48:18Amy Poehler?

  The last.

• 48:19Speaker 05

  I feel safer now.

• 48:21Amy Poehler?

  And I don't know, and that one, I just, it's gonna take so long. That's the other thing is movies are so long.

• 48:26Speaker 05

  Well, SpongeBob is only, it's short. I mean, ninety six minutes, you're in and out.

• 48:30Amy Poehler?

  Hilarious.

• 48:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's in and out.

• 48:32Amy Poehler?

  And it's in and out, but I mean, when you see, I, I just like, the other thing is like, wh- what do you, I, I could only go to that movie at, starting at four o'clock. And there's no way you're gonna go to an eight o'clock movie of Avatar.

• 48:43Speaker 05

  But if SpongeBob, aren't they asleep by then to the kids? You gotta get them in and out of there by twelve.

• 48:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, SpongeBob, you gotta do like a six P M. Probably.

• 48:51Speaker 05

  A six P M.

• 48:52Amy Poehler?

  But I think, are you gonna get a lot of adults?

• 48:53Speaker 05

  That's a good idea, cause.

• 48:55Amy Poehler?

  Going to SpongeBob.

• 48:57Speaker 05

  But don't you think those adults would see Avatar 2?

• 48:59Amy Poehler?

  Not this adult.

• 49:01Speaker 05

  Not that. So we got, we got one, everybody.

• 49:03Amy Poehler?

  I'm gonna say it right now, and I'm sorry if I'm gonna like, cause problems. I'm not gonna see the new Avatar. I'm not. I don't, I'm not gonna see it.

• 49:13Speaker 05

  Well, we're not on IMAX anyway, so the Avatar took the IMAX, so we're gonna be on.

• 49:18Amy Poehler?

  I also, I don't like IMAX.

• 49:21Speaker 05

  Yeah, those big theaters.

• 49:22Amy Poehler?

  That is so intense. It's too loud.

• 49:24Speaker 05

  Well, we're coming out, one battle after another is coming on IMAX.

• 49:28Amy Poehler?

  Okay, except for that one.

• 49:34Speaker 05

  Right, yeah, that one.

• 49:36Amy Poehler?

  Okay, but so, before I get to that movie, because it looks so great, and I mean, Paul Thomas Anderson is just such an incredible director, and your cast is incredible. But I want to talk about award shows, because you and I are, we both hosted stuff.

• 49:52Speaker 05

  I love, yes, I love when you host.

• 49:54Amy Poehler?

  And I love when you host. You are so good at it.

• 49:57Speaker 05

  Well, I mean.

• 49:58Amy Poehler?

  What do you, what do you like about doing it?

• 50:00Speaker 05

  I mean, I don't know that I do.

• 50:03Amy Poehler?

  I know what you mean.

• 50:05Speaker 05

  It's hard.

• 50:06Amy Poehler?

  It's hard, and it's a little bit of like diminishing returns, like, the more you do it, like when you do, when you pull it off the first time, you're like, we did it. And they're like, come back and do it again. It's like, I don't know if I should do it.

• 50:16Speaker 05

  Although you all have managed to do repeat performance and honestly be amazing each time.

• 50:22Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, right back at you. And I feel like you have something that hosts need, that you just kind of can't teach, which is, you have to be a little,

• 50:33Amy Poehler?

  a little ambivalent, a little relaxed. You can't care too much about it.

• 50:38Speaker 05

  Because people can feel that.

• 50:39Amy Poehler?

  I know. They can feel it in the room.

• 50:41Speaker 05

  They can feel it in the room.

• 50:42Amy Poehler?

  So what do you do to kind of keep that vibe going, or you, or like fake that vibe when you're out there doing it?

• 50:48Speaker 05

  I do, I mean, I don't know, let me ask you if you feel this, you know, you're nervous, but once the curtain goes up, you're like, well, here it is.

• 50:54Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 50:55Speaker 05

  There's nothing you can do. I mean, it's, at that point, it's just, you know, it's like that breast exam, it's on, the shirt is off.

• 51:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, we gotta do it.

• 51:03Speaker 05

  The machine is open, yeah. We gotta slap them one in there. I think it just kind of.

• 51:11Speaker 05

  I mean, you gotta feel that what you've got is enough. I think, I think that's what it is. You've gotta just feel like, well, what I have is enough. Because I always feel like the minute you feel like you panic.

• 51:21Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 51:22Speaker 05

  That's when it's gonna be your hardest.

• 51:23Amy Poehler?

  And you are the, like, a host, whether it be you're having a dinner party, whether you're having a wedding, whether you're hosting the BT Awards, whatever is the thing. If you're having fun.

• 51:34Speaker 05

  Right, I agree.

• 51:35Amy Poehler?

  And you set the tone, people relax. But if, to your point, if you, I mean, you were hosting the Academy Awards during a very hectic year, the year of the slap, very stressful, you and Amy and Wanda. And you guys had to handle, like, this crazy live thing. Are you the kind of performer, when something like that happens, where you, like, how do you, how do you adjust? Do you just, like, try to stay in your body? Do you disassociate? Do you, what do you do? How do you adjust when those kind of things happen?

• 52:08Speaker 05

  I mean, I mean, it was wonderful to have them, you know, and not be doing that alone.

• 52:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:14Speaker 05

  And they were great.

• 52:18Speaker 05

  I think you just are like, let, we just, you know, the show must go on.

• 52:22Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 52:22Speaker 05

  I think there's just something about the show must go on mentality that you just are like, it is, we, here we go.

• 52:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:29Speaker 05

  And because you're, at that point, you are thinking of your audience. You want your audience to continue to enjoy the show. And you don't, and that's the thing about a live show. You know, anything, anything can happen anyway, when you're doing anything live. So I think you have to just always be prepared for that.

• 52:48Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 52:48Speaker 05

  Whatever that ends up being, you just ride it out.

• 52:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I mean, it, it's a skill. It's a skill to be able to, to do that and to not let things kind of throw you. And you're so good at pivoting in real time. Like, whether you're accepting for Kevin Costner in real time, which was amazing, like, a beautiful poem.

• 53:12Amy Poehler?

  And an incredible.

• 53:12Speaker 05

  That is my fault because they said, Regina, you should read this backstage. And I was like, no, no, no, I got it. Right? I was like, no, no, no, I got it. And I didn't realize what they had written. And I think it was that discovery in real time.

• 53:24Amy Poehler?

  But it was very human and very light lovely. Like because you were real, you were accepting for Kevin Costner, who wasn't there at the time. Because he was dealing with weather in Santa Barbara, which was real.

• 53:34Speaker 05

  Yes, which was real.

• 53:35Amy Poehler?

  Destructive weather that people were, you know.

• 53:37Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 53:38Amy Poehler?

  And you were, of course, doing what anyone would do, which is like, doing like this fun gracious kind of light tease to the person who won until you realize mid-sentence that you're like, I see, this is more serious. And it was, it was a beautiful pivot.

• 53:56Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember, I forget what award show it was.

• 54:01Amy Poehler?

  Maybe it was the Emmys and Jimmy Fallon's prompter went out. Do you remember that?

• 54:05Speaker 05

  No.

• 54:06Amy Poehler?

  Yes. And, I mean, he was, he handled it so well. He just was like, hey, I can't read the prompter. And he just kind of riffed for a second. And I thought, oh.

• 54:17Speaker 05

  Oh, I do remember that.

• 54:18Amy Poehler?

  He just kind of made a thing about it. And I remember like for hours after, just kind of lying in my room thinking, that is a living stress dream. That you would just walk out to all these people and just the prompter would go out.

• 54:33Speaker 05

  I know. And even for two seconds, because it's like the beginning. It's right when you need, it's right when you are like, I need to engage them. I'm letting them know what this night is going to be like. And then you don't have a prompter.

• 54:45Amy Poehler?

  Back to dentistry. Have you ever had dreams that your teeth fall out?

• 54:51Speaker 05

  No, have you?

• 54:52Amy Poehler?

  You haven't? It's a very typical stress dream. That you're, that like you go to talk and your teeth fall out.

• 55:00Speaker 05

  Oh, my God. That, I'm stressed thinking about it.

• 55:02Amy Poehler?

  I know, I'm sorry to bring it up. Do you have, what would be a typical stress dream for you?

• 55:08Speaker 05

  I probably am not sleeping if I'm that stressed. I think that's what happens.

• 55:12Amy Poehler?

  Do you, are you a good sleeper? I love to talk about sleep. I love sleep.

• 55:16Speaker 05

  Here's the thing, I love sleep. I want more of it.

• 55:19Amy Poehler?

  Okay, well, let's talk about how to get you there.

• 55:22Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 55:22Amy Poehler?

  What's your bedtime?

• 55:24Speaker 05

  Well, there's the answer.

• 55:26Amy Poehler?

  Too late?

• 55:27Speaker 05

  There is too late. There's a lot to do sometimes when I get home.

• 55:31Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 55:33Speaker 05

  Or it's that last Dateline episode that I've never seen and I want to get that last one in.

• 55:39Amy Poehler?

  You cannot watch a Dateline.

• 55:41Speaker 05

  To feel good.

• 55:41Amy Poehler?

  Late at night.

• 55:42Speaker 05

  It happens.

• 55:43Amy Poehler?

  Well, it's just bad for dreams.

• 55:44Speaker 05

  Oh, I have great dreams.

• 55:45Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 55:46Speaker 05

  A lot of times it's spouses. Have you seen that? Have you noticed that?

• 55:49Amy Poehler?

  That is true. And I was talking about this with Zarna Garg a couple of weeks ago on this podcast.

• 55:54Speaker 05

  Love Zarna.

• 55:54Amy Poehler?

  That women who are, excuse me, Zarna, great. That women who are married are much more likely to die earlier. And yes, to get murdered.

• 56:01Speaker 05

  Oh, you mean from stress. Oh, yes, I see. Yes, yes.

• 56:04Amy Poehler?

  But it shortens your life if you're married. You know that.

• 56:06Speaker 05

  Yeah. Yep. Sucks it right out. Sucks it right out. Because you're caretaking and you're thinking of, and a lot of times, women,

• 56:16Speaker 05

  they're nurturing, so they're giving so much. But the men, they fare better.

• 56:20Amy Poehler?

  They do. A man lives longer.

• 56:22Speaker 05

  That's why I don't even know why y'all don't want to get married. Y'all should be begging to run down an altar, like, literally.

• 56:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, right. Men should know that it's going to add. They should do like a, they should do like a very like,

• 56:36Amy Poehler?

  like, you know, there's all these like podcasts and books and classes of like maximizing your potential. They should just do it about getting married. They should just say, you get married, you live five more years.

• 56:49Speaker 05

  Eighty-six percent of the most successful men are married.

• 57:00Speaker 05

  Just saying.

• 57:02Speaker 05

  That's gotta, I mean, that's gotta, you know? They need that grounding. They need that home base.

• 57:06Amy Poehler?

  And women don't.

• 57:07Speaker 05

  No.

• 57:08Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 57:09Speaker 05

  Because they find it in friendships.

• 57:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:11Speaker 05

  You know what I was saying? And tell me this, anyone else in here? Have you noticed that men? Oh, there was a study. If you ask men who their best friend is, most of them say their wives.

• 57:22Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 57:22Speaker 05

  And if you ask a woman, she's really got her friends. She'll be like, Lisa, you know, Amy. Like, they really, they have, they have it. And for men, it'll be their wives.

• 57:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:32Speaker 05

  I do feel like women have, you know, tribes and...

• 57:36Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm. We're in our 50s, right? So we're kind of in the middle.

• 57:39Speaker 05

  I thought we were 30s.

• 57:39Amy Poehler?

  Were we in our 30s? Wait, let me check.

• 57:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 57:41Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah, we are.

• 57:42Speaker 05

  Thirty-nine.

• 57:43Amy Poehler?

  Thirty-nine.

• 57:44Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 57:45Amy Poehler?

  And we are in the watery middle.

• 57:47Speaker 05

  We're in the watery middle.

• 57:52Amy Poehler?

  Water is so important.

• 57:53Speaker 05

  Sacred resource.

• 57:54Amy Poehler?

  Water is a sponsor.

• 57:55Speaker 05

  It is.

• 57:55Amy Poehler?

  Water, please. Water.

• 57:58Speaker 05

  Don't go.

• 57:59Amy Poehler?

  Don't go. Water, don't go. Do you worry about, like, are you a...

• 58:04Speaker 05

  Totally in the climate change, yes.

• 58:06Amy Poehler?

  Yes, and are you like a prepper? Are you, do you think about...

• 58:10Speaker 05

  No.

• 58:10Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 58:10Speaker 05

  Totally aware and I'm like, fuck it, at the same time.

• 58:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I know.

• 58:13Speaker 05

  Because I'm like, what can I do? I can't, I can't live in the stress of it.

• 58:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:17Speaker 05

  But am aware enough to be like, if there is something that can be done, I will do it.

• 58:21Amy Poehler?

  If there was a zombie apocalypse.

• 58:23Speaker 05

  Oh, my gosh.

• 58:24Amy Poehler?

  Let's just say.

• 58:25Speaker 05

  I don't, I can't live in buildings and just, just take me out. I'm gonna go at some point, anyway.

• 58:30Amy Poehler?

  I feel exactly the same. I would just be like, let me be the first to go.

• 58:34Speaker 05

  Just, yeah, like, don't bite me because I don't want to be alive and dead. But just, just, somebody just run me on over. However, whatever is the quickest way.

• 58:42Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 58:42Speaker 05

  But I don't want to just survive. I haven't slept. I need to get up. I hear something. You've got a gun. We've got one candy bar between us that's gotta last for like 10 days.

• 58:51Amy Poehler?

  No, we should do a zombie movie where the two of us immediately get killed.

• 58:54Speaker 05

  First act.

• 58:57Speaker 05

  We're trying to get killed the whole movie. No one will kill us.

• 59:02Speaker 05

  Can't even get bitten by a zombie.

• 59:05Speaker 05

  We can't, yeah, no.

• 59:06Amy Poehler?

  That is a good idea. Because I feel, but there, but what are you like in a crisis? Because I'm projecting you. I feel like you'd be very level-headed.

• 59:14Speaker 05

  I think I'm pretty calm in a crisis.

• 59:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:16Speaker 05

  At least most crises. But I have amytophobia, so it depends on...

• 59:21Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 59:22Speaker 05

  That crisis, I'm not great in.

• 59:23Amy Poehler?

  Let's talk about that.

• 59:25Speaker 05

  I know.

• 59:25Amy Poehler?

  I love a phobia.

• 59:27Speaker 05

  Do you have any?

• 59:32Amy Poehler?

  I don't think so. I don't have a real phobia. I think I have like intrusive thoughts that maybe is phobia-adjacent, like fear of stuff. But I don't have an actual... Fear of clowns? I don't love clowns.

• 59:46Speaker 05

  You don't? I don't mind clowns.

• 59:48Amy Poehler?

  I don't love them. I don't, I definitely don't want to be around a clown, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't scream and run away. They're just, they see, it's a lot. It's a lot.

• 59:58Amy Poehler?

  I don't like any people that are like performing...

• 1:00:01Speaker 05

  Clown stuff.

• 1:00:01Amy Poehler?

  Clown stuff.

• 1:00:04Amy Poehler?

  But I respect them and I wouldn't scream if I saw one.

• 1:00:07Speaker 05

  Right.

• 1:00:07Amy Poehler?

  But amytophobia is...

• 1:00:10Speaker 05

  Well, I have two phobias. I have amytophobia.

• 1:00:13Amy Poehler?

  Amytophobia.

• 1:00:14Speaker 05

  Yeah. And then claustrophobia. Amytophobia is a fear of like...

• 1:00:19Amy Poehler?

  Throwing up.

• 1:00:19Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:00:20Amy Poehler?

  If someone's throwing up, are you throwing up?

• 1:00:21Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:00:22Amy Poehler?

  I have some friends who have that. We won't talk about it anymore because it makes people stressed.

• 1:00:25Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:00:25Amy Poehler?

  For people listening, we won't talk about it. But it's real.

• 1:00:29Speaker 05

  It's real. And so is claustrophobia.

• 1:00:31Amy Poehler?

  OK, and so claustrophobia, how does that manifest in your everyday?

• 1:00:36Speaker 05

  My, you know what? I only am claustrophobic if I'm like, I can't get out. So like, I can do a small space if I can get out of it. But if it's a small space and I'm like, like an MRI, I gotta know I can scoot out.

• 1:00:50Amy Poehler?

  But you can't in an MRI.

• 1:00:52Speaker 05

  Exactly, that's why I can't do that.

• 1:00:54Amy Poehler?

  So do you take a, do you take a night-night pill when you do that?

• 1:00:57Speaker 05

  No, I do the open MRI.

• 1:00:59Amy Poehler?

  There's an open one?

• 1:01:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, there's, which is wider. Which is wider, where you can scoot out. You can scoot out. And I don't let them leave me alone.

• 1:01:08Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:01:08Speaker 05

  They have to sit in there with me and then I have to talk to them.

• 1:01:11Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:01:12Speaker 05

  They have to talk to me.

• 1:01:13Amy Poehler?

  And are you feeling, do you know, do you have a sense of where your claustrophobia came from?

• 1:01:19Speaker 05

  I remember it starting when I got a, um, a face mat, uh, what do you call those, um?

• 1:01:26Amy Poehler?

  Facial?

• 1:01:27Speaker 05

  Not a facial.

• 1:01:28Amy Poehler?

  Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. So actors often have to get,

• 1:01:30Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:01:32Amy Poehler?

  like a plaster cast of their face. And it is terrifying.

• 1:01:36Speaker 05

  And that's when I, I didn't have it before that I remember. But I remember when they were both on me, plastering me.

• 1:01:45Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:46Speaker 05

  Plastering my face.

• 1:01:47Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 1:01:47Speaker 05

  Neither sounds good.

• 1:01:48Amy Poehler?

  It's a very weird thing.

• 1:01:49Speaker 05

  It's like I keep trying to make it sound better.

• 1:01:50Amy Poehler?

  It's a very weird thing that people don't know, which is a lot of actors have to get, especially if you're doing any prosthetics.

• 1:01:56Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:01:57Amy Poehler?

  And I'm sure makeup artists have made it better and better and easier and easier. But back when we were doing it, it was like stick two straws in your nose.

• 1:02:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, and they do your mouth and then they're patting you and you, your ears are covered. And then they're trying to go fast and then it has to harden.

• 1:02:10Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 1:02:11Speaker 05

  And then once it hardens, they can remove it. And the thing wasn't that. I just was like, what if a fire comes, they forget about me and run out?

• 1:02:20Amy Poehler?

  Wait, this is a really interesting thing your brain is doing.

• 1:02:23Speaker 05

  So my brain creates scenarios.

• 1:02:25Amy Poehler?

  It wouldn't be the fire that would be the problem. It would be that you've been left alone.

• 1:02:29Speaker 05

  I've been left and I can't get, and I can't get the thing out.

• 1:02:32Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, that's a good, that's a new anxiety.

• 1:02:36Speaker 05

  That's what happens to me.

• 1:02:37Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so I do want to talk about one battle after another because, I mean, you've worked with a lot of great directors. Paul Thomas Anderson is.

• 1:02:44Speaker 05

  Yeah, amazing.

• 1:02:45Amy Poehler?

  His films are really amazing.

• 1:02:47Speaker 05

  He was one of my, yeah, he's like, he's my favorite.

• 1:02:49Amy Poehler?

  What was it like to shoot it? It was shot in, all in LA?

• 1:02:51Speaker 05

  All in LA.

• 1:02:52Amy Poehler?

  Like really?

• 1:02:53Speaker 05

  All different parts of California.

• 1:02:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, right, right.

• 1:02:54Speaker 05

  Not LA, California. It was great.

• 1:02:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:56Speaker 05

  You know, it's wonderful to, I mean, the cast is amazing.

• 1:03:00Amy Poehler?

  And how did you like working with Leonardo DiCaprio, Leo?

• 1:03:03Speaker 05

  Um, well, he's, um, you know, the thing with Leo is he, he's not very experienced. He's green. And so you've, when you're working with.

• 1:03:13Amy Poehler?

  Oh, no, sweetie, that's crafty, that's crafty, that's not set.

• 1:03:16Speaker 05

  Exactly.

• 1:03:17Amy Poehler?

  Honey, you went the wrong way.

• 1:03:17Speaker 05

  No, yeah, I had to do a lot of that. No, that's the lens. Don't look into it. Cause he was doing a lot of that.

• 1:03:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:03:25Speaker 05

  Once we got past that, though, he was, he was, he was great. He's great. He's great.

• 1:03:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, it was sad, but it was also sweet.

• 1:03:33Amy Poehler?

  It's so tender.

• 1:03:35Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, and he, he's got a lot riding on this, cause he's never had a big movie.

• 1:03:39Amy Poehler?

  No, yeah.

• 1:03:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:03:41Amy Poehler?

  Oh, he sounds sweet.

• 1:03:42Speaker 05

  He is.

• 1:03:43Amy Poehler?

  And then you're making another scary movie.

• 1:03:45Speaker 05

  Making another scary movie.

• 1:03:46Amy Poehler?

  Which is like a perfect example of your career. You have this like, you know, kind of prestigious, very like intense, and then you're gonna go do that dumb fun. Cause I imagine it's real big dumb fun.

• 1:03:58Speaker 05

  Oh, my gosh, yes.

• 1:03:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:00Speaker 05

  Yes, it is. And like, you know, I think for us, it's like, well, let's see how far we can push humor in 2025.

• 1:04:07Amy Poehler?

  Mmm.

• 1:04:08Speaker 05

  You know, that's a, that's a big thing. But you know, the, the great thing is you get at everybody.

• 1:04:12Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's right.

• 1:04:13Speaker 05

  That's what comedy, that's where it lives, right? Getting at everybody.

• 1:04:17Amy Poehler?

  I think so. I mean, like what, I ask this of all my guests, but what do you?

• 1:04:20Speaker 05

  Why do I have an urge to do this?

• 1:04:25Amy Poehler?

  What is it called? It's called, um, what's the word when you? Misophonia. So I don't think it's a phobia. I think it's a phonia. I don't know what's the difference. But yeah.

• 1:04:36Speaker 05

  Wow!

• 1:04:36Amy Poehler?

  Misophonia is when you can hear.

• 1:04:38Speaker 05

  Can you look up the difference between phobia and phonia? Maybe I have phonias.

• 1:04:43Amy Poehler?

  I can, I have a laptop here. And.

• 1:04:46Speaker 05

  And she is part of that generation like myself of pre-technology.

• 1:04:51Amy Poehler?

  That's right. Where I slowly type things in.

• 1:04:54Speaker 05

  We would be going to the microfiche.

• 1:04:58Amy Poehler?

  Remember?

• 1:05:00Amy Poehler?

  Remember? Microfiche?

• 1:05:01Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:05:02Amy Poehler?

  Okay, misophonia is a condition where specific sounds, this is a condition.

• 1:05:07Speaker 05

  So it's odd?

• 1:05:08Amy Poehler?

  Where specific sounds trigger intense negative emotional reactions such as anger, annoyance, or anxiety.

• 1:05:14Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 1:05:14Amy Poehler?

  I don't know if it's intense, but for example, if I'm listening to a podcast.

• 1:05:19Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 1:05:19Amy Poehler?

  And, um, someone needs to take a drink of water and they're really dry mouthed.

• 1:05:24Speaker 05

  You can hear it.

• 1:05:25Amy Poehler?

  Not only can I hear it, but I really can't listen to the person.

• 1:05:28Speaker 05

  So you have also, you must have an incredible ear.

• 1:05:31Amy Poehler?

  I do have, I have a good ear and I can hear things pretty well.

• 1:05:34Speaker 05

  Now, look up phobia and just see what that definition is.

• 1:05:38Amy Poehler?

  Phobia, let's see what the Latin word of phobia is. Phobia meaning.

• 1:05:42Speaker 05

  If I was like phobia.

• 1:05:45Amy Poehler?

  An extreme or irrational fear or aversion to something.

• 1:05:49Speaker 05

  So it's fear and, and the other one is anger and disgust.

• 1:05:52Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But just about sounds. Cause like phonograph and phonia.

• 1:05:58Speaker 05

  That makes sense.

• 1:05:59Amy Poehler?

  Um, but you wanna know, um, what causes phobia?

• 1:06:03Speaker 05

  What?

• 1:06:04Amy Poehler?

  It's genetic predisposition, environmental factors, and traumatic experiences. So, there you go.

• 1:06:09Speaker 05

  That experience of that thing, of that face thing.

• 1:06:15Speaker 05

  I also was like, they could be doing anything. I can't see.

• 1:06:20Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 1:06:20Speaker 05

  I just heard fingers and then like, you know, I could have been ass up in like 30 seconds. Not that I, not that I thought that. I didn't think that.

• 1:06:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:29Speaker 05

  But if I think about it now.

• 1:06:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:31Speaker 05

  Anything could have happened. They were very nice, both of them.

• 1:06:34Amy Poehler?

  Treatment is CBT, exposure therapy.

• 1:06:38Speaker 05

  Exposure.

• 1:06:38Amy Poehler?

  Medication.

• 1:06:41Speaker 05

  Well, how are you gonna, you know, so I just have to get in small spaces, claustrophobia, and then just be forced to send, sit in there, huh?

• 1:06:48Amy Poehler?

  So you don't like to get smushed. I love getting smushed.

• 1:06:50Speaker 05

  I don't mind getting, I don't mind getting smushed. I just need to know I can get out. If you put me in a small closet and I know it can't get locked, then I can get in there.

• 1:07:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:02Speaker 05

  I can get in an elevator just fine, unless the elevator gets stuck.

• 1:07:05Amy Poehler?

  Oh, has that happened?

• 1:07:08Speaker 05

  One day I was panicking. I just hadn't hit the open button. Because, you know, you know.

• 1:07:14Amy Poehler?

  If the doors don't open, it's very stressful.

• 1:07:17Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:07:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:17Speaker 05

  And I was like, you know, because it's the can't get out part. It's not the actual. Because I can do, can you do roller coaster rides where you get strapped in?

• 1:07:27Amy Poehler?

  Okay. I can do them. I don't feel a phobia from them, but I hate being shook that much. Like the shaky, like I don't do roller coasters. I feel it's too much.

• 1:07:36Speaker 05

  Where is it shaky for you?

• 1:07:38Amy Poehler?

  Just the, I don't, I don't, like a roller coaster to me is, like I get nauseous. I feel like, ah, all like dizzy. It's not worth it for me. The feeling of.

• 1:07:51Speaker 05

  I love them.

• 1:07:51Amy Poehler?

  I, you love them.

• 1:07:53Speaker 05

  I get on them and like, and I want to get off. And when it's going chick, chick, chick, chick, I'm like, I want to get off. I want to get off. As soon as the first drop happens and I make it, I'm like, woo! Now I can't enjoy it because I worry about someone throwing up on me.

• 1:08:12Amy Poehler?

  But if roller coasters are like a way to shake it up, what is, and I ask my guests this, what is something that you're listening to, watching, where do you go to laugh? Because I know you love to laugh, you have a great sense of humor, you're deeply funny. Who makes you laugh?

• 1:08:28Speaker 05

  I have comfort watches. I've seen Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally 5,000 times.

• 1:08:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:35Speaker 05

  And Heartburn. I kind of like more Heartburn, isn't it?

• 1:08:38Amy Poehler?

  Heartburn is not talked about enough. Meryl in that movie.

• 1:08:42Speaker 05

  Oh, my God.

• 1:08:44Amy Poehler?

  And Jack. They're so good together.

• 1:08:46Speaker 05

  And you know, Jack, stop. You wanted it to work. What about when she would have, when she had that pregnant belly and then that little baby and she had to sing and she had to leave? That movie, I li, I think that movie is not, I don't know if it's underrated, but I say it's underrated.

• 1:09:01Amy Poehler?

  I think, I think you're right. It is so good. Check out Heartburn, everybody.

• 1:09:05Speaker 05

  Check out Heartburn.

• 1:09:06Amy Poehler?

  It's so good.

• 1:09:07Speaker 05

  It's so, and it's so honest. You know, when she came back, even, you know what I loved? The, um, the delivery scene when he was talking to her and he cried and you were like, it's gonna be different. And they had the baby, he was right back out there. He was right back out there in 10 minutes, just doing him. He couldn't even, until she couldn't, she couldn't, she couldn't do it anymore.

• 1:09:28Amy Poehler?

  No. People are complicated.

• 1:09:30Speaker 05

  People are complicated and it's not good or bad, but it, it is, it is, can I stand it? And there was a little bit of her that was too compromised in that film. In that story, or Efron's story. And I love, I love Heartburn. Even before the, even in the beginning when it was like, should we get married? Remember behind when she had the cold feet?

• 1:09:50Amy Poehler?

  Yes, so good. So human.

• 1:09:54Speaker 05

  So, and so funny.

• 1:09:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:55Speaker 05

  She's funny, too.

• 1:09:56Amy Poehler?

  Oh, Meryl's so funny.

• 1:09:57Speaker 05

  I mean, Meryl's everything.

• 1:09:59Amy Poehler?

  Meryl?

• 1:10:00Speaker 05

  Meryl. I mean, there's no words.

• 1:10:02Amy Poehler?

  Meryl.

• 1:10:03Speaker 05

  Meryl, rub on us.

• 1:10:05Amy Poehler?

  Meryl, rub up on us.

• 1:10:06Speaker 05

  Yes, just rub on us. I mean, love Meryl. That, that was a great one, though.

• 1:10:09Amy Poehler?

  Well, I have to say, Regina, it's been so great talking to you. And I have to say that the Catholic Church's loss has been our gain. I really appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much for coming. It's so great to talk to you.

• 1:10:21Speaker 05

  I know.

• 1:10:22Amy Poehler?

  And I'll see you on another dance floor, hopefully, soon.

• 1:10:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 1:10:26Amy Poehler?

  Okay. Thanks, honey. Thank you so much Regina Hall. You are awesome and it was so great to talk to you and so fun. And today's Polar Plunge is presented by BMW Certified. Visit BMWUSA.com/certified-preowned to learn more. For this plunge, I want to talk about a film that we mentioned briefly that Regina was in, but it's just great if you get a chance to check it out. It's called Support the Girls and it was 2018. It was just kind of this slice of life indie film about a bunch of young women working at like a sports bar. Regina is just so great in it and I just wanted to take the plunge moment to remind

• 1:11:09Amy Poehler?

  you to check that out in wherever it's streaming. And just a fine example of Regina at her best, doing big hilarious moves and deep grounded dramatic acting. So check that out, but don't forget that today's Polar Plunge was presented by BMW Certified. In a world full of uncertainty, BMW Certified pre-owned vehicles are the real deal. They come with a BMW Certified Warranty, genuine BMW parts, and an additional three years of 24/7 roadside assistance. Learn more at BMWUSA.com/certified-preowned. Bye! You've been listening to Good Hang.

• 1:11:54Amy Poehler?

  The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaia McMullin, and Aleia Zaniris. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:12:18Amy Poehler?

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• 1:13:00Amy Poehler?

  Or get the Premium Visible Plus Pro Plan and save $10 on your first month with promo code HANG. Terms apply. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. This episode is brought to you by Caesar. Dog parents, what do you have on the menu tonight? If you're looking to serve your favorite four-legged friend high-quality wet dog food they'll be genuinely excited about, we say, just eat Caesar. Whether it's a protein-rich beef recipe on Monday or a savory chicken and vegetable dinner on Wednesday, Caesar offers a variety of delicious meals made with freshly crafted, slow-cooked ingredients, all designed to support your dog's everyday nutrition without compromise.

• 1:13:42Amy Poehler?

  That's real variety, real ingredients, and real excitement at mealtime. So if you're looking to serve a meal your dog actually looks forward to every single day, they should totally just eat Caesar. Learn more at caesar.com. Your dog will thank you.