Judith Bowles
Appearances
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Isn't that fun? People seem to love the little stuff we say. Yes.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Wow. But is that a conscious thing or is that something that our body does? I sort of think it's so easy to personify. the animals that they like. Yes. But there's a wonderful phrase in a Mary Oliver poem, you should love the soft animal of your body.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
And whatever happens to open us up to be fertile, to be whatever, I just wonder whether or not that sort of happens with animals under certain circumstances. And they don't like think, oh, I like it. I don't like it. It's just something that happens to them, to their bodies to permit the opening.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Oh, how wonderful that she has found this.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
So many things were, you know, were open to her to do. And I'm sure that in some ways, you know, she had such a youth of so much attention for her looks and for being who she was. But the fact that she was able to
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
take that when it was offered and be i'm sure so grateful for it but then to find something that she could make be herself something that she already loved but that she could then create a body out of
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
I do. But community is, it comes and goes. You know, in other words, we all talk about community so that we have a group that we think about, but it has to be nurtured.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
It has to be nurtured. And there's laughter, but you also have to look for it sometimes because it's not right at your doorstep every morning. Wouldn't that be nice if it were? You just open the door and you go, ah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
That's the funniest thing I've ever seen.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Okay. Well, sign off and be well.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Can you read it? I'd be happy to read it, yes, and especially a good poem for now.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Wild geese, you do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile, the world goes on.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile, the wild geese high in the clean blue air are heading home again. Whoever you are,
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
No matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over, announcing your place in the family of things. Well, that's a beauty.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
The thing that just kills me is tell me about despair, yours and mine. Yeah. yeah, it's a good poem. It's good. It's a good one. It's a good one. Okay. Well, love to everybody and keep heart. Yes. And have a little fun if you can. Yep. Love to you guys. Okay.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Isn't that fun? People seem to love the little stuff we say. Yes.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Wow. But is that a conscious thing or is that something that our body does? I sort of think it's so easy to personify. the animals that they like. Yes. But there's a wonderful phrase in a Mary Oliver poem, you should love the soft animal of your body.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
And whatever happens to open us up to be fertile, to be whatever, I just wonder whether or not that sort of happens with animals under certain circumstances. And they don't like think, oh, I like it. I don't like it. It's just something that happens to them, to their bodies to permit the opening.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Oh, how wonderful that she has found this. I know.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
So many things were, you know, were open to her to do. And I'm sure that in some ways, you know, she had such a youth of so much attention for her looks and for being who she was. But the fact that she was able to
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
take that when it was offered and be i'm sure so grateful for it but then to find something that she could make be herself something that she already loved but that she could then create a body out of
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
I do. But community, it comes and goes. In other words, we all talk about community so that we have a group that we think about. But it has to be nurtured.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
It has to be nurtured. And there's laughter. But you also have to look for it sometimes because it's not right at your doorstep every morning. Would that be nice if it were? You just open the door and you go, ah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
That's the funniest thing I've ever seen.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Well, sign off and be well.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Can you read it? I'd be happy to read it, yes, and especially a good poem for now.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Wild geese, you do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile, the world goes on.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile, the wild geese high in the clean blue air are heading home again. Whoever you are,
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
No matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over, announcing your place in the family of things. Well, that's a beauty.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
It makes me cry. I love it. I know. I love that poem, too.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Isabella Rossellini
The thing that just kills me is tell me about despair, yours and mine. Yeah. yeah, it's a good poem. It's good. It's a good one. It's a good one. Okay. Well, love to everybody and keep heart. Yes. And have a little fun if you can. Yep. Love to you guys. Okay.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
Hello. Hello. Thank you for letting me sit in on that incredible, incredible interview. And what a moment in life for me. Yeah, that was pretty crazy, right? Oh, I mean... I'm just so grateful. I'm so grateful to Nancy Pelosi for being there for so long, for such a strong way and being so right about everything. It was a great pleasure to see her and just be with her.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
Extremely. Because Nancy Pelosi is very connected to the women that came before her. Yes. She feels very completely viscerally connected to and those that are coming after. Because if you remember when she became the first woman head of the House, she had her grandchildren come.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
And they will always remember that moment. And, you know, if you're there at one of these crowning moments, it changes your life. That's right. You know, and our dear Thea and the girls that age and the younger girls all have all these opportunities now, thanks to people like Nancy Pelosi, who actually broke into it. And boy, were they ever entitled to it.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
Right. It's a bridge over time. And if you envision that, then that makes your work terribly important, but not just for you. It makes it for the future. Right. Mom. Yes, I have to say, I lost my calendar. I was thinking of the future. I'm on my cell phone. My calendar has disappeared. Why? Did you get a new phone?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
No, I got the same phone, just my calendar, you know, the little thing that says 13 like today, that's disappeared. So I go into Siri and I say, Siri, find my calendar. So guess what she comes up with? I don't know. What? This thing that says my calendar. It's got little roses on it and all kinds of little flowers and fairies and things. And then the pregnancy calendar. A what?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
A pregnancy calendar. And you keep that. When was your last period? Did you put in 1981? Yes. I can't count backwards that well, so I decided to look for another calendar. But I thought that was a good idea. So, I mean, you can look up anything these days. You can find, you know, whatever you want to do, you can find something, a calendar to help you.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
I know. I search that, and what comes up is one day. So in other words, I can find out what's happening today, but then I don't get my app back.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
Okay. Well, promise you will do that.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
I didn't know who you were talking to.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
Yes. I have to say it has really been a great season because – of what we've learned about the women and how you've listened to them and how important it's been for all of us to listen to all of it and get our own energy involved with it.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Nancy Pelosi
And I love you so much, and don't think I'm not learning anything from you. I learned plenty. I know you do. Yeah. And we've got more lessons to come. Oh. Ooh. Okay. I love you. I love you. Bye. Bye.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
I hope I hope the wrap dress is still there.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
Yeah. So I had a wrap dress and I was trying to remember what, it seemed to me that it had some kind of geometric print on it. Yeah. And then one that was sort of gray. And it was sort of maybe one color or two colors, something like that. I loved it. But I don't know why it made me feel a little self-conscious. Why, Mommy? Well, I don't know. Maybe I was just so used to wearing pants.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
It was such a wonderful dress. Maybe I didn't. I can't remember. But I just somehow felt a little self-conscious.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
Excuse me, but I'm very worried about that.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
I mean, did your whole teeth fall out or just the top of them?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
But not some terrible gum disease or something like that.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
Well, hold on to your teeth and I'll go get the culottes. Oh, shit. Actually, I love culottes. They're very comfy.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Diane von Furstenberg
Oh no, honey, you don't need that. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. Well, there's no fun. All right. Well, mommy, I'll, I'll talk to you soon. Okay. Good. Good. Be well and love to everybody and to you especially. Okay. Love you, mommy.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
By making it, I felt that I could—if I went to New York, all I wanted was to be able to put food on the table, clothes on my back, and pay the rent.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I did not think about being a headliner. At all. It was just I wanted to perform and do whatever I could. Right. So making it would have been to be able to sustain myself.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
But I remember, and I have told this story before, because sometimes I get mail or people ask, how do you accept a rejection?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
You know, because you get depressed or what, you know, because you're going to be rejected. Even the best of us. Even the best. And I remember this one time, I can't remember what I was auditioning for, but it wasn't a big deal. But it narrowed down to me and another girl. And I thought I had it. I thought I had it, but I didn't. She had it.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
But what saved me was, and I don't know where this came from, but I'm grateful. I thought, well, you know what? It's her turn. It's not my turn yet.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
No. I said, thank you, God. I thought, well, that's okay.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I'll get my turn someday. If I try hard enough, again, have the fire in the belly and not let this discourage me. That's right. So it's her turn. And that's what I tell kids that are starting out. If you really want it and you really work at it, it'll happen.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Let me tell you, I'm thinking of doing a treatment on it. I think it should be a series. I think it should be, too, and it should be set in that time period. In that period, in the 50s.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
So tell what happened. You're living in New York. I'm living in New York. And Eddie Floyd Jr. was a comedian.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Okay. Yeah. Around there. Yeah, I'd just gotten to New York and I was sitting on my cot at the rehearsal club. I had a cot and a dresser and four other roommates in one room. And they were all out on a Saturday night. It was raining. And I remember that when we lived in Hollywood, there was an actor named Jack Shea.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And at one point, I remember him, when I was still living there, talking about how he did a movie, and Eddie Ford Jr. was one of the stars. And he said he was really nice. He was the nicest one I've seen in a long time. So I put on my raincoat, plastic raincoat, and galoshes. I dredged down to the St. James Theater, and it was about close to 11 o'clock at night, pouring rain.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I looked like Ann Baxter in All About Eve. And I opened the stage door, and Pops says, the typical, looks like the stage manager, the old guy at the desk. Yes, of course. Hey, kid, what are you doing? He's like, get in here out of the rain. What are you doing here? I said, I'm here to see Eddie. And he said, you know, Eddie? And I said, I'm from California. Anyway, that's a big deal.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Now, I hear this clap of thunder. I thought it was. And it was the audience applauding. It was the end of the show, so everybody was taking their bows. I mean, it was so exciting. And I see John Raitt run by and Janice Page, who they were the star, and Carol Haney, who was also a star. And then here's Eddie Ford Jr. And Pop says, Hey, Eddie, this kid wants to see you. He says, Oh, okay.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Yeah, kid, what is it? Well... I can't believe the nerve I had. I said, Mr. Foy, I know Jack Shea, you know, he worked with you in a movie. He said you were real nice and I want to be in show business. And I just can't get an agent because they say I have to be in something to get started. And I'm like, I don't know, like this. He's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. He said, do you sing?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I said, I'm loud. He said, do you dance? I said, not really. I can jitterbug. He said, well, maybe I can get you an audition for the chorus. I said, well, I can't read music. He said, okay, you can't dance. You can't read music. I said, I'm not good enough for the chorus. I think I'd have to have a featured role.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
But the thing is, he wasn't a trained dancer. He wasn't a trained singer. He couldn't read music, but he was a star. And he said, okay, what's your phone number? He said, well, I'll see what I can do. He called me the next day at the club. Talk about kindness. And he said, this is my agent's name. I told him you were going to come see him. Right. And I took my UCLA scrapbook full of nice reviews.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Smart. And he looked through it. He said, well, let me know when you're in something. I said, but how? And he said, well, go put on your own show.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Okay. So I went back to the rehearsal club and I called a meeting for all the girls. I said, we're going to put on a show. We did. I wrote my own material. Everybody wrote their own material. We sent out penny postcards to every agent and producer in town saying, you're always saying, let us know when you're in something. Well, we're in something.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And they came, the producers and directors came to the show. And three of us got agents out of it. But you make your own breaks.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
He was one of the kindest people ever. And most generous people. And he was a big star. Yeah. I remember when I was hired as the second banana on his show. Yeah. And Derwood Kirby was the second banana also. And there would be times when we'd be reading the script on a Monday and we were going to tape on a Friday. Yeah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
He might have a joke or a punchline and he'd look at it and he'd say, you know what? Give this to Carol or give this to Derwood. They can say it funnier than I can. Ah. That's who he was. It was the Gary Moore show, but he wanted everybody to shine. And I learned that. And that's why my show, I never really called it my show. I called it our show. I wanted Harvey to shine or Vicki or Tim or Lyle.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And then I would shine. And we totally... It was a rep company. We totally supported each other. Since Caesar was that way with Carl Reiner and Imogene and then later Nanette Febre, you spread it around because it only makes the show better. And I learned that from Gary.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And then later they get cynical. Then sometimes people get cynical. And instead of show business is show business.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Oh, Harvey at times could be a little grouchy, but then we could tease him out of it and he'd be, he was always wonderful. Right. You know, when he was performing, there was nobody could touch him. Nobody could touch him. So brilliant. Yes. And so this one morning we were pre-taping something and Petula Clark was on as a guest and everything. And Harvey was in his costume and
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
He was a little short with her. I don't think he meant to, and I don't remember what it was, but he said something that was not kind. Not great. I could take it if he wanted to be a little curmudgeon with me or something, or Tim could take it, and we'd get him out of it, and he'd be fine. But I thought, you don't do this to a guest star. So I went up to him, I said, Harvey, what's wrong?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
He said, I'm just not happy. I said, stay after the show tonight. I want to talk to you.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
So I was a wreck doing the show. He was brilliant, as usual.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Of what I was going to have to say to him. Yeah, oh, Lord. You know, because I hate confrontation. Okay. I hate it. Oh, at one point he said, I'm just not sure I'm happy on this show. That's what he said. And so in the meantime, I called his agent and I said, I'm going to be talking to Harvey, but he wants off the show. I'm going to let him off the show. And he said, well, you can't do this.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I said, he can't do this to a guest. You know? Yes. And he said, well, I said, I'll talk to you later. So Harvey stayed. Now I'm nervous. Now I put on my best Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Yeah. I said, I understand you're not happy, so don't come back. You're off the show. And he said, what are you talking? I said, no, you can't be rude. I said, you're off the show. It's okay. You know, I have a contract. I said, well, you know, we'll just talk about that with, you know, the powers that be, but you can't behave this way. Now he says, well, you started to kind of... Backpedal?
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Mm-hmm. And I said, okay, I'll give you one more chance. You come in to work next week.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And when I see you, I want you to be whistling and skipping down the hall. Nice. So comes Monday. We always had a script reading in my office.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And before it was the time, then I went to excuse myself to go to the ladies' room. And then the elevator door opened right just before I went into the ladies' room. And Harvey comes out. We both stand there looking at each other for a frozen second. He starts going whistling and skipping down the hall. And so I had a plaque made. And I put it on his dressing room door called Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Oh, that's genius. And I loved him. I mean, we were always close.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
This was a very rare, you know.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I think so. See, I was married to the producer.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
He had produced a Gary Moore show. Okay. You know, Joe. And so he really was the boss. I would come in and I would make suggestions and things like that. But this was the only time I ever... He didn't know I was firing Harvey until afterwards.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Well, okay, Sid Caesar or Jackie Gleason would say, come on, guys, this is crappy. You've got to fix it. Right. You know, I don't like— I couldn't do that. You couldn't? What I would do, I would call the writers down. If we were doing a sketch and it wasn't working, I would say, you know, can you help me out here a little bit? I'm not really feeling this too well.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I'm not saying this like a... In other words, help me, as opposed to... Yeah, so you didn't scold... No, I didn't say, come on, you got to fix this, it stinks. No.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Tell. Lucky you. Lucky you.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
She was on my show.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
This one week. And it was just before orchestra rehearsals. So there was a dinner break. So we went across the street to the farmer's market. It was a little Chinese restaurant. And she's knocking back a couple of whiskey sours. Sure. And she says, you know, kid called me kid. She was 22 years older. So I was kid.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
She says, you know, it's great you got Joe, you know, to be... Looking out for you. Looking out for you. She said, when I was married to the Cuban... She said, he did everything. He took care of the scripts. Yeah. He took care of the camera work. He invented the three camera... Put them on wheels. Believe me, I know. Yeah. Yeah. And all of that, Desi did it all.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
He like supervised the costuming, this and that. So she said, all I had to do on a Monday was come in and be crazy, silly Lucy.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Now we got a divorce. Now I'm going to do the Lucille Ball show. Right. She says, so I come in, read the script. And she said, it was awful. Right. She said, and I didn't know what to do. Desi wasn't there to fix it. So I called for a break. She said, and I went to my office and I thought and I thought and I thought, I've got to be like Desi. I've got to be strong. And she said, so we went back.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
I sat down. And in no uncertain terms, I told them. And I became Desi. I just told them what was wrong. They said, got to fix this. She was confrontational. She took another little sip of her whiskey sour. She said, kid, that's when they put the S on the end of my last name. Yeah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
Well, Julie was a guest on the Gary Moore show and we had a finale written for us that we did.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And it was the first time I've ever seen a studio audience stand up and give us a standing ovation. Oh, my. And so the producer offered a special to CBS, Julian Carroll at Carnegie Hall. They weren't interested, they said, because they see Carroll every week on Gary's show, and only Broadway knows Julie Andrews. She hadn't done a movie yet.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
And so they didn't think it would be any good. Okay, so I'm at an affiliate's luncheon for CBS a few weeks later, and I'm kind of brave, and I'm kidding around with some of the CBS vice presidents. And I said, well, I guess if you don't want Julie and me, we could go over to NBC. They have color. I was terrible. Carol! And they kind of laughed, but they still weren't interested.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Listen Again: Julia Gets Wise with Carol Burnett
So the luncheon is over. We leave the building, and it's pouring down rain. And they said, we'll wait and help you get a cab, Carol. And I said, oh, don't worry. I said, somebody's going to pull up and give me a lift. I swear to God, Julia, those words were out of my mouth. A beer truck pulled up. Stop it. The guy leaned out and said, hey, Carol, you want a lift? No.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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They hoisted me up into the cab of the beer truck. The guy drove me home to Central Park South. I'm opening the door to my apartment. The phone is ringing. Pick it up. It's one of the vice presidents. You got your show.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Because a strange man came out, that they recognized from Gary, and for some reason that triggered them to say, you know what, let's give them the show. And of course the show was a big hit.
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Very fortunate, yes. And what's great, too, is that I see it in you, and I know it's in me. We are aware of how fortunate we are. It's not something that we take for granted.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Well, we had, I don't know too many shows that did what we did. We had a school schedule.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Yeah, and we had, it was, well, actually it was the same way with the Gary Moore show. We would go to work at, we knew what we were going to do. We'd go to work at, start at 10 in the morning. Right. I could take the kids to school. Brilliant. Yeah. Good work. And on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, I'd be out at three. 10 to 3. But we knew everything. We rehearsed. Thursday was blocking day. Yeah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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And I'd be home every night in time for dinner, except on Friday when we taped. Right. And then we did two shows on Friday, and the girls would come to see the dress rehearsal. We would have... We'd work three weeks, have a week off. We'd always have a week off at Easter. We'd have two weeks off at Christmas. We had the summers off.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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All that. So... I didn't work more than 20-some-odd hours a week. It was almost like a part-time job.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And the thing, too, we taped our show. We'd usually do about an hour 15 because we'd go over because I'd do the Q&As. Yes. We'd be out in about two hours. Oh. So the audience, it was like they were watching a Broadway show. Yeah. So I never, I wanted to do it like a live show. Right. I never wanted to keep the studio audience waiting because they feed us. Yes, of course.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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You need their energy. Totally. And so I would make a bet with the stagehands that I could do a skin out change faster than they could move that couch across the room.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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But I wanted to leave before they started to flick the lights on and off. No, I hear that.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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What's the alternative? Yeah, right. You know, and so everything comes to an end. Yeah. You know, and another thing, too, is, you know, if you're down, there's always an up.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Then even when you're up, there's a down. So expect that's life.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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You know, and just be, as I say, I feel so grateful. Yes. You know, here I am 90 years old. I'm healthy. I've had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Yes. But I'm still here. You are. You're still here. To quote the song. I know.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I feel that. And as I say, and I'm aware of it, I'm grateful.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Well, what was nice, I mean, we went through hell. No question about it. But she got sober when she was 17. And then she had a career. I know. She had a very good career starting. At one point, she was in a movie called Tokyo Pop, which now is a little cult film. Yes. And Marlon Brando called her. And wanted to have a meeting with her about something he was thinking about. Yes.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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She had a running role on Fame.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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And she was really on her way.
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Yeah, that was her idea. That's a gift. Based on my first book. Yes. And she said, let's just do it for fun, Mom. And she wrote, she had a cabin in Colorado and I wrote in mood facts scenes back and forth. Yeah. And then my friend, I showed a rough draft to my friend Beverly Sills. Yes. And she read it and she showed it to Hal Prince, the director. Of course. And he said, I'd like to direct this.
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I mean, and with your daughter. Yeah, but she didn't live to see... She passed away before we got to Chicago.
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You know, but... Oh. This is weird. You know, is there something else happening around us that we don't know and can't see and can't understand? I think so. On the plane to Chicago, I said a little prayer.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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to Carrie, because we were breaking it in in Chicago before we go to Broadway. I said, Carrie, let me know. I had to finish the play. Oh, gosh, Carrie. Because it was going to be tryouts. I said, let me know you're with me. I need to know. So got to the hotel, got to my room, and on the coffee table was this huge array of Birds of Paradise.
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Carrie had a Bird of Paradise tattooed on her right shoulder. And it was from Hal saying, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at rehearsal. Love, Hal. So I called his room, Hal Prince. And I said, how did you know? He said, know what? I said, that these are her. He said, I didn't. He said, I just said send up something exotic. So Birds of Paradise came. Okay. Whoa.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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So the next night, my husband and I took Hal out to dinner. And the maitre d' came up with a big bottle of champagne. And on the label, it said Louise. Louise was my mother's name and Carrie's middle name. Ah. And I thought, whoa, this is... And then Carrie and I always loved rain.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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And opening night in Chicago, it rained. So I had three signs. Beautiful signs. And I felt, okay, Carrie, you're with me.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Oh, interesting. Because I always felt very homely as a kid. I had a beautiful cousin who looked like a baby Sharon Stone. And I always felt very plain. And I was.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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One time I remember I was doing the Gary Moore show. And, you know, the wonderful writer Larry Gelbart. Sure. At one point, he was quoted as saying, Carol Burnett is almost very pretty. And I wrote back, I said, that's almost very nice of him.
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Almost very pretty is kind of not bad.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Now, I think I'm fine for my age. Are you kidding me? No, I'm fine. I mean, you know, I'm happy. You know, I don't have a double chin.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I walk. Uh-huh.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Yeah. Yeah. I love doing physical comedy.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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At one point, I was hooked on yoga for about seven years. I did classes and stuff. And then I had a little exercise class that I taught at CBS during lunch hour. No kidding. For a half hour. Yeah. Yeah. I should have done it like Jane Fonda was later.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Yeah, so I did that. Right. Yeah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Do you do things that are... Well, for about over 30 years, 35, 40 years, I was going on the road and doing Q&As. That keeps you sharp.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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We do crossword puzzles every day.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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And I wordle.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Did you do today? Yeah. I got it in two. You did not. Oh, it's because I was lucky with my first word. What was your first word? My first word was crate, C-R-A-T-E, and it was carrot today. That's right. So I had a lot of letters that I could play with.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I play with Allison Janney.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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And Charlize Theron. You play with them? Not with them. We wordle. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I used to do that a lot. And then sometimes I vary, like with audio games. you know, with all the vowels. You get that and adieu.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Well, the other day I did a six. I mean, you know, it varies. Was it snafu? Snafu was one of the words. Snafu was hard. Hard. I didn't have good letters for that one. Yeah, right. Do people know what
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Well, you got to get it right then. Also being old enough to, you know, you've been around the block a few times. You know what you want. You know what makes you happy.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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He's a musician, and I was doing a show in Long Beach, and he was the music contractor for the orchestra. And that's how we met.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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As long as you have a sense of humor.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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think but let me ask you a couple of sort of little brief questions if i may is there something you go back and tell yourself when you were 21 no nothing i think no i i don't think if i gave myself some advice yeah i wouldn't be where i am now oh carol i haven't thought of that but i think that might be it that's a good answer carol
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Dejection, again, certain kind of sorrows, happiness, sorrow, happiness, so forth. So I don't know what would have happened if I would go back and give myself some advice.
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No, but I think there are a few things I'd say no to. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Certain choices I made in career. Really? Yeah. Yeah, that in a way... I look back and think I was foolish in trying to please everybody. Yes. Yeah. I was a people pleaser.
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Quite a bit. I didn't want to... Ruffle feathers. And finally, it's nice to know that no can be a complete sentence.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I'm 62. What you don't look at, that's what you should know about aging. Right.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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My intention is to keep on trucking, you know, and staying as healthy as I can. I'm not Anxious to that I have to keep working to prove anything. I've done that. But if something comes along that interests me, I'll do it. But I am not worried about what if nothing comes along, then I'm fine. I'm okay with it.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I love you, too. I really do. As we said, when I came into the room just now, the last time I saw you, I was thrilled to open the envelope and say, and the Emmy goes to you.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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I did a few things recently, you know, with Better Call Saul and then with... Amazing, amazing performance. They were wonderful to work with. Well, please. And then I just finished Pomme Royale with Kristen Wiig and Alison and Laura Dern. Yes. And that's coming out in the fall, I think. We don't know exactly yet.
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And I didn't expect to do anything after Better Call Saul, but then this came along and And it's not only a good script, but to work with those women, I'd be crazy to turn it down. So I had a wonderful time doing that. But if that's it, that's it. I'll be fine. I'll do my crosswords and my wordle.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Breathe that in.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Oh, thank you, honey. Well, you are so sweet, but I have to tell you, I think you are one of the greatest comedic actresses of our time.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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You were just so honest and funny and truthful. It all comes out of truth. Thank you. You're not trying too hard. You just are.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Yeah. I can't wrap my head around it. It's gone so fast. But as I've been saying before, I've got all my parts. I have my hips. I have my knees. And I got my brain. So I'm really fortunate. You are so fortunate.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Yeah, you know, I remember when I was growing up, my grandmother was raising me, right? Yes. But she would never tell me how old she was. Ever. She said... And she wouldn't tell anybody how old she was. But I was living with her and her mother, my great grandmother in Texas. I was about five, I guess it was. And so I got my great grandmother to tell me.
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I said, please, you got to tell me how old Danny is. And she said, oh, she'll kill me if I tell you. Finally, I got her to tell me. I burst into tears. Oh.
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Also, Sunset Boulevard, right? The movie? Yes, of course. With Gloria Swanson? Yes. The whole premise was she was over the hill. At 50.
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The whole bit was she was too old to be in the movies again because she was 50. But I was reading in the New York Times editorial section today that a lot of people are turning 90 and 95, and they're having parties. And one of the people was quoted as saying, 90 is a new 60. Oh, God bless that idea.
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Dick Van Dyke is 97. And Mel Brooks. Mel? Mel's 95 or so. Yeah. I mean. Maybe there's something in the water. I don't know.
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Well, I've never been high.
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But I think that's what it's like to just be floating.
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I was a late, very late bloomer. I was kind of a nerd in high school. I was very serious with my schoolwork. I was editor of the Hollywood High School newspaper, so I was going to be a journalist. Right. And all of that. And it wasn't until I got to UCLA and happened to take a course in acting, just for the heck of it.
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And I picked a scene for the class to do that would be kind of light because the other kids in the class were doing these heavy, dramatic things. And I felt, well, I don't know, I don't want to do that. So I came out, and I don't remember what it was, but I had a line or two, and they laughed where they should. And did you mean for it to be funny? Yeah. Oh, nice.
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Yeah, because I wanted it to be light, but it was really a big guffaw, really a huge laugh. And I thought, I like this feeling. Yeah, right. And all of a sudden, I decided I didn't want to be a journalist anymore.
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Well, he was a big movie star, you know, and a lot of Westerns. He did a lot of Westerns. Right. And I was editor of the Hollywood High School newspaper. Well done, you. And I thought of... Wouldn't it be a great idea if I could interview famous people who went to Hollywood High? Which is a great idea. And he was one of them.
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And so I went to my journalism teacher and I said, do you think that's a good idea, Mr. Thorpe? And he said, well, if you're lucky enough to do, get it. It's fine. So I was able to track his office. Yes. Find out his office number. And I called and I got somebody who represented him and said, you know, I'm editor of Hollywood High School. And they thought it was a cute idea. Right.
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So, yeah, okay, you can interview him. So I took the bus over to the studio where he was. I was shown into his office. He was sitting there with his feet up on his desk, and he had on cowboy boots and a cowboy hat on. And I sat and interviewed Joel McRae. And it was so exciting. Then I went back to school and I typed up the interview and we ran it in the school paper.
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Then I got the idea I should interview more people like that. So I had it all set up to interview Lana Turner, who was a huge movie star at the time. But then I would have to cut class to do it because that was the only time I could see her. And they wouldn't let me do it. Oh, I wish you'd cut class. I wish I could. But then years later, get this. Yeah. She was a guest on my show. No.
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So was Betty Grable. No. So was Bing Crosby. People that Nanny and I used to go and see. Yeah. In the movies, you know? When did Nanny pass? She died in... No, she did not get to see my show. But she did see me on Broadway. Right. And when I did the Gary Moore show.
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Yeah, she saw all of those. Yes. And it's Sullivan and those shows. Oh, oh. Tell. Already. I've got to hear it. I'm doing the Gary Moore show.
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And so I'm really doing well, you know? And I'm... Getting a lot of fan mail and stuff.
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It's starting to happen. So she's in California. I'm in New York. She had a very mild, mild heart attack and was in the hospital out here. So I'm talking to my cousin who lived in California. She said, well, you're not going to believe this. I said, what? She said, well, yesterday I went to visit Nanny in the hospital and
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And the elevator doors open, and there are all these people lined up in various costumes and stuff, like extras in Hollywood movies and stuff. And they're reading Variety, and they're all lined up. Leading up to Nanny's hospital room door. Stop it. She's like, what is going on? And she opens the hospital room door. Nanny is propped up, sitting in bed with her arms crossed, you know, like that.
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And there's a little girl in a tutu. dancing with a baton and her father is in the corner with a harmonica and this little girl is performing and ends in a split and nanny says very good thank you i'll tell carol about you send in the next one no No way. Oh, my God. Because we lived in Hollywood and she knew all of these various people. And the word got out that she was auditioning people.
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And my cousin said, Nanny, what are you? She said, well, I got bored.
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So she was a con artist.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
I can't find where it's coming from.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
And you definitely were. I mean, my God, you were.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
Well, we used to do the exercises, you know. We'd go, we must, we must, we must increase our bust. The boys, the boys, the boys depend on us. I don't think that was a top 40 hit. No, no, it wasn't. It didn't make it, but it was a good hometown thing. It was good in Columbus, Ohio. It made all the charts. I don't think there were any. We were such a quiet generation. I can't think of a single song.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
that would bring a blush to anybody's cheek.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
But back to Patti LaBelle.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
Do you remember? I know. That made me feel so bad. I'm so sorry.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
I know. How did I tell it? Did it just slip out or did I... Yeah, it just slipped out, Mom.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
Because that's where the surprise party was. I know. Oh. Oh, dear. Did you pretend it was a surprise or did you just say I had ruined the whole thing or how did you work that out? I can't remember.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
And you didn't know it would be there and everything.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Patti LaBelle
You know, of course it is. It is for sure. Yeah. And then and then to be singing. I mean, how wonderful, wonderful that she is still singing.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
She's 89 years old. I know. I know. I read that. She's born the year after me. Yes. Incredible. Has she ever stopped? Because I was looking at her record and it looks like she's been diving. She dived every day of her life.
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Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
I adored it. It's like another world. Oh, I adored it. You were on that same boat when we were in Bermuda, and the fellow took us way out so that you were at the edge of a cliff underwater. And so then you sort of snorkeled over the cliff, and you looked down. It was like Grand Canyon. And then all these fish were coming. I mean, it was like another world. Oh, my God, I loved it. I loved it. Yeah.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
Would you ever have gone scuba diving? I don't know if I wanted to go deeper or not, but snorkeling would have been good enough for me.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
Aquanaut. I love that word. Yeah, it's a real word, isn't that neat? Wonderful, wonderful, yeah. She has three children.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
And can you imagine having a grandmother that takes you into places like that? Right. Totally.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
Yeah, that's right. That's right. I've got to find a way in. I've got to find a way into their psyche. So many people have this thing about, yeah, poetry.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
I do remember that. I do. And I remember that Brad and Henry set a poem of mine to music for my birthday.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
So wonderful. Oh, my gosh. And especially the line. Abandon all stories for this one. For this one, yeah. And they just kept saying that. And that was wonderful.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
And we'll say we'll say do and we'll say do and which is a good I think I got from you the idea that's a good wordle thing to start.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
Adieu is a good wordle word. Another good word that I got the other day was arise.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
Well, I do it until it becomes like, oh, I've got to do this. I've got to prove to myself I can do it. You know, it happens to me in a certain, so I let it go for a few days then. And then I just come back to it where it can just be fun, you know.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
Okay, good. I'm going to meditate. All right. I have a meditation group here in 20 minutes. Perfect.
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Gets Wise with Sylvia Earle
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