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Office Ladies

An Interview with Kathy Bates

Wed, 11 Dec 2024

Description

This week the ladies interview Kathy Bates! Kathy has many accolades and dynamite performances which includes playing Sabre CEO Jo Bennett on "The Office". Kathy shares what it was like to play Jo Bennett as well as her current portrayal of Madeline Matlock on “Matlock”. Jenna and Angela also talk with her about being a cancer survivor and her advocacy work for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN). This is a wonderful chat with Kathy, we know you’ll love it. Check out the Lymphatic Education & Research Network: https://lymphaticnetwork.org/ Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Test: https://magview.com/ibis-risk-calculator/ Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Transcription

0.409 - 13.394 Jenna Fischer

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14.114 - 22.857 Angela Kinsey

Let's say you have a family member that loves to tell a joke, and maybe they want to craft their own stand-up. Guess what? You can take a class with Judd Apatow.

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24.362 - 47.716 Jenna Fischer

And classes really make a difference. 88% of Masterclass members say that they feel like Masterclass made a positive impact on their lives. And there's no risk because every new membership comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can give your loved ones a year of learning with Masterclass. Masterclass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off.

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48.237 - 52.039 Jenna Fischer

Head over to Masterclass.com slash Office Ladies for the current offer.

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52.58 - 77.443 Angela Kinsey

That's up to 50% off at Masterclass.com slash Office Ladies. Masterclass.com slash Office Ladies. Macy's has an exciting collaboration with Disney. It's a collection featuring apparel, accessories, collectibles, and more, featuring new and exclusive Disney artwork by Jeff Shelley, who is Disney's legendary director of character art. Ah. This collection is so cool.

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77.503 - 101.922 Jenna Fischer

They've got clothes, accessories, collectibles, and more. One of my very good friends loves Disney stuff. There are a lot of people that collect Disney stuff. They have got a jean jacket. It's so special. It's so unique. You've got Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse. They're dressed like they're in a marching band. They've got the batons on. It's such a cool jacket.

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102.182 - 106.404 Jenna Fischer

There's also a Stony Clover Lane fanny pack. Oh my gosh, stop it.

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106.744 - 113.708 Angela Kinsey

This exclusive collection is available on Macy's.com, Macy's mobile app, and select Macy's stores nationwide.

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114.029 - 137.816 Jenna Fischer

If you want to know what to get your nieces and nephews for Christmas and they are huge Disney fans, there are so many great gets. Shop this exclusive Disney and Macy's collection now. Head to Macy's.com or visit your local Macy's store. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends.

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138.196 - 141.939 Jenna Fischer

And now we're doing the ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you.

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142.319 - 150.944 Angela Kinsey

Each week, we will dive deeper into the world of The Office with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes details, and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Lady 6.0.

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154.836 - 171.648 Jenna Fischer

Hello. Hi there. We are so excited because today we get to share our interview with Kathy Bates. Kathy flippin' Bates. We got to Zoom with Kathy Bates, lady. I'm still kind of pinching myself about it.

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171.848 - 180.792 Angela Kinsey

I still, yeah, me too. Like even afterwards, I was like, we just spent over an hour. Yeah. We talked for so long with Kathy Bates. Yes.

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181.753 - 194.499 Jenna Fischer

You guys know that Kathy Bates appeared in eight episodes of The Office over season six and seven. She was Sabre CEO Joe Bennett. And she shares some really fun memories about her time on the show.

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195.319 - 221.925 Angela Kinsey

I mean, you know, she's just a legend. We are so fortunate that we got to work with her, have this amazing conversation with her. She has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She is currently starring in the new CBS series Matlock. It's a huge hit, and I'm sure she's going to add more awards to that shelf. Oh, for sure. I love Matlock.

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222.372 - 226.216 Angela Kinsey

Me too. We both started watching it. We've been watching it. It is so good.

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226.236 - 243.853 Jenna Fischer

It had me from the minute, like that first scene in the coffee shop. Oh my gosh. The pilot is one of the best pilots I've seen. I told her that too. Yeah. Well, we want to share a little bit about her new series. Kathy Bates plays a wealthy retired lawyer named Madeline Kingston.

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244.573 - 270.186 Jenna Fischer

And she returns to practicing law as a way to seek justice for the death of her daughter, Ellie, who died as a result of the opioid epidemic. But now you don't find that out till the end. Of the pilot. Yeah. Yes, that's right. When we meet her, we meet her in her fake identity as a sort of like needy widow named Maddie Matlock. Who had like a crappy ex-husband. Yes.

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270.306 - 289.989 Jenna Fischer

And she's raising her grandson on her own. And she is raising her grandson, but not on her own because her husband's still living. Stay with me. And her husband is nice. And her husband is great. Stay with us. And she gets a job at the law firm that she believes has hid evidence that could have saved her daughter's life.

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290.249 - 306.967 Angela Kinsey

Mm hmm. And the whole pilot is sort of her sneaking her way into the law firm. And she ends up in the big conference room meeting and she blows them away. It's a very badass moment. And they decide to give her like a two weeks temporary hire to see how she's going to shake out.

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307.167 - 323.019 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, kind of test run. So she's in. She's very excited. I just loved this conference room scene. They're all having this meeting and they're in litigation with this other company and they're trying to figure out, like, what would this company be willing to settle at? Right. What would they be willing to settle at?

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323.58 - 344.631 Jenna Fischer

And all of a sudden, like from the back of the room, you hear her be like, I know the number they're willing to settle at and I'll tell you what it is if you give me a job. And everyone's like, who is this lady? Right. Where did she come from? Right. And then she goes on to explain how she found out the number they're willing to settle for. And it's much higher than this law firm thought.

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345.032 - 349.474 Jenna Fischer

I actually thought we should listen because I loved it so much. Yes, a great scene. Here it is.

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350.334 - 352.215 Jenna Fischer

Let's avoid traps then. How do you know the number?

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352.235 - 380.245 Kathy Bates

Well, you see, there's this funny thing that happens when women age. We become damn near invisible. Oh, not that I'm complaining. I had my moment in the sun. Plus, it's useful because nobody sees us coming. That's how I got through your security several times. And it's also how I knew that Peabody's counsel grabs coffee and updates his client between 8.15 and 8.25. What's the number? Am I hired?

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380.505 - 384.387 Jenna Fischer

No one is hired without a two-week trial. What's their ceiling?

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386.154 - 391.478 Kathy Bates

$23 million, which means I just made you $4 million. Do I still need a two-week trial?

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392.819 - 412.891 Jenna Fischer

It's so good. So good. But I think what I like about the show is how, you know, people doubting you or people not believing in you or people not seeing you, like that can be really hard, but you can also turn it to your advantage. Yeah. Yeah. And make it work for you. And I really like that.

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413.391 - 433.297 Angela Kinsey

You know, there's a thing about this character that reminded me of something Phyllis said to you. Yes. Years ago. Yes, me too. Yeah, she knew all the scoop happening on the set. She always knew all the best gossip. All the best gossip. But she wasn't a gossip. She was not chatty. She did not share it. And Jenna has shared this before on the podcast.

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433.337 - 441.56 Angela Kinsey

But one time Jenna was like, Phyllis, how do you know everything? And she goes, well, when you're invisible – People say stuff around you. People say stuff around you.

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442.621 - 450.368 Jenna Fischer

She's like, I think people don't notice me, so I hear it all. Yeah. Well, Angela, you have a Matlock fun fact to share with us.

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451.247 - 465.94 Angela Kinsey

I do. Rainn Wilson and Melora Hardin both guest starred in the original Matlock series. And Linda Pearl, a.k.a. Helene Beasley, played Charlene Matlock in 23 episodes of the original series.

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466.441 - 484.337 Jenna Fischer

A little office Matlock connection there. Yeah. Well, something else about Kathy Bates is that she and I are both breast cancer survivors. Kathy is actually a two-time cancer survivor. Kathy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003 and breast cancer in 2012.

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485.678 - 510.959 Jenna Fischer

After being treated for breast cancer, she developed lymphedema, and she is now the spokesperson of the Lymphatic Education and Research Network, and she talked with us about that as well. I really appreciated getting to talk with her about this. When you are a cancer patient, there's a language that goes with it. I say to my other breast cancer ladies, like, we speak cancer.

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511.539 - 517.403 Jenna Fischer

And so I got to kind of speak that language with her a little bit and feel really heard. She was so kind.

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517.943 - 531.072 Angela Kinsey

She was very kind and thoughtful. And one of the biggest takeaways from just getting a chance to talk to her for me was how committed she is to making a difference and to helping others. And I really admired her for that.

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531.492 - 547.332 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, I really admire her too. You know, she's talked about this desire to be useful. And her character talks about that on Matlock being useful. And that's something that I felt with my own journey. If I could just make

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547.853 - 577.92 Jenna Fischer

this somehow useful yeah it keeps me going i really identified with that when she talked about that but guys it was just an honor to have worked with her and to have her on the podcast we're gonna take a quick break and then our interview with kathy bates This segment is brought to you by Macy's. Hey, everyone. This is your friendly reminder that the holiday season is upon us.

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578.34 - 594.367 Jenna Fischer

Macy's is our one-stop shop for gifting this season. I have found gifts for everyone on my list thanks to the Macy's gift guide. In fact, it was their gift guide titled Home that helped me find the perfect gift for my sister this year. They have such good gift guides.

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594.568 - 608.583 Jenna Fischer

Lady, I'm so excited that we partnered with them this holiday season because they are truly, actually making my holiday shopping so much easier. I know. Because I have spent so much time with the gift guides. So what did you get your sister? I got her an air fryer. Wow. Great.

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608.743 - 625.491 Jenna Fischer

And I know she's going to be excited about it because she recently told me that her kids' new favorite thing to make at home are pan-fried potatoes. But it drives her crazy because of how the oil splatters all over the stove when they make it. Because I think they like to make it, but they don't love to clean it up, I guess. Well, that's usually the case, right?

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625.992 - 642.483 Angela Kinsey

Anyway, I don't think I would have thought of an air fryer, but I saw it pop up on the gift guide. Well, speaking of gift guides, we also started our own Macy's gift guide where we are putting our picks for the holidays. So, Jenna, I know you added the air fryer to our list. I did because I think it's such a fun thing.

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642.944 - 664.887 Jenna Fischer

It's kind of like a toy for adults. I feel like it's something you might not buy yourself, but you would love as a gift. Yeah. I have one, too. I love it. Give love. Give an air fryer. You're going to put a swipe up in our stories, too, right? For sure. In general, I love small kitchen appliances. I love a blender, a mini food processor, a rice cooker. That is my personal favorite.

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665.007 - 669.656 Jenna Fischer

I'm going to add a rice cooker to our gift guide. I use my rice cooker so much.

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670.285 - 694.471 Angela Kinsey

Well, I added a few things to our gift guide as well. So my son has really been wanting a pair of nice slippers. You know, he had like his little kid slippers, you know, like the fuzzy ones and they've fallen apart. But he's older now. He's a teenager and he wanted some cozy slippers, but like also ones that you could walk out in the driveway in. Yep. So I got him these great Ugg slippers.

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694.651 - 720.168 Angela Kinsey

They are the Ugg men's classic slip-on shaggy suede slippers. I can't wait to give them to him. And I added a little something for me on our site. What did you add? Well, I mean, I love to dress festive this time of year. So I added a cute red sweater. And on the front of it in white, it says Mary, M-E-R-R-Y. That is so you. Yeah. It's by Cece and I put it on our storefront.

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720.548 - 724.95 Angela Kinsey

So, you know, people who are like me and want to be festive can go there and get it.

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725.631 - 735.296 Jenna Fischer

We really hope you'll check out our gift list. We have put so much love and care into it. And at Macy's Friends and Family, you can take an extra 30% off top gifts and 50% off top beauty brands.

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737.957 - 746.163 Angela Kinsey

It's Macy's Best Offer of the Season. Take an extra 30% off top gifts, plus 15% off our best beauty brands and free shipping starting at $25.

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747.605 - 762.436 Jenna Fischer

Let Macy's be your guide to gifting. Shop our favorites this holiday season directly from our Macy's Gift Guide storefront by visiting the link in our Instagram bio. We tried to fill it with lots of ideas, from sweet treats to stocking stuffers and more.

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762.996 - 785.235 Angela Kinsey

Again, head to our Instagram bio for the link to shop directly from our Macy's gift guide storefront. Happy shopping. If you ever worry about the safety of your home or your family, there's no better time to act than right now because SimpliSafe is extending its massive Black Friday deal for our listeners. You can get 50% off a new SimpliSafe security system.

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785.755 - 791.24 Angela Kinsey

I've been using it and I love how easy it was to set up and maintain and there's always someone to help.

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791.44 - 817.714 Jenna Fischer

You can get 50% off today just by visiting simplisafe.com slash office ladies. This is the last chance to protect your home at SimpliSafe's lowest prices of the year. SimpliSafe has active guard outdoor protection. SimpliSafe is extending its massive Black Friday deal for our listeners. This week only, you can get 50% off any new system with a select professional monitoring plan.

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818.274 - 845.23 Angela Kinsey

This is your last chance to claim their best offer of the year. Head to simplisafe.com slash officeladies. That's simplisafe.com slash officeladies. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. You know, it's that time of year where you reflect and you look back and sometimes you want to just mark what you've been through with something beautiful, something just for yourself, something maybe even sparkly.

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846.384 - 853.527 Angela Kinsey

So if you're thinking of celebrating your past year with something sparkly, there's no better place to do it than at BlueNile.com.

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853.927 - 861.47 Jenna Fischer

Blue Nile offers some of the highest quality standards in the industry at prices that are significantly below traditional retail.

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861.79 - 875.556 Angela Kinsey

Here's something that's great as well. If you have questions about what to get, Blue Nile's jewelry experts are on hand 24-7 via phone or chat. From technical questions to budget suggestions, they're there to help you feel confident about every purchase.

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876.024 - 892.036 Jenna Fischer

We each got a pair of earrings from Blue Nile, and I actually used that service. I chatted with someone because I had a question about the prongs, like the setting. That go on the back. And they were very helpful. You also get 30-day returns and a diamond price match guarantee.

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892.276 - 903.645 Angela Kinsey

Go to BlueNile.com to shop Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999. That's BlueNile.com, BlueNile.com. They really have such beautiful things.

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911.528 - 919.413 Jenna Fischer

Hi, how are you? Well, thank you. Who's this puppy on your lap? This is Zelda. Hi, Zelda.

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919.894 - 926.417 Kathy Bates

Yeah, she's in a licking mode. I don't know why. Hi, how are you guys? So good.

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927.678 - 931.461 Jenna Fischer

It's so fun to get to see you again after all these years.

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932.101 - 942.589 Kathy Bates

I know. Let's see. I think I did this show in 11, like 12 years ago. Yeah. 12, 13 years ago. It's been a long time.

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942.609 - 945.431 Angela Kinsey

It's been a long time. A lot of life has happened.

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945.851 - 948.964 Kathy Bates

Yes, indeed. It has. How are you guys?

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949.605 - 968.804 Jenna Fischer

We're good. We're loving this new job of podcasting. Kathy, I only got dressed on the top. Look at this. Just got my pajama pants on the bottom. I didn't even get dressed. I'm still in bed. You are a master podcaster then.

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969.264 - 974.825 Angela Kinsey

Already. And we're basically in our closets here. This is a closet. I'm in a closet.

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974.885 - 1006.579 Jenna Fischer

Oh, I see. That's how we do it. Kathy, thank you so much for joining us today. We are so excited to talk with you about The Office. about your new show, Matlock. We are huge fans of Matlock. Thank you. Yes, we are loving it, Kathy. Yeah, and we also want to talk about your work with the Lymphatic Education and Research Network. Yes. Do you mind if we start with the office? No, I don't mind at all.

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1006.799 - 1016.985 Angela Kinsey

Let's begin. Okay. Well, I'll kick us off with our first question, and it's one we ask all of our guests that were on The Office, and it's, how did you get your job on The Office?

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1017.526 - 1038.819 Kathy Bates

I think they just offered it to me. I was very lucky. I had not seen the show that much, but I watched a great deal of it when I was preparing for the show, and Everyone was so brilliant and so effortless. You guys, I don't know how you did it. I felt like when I was doing it, I was really running to catch up and it was a learning curve.

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1040.221 - 1065.343 Kathy Bates

I don't know if it was like that for you guys when you started working on the show, but working with their different cameras and the level and the comedy that you guys did, I felt that I was really... Trying to get the feel of that and trying to do, I always felt after I did an episode that I wasn't sure if I'd really done it the best I could.

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1066.363 - 1072.428 Jenna Fischer

That's so interesting. I mean, our perspective was that you were nailing it.

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1073.128 - 1081.334 Angela Kinsey

Like from the get-go. When you walked in as Joe Bennett, I would have thought you'd been Joe Bennett your whole life. Oh, really? Yes.

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1082.475 - 1086.679 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, it was such a fully realized character from the beginning.

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1086.699 - 1106.763 Kathy Bates

Wow. Well, I think I was nervous because you guys do the comedy so well, and I don't think of myself as a comedian. And That you worked with the cameras so well. Was that a learning curve for you? I mean, did you... When you started out on it, did you... You had done... When did you start doing it? I mean... The camera?

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1107.363 - 1123.474 Jenna Fischer

Yes. Well, the camera was part of my audition. Yes, same. So from even the audition process, they were wanting me to relate to or not relate to the camera, throw looks to the camera. And... Mm-hmm.

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1143.971 - 1165.388 Angela Kinsey

Kathy, I remember I was really nervous about how to interact with the camera in our pilot episode. The supporting cast, we were just the background. It was a real lesson in patience, and you just had to wait for that moment when you finally got to have a little interaction. But we spent so much time in the background, and my nose was itching so bad one day.

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1165.408 - 1188.445 Angela Kinsey

And I thought, oh, I can't scratch it because I'm on camera. That's weird. And I was, oh, God, I wanted to scratch it so bad. And I went up to Ken Kwapis, our director, and he must have thought I was like so silly. I said, Ken, my nose was really itching in that last take and I scratched it and I'm so sorry. And he was like, Angela, you are living a life. Live a life.

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1188.545 - 1197.471 Angela Kinsey

And the camera captures what it captures. If your nose itches, scratch it. And that was sort of an eye-opening moment for me about how to just be in the background.

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1197.831 - 1225.314 Kathy Bates

Yeah. One of the episodes that I think I wish I had prepared for first was when Joe comes in and starts talking about the printers. You know, I would like to have gone back and done that and really gone to town with it. But the other ones I really loved working with, or I mean, Correll, Steve Correll, I couldn't get over what a fantastic actor and improvisationalist he is. So for me,

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1226.073 - 1241.145 Kathy Bates

It was great to be around people like him and John and a whole bunch of the guys and gals. It's just to try and learn from them how they do what they do because it's invisible. Does that make sense?

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1241.546 - 1254.616 Angela Kinsey

Yeah. Yeah, it does. You don't feel like you're watching someone act when you watch Steve. Like I never do. I always believed him. He just is such a natural in whatever role he puts on. I don't see him acting anymore.

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1254.918 - 1256.219 Kathy Bates

I didn't see him as DuPont.

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1256.759 - 1258 Angela Kinsey

Oh, in Foxcatcher.

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1258.44 - 1280.975 Kathy Bates

That's right. He was nominated for an Academy Award. Yes. Yeah. Yes. I was watching it with a friend and we were in about 15 minutes and he said, you know who that is? I said, no, who is that? He said, that's Steve Carell. I said, you've got to be kidding me. I can't believe that's Steve Carell. I mean, he was just, he disappeared into the character.

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1281.601 - 1304.854 Kathy Bates

But back on working with him at the office, I just wish I could have learned more from him. You know, I certainly enjoyed working on the show. I thought it was a lot of fun. I did have a problem transitioning from lines that were written and then the improvisation that we were allowed to do. I don't know if I ever really succeeded. I kept getting tripped up on that.

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1305.583 - 1336.549 Kathy Bates

But it was a wonderful experience. I know toward the end, since Steve was leaving, they were interested in me possibly staying on. And I had gone on to do Harry's Law. But, you know, I don't want to cast aspersions on anybody, but I think it would have been fun to stay on The Office, you know. We would have loved that. For sure. For sure. And really developed that character more, you know.

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1337.131 - 1354.062 Angela Kinsey

She had so much, you know, she was so layered. I mean, the scenes between Michael and Joe on the private plane were just so brilliant. I loved those. I wanted to see more of her world. Like, where does she go? And the Great Danes and your outfits and your hair. Were you a part of the look of Joe Bennett?

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1354.382 - 1384.166 Kathy Bates

Yeah, I had this fur coat that I had found that was kind of strips of fur that was kind of Really kind of low class. But I insisted on wearing that. That was just so inappropriate. And I think, yes, we worked on the hair and the look for her. And it's been a while. So forgive me. I can't remember the wonderful people who worked with me on that to really create something that was out of style.

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1385.129 - 1408.928 Kathy Bates

you know, I think she figured it's, it's what they say when you figure out what style looks good on you, you stay with it regardless of your age or anything or fashion. And also just her swagger, you know, I, I felt she had a lot of swagger and that she was probably a bull in a China shop. That's, that's how she ran her company was, it was just sort of steamrolling over everybody.

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1408.948 - 1422.178 Kathy Bates

Um, uh, and with her money, um, And I loved the Great Danes. I really did. They were great. There was one scene where I said, let's have the Great Dane. We have to have one of them staring over my shoulder.

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1422.278 - 1425.12 Jenna Fischer

Yes, I remember that. It's so brilliant.

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1426.081 - 1433.847 Kathy Bates

Yeah. The trainers walk around with a lot of baby diapers, the old-fashioned ones, because those dogs slobber a lot.

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1434.908 - 1437.63 Jenna Fischer

So would they wipe them with the baby diaper?

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1437.65 - 1460.851 Kathy Bates

Yeah, the baby, they keep their slobber there from coming out. And they were a mother and a son. actually. And I think they weighed about 120 pounds each, just huge, but really sweet. You know, not really, you know, not really bright. But they were, you know, we had fun with them. And I loved the scene where I was looking over my shoulder.

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1460.951 - 1468.354 Angela Kinsey

So when that one looks over your shoulder, its head is bigger than yours. Its presence on camera is so big.

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1468.994 - 1473.656 Kathy Bates

Yeah, we kept trying to get him to bark. I don't know if we ever succeeded. I can't remember now.

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1474.201 - 1482.105 Jenna Fischer

What was it like for you to be reunited with Rainn Wilson? He shared with us that you gave him his big break on Six Feet Under.

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1482.405 - 1504.525 Kathy Bates

You know what? He was so funny. I'll always have this memory. He came up. For some reason, we were shooting in Ruth's room, and he had just been hired at the funeral home. And so he was rushing out the door. We gave him something to do. He had to go do it really quickly. And he ran out into the hallway and he took a right.

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1505.665 - 1528.748 Kathy Bates

And then there was this pause and he ran left because he realized that he didn't know where he was going because it was a completely new environment for him. And I thought, oh, my God, this guy is brilliant. It was such an amazing choice. It was a shock. He was so wonderful to work with, so inventive, so funny. Well, all of the things that you saw working with him on the show, I'm sure.

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1529.028 - 1537.173 Kathy Bates

When I worked with him on your show, he had evolved quite a bit, you know, as an actor. And he's a very funny guy. Really, really liked working with him.

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1537.933 - 1548.859 Angela Kinsey

Well, you know, we are both watching Matlock and we are loving it. I mean, everyone is loving it. Kathy, it is just taken off like wildfire and we would love to talk to you about it.

0
💬 0

1549.4 - 1576.248 Kathy Bates

Well, I'm happy to talk about it. Yeah, we're, we're, the numbers are just, Crazy. They were just off the charts. And the best part about it is that everybody involved with it, whether it's the president of the studio, Amy Reisenbach, who's been our big fan, and David Stapp, the president of the studio, and George Sheeks, who's kind of over all of us in Paramount, they're all so normal people.

0
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1576.84 - 1603.968 Kathy Bates

You know, and they're accessible. They communicate and they send emails and, you know, they came to our last table read. And I've never had that happen before. And then, of course, there's Jenny Ehrman, who created Jane the Virgin. And she's brilliant. Her mind works like a Rubik's cube. And the layers that she's created in this series is just fascinating.

0
💬 0

1604.128 - 1630.093 Kathy Bates

And I'm also an executive producer on the show. So they send me the episodes to take a look at, see if I have any suggestions. And I mean, it's just, I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait for what's coming up. So when I first met Jenny, I first read the script and as I was reading along, it seemed like it was just episodic, that it was a case of the week. Yes.

0
💬 0

1630.353 - 1648.721 Kathy Bates

And then of course, there's the twist at the end. And I was thrilled because I think, okay, now this has got substance. It's about something. It's about something meaningful. It's something I can really sink my teeth into. And I read it on a Friday. I met with her on a Monday and I said, don't change a word. I want to do this.

0
💬 0

1648.981 - 1672.498 Kathy Bates

And then we started talking about the character and where it was going and who she was, where she came from, all of the things, how she had planned to sell out with her grandson. And it was fascinating. I never imagined playing a character like this.

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1673.208 - 1696.722 Jenna Fischer

Well, you're really playing two characters, right? So you're playing this sort of like explain that to people because if you watch the first episode, if you watch the pilot, it's one of the best pilots of anything I've ever seen. I remember seeing the pilot for Breaking Bad and thinking, wow, that was a great pilot. And I felt the same way when I saw the pilot for Matlock.

0
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1697.202 - 1720.087 Jenna Fischer

The twist at the end is genius. But you had me from the minute you stood at that coffee counter. Yes. And you're bumbling. You get a guy to pay for your coffee. You get the candies and the packets. You're putting your candies in your hand. And you trick your way in to this law firm into their boardroom into a job.

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1720.487 - 1748.557 Kathy Bates

It is amazing. I think so, too. I mean, I had to... keep asking Jenny questions about, is this possible? I remember asking a friend of mine who's in corporate law, not corporate law, but he's in the corporate world. He's a dear friend of mine. I said, could you do this? Could you do this? And he thought about it for a I could. And then I don't have kids. So I talked to my niece.

0
💬 0

1748.597 - 1772.52 Kathy Bates

She has a daughter who's now grown. And I said, but could you do this? Could you be this devious and deceitful and lie to people all the time for your daughter? And she said, yes. She said, when you're a mother, your love for your child is savage. And I love, of course, the fact that she's older.

0
💬 0

1772.54 - 1798.555 Kathy Bates

I would never have believed that I could have done a series like this at my age, been asked to do one, and that we've gotten letters from people, from women who say, thank you, I don't feel invisible anymore. I think that you'll see as the series goes on that Matlock is really falling in love with being a lawyer again. You know, she was in mourning for years and years, and then her grandson died,

0
💬 0

1798.88 - 1824.713 Kathy Bates

saw this Reddit post and said that, you know, this is a way to get back at them. You know, she can plan everything she wants, but she doesn't expect to be a trial lawyer. And you find out later on in the third episode that she, you know, went into contract law because of a sexual abuse experience instead of going into litigation, which is what she really wanted.

0
💬 0

1825.701 - 1858.203 Kathy Bates

And I'm jumping all over here, but that was a seminal moment for her, that she was really able to make a difference, that she was able to remember her own sexual assault, and it changed her opinion about what young women go through nowadays. And it also shows not just the sexual assault, which is what we all talk about and how bad that is and how prevalent that is.

0
💬 0

1859.584 - 1884.657 Kathy Bates

But it talks about what happens then? What happens after? Do you make a different career choice for women that are trying to get into show business and they get into a really bad situation? What happens to them after that? And In this case, we see Maddie taking a divergent path, one that she wasn't happy with. And she didn't realize that until she met this young woman.

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1885.077 - 1894.766 Kathy Bates

So the fact that she's learning all of this from everyone is a very powerful thing to say in an episodic television show on network.

0
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1895.147 - 1914.079 Angela Kinsey

I was going to say the idea, you know, I'm 53, but I'm still discovering things about myself. And that life is a discovery. You don't age out of discovery. And I think sometimes we dismiss that. We think that we can't discover new things about ourselves. And I've really connected to that in this show.

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1914.319 - 1940.245 Kathy Bates

Yeah, I agree. That's a really good point. Every time I do something, I want to learn from it. And one of the most valuable things, as I was saying, being an exec producer and being able to see the cuts, I'm learning things about my acting, like bad habits, you know, that I want to change without restricting myself. But we're always learning. We're always evolving as artists, as people.

0
💬 0

1940.305 - 1956.774 Kathy Bates

We're trying to learn from our experiences. And seeing that happen in a show like this is so, I think that's one of the reasons people are so attracted to it. And it's people from all walks of life, which is what I really like.

0
💬 0

1957.695 - 1981.801 Kathy Bates

I feel so grateful that everyone on the show, I think that even the crew, there was a sense when we came back to do episode two, because it was the first time we'd shot in America, we shot the pilot in Toronto. So when we came back to do it here, there was just this buzz and this excitement about getting ready to do the show and the crew, you could feel it on the set.

0
💬 0

1982.702 - 2009.966 Kathy Bates

It was just, it was, it was new to me to feel that. And so, I mean, we would all go around looking at each other or even the day players or the guest cast that would come in would just be looking at us going, Oh my God, We can't believe it's like this. We've never worked on a show like this. So it's not just the material that we're putting out for everybody.

0
💬 0

2010.126 - 2029.296 Kathy Bates

It's also the experience of doing it every day and the joy of connecting and being vulnerable to one another so that the work really blossoms. And you learn something about yourself. All I can say is I'm grateful. I'm just so grateful to have this experience.

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2029.916 - 2039.884 Jenna Fischer

Well, the way you talk about it and the way your face lights up and the way you talk about the people and the crew and the experience, it just reminds me so much of working on The Office.

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💬 0

2040.164 - 2061.281 Angela Kinsey

Doesn't it, you, Angela? Yes, so much, especially, Kathy, when you were talking about how exciting it is to get the scripts and have an input, you know, There was such a creative collaboration. Greg Daniels set the tone for that, that we could go to the writers and we could pitch ideas to them. And that was so powerful and meaningful, even as a supporting cast member. So I love that.

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2061.361 - 2075.471 Angela Kinsey

And you see it in the work. You see the creative collaboration. It's why we're hooked from the minute you're on screen. The cast is so fantastic. Yeah. I really love the cast and we can't wait. You know, we'll keep talking about it.

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2075.911 - 2098.859 Kathy Bates

Well, I felt like for a minute, I felt you were talking about the office. Oh, you know, because it's the same way. I mean, you guys, you were full blown people. And there was, as you said before, you're living. That's what I've always saying to Jenny. I don't want to play Maddie. I want to be Maddie. So that's what you guys were doing.

0
💬 0

2098.979 - 2106.245 Kathy Bates

And the feeling on the set of The Office is, I thought you were talking about you guys. It's the same thing.

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2106.406 - 2126.547 Angela Kinsey

It is. It's the same thing. This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. I definitely feel like I'm going from one thing to the next during the holidays. Oh, yeah. Building up to it during the holidays, even the cleanup after it.

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2127.007 - 2145.116 Jenna Fischer

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2145.777 - 2151.101 Angela Kinsey

And you know, if you're having some long days during this time or if you have travel, it's so important to stay hydrated.

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2151.702 - 2164.472 Jenna Fischer

Liquid IV has three times the electrolytes of leading sports drinks, and it has eight essential vitamins and nutrients. It is also non-GMO, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free.

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2165.212 - 2175.259 Angela Kinsey

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2175.58 - 2183.706 Jenna Fischer

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2242.964 - 2257.141 Angela Kinsey

Well, you know, we also would love to talk to you about your advocacy work and your recent health journey. And I know Jenna had reached out to you, and I would love to start that part of this conversation.

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2257.161 - 2267.334 Kathy Bates

Right. Jenna, can you tell me where you are in terms of your work? I know I heard that you have breast cancer. Could you tell me a little bit about where you are in that journey?

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2267.995 - 2297.96 Jenna Fischer

Sure. So I was diagnosed last December, December 2023. In January, I had a lumpectomy. And then I had a reconstructive surgery. I had a breast reduction and lift. And what they were able to do was take some of my own breast tissue and sort of fill in the hole where they removed the cancer. So I was reconstructed on the one side using my own tissue, and then they made the other side match.

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2299.702 - 2333.583 Jenna Fischer

And then I did 12 rounds of taxel chemotherapy. I got that once a week. And I did three weeks of radiation. And my breast cancer is triple positive. So it was positive for estrogen, progesterone, and HER2. And so for a year, I received these immunotherapy infusions of a drug called Herceptin, which is a miracle drug that was discovered in my lifetime.

0
💬 0

2335.544 - 2360.791 Jenna Fischer

before this drug was introduced to the treatment plan for women with HER2-positive breast cancers, the survival rate was one of the lowest of the breast cancer diagnoses, and now it's one of the highest. And so I feel very blessed that this is part of my treatment plan. And so I've got a few more infusions of that ahead of me. I get those once every three weeks.

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💬 0

2361.764 - 2390.628 Jenna Fischer

And then I will be on tamoxifen, which is an estrogen blocker, for five years. And that's my treatment plan. So I'm finished with the big three, as I called them, the surgery, the chemo, and the radiation. And now I still have a few things ahead of me. But I... I'm riding waves of random side effects every day. It's a little different.

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💬 0

2390.648 - 2423.113 Jenna Fischer

I don't know if you can relate, but one of the hardest parts of this whole process has been just the intense need for flexibility on a day-to-day basis according to what my body can do. And And that's hard for me because I'm a real planner. I love a schedule. I love to do what I say I was going to do. And so, um, so that's kind of where I am in the process.

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2423.533 - 2455.172 Kathy Bates

Well, I had breast cancer. Let's see. Right. I think right as I started, after I started working with you guys, it was 2012. Yeah. And, um, I, I had a very bad experience with it. I, um, I'd had ovarian in 2003, and for some reason, even though I went through nine rounds of chemo for that, the chemo was really hard.

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💬 0

2457.134 - 2471.273 Kathy Bates

We had to do, I can't remember the names of the drugs, but I remember they gave me steroids, and then I would be coming off the steroids and just getting... I don't know if you've gone through that, but that's been really difficult. That was very difficult.

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💬 0

2471.694 - 2489.399 Jenna Fischer

I got steroids before each round of chemo. And I found that the steroids, the side effects of the steroids... having me be real amped and then crashing kind of right as the chemo would hit me, that was a rough couple of days, yeah.

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💬 0

2489.519 - 2508.744 Kathy Bates

Yeah, that was what really, that was difficult for me. But with the breast cancer, that sort of came out of nowhere. I was speaking at Sloan Kettering about being a cancer survivor with ovarian cancer and then came home and discovered I had breast cancer, which was kind of ironic. And because it runs in my family,

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2510.276 - 2539.122 Kathy Bates

I said, you know, just take both off because I had mainly it was in my left breast, but there were some troubling things in my right breast. And so I decided to have them both removed. I didn't opt for reconstruction. I don't know why. I think at the time I just, I didn't want to do it. And they put drains in and they're, they're very, thick, heavy, not heavy, but thick plastic drains.

0
💬 0

2539.603 - 2541.924 Jenna Fischer

I'm familiar. I had the drains. Yes.

0
💬 0

2542.164 - 2563.42 Kathy Bates

Yeah. And for some reason on the left side, it must have hit a nerve. I don't know what it was, but it was so painful. And I realized when they removed it, that's what the extra pain was. There was the pain involved. And then I developed lymphedema after that, which my arms were very swollen. I could only wear men's shirts for a long time.

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💬 0

2564.364 - 2589.372 Kathy Bates

And through my doctor here, I met Bill Rapisi, who is the CEO of the Lymphatic Education and Research Network. He asked me to come aboard as a national spokesperson. And I said, Bill, I've never done this before. I don't know if I can do a good job, what's involved. But he told me a couple of really disturbing facts that nearly 10 million people in this country suffer from some kind of lymphedema.

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💬 0

2590.012 - 2610.801 Kathy Bates

And about 50,000 of those are congenitals. So it strikes kids. When we were lobbying in Congress, I met a man who lost three kids to pulmonary lymphedema. Doctors in medical school, in four years of medical school, spend 15 minutes on learning about the lymphatic system.

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💬 0

2611.88 - 2623.606 Angela Kinsey

And see, Kathy, I did not know what lymphedema was. And when you started talking about it is when I learned about it. And Jenna had shared with me as well. So I think this is so important to talk about.

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💬 0

2623.746 - 2647.038 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, something like 20% of breast cancer patients develop lymphedema. And it's because when you get your breast cancer surgery, something that is just standard is they remove some of your lymph nodes to test them for cancer to see if the cancer has spread that from the breast, those lymph nodes underneath your arm, that's first stop shopping for the cancer.

0
💬 0

2647.619 - 2675.677 Jenna Fischer

So they test those lymph nodes, but they remove them. And when you mess with the lymphatic system like that, when you do that surgery, you increase your risk of developing lymphedema. And, um, And it was something that luckily my doctor did explain to me before my surgery. They educated me on the warning signs about my arm swelling or my legs or ankles swelling.

0
💬 0

2676.397 - 2698.748 Jenna Fischer

And my cancer was on my left side and I had my lymph nodes removed on my left side. And they have told me that whenever I get a blood pressure cuff, it needs to be on my right side. And if I'm going to get an IV, it needs to be placed on my right side, because that is just how incredibly vulnerable your lymphatic system is to disturbance.

0
💬 0

2699.729 - 2719.194 Kathy Bates

Well, I'm thrilled to hear you say all of that, because that means that the doctors have learned about it and are making patients aware. When I had breast cancer and I had my breast cancer done at a top notch place here. But the doctors didn't talk to me about that.

0
💬 0

2719.514 - 2745.496 Kathy Bates

I kept talking to them about it because I had been dating a guy at the time who had it in his left arm and it's progressive and it's incurable. And he had gone through an experimental treatment to survive cancer and did not want to go to another doctor until, you know, ever in his life. And as a result, his arm became like wood. Oh, my gosh. And that was my fear.

0
💬 0

2746.016 - 2768.202 Kathy Bates

And also that, you know, I was afraid that that was what lymphedema was. And I was full of rage because I had told the doctors, I'm worried about this. I'm worried about this. I'm worried about this. And they took so many lymph nodes. But I'm thrilled that they told you all of that. Because back then, my doctor had to go and look it up on the Internet. Wow.

0
💬 0

2769.653 - 2794.345 Kathy Bates

He found this woman, wonderful Dr. Emily Iger, who was able to work with me and get my arms down over a period of time. And now that I've lost a lot of weight, that really helped. But trying to educate people over the last 10 years has been a real journey. We would get emails from people. I remember one guy, I'll never forget him, John Dayo.

0
💬 0

2795.143 - 2818.61 Kathy Bates

who wrote us an email and at the end of the email, all capital letters, help me, help me, help me, help me, help me. Because the people are in so much pain, they don't know who to go to. I'm really proud of all the work that we've done with Learn. Our CEO has gone all around the world. We have now the first national commission on lymphatic disease at the NIH.

0
💬 0

2819.07 - 2845.749 Kathy Bates

They had their first meeting a couple of months ago. And we worked really hard to have that happen. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the congresswoman there, was instrumental in getting us the attention that we needed to get this commission going. We got a grant from the CDC for publicity to really create our outreach for people. We're now working on the DOD because it's not just underneath our arms.

0
💬 0

2846.149 - 2863.376 Kathy Bates

If these veterans come back and they're traumatic injuries, have damaged their lymph system. They're at risk. We have a man who wanted to be in the Coast Guard and he came back from military and he was just a mess and he had to give up that dream.

0
💬 0

2863.816 - 2887.174 Kathy Bates

That's been the most moving and sad parts of this is realizing that people had to give up their dreams because of, and there's a kind of lymphedema that happens when you're like late teens, early 20s. when you're just beginning your life and out of nowhere, they don't know what it is. It's some predisposition that occurs at that time. And I appreciate so much.

0
💬 0

2887.214 - 2918.156 Kathy Bates

You're letting me talk about it on your show because education is key. And I always tell the people that they're at our lobbies sessions in Washington, DC, your pain is your power. Your story is your power. And the fact that you can share your story with me and, You can tell people how far we've come. Yeah. It's amazing that you have perky breasts. You know?

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💬 0

2919.497 - 2946.206 Jenna Fischer

I do like how my shirts fit me better now. I'll say that. And my hair, Kathy, after chemotherapy, so before chemotherapy, my hair was... almost all gray. And after chemotherapy, my hair is growing in not gray. Oh, my God. So I heard that people said, oh, if you have straight hair, it might come back curly. If you have curly hair, like it'll come back a different texture.

0
💬 0

2946.246 - 2950.03 Jenna Fischer

It might come back a different color. And you're not having to color your hair.

0
💬 0

2950.05 - 2965.743 Kathy Bates

How about that? That's so great. I'm jelly. I'm totally jelly. No, I lost everything. I lost every hair everywhere. Some of it I'm glad I lost. But it took me a while to get it back.

0
💬 0

2966.103 - 2994.124 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, it was hard. When I heard that I was going to have to have chemo, my first two thoughts were, I don't want to throw up and I don't want to lose my hair. That's what I associated chemotherapy with. And I didn't throw up, but I did lose my hair. And it didn't occur to me until it was happening that it is all your hair. It's your eyebrows and your eyelashes and all of it everywhere.

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💬 0

2994.664 - 3007.073 Jenna Fischer

And it's weird. My eyebrows came back real quickly, though. I was happy for that because I was not great at drawing them in. But it's really weird to not have eyelashes anymore.

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💬 0

3007.679 - 3033.716 Kathy Bates

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think my eyelashes really came back or maybe it just being older. Yeah. I had a friend of mine, actually, Judy Corey, who did my hair for misery. She came in and that was back in 2003. She she came over and shaved my head for me. And then after I had a bald head, I mean, I did use all these had things made like caps and all this bullshit wigs and everything.

0
💬 0

3033.776 - 3053.35 Kathy Bates

And finally, I just thought I saw Melissa Etheridge. you know, just wailing on our guitar on some kind of a show with a bald head. And I thought, oh, okay, you know, time to just stop all this hiding and, and just be who you are. But I'm thrilled that there are all of these new, what was the H one that you said? Herpa?

0
💬 0

3053.71 - 3054.291 Jenna Fischer

Oh, yeah.

0
💬 0

3054.351 - 3055.191 Kathy Bates

Herceptin.

0
💬 0

3055.411 - 3068.937 Jenna Fischer

Herceptin. Yeah, it's a targeted immunotherapy. I mean, really, it's only been out for about 25 years. And it has just drastically changed the prognosis for women with HER2 positive breast cancers.

0
💬 0

3069.377 - 3069.777 Kathy Bates

Wow.

0
💬 0

3070.017 - 3071.178 Jenna Fischer

It's really amazing.

0
💬 0

3071.918 - 3076.62 Kathy Bates

Wow. Oh, bless you. You didn't have to go through that. And you're not having any problems with your arm.

0
💬 0

3077.705 - 3097.055 Jenna Fischer

I am not. No. And I'm really grateful for that. And after my surgery, my doctor also prescribed some physical therapy. So I was able to get that side moving. You know, it's very tender, though. I have to say of all my scars of...

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💬 0

3098.476 - 3120.065 Jenna Fischer

all of the ways that I've been poked and prodded in this process of getting a port and all the things, that scar underneath my arm from where they removed the lymph nodes is the most tender. It's still tight when I try to raise my arm above my head. It is really, truly such a sensitive area.

0
💬 0

3120.085 - 3125.888 Kathy Bates

Yeah, it's going to be tender, I think. I mean, this is new. You've only had it for a year, gone through it.

0
💬 0

3126.628 - 3151.44 Jenna Fischer

Yeah. January is the anniversary of my surgery. I look at all you've done in a year. I know. Well, you know, Kathy, I remember you worked right after your chemotherapy. You went back to work pretty quickly. And I read something that you said, which was that it was a little bit of an opportunity to be not a cancer patient. You got to play a character. Yeah.

0
💬 0

3152.438 - 3172.472 Jenna Fischer

And I have kept working through my treatment. And I needed that for my mental health. I needed a place that I went throughout the week. And I just laughed with my best friend. And we talked about these great memories of our time on this show together. Because really, truly, it is so many appointments.

0
💬 0

3172.792 - 3180.137 Jenna Fischer

It is so much of my life and my time is spent with doctors and being a patient that I needed a place where I wasn't that.

0
💬 0

3181.024 - 3205.31 Kathy Bates

Yeah, that's true. Lynn Redgrave, God rest her. She was going through fifth stage breast cancer and on the downward slope. I wasn't done with chemo there, actually. I just was about to start it. And I was having gastro problems. And she said, you've got to do this. You're going to be somebody else, you know, as you're saying for the day. And she was right. You know, it gave me...

0
💬 0

3206.567 - 3224.715 Kathy Bates

although I was pretty cranky for a while because I just wasn't, I wasn't healed yet. You know, I was, it was a little too soon, but it was also, I couldn't turn down the payday. I really needed the payday because I really dropped out. I was scared. I was one of those people. And this was with the ovarian.

0
💬 0

3225.876 - 3239.312 Kathy Bates

I was one of those people who stayed up at night, you know, and looked at the internet to see if I could divine anything. But I, Knock wood, it's been 20 years, and I don't think I'm going to be having more problems with that.

0
💬 0

3239.913 - 3284.072 Jenna Fischer

How are you doing emotionally? Oh, you're so kind to ask. How am I doing emotionally? I'm okay most of the time, but at least once a week, I get mad because... Every day I feel like I have to swim upstream a little bit. I have to swim against the current just to have a normal day. And it's exhausting. But I am really so very well supported by my husband and by friends, by Angela and

0
💬 0

3285.649 - 3317.826 Jenna Fischer

But I did notice that there was a real swell of support during chemotherapy, I think because people know how hard that is to get through. And when the chemo was over, some of the support went away. Sometimes I feel like I'm bothering people or I feel like they're gonna get frustrated with me. They're gonna be like, geez, is this ever gonna end with her? And that's how I feel.

0
💬 0

3318.206 - 3334.517 Jenna Fischer

I feel like, geez, is this ever going to end with me? But I do still need support. And I think that's something I would want people to know if they have a friend or a family member going through this, is that the struggle doesn't end when the treatments, quote unquote, end, you know?

0
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3334.537 - 3359.273 Kathy Bates

I think that's a great point. And I think that's exactly what I experienced when I had ovarian cancer. You know, I had a friend at the time who was so supportive. And I remember at one point, we were getting ready to go somewhere and I was sitting on the step, lacing my shoes and my cap fell off and he sort of laughed. And I just said, this is so hard for me.

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3360.133 - 3381.105 Kathy Bates

And then I found out that as I progressed through the chemotherapy, this was for ovarian, that people have exactly that reaction. Only they left sooner during my, because it went on for nine months. My doctor wanted me to do it for six months, but he said, you're doing well. So let's do it, you know, another three months.

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3381.125 - 3399.693 Kathy Bates

And people just sort of dropped away because they didn't, they said, wow, you know, isn't this over? Isn't it going to be done? Is it, you know, they didn't have the patients really. And so I went to my chemotherapy sessions by myself. I got to the point.

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3399.793 - 3400.053 Jenna Fischer

Oh, Kathy.

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3400.902 - 3421.499 Kathy Bates

Well, I got to the point of where I would just go by myself. It was easier to go and hope that I got the really good looking Russian nurse who would come in. I don't know what his name was. I can't remember, Vasily or something like that, or Ivan. I was like, oh my God, he's here today. Great, great. But it would take about four hours to be in there.

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3421.559 - 3442.784 Kathy Bates

And they gave me a private room and all of that. So being a VIP help, and thank God with the breast cancer, I didn't have to go through chemotherapy or radiation, which is one reason why I opted to just make it a double. But I was really enraged after, but we talked about that before.

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3443.264 - 3467.889 Kathy Bates

And it wasn't until I sat with Dr. Eicher, you know, and I told her all of the things I was feeling and the rage that I was feeling. And she's this charming little woman, Czechoslovakian. And she's just said something like, okay, well, Let's have a glass of champagne, and then we will begin the rest of your life. I love that.

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3468.189 - 3489.043 Kathy Bates

Somehow she just slowly pulled me out of my rage, and then working with Learn, I was able to use it to give it purpose, to give back, to do something real in the real world, which is like what you guys are doing. Angela, have you ever had to deal with anything like this?

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3489.663 - 3519.943 Angela Kinsey

Yes. My grandmother and my aunt were all breast cancer survivors. My grandmother passed away, but not from cancer. And my aunt, my mom's sister, had a really rough go. But she's doing much better now. So I go and get my mammograms and try to stay on top of it. But, you know, when Jenna got her diagnosis, all I wanted to do was be a source of support. And I wanted to just be strong for her.

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3519.963 - 3546.92 Angela Kinsey

And, you know, we never really talked it out about just the scary side of it and those emotions until we sat down on our podcast to talk about it for the first time. And I think I cried for 20 minutes. Yeah. And we couldn't even use it because it was the first time I said out loud, she's cancer free. You know, it's like I and we finally talked about it. I completely fell apart.

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3547.12 - 3573.248 Angela Kinsey

I held it together for a year, but then I just fell apart because just watching someone you care about go through it and not knowing what the hell you can do other than to just say, I'm thinking of you and I love you and I'm praying for you. And and that's about it. And just try to keep being there for her and being steadfast and hoping I was enough to help her when she needed it.

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3574.008 - 3594.693 Angela Kinsey

But it is so important that you guys are sharing about it. It's so important. We've had so many people reach out to us when Jenna shared, and Kathy, I know you're having this experience too, that the burden of feeling alone in it, the burden of feeling like you can't talk about it, that itself is just too much to bear. I think on top of everything else.

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3595.433 - 3601.977 Angela Kinsey

And I'm so happy to be part of this conversation with you all and for people listening to hear it.

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3602.757 - 3630.418 Kathy Bates

Oh, thank you. Too many of us and younger and younger and younger are getting breast cancer, developing breast cancer. And I'm so heartened by what I've learned from you today, Jenna, because to realize that the strides that they've made just in the last 20 years, is phenomenal. And I wish I'd had that kind of prevent. I'm trying to remember the name of the chemo that I was on for ovarian.

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3631.358 - 3632.719 Jenna Fischer

Did you get it every three weeks?

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3633.14 - 3633.4 Kathy Bates

Yeah.

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3634.02 - 3651.012 Jenna Fischer

Yeah. I got one that was once a week. Do you recall the name of it? Mine was called taxol. You know, I think that's the same one I had, but only every three weeks. Oh yeah. They can do it in, in other doses. Yeah. They can do it. Yeah. Did you know that it comes from the, uh,

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3651.577 - 3656.362 Kathy Bates

U-tree and the druids felt that the U-tree was represented rebirth?

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3658.163 - 3687.554 Jenna Fischer

No, but can I tell you something? So every time they brought, I'm going to get emotional, every time they brought the chemotherapy in to the room and every time they bring the Herceptin in, My husband would go up to it and he would thank it for being there. He would say, thank you. We welcome you into Jenna's body to do your work. You are welcome here. We are so excited to have you here.

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3688.155 - 3695.98 Jenna Fischer

We are happy you exist. And we welcome you into her body to rid her of this cancer.

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3696.4 - 3699.663 Kathy Bates

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

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3699.943 - 3728.465 Jenna Fischer

My husband said... He said, if when it gets in the room, we tense up and we hate it and we're negative. He said that it's just he was like, I want us to have a different attitude when it comes in the room. I want us to have an attitude of gratitude. I want us to thank it for being here. And he said, I think that that will that openness in your body to accept this medicine will help it do its work.

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3729.065 - 3731.528 Jenna Fischer

That's what he said. Isn't that beautiful?

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3731.828 - 3733.75 Kathy Bates

That's phenomenal. And I think it's right.

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3734.211 - 3737.414 Jenna Fischer

Yeah. Yeah. And I can't believe what you said about that tree.

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3738.775 - 3745.398 Kathy Bates

Oh, yes. My niece dug that up. Wow. You know, I was an old hippie at one point in my life. So, yeah.

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3745.879 - 3748.08 Jenna Fischer

Well, Kathy, thank you for sharing all of that.

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3748.14 - 3766.149 Angela Kinsey

Yes. Thank you. First of all, we are going to share everything about the Lymphatic Education and Research Network on our social media. I will put swipe up to links so people can learn more. And then we thought we would end this interview with a tradition from the office call sheets.

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3766.909 - 3780.992 Angela Kinsey

On the back of our call sheets, they would do a few questions and get to know the cast and crew, and they would feature a new person each week. So Jenna and I picked our three favorite questions that were the regular questions, and we'd like to ask them to you.

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3781.192 - 3781.652 Kathy Bates

Okay.

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3781.912 - 3787.253 Angela Kinsey

The first one is, what is a place that you have been to that you absolutely loved?

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3788.794 - 3814.175 Kathy Bates

I was at a place called the Spring Cottage. It was in England. It was on the Thames. It belonged to Lady Astor. It's now part of the National Preserve there. And we were doing a movie, and I got to stay down at the Spring Cottage, and it was right on the river. And it had its own boat. It had a butler, if you can believe that.

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3814.775 - 3838.039 Kathy Bates

And it's where Lady Sutherland lived, and Queen Victoria would come and have tea there. And you can look at pictures of it. It's just so beautiful. Lived in-house. Taplow. Yeah, built for Queen Victoria by the Sutherlands. And it's located on the River Thames in the grounds of Clifton House. It's a three bedroom riverside property with a private garden and covered porch.

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3838.639 - 3847.203 Jenna Fischer

Well, that sounds lovely. I'm done. Okay. But Kathy, you've also like traveled the country in an RV, right? Yes, I did.

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3847.283 - 3849.404 Kathy Bates

I recently sold it, but I loved it.

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3850.086 - 3867.232 Angela Kinsey

This is one of my favorite memories of being in hair and makeup with you is that I was wanting to go on a road trip and you were telling me about your RV trips in hair and makeup. And that was a dream of my dad's. And I just loved it. I hung on your every word. I was like, I want to load up and go see America.

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3867.692 - 3891.787 Kathy Bates

It's great. When I bought it, my niece said at the time, it's the boomer thing to do. But yeah. We found these wonderful places to stay. And a lot of them, I guess it is a boomer thing to do. You can find these beautiful places with your pads that you have all of your electricity. You have like a, you know, a barbecue place, but then they'll have a main building where you can do laundry.

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3891.867 - 3901.693 Kathy Bates

And there's, I mean, some of them are just out of this world. I highly recommend them, especially if you have a loved one. It's really a couple's thing to do.

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3901.713 - 3902.574 Angela Kinsey

Yeah. Yeah.

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3903.089 - 3904.509 Kathy Bates

Or a family thing to do.

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3905.37 - 3913.733 Jenna Fischer

I'm curious, what was your favorite spot that you visited in your RV? Did you go to a lot of national parks and things?

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3914.933 - 3942.261 Kathy Bates

Actually, my favorite place, I went to my hometown Memphis. And through friends, I found a very simple spot on the western side of the Mississippi. And we were right there with the Mississippi River. Literally, there was nothing in between us. And his family had left it to him, this piece of property, and he turned it into an RV park. I don't know what it is now.

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3943.021 - 3944.762 Kathy Bates

That was one of my favorite places.

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3945.623 - 3948.144 Angela Kinsey

Two of your favorite places are on a river, Kathy.

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3948.664 - 3949.945 Kathy Bates

Yeah, I like rivers.

0
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3953.606 - 3956.828 Angela Kinsey

Our next question is, do you play a musical instrument?

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3957.908 - 3989.074 Kathy Bates

I used to play the guitar. And I don't anymore. But I have a couple of ones that I really, really enjoy. And the first job I ever got was a movie called Taking Off. And I played a song that I wrote when I was 16. And it was in the movie. It was Milos Forman's first film, American film. But that's been many, many years ago. I loved playing. I taught myself how to play. And so I miss it.

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3990.347 - 4002.035 Angela Kinsey

Wow. Okay. That is so cool. I mean, you wrote a song that's in a movie. That's just, it's amazing. That's pretty cool. Um, last question. What do you like to do on the weekends?

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4004.216 - 4024.318 Kathy Bates

Ah, it depends. Um, what I like to do on the weekends. Sometimes I like to go to a real movie theater and see a movie. Um, Sometimes I'm learning lines. It's depending if I'm working or not. What else do I like to do? I like to color. I like to color coloring books and stuff.

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4024.358 - 4041.861 Kathy Bates

And I have, in fact, Jenny Ehrman, who wrote our series, just sent me a box of wonderful pencils and coloring books because she loves to do that. And I have an app on my iPad that I love to do. I love to color I love to listen to books on tape.

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4042.501 - 4064.419 Kathy Bates

That's one of the things I'm really starting to enjoy on my hiatus is that I'm now back to listening to books and reading a lot of different kinds of books. I just finished a book called The Conclave last night, which is brilliant. I know there's a film out about it. I want to go and see that. So yes, I'll do. I like to read. I like the color. I guess it's kind of like a, I don't know, maybe I'm,

0
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4065.436 - 4074.282 Kathy Bates

I'd stuck at 13 years old. I don't know. But those are the kinds of things I like to do and be with my dog, my puppy, and just very low key.

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4074.862 - 4095.036 Jenna Fischer

That sounds lovely. Well, Kathy, you are such an icon of the entertainment business. You're such an icon. And I wondered if we could end the interview by asking you, what is the best piece of advice you received in your career? And what advice might you give an aspiring actor?

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4096.317 - 4122.949 Kathy Bates

Well, it all boils down to, someone once told me you have to have a head like a bullet and a heart like a baby. And I could expand on that by saying, especially nowadays with social media being so powerful and powerful in negative ways, is that you really have to be, you have to get strong. You have to get tough. And at the same time, not get cynical or bitter about

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4123.493 - 4137.099 Kathy Bates

But you've got to protect yourself. I don't advocate being on social media unless, in your case, it's a great thing for your show. You need to do that. But I don't want to read negative things about myself.

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4137.279 - 4164.001 Kathy Bates

I just think that the best kind of advice I could give is if you're serious about being an actor, if you want to be an actor like Cillian Murphy or Anthony Hopkins or Cate Blanchett, you have to study. You have to work. You can't just be, it's wonderful to be young and to be given an opportunity. And if you've got that spark, if you've got it and you can really sail out there, that's great.

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4164.762 - 4185.47 Kathy Bates

And then I'd say, protect your heart. Don't let your heart get hurt by strangers who say things about you or your work. Yeah. Because work is what got us here. Work is what's going to keep us here. I mean, it's like you guys were talking about the collaborative aspect of your work. And that was the focus of what you did. And that's what made it so wonderful.

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4186.091 - 4205.508 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, I love that. I feel like it's sometimes hard to be an artist because you do have to keep that open heart. in order to do the work. But that makes it so that you're, I don't know, it's so easy to get wounded when you have that open heart. So it's such a balance.

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4206.028 - 4228.169 Kathy Bates

It is. It's a gift to be porous. It works great in your work, but it's not so great in the world outside. It can be difficult. But I remember a producer, because I got very hurt one time in London by an awful interviewer, and I literally left the tour And I remember the producer coming to me and saying, you're going to have to get a lot tougher. You're going to have to toughen up.

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4229.03 - 4244.183 Kathy Bates

And he was right. Anyway, I appreciate being able to chat with you in a very open and safe way. And I think we talked about some wonderful things. And I'm so happy for you. Oh, well, thank you. Happy for you, Jenna, that you've come through this.

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4244.483 - 4278.729 Jenna Fischer

Kathy, it was such an honor to work with you. Yes. You know, you did something at our first table read together that I never forgot. You sat down at the table and you had the script and you got out a golden folding fan, the kind that you go like, snap. And you would fan yourself because you were hot. And I thought to myself, one day I am going to earn the right to fan myself with a golden fan.

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4278.829 - 4295.775 Jenna Fischer

And so, Kathy, my goal in life is to win a Tony. I want to do a Broadway show. I want to win a Tony. And when I walk up on that stage to accept my award, I am going to get out a golden fan and I'm going to fan myself in your honor.

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4295.795 - 4307.865 Kathy Bates

I'll wait for that. I really will. I'm excited for you to do that. Angela, thank you so much. It was great speaking with you today. I really appreciate it.

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4308.586 - 4313.232 Angela Kinsey

Thank you so much, Kathy. You're a light in the world and we just adore you. So thank you so much.

0
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4313.272 - 4314.874 Kathy Bates

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

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4314.894 - 4316.116 Angela Kinsey

Bye, guys.

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4316.496 - 4343.411 Angela Kinsey

Take care. Okay. Oh, man. I just loved all of that. I loved just spending time with her. I really felt like we got to spend time with her. Yeah. And I just love how happy she is in this new job, in this new chapter of her life. You and I can really relate to that. Yeah. And Matlock, you guys, airs on CBS every Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern. And it's also streaming on Paramount+.

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4343.791 - 4346.072 Angela Kinsey

And it's already been picked up for a second season.

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4346.812 - 4368.84 Jenna Fischer

Well, you know, Angela, we also said we would share a swipe up in our stories where people can learn more about lymphedema. And I would also like to include a link to the breast cancer risk assessment test. It is a test that you can take online at home to calculate your risk for developing breast cancer. And it's kind of based on your age, breast density, family history.

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4369.6 - 4395.925 Jenna Fischer

And if you have an increased risk, you can share those results with your doctor, and you might qualify for additional diagnostic testing. For example, if you are at a high risk but you're younger than 40, you might qualify for an annual mammogram much sooner. I have said before that my success with treatment is due to my very early detection, so it's really worth taking the test.

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4396.345 - 4397.445 Angela Kinsey

Yeah, so important.

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4397.884 - 4405.587 Jenna Fischer

Well, everyone, thanks for listening today. We're going to be back with you on Friday with a special holiday bonus episode.

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4405.947 - 4429.59 Angela Kinsey

Yeah, we can't wait. It's really festive. It's really fun. And we just hope you guys have a great week. Know that we're thinking of you. And we'll see you Friday. See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

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4429.99 - 4441.733 Jenna Fischer

Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss Berman and Leah Reese Dennis.

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4442.273 - 4447.734 Angela Kinsey

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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