Hey, Renee, I'm great. How are you? Oh my gosh,
I am so excited to be chatting with you because I just think you're I
love everything you do, and you're one of those people that I wish I
could hang out with, like have a drink with, or would like you're
at my table whenever they always ask because you're so hilarious. I love you.
Oh, thank you so much. Well, I will hope. I
mean, that's hard to live up to, but I'll do my best.
Please try very hard during this interview, John, first of all, congratulations
on extended family. That looks hilarious. Thank you so much. We're having
so much fun. We're almost done shooting the first season, and it's so
nice to finally have it playing in front of people because we actually shot the
pilot almost almost two years ago. Are you serious. Yeah no, but
there was the NBC had their president left and then the strike happened. Oh
yeah, that's true. Yeah, we've just been doing it and it's so
funny because there's kids on the show, and we're like, the kids are
going to be grown ups, so you're going to have to have one of
those in the future two years from now. Well, I love Donald Faison
first of all, one of my most favorite actors. He's he's fantastic.
Abigail Spencer and I feel like, do you get to control the clips they
use to promote the shows on TV? Do you know? Do they give
you a heads up? They do? Not know. Every now and then
you're shooting something you're going to and you think to yourself, they're going to
use this in the promos, Like the second I was taking the Sarah gun
to my butt. Uh huh, they're going to use this, you know.
Usually it's like physical bits of comedy. You're tripping, you falling because
you know, because that's the quickest, easiest laugh, you know. Uh
so uh But but no, I don't have any control over it. I
you know, it's really up to the promo department. But I've been really
happy with what the promo department has been picking. It's fantastic. But I'm
just like that promo gets me every time when you've got the fair gun on
your butt and they open the door, I'm like, this is a fan
whoever did this? What a what a draw? And of course I think
it's a timely show right because everyone's you know, consciously uncoupling or trying to
be amicable, trying to be adults here, and the show is about how
an amicable divorce, if there really is such a thing. And then like,
I don't want to give away everything, but I know it's been out
there about how you're trying to combine your lives. One of your favorite sports
teams, the guy likes your now ex wife, like very timely premise,
though I would say, oh, thank you. Well, the crazy thing
is my parents have divorced amicably, and so, you know, and that
was back in you know, nineteen seventy two, you know, so you
know it can't it's been around for a while, thankfully, but you know,
we just what I loved about this relationship was, you know, is
that it's very specific. You know, this is you know, this is
how they chose to try to make something good out of something that they couldn't
work out, you know, And I feel like, you know, when
you got kids, that it's your responsibility to try and find that at least,
you know, obviously this is not a solution for everybody. It helps
that that one of them owns the Boston Celtics, you know that that kind
of makes it a special situation and it was inspired by the way by the
real owner of the Boston Celtics who does this with he and his wife share
an apartment with her ex husband so that the kids don't have to move.
See. You know, I appreciate that and thank you for sharing that information.
But I am Sicilian, so this does not compute with me. I
do apologize. I tried. I wish I could. Maybe I'll let you
know. I'll use your show as learning. That's what I'll do, Okay.
I just feel like I feel like I'm not trying to stereotype my people,
my Sicilians, but this just is not We don't underst stand this.
You know, Hey, all I can tell you is Amelia who Amelia Lar
This is based on you know, it's a deeply a tell and and proud
of it, and you know this works. You know, it's a it's
a you know again, it's these particular people. I really love the characters
as written, and that's kind of as an actor, when you get that
feeling like I really know these people, right, that's when you kind of
have to jump on it as a as a performer. Listen, I don't
have a lot of time with you and I have We all have our schedules
to keep, but I want to make sure people know they can watch this
on Peacock. You can stream episodes there obviously on NBC. This is a
fantastic show, extended family with one of you know, the best comedic timing
professionals on the planet. I know, I know you have scripts. I
know you have to do this, but I just love it. And you
have been in front of us your whole life. You have a I know
that it's hard work for you. Maybe you don't. We don't see all
the tears in your life, right John, but you have been blessed in
our eyes as being on screen since the eighties from of course, I mean
talk about the John Houston movies clearly two Men in a Baby or you know
what I mean, all the stuff that you've done. Oh my gosh,
I capt forget the name of the show. I'm like two and a half
Men. I'm like two and a half Men with three babies, whatever the
name of that show is. But like you've done so much and grown in
front of our eyes. It seems like a charmed career to me, where
you're able to say this is what you've consistently done. I am aware of
how lucky I am in this business, and every now and then I have
that am I in a simulation a feeling when I because you know, I'll
step onto the set and be like, wait, I'm like the you know,
I'm one of the stars of a TV show. How the hell did
that happen? But you know, I have I have the benefit of I
sort of grew up backstage parents for performers, and so I've always had sort
of a gut level of comfort in this world, you know, and a
little bit of a nepo baby thing because you know, when you're when you
when you grow up in it, you sort of you get it in a
way that it's harder for people just who are getting coming into it from outside.
And and so'm I. You know, Uh, I've had advantages that
I'm that I'm obviously grateful for. But uh, you know, every day
on the set I have there's never been a day where I didn't feel lucky.
Even in the podcast genre. Now because you have your own podcast show
or are you still actively uh doing that with with your your podcast that you
have on I just did. I wasn't sure if that's something you're still actively
doing or do you have to put it aside when you're taping with with Lawyers,
Guns and Money. No. No, The amazing thing about a podcast
is that it is something that you know you can absolutely do while you're doing
it. I mean, Donald Faison on Extended Family still does his podcast.
And yeah, I used to do a show called Undisclosed which was about wrongful
convictions and I used to do interview people on it, and then when the
opportunity for Lawyers, Guns and Money came up, which is a very specific
story, I just jumped on it because it's an absolutely Banana's true story about
this young public defender in Miami in nineteen eighty six who gets this nut client
whose claims to be working for the CIA, claims to be a gun runner
for the CIA, and he kind of dismissed his claims as like, Okay,
you're a crazy person. But then the guy gave him a phone number
and it was It ended up being answered in the White House and this young
public defender ended up uncovering what later became known as the Iran Contra scandal.
But this huge, like world shaking scandal with this one kid in Miami and
it's just an amazing story called Lawyer's Guns and Money. Well, I wish
I had more time with you because I have a ton of other questions,
But meanwhile, we're just going to have to take this and be satisfied.
John Cryer, you're one of my absolute favorites. I wish you a ton
of success on extended family and all of your projects. I appreciate your time
today, Thank you so much. That's gonna be my motto going forward is
take this and be satisfied. I'm going to take this and be satisfied today,
my friend. Bye.