Sometimes, Lacey, I've heard my parents say, do this and pursue this only if you have to. That's my life. If you feel you can do anything else in the world, do that because this is so hard. And I heard a caller call in and say, why do people say that in this profession? You don't say that in other professions. Everything's hard to do well at. Yeah. You're going to be discouraging people who have an interest and passion for the arts. Today on Don't Listen To Us, the real advice every aspiring actor needs to hear. Have you guys ever been hypnotized? I have. But how'd it go? Great. Did it work? Yes. Who did it? I don't remember. And why did you volunteer for that? I don't remember where it happened, but I knew that I did it and I was very susceptible to it because I was. I went under and it was just a great experience. I loved it. I mean, it wasn't like do it to stop eating or smoking or people who are hypnotized for those kind of things. This was just like a party game. I think it was at a party. Have you? I mean, this person did it and it was just a great. I loved it. I just loved it. You loved not being in control or how you felt after? I thought it was relaxing for you. It was relaxing. I felt great. I knew that I went under. And he didn't say like you forget everything. I knew that I'd been through this process. And there was a piece of me that could kind of hear what I was being asked to do and, you know, in memory. But I knew that I was, that it wasn't just me pretending or acting like I'm doing what he said. I knew that I was in it in the way he wanted me to be in it. And I just remember loving it like a dream. Do you know what's so weird about this? Do you know what I remember about hypnotizing? My friend, Marguerite McCorkleye in the seventh grade, used to make potions. We would put junk in a water glass like an aspirin and a piece of chocolate. We'd mix it all up and we'd drink it and then pretend you were hypnotized. You would drink it? Well, yeah. Most kids just make it. No, we would pretend to drink it. And I remember once telling her to go out of the house, I think in her underwear and we were just pretending to hypnotize each other with a charm. You are going to sleep. There's dad gone. See? Okay. And somehow that was a big daring game for us in the seventh grade. I'm hypnotizing you now go out in your underwear. Wow. Yeah, weird. Wow. I think dad's still out. You have to snap your fingers or something. Oh, hi, hon. Is that the best snap you can do? Are you not a snappy person? Yeah, it's pathetic. I'm not a snappy person. It's fingers. I've never heard that story from your child. I know. I love it when you actually hear something new. Do you know when I remember mixing, I would try to get out of school anyway I could. Yeah. And try to be sick. And once I took a bunch of oatmeal, cinnamon, maple syrup, and threw it up like milk and mixed it together and then threw it in the bathtub. And I told you that I'd thrown up. And then you asked me, why does my throw up smell like delicious breakfast? I remember that show you made up of all the people in our building, which I thought was so amazing where you also threw little, our kitchen was a complete mess because you were making a little plastic bags of supposedly dog shit that you were throwing at people in the show because that's what one of our lovely crazy neighbors sort of an avant garde performance evening. And that was a story about one of our crazy neighbors, Jeff, rest his soul. Bit a piece of the superintendents ear off. And then took me to coffee to explain why. And he would, once I asked him, I was 14 years old, I asked him in the elevator, what do you do for a living? Because I'd known him my whole life in the elevator. And he said, what do I do for a living? What the fuck do you do for a living? What kind of question is that? What do you do for a living, Gideon? I was like, homework and soccer practice? Psycho? Yeah. He said he told people he sold perfume. We are pretty sure that he was an arms dealer. And he had an entirely too close relationship to his dog. And once he got arrested for violating a restraining order from somebody in the neighborhood, his dog was left alone in the apartment. We squirted water underneath the door and they would let us crumble dog food. And then when he, we couldn't find where he was arrested. And when he got out three days later, he was furious that we gave her the wrong kind of dog. Yeah, right. Oh, but he also threw a bag of dog shit at the other doorman. So in that performance piece, I had people close their eyes and at the pinnacle moment of conflict with Jeff and Guzm, I threw warmed up plastic bags of peanut butter at everyone. That was a real popular part of that show. Some people appreciated it. Other people wondered what was wrong with me. Our kitchen was such a disaster, but I was thrilled that you were doing something creative. So I got down to calm down about the mess. Well, thanks mom. This episode of Don't Listen to Us is brought to you by Booking.com. I'm looking out my window and spring is in the air. It's time to go travel. I've got to say, if you're looking to grow your vacation rental business, this is the place to be. Booking.com is one of the most downloaded travel apps in the world and for good reason. Since 2010, they've helped over 1.8 billion vacation rental guests find places to stay. That's billion with a B. But here's the thing. Most vacation rental hosts don't even realize they can list their properties on Booking.com. And if you're not on the platform, your rental is basically invisible to millions of Booking.com travelers worldwide. After all, they can't book what they can't see, right? But once you start listing on Booking.com, your property gets seen by a massive global audience of unique travelers. That means more visibility, more bookings, and more opportunity to accelerate the growth of your rental business. And it couldn't be easier. You can register your property in as little as 15 minutes and nearly half of hosts get their first booking within a week. So if your vacation rental isn't listed on Booking.com, it could be invisible to millions of travelers searching the platform. Don't miss out on consistent bookings and global reach. Head over to Booking.com and start your listing today. Get seen. Get booked on Booking.com. We're going to go to our first listener question. It's a voice note. So if we want to put our headphones in there. Hi, my name is Joshua. This question is really for both of you as performers, creative folks and as artists. I'm an artist myself. I perform theater, direct theater, act, sing, limited dance here. But my question is for both of you. For Mandy in the sense of as a musical theater performer, what is the best trait you see in a director or what is the best trait a director can have for you to want to work with them again? And for Catherine, since you create and write a lot of your own stories and your own one woman shows, what do you look for in a director or creative collaborators and since your words and your performing it, what does a director bring to you in that case? Thank you both. Sure. Thanks. Go ahead, hon. You go first. I got to look up something. On my last, I've only done three solo shows, but I've done them over 25 years. I've always worked with the same director, Timothy Neer, who created and ran San Jose Rep for 20 years. You worked with Jack Hoffs's. And I've worked with Jack Hoffs's also. But on the creation of these shows, it's a director that really is a collaborator. I mean, Timmy, especially on this last one, the unexpected third, we worked together. She asked me questions. We did. We created it from scratch. The others were adapted from already written material. And it's what I look for as somebody that isn't a control freak, that knows that it's my story and that is very excited about creating something together. And she brings out the absolute best in me. I feel so safe with her that I'm extremely free in sharing a bad idea or a good idea. I'm not worried about it. And it's just the most fun I've had working with anybody. Love that. What about you, Dan? First of all, what was our... Josh. Josh. I got to tell you, Josh, I never use the word that you used to refer to yourself. And us as, fine if you want to call yourself that. But it's a word that is, as the mafia used to say, o merta to me. You referred to us as, I'll just spell it, A-R-T-I-S-T-S. And I'm uncomfortable with that word. I just think of ourselves as workers. It's just too pretentious, the A-R-T-I-S-T-S. Occasionally, one does use the word A-R-T. But I like what a friend of mine said once, which, and the friend was Mike Nichols, who said, you know, I'll only use this word once in discussion. And otherwise, it's o merta. I never understood that. O merta is the mafia code of silence, you know, which you don't say things. Anyway, so that's that about the word that you used. But the, what I love in a director and look for, whether it's a piano player or a director, is can I make music with them? And what do I mean by that? Do they listen? Do they have an uncanny ability to listen? And that, to me, is everything. And the other aspect that I really love, not just with directors, but writers or fellow actors, choreographers, musicians, anybody, particularly, I've noticed that the true geniuses that I have been privileged to work with, and there are, there's more than a few that I've had this privilege with, they want to hear everything you have to say. They really are curious. The less gifted ones that I've encountered, you say, you know, I have an idea. And you just do what I asked. Can you just do what I asked? Can you please just do what I asked? And sure, I'll do what you asked. And then they robbed themselves of why you hired me. And as opposed to someone else, I have, I have thoughts, I have a brain, I have instincts, just like you. And I thought we were here to collaborate. When you make music with somebody, you do it together, you can't do it alone. And so I look for that uncanny ability to listen. When I work with a piano player, there are times we sing a song that I've sung thousands of times. And, and this one night for whatever reason in my life or the world, I take a pause in a different place, or I do it differently. And they know I'm going to do that before I even know I'm going to do it. And I've had directors like that too. They just, they just trust you. And while the camera's going, they let you go on. I always give them what the words are in the script. I make sure I do that. If I go overboard and do it too loud or too big, I make sure I do a more contained one. But then I often have just thoughts that I would say in normal conversation like I'm talking to you. And I just start saying them and they let the camera run. And then they kind of look at me and there's a silent look where they know that I'm done. And you can, you can cut. I feel like I've seen you, yeah, thrive when there's sort of a, it's kind of like a compromise between your ideas and their ideas and trying to have time for everyone to get what they need within the limited resources of that. Which is a very different equation, I think, in TV and film versus in theater. Because TV and film is so expensive with the time that you have. Well, less expensive because it's now digital, so you're not paying for literal film stock. You, you have greater leniency because it's, that was the huge expense. The other huge expense is time. Time is the big expense. I don't remember the name of it. It's on Netflix. I think it was Netflix. I can't remember any of this stuff. But anyway, it was Scorsese. It was five parts. And I really was so, the thing I loved most about it is the relationship that Daenerys Scorsese had over a lifetime was that trust to, you know, do its end and then just to improvise. Improvise as long as you want. Yeah, but when you're Scorsese and Daenerys, you get to improvise as long as you want because you do, you have significant resources. When we were doing our show with you guys and we had five nights in the city, that was, that was a big challenge. As directors, you know, with working with you because we definitely wanted you to have fun, wanted you to be getting your ideas, wanted you to play. And we had a very limited budget and limited time. You're trying to make your days. And I do think you're right. Having that experience, you have that producer mind and that clock in your body. But it's not the first thing you have in your body because primarily you are a ART. You're a performer. So the first thing that is in the front of your mind is wanting to do a good job, wanting to get the thing, wanting it to be powerful and connect. And then the brain is in the producer. And then you're contending with producers and directors who have that other thing sometimes. But I have to, I just have to quibble with you a little bit because if they're younger, you know, ART, listening, I don't want them to feel they don't have the right. The other person I learned that it's okay from. I watched. Don't have the right to what? Improvise or do things over and over again and just have that trust is I did Dick Tracy with Warren Beatty directed it. And I was in scenes with Al Pacino and I saw Al before the take, before he said what was on the page, warm himself up, improvise and getting into it. And when the way I saw him do it over and over again, I went, I got it. And I had, I got licensed. So you could say, yes, but you're a little more than you're not maybe Al Pacino or, or, or De Niro or Scorsese, but you are you and you have certain, you know, privileges. Everybody has those privileges. I don't care if it's your first gig, you have those privileges. And sometimes you do it before you do it is on the page and what you have to get done that day, because it's how you get there. And then you do what's on the page. And then if there's another idea, you do it or you don't. But you can do anything you want if you have a trusted collaborator. So that's a great gift. Can I just say two quick things? One of my favorite things that ever happened with Dad, with a director that will go unnamed, he was saying, why is it, Mandy, that on some nights you're an A sharp and some nights you're a B flat. And Dad said, because I'm not a flute, you know, because it's going to be different on one night than another night. And I always love that. I also think to be open to different directors. One of my favorite, I love two English directors, Max Stafford Clark and Peter Gill, partly because if you ever work with an English director, you never have to audition for them. You do the work. It works great. They'll just ask you. But I remember Peter once said to me when we were doing Michael Welles fishing, he said, all right now, darling. Now, here's what I'd like you to cry. And I said, Peter cry. How what? What is my motivation? I don't. How would I cry there? He said, well, you know, you just put your head in your hands and you just go. Which was very English and not at all an American thing. But you know, I love Peter and I did it and I made that moment work. We're going to get our headphones back in and we now have a live guest joining us. Let's listen to a question from Lacey before we bring her in. Hi, Mandy and Catherine. My name is Lacey and I'm from Pennsylvania. I was just wondering, I have always enjoyed musical theater and performing and entertaining people and making people laugh. And I know in my heart that I will be an actor someday, either on Broadway or on film or TV or whatever. But I was just wondering, how do you kind of make a name for yourself and break into that business when you have no connections? And you also have little support because my family hates musical theater and they really think that I'm foolish for trying to achieve this dream. But it's all I can think about and it's all I can see myself doing. And you guys have obviously had extreme success in what you do. So, yeah, thank you so much. Thank you. So hi. Hi, Lacey. We've got Lacey. She's joining us. Oh, there you are. Oh, that's right. We're so excited when we actually get to see the person because sometimes we don't. Lacey, where are you now? Where are we talking to you from? I am in North Carolina. Where'd you move from? Pennsylvania. I was right outside like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And one time I came home and my mom had a sign in the yard that said, House for Sale. And she said, Hey, we're moving. And I said, Oh, OK. So why did you go to North Carolina? She got a job and then I went to college in Pennsylvania for like four days and I hated it. So I dropped out and I moved down here with them. And how old are you? I'm 18. Great. And Lacey, I understand this will just help give my parents a sense of how much you love musical theater. I understand that you have a tattoo that may be of interest. Can you tell us about that? Yeah, it's it's lesson number eight. It's one of my favorite songs from Sunday in the Park. I have the book behind me. Guys, Sunday in the Park is like my holy grail. It's my favorite thing ever. And it changed the way that I look at life and art. And I just love that song so much. Me too, Lacey. Yeah, yeah. Lacey, Lacey, Lacey, I'll tell you right now, without a doubt, you can write it in stone. You will have a career in musical theater. I have never heard anyone say that about lesson number eight other than me. And that you have put it on your body is even more extraordinary. When Steve, during the pandemic had his, what birthday was it? 80? No, it was beyond 80. It was the 90th birthday, I think during the pandemic. I think it was 2019 or 2020. Yeah. And I went out on the lawn back here and Catherine took out the iPhone. They wanted us to each do things that somebody was going to put together for a piece. Can you remind our listener who Steve is? Oh, Steve Sondheim, who wrote the music, who wrote the music to a Sunday in the park with George, many other great, great musicals is in far as I'm concerned, the Shakespeare of our time. And I was one of, I think the privilege of my professional career was that I got to collaborate and work with him without a doubt. I always wondered, what was it like being in Shakespeare's company? What was it like getting to do that? And then one day I went, it was like this, Mandy. It was like this, but I had to choose something. We didn't have musicians. Some people did have musicians that played for them in some kind of technical way, even though everybody was quarantined for Steve's 90th birthday. And I went out on the long end of all the songs. And I, I know a lot of his songs. I chose that song to sing acapella. And, and I, I tell you, Lacey, he wrote that song at the last minute for us. It came in right near the end. And, uh, and it made the show all of a sudden work right from the beginning. We were a little lost. Some people were leaving and he wrote lesson number eight and children will listen the day before the New York times came and Bernadette and I put them in that night and it, it, uh, it made the show what it was. Can you tell us about that song lesson number eight? Just say, no, I think you need to, like Lacey knows it and, and you need to, well, Charles has a book, Charles shows them as crayons. Marie has the ball of Charles. Good for Marie. Charles, Mrs. Paul, George, Mrs. Marie, I can't remember. Charles, do you know it, Lacey? Can you do it? Oh, do it for me. No, I can't. No, I can't. But, but anyway, they're gorgeous, but it's a child. You just have to read it, read the lyrics, listen to the song. Other people, I'm assuming other people have recorded it or listened to the one we did for the show. It's, um, I have to tell you something else that came to me when I was listening to your note. Okay. There's someone that you know as of now that also hated musical theater. Can you guess who that might be? Uh, you? No. This person right here, the person I chose to marry that I've been with for 47 years, who is a great actress and writer. And, uh, but she particularly despised musical theater and she chose to hang out with me. I didn't know that's where he was going when I met him, Lacey, and I, I'm very big on people being accountable for their mistakes. And it's very funny. What I, I've got to tell you, Lacey, when I first heard your voice, That sounded like I made a mistake choosing musical theater. No, no, I didn't mean that. Anybody that chooses Sunday in the park with George already is a certain place to me because I think that's the greatest musical ever made. Um, and it's funny when I heard your note and you talked about Broadway and breaking in and making a name for yourself. I, I got to tell you, I went, Oh no, this kid, I got to tell her, you know, first of all, clearly you love the form and clearly you have a really very sophisticated idea of the broad idea of what that, what a musical like that can do. And I just want to remind you to stay with your love of the form and don't focus on breaking in or becoming known. You live in North Carolina now. Check out the North Carolina School of the Arts. They have a really excellent theater program. You know, focus right now. You're very young. I know you probably don't feel it, but you are. Check out learning your craft. Check out practicing. Check out finding like-minded people. Broadway is a peculiar place. It always has been. It is not the Holy Grail. It should certainly should not be your goal. Your goal should be finding like my practicing, getting as good as you can and finding like-minded people that you can make music with and make theater with and, and learning. You've got this passion. You've got this great taste and you're brave enough to, you know, buck your family who doesn't get it. That's a classic story of people. But there may be a really good reason you moved to North Carolina. Besides that you hated where you were in school. There's a great theater school right there. You know, there's also a billion ways. And there's a billion ways. I think you're saying just keep making things, being a part of things every way you possibly. Sing on your street corners. You know, I mean, share who you are with people. Something, mom, that I think you are on the verge of saying that I'm glad you didn't and that I think I actually would challenge now because of another listener who called in is sometimes lazy. I've heard my parents say, do this and pursue this only if you have to. That's mom's life. If you feel you can do anything else in the world, do that because this is so hard. And I heard a caller call in and say, why do people say that in this profession? You don't say that in other professions. Everything's hard to do well at. It's really hard to be a doctor. It's really hard to be a lawyer. It's really hard to be good at any job. It's hard to gain skill in anything. Get up and have the day. Yeah. Why are we discouraging people who have an interest in passion for the arts? You try it. You do everything you can. You follow your passion. You'll find out if it's not for you at the end of the day, but I was really refreshed. That's the first time I haven't heard you say that to a young person. Interesting. Well, I think the reason mom says it is because it has a legitimate history, as many professions do, of being filled with the possibility of disappointment. But we only say that to people in the arts and theater. You don't say that because we're in the arts. Maybe we don't meet a lot of would be medical students or engineering students or science students. And you think those people in those professions say that? I do think they say things like that. One percent of equity is employed. One percent. You know, that's why a lot of my friends, Lacey, that were musical theater performers have become great therapists and they use their music. Like my best friend. Yeah. You know, yeah. I mean, people do other things, but I think. Can I show you this picture of Lacey that she sent us? Yes. And then Lacey, I'm showing them the picture of you and Bernadette Peters. And can you tell us the story behind that? OK, sure. I went to her concert in Baltimore at the beginning of November. And I sat in the front row and she gave a great show. I love Bernadette Peters. She's like the top of the list for me. It's like you and then Bernadette Peters. It's probably because of Sunday in the Park with George. But I went to her concert and I wrote her a letter and I was planning on meeting her because I know that she does that. And I asked security guards because I had never been to a concert before. And I was like, is there a stage door? Like, is there a chance of meeting her? Like I wrote her this letter and everybody told me no. And I believe them. But then I was going to leave. And then in my gut, I felt that I shouldn't leave yet. So I kept lingering around and I walked to the back of the building and there was a line at the stage door and I said, oh, my God, she is going to be at the stage door. And then she came out and I got to meet her and I kind of blacked out and I don't remember what happened. But I remember we took a picture and then I said, you're beautiful. Thank you. And she said, oh, honey, you're beautiful, too. Have a good night. And that's all I remember. But it was the best night of my life. And I almost died. Did you give her the letter? I had to give it to the house manager, but she told me that it got to Bernadette. I don't know if it did or not. I hope it did. It does. It gets there. OK, good. But this is a very important thing you did already. If I say you listened to your gut, OK? I want you to know that when Mandy, after doing Aveda, wanted to go after Sunday in the park. It was after Sunday. No, no, no, it was after Aveda Sunday in the park. It was Sunday in the park was 84. This will be 12 minutes of them trying to figure out what they call. The important thing is the important thing is the concerts came after Sunday in the park. Right. Mandy wanted to try to sing with just a piano player. Every expert in the musical theater, I mean, every significant Broadway producer said that won't work. You can never do that. Nobody will come and see just you in a piano. And Joseph Papp, who was the brilliant creator of the public theater, said, Well, you didn't ask me. You're doing Leontes and Winners Tale on Monday night on during the week. Try on Monday night, your concerts, see if it works. So what what you already know, you were told, no, you listen to your gut. You went around the building and you were able to meet somebody. Always listen to your gut. When the experts tell you, no, and even your beloved mom tells you, no. If your gut says something else, Lacey, that's your most important voice. I'm curious, Lacey, have you have you been on stage yet? Well, I was a little shy before last year, but last year I decided to just go for it. So I auditioned for my school musical and I was a munchkin in the Wizard of Oz. And how did that how did it feel for you being up on stage? It is amazing. I literally, I don't know, I've never felt anything like it before. Having the audience, like their energy, like the back and forth is insane. And it's something I've been chasing ever since I closed that show. Can I just add one other thought here before we start to wrap up? I think I've seen in in younger folks with all the social media and the video culture, sometimes there's a sense that you just need to hit it big or you're waiting for your big moment or the right video or the right person to see or snatch you up or, you know, be found. And I think I think that is really dangerous and not really how people build a life in the arts. From what I've seen in everyone I've loved as a performer and have enjoyed their work, they have just grinded it out. They keep making things. They sing, they act, they play at every opportunity. And and that is where you build the craft, where you build the experience that will lead to opportunities. And so I don't know if that makes sense at all of, you know, this kind of like waiting to be discovered culture. But I think it's just not really real. There's, you know, three Justin Bieber's out in the world. And then the rest of the artists are just making things all the time. And so I just wanted to add that thought in the mix. I couldn't agree more with that. Lacy, just keep growing. Who you are now is not who you're going to be in 20 years, but you keep making work and finding people to make work with. And don't be afraid to let people know what you want. Practice, practice, practice. And it'll feel so great to invite your parents to the next show that you're in. It'll let us know too. And if we're in shooting distance, we'll come down and see you. Yeah. OK. OK. You guys, I'm going to cry. That's cool. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Lacy. You Lacy. Keep singing. I will. I love you guys so much. Oh, my God. Thank you. We're very fond of you as well. So you go have a great life. I'm counting on you. OK. Thank you. Bye, Lacy. Bye, Lacy. Take care. Man, lesson number eight tattoo. Unbelievable. 18 years old. Have you ever wondering if you work? Is this still relevant? I've been doing connecting. That was a big surprise. Show them his crayons. Final question for you guys. Did you did either of you ever wait at a stage door for an actor that you admired? And what do you think you get out of those interactions? Well, I did it with my dad. I was 13 years old. He brought me to New York for my Bar Mitzvah present. He loved Angel Lansbury. One of the things we went to is to see Mame. And he was in love with her. And he asked if I would mind standing at the stage door after the show. And we waited there. It was on 7th Avenue. I've passed that door hundreds of thousands of times. Maybe not hundreds, but thousands of times. It was that old red barn looking, you know, painted fading door. And we waited there. There was a black sedan outside. And Angel Lansbury, after 45 minutes at least, walked out. And my dad, very shy, quiet man, reached out. And he had no idea I would end up in the musical theater. There was no sign at that point other than I was in the boys' choir at the synagogue on Saturdays. And he leaned forward and he said to me, he said, may I, and he held his program, may I. And she said, sure, what's your name? And he said, Les. And she wrote to Les and signed her name. And he said, thank you. And she got in the car and drove away. Nice. And you were just watching that whole thing. Yeah. And then there's more of the story. I'll just tell the short version of it was I met her years later. All right. And I told her about that moment. Wow. That's pretty special. Because I said, the wrong guy sitting here, my dad loved you. Wow. Love that. Yeah. It was a beautiful moment. One of my favorite moments I had with my father. What about you, Mom? Any memory of doing that? Yeah. Once, several years ago, I guess it was about five years ago, a wonderfully talented woman named Laurel. Do you know Laurel's last name that's Lenin's best friend from junior high? No. Laurel. She was in Wicked. She was in Wicked. This was my daughter-in-law's best friend. And I went to see her in Jagged. Jagged Little Pill. Jagged Little Pill. Laurel Harris. Laurel Harris in Jagged Little Pill. And I went to see her and I was so relieved that I thought she was really brilliant in that show. And I'm very spoiled because I'm usually with Mandy Patinkin when I go backstage. And we're just ushered in. Well, I didn't prepare. I went to this door and I said, hi, I'm Catherine Goadie to see Laurel Harris. The guy. The woman in her own right? Yes. And he looks at, oh, you're not on the list. So it was 20 degrees. I went to me, she's freezing. I'm standing in this line. I don't realize that Laurel Harris has a huge following from her national tour from Wicked. And she played Alphaba. Where she played Alphaba. I'm standing with all these fans and I'm freezing. And then I see her, right? When she comes out to start signing autographs and I go, Laurel. And she does a point, you know, just a minute, please, lady, you know. And her husband came by with soup and he saw me kind of waving. And he said, you know, she's, she's ill. She needs some soup. And then I'm like this and she goes, just a minute, let me get a pen to sign your program. And I go, Laurel, I'm not a fan. I'm Isaac's mother. And she went, oh my God. And she was so embarrassed. And then she said the sweetest thing she kept telling her friend, Lenin, you will find somebody. You will find somebody. You'll find the right person. And then she said, but Catherine, I never imagined her finding anybody as right as Isaac. I didn't think that person existed. Our oldest son. Our oldest son. But that was an amazing moment where I really felt what it was like to be treated as a fan. I did not like it. You know, that was never my thing. And I had too much pride. It was always nice when actors treat every fan kindly and nicely. Yes. That was amazing. Life in the theater. Life in the theater. Thanks everybody for tuning in. And not listening. And not listening. We want to hear from you if you've got questions, stories, advice, weird dreams, ideas, inventions patented or unpatented. We'd love to hear about them. You can send an email to AskMandyandCatherine at gmail.com or check out our socials for an easy way to send us a voice note. And don't forget to subscribe or follow us on YouTube, on Apple and other places where you watch or listen to your podcast. And if you're enjoying the show, please leave us a review. Our team reads all of your comments and reviews. And thank you so much for being here and tuning in. And please remember. Don't listen to us. Or whatever you want to do. Whatever you want. Whatever you want. Listen a little or. Listen to your dream. Listen to this. Oh, let me leave you with this. This is an audio gift. I learned it from David Norton when I did. We shared a dressing room, I think, in Sam Waterston's Hamlet. I think that was it. This is the soundtrack of the Road Runner running down the road. Sees coyote, stops. Coyote throws the knife at the Road Runner. The knife misses the Road Runner, hits a tree and wobbles, and then the Road Runner leaves. Might be a little tricky with the beard because it affects my lips. But here we go. I'll try. Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep. See the hair on my face messes up my. Oh, that was better. Anyway, thank you very much for listening to that, but not the rest. Don't Listen to Us is a Lemonada Media Original, hosted by Mandy Patinkin, Catherine Groty, and Gideon Groty-Patinkin, created by Katrina Anstad, Debbie Pacheco, and Gideon Groty-Patinkin. The producers are Catherine Groty, Gideon Groty-Patinkin, Mandy Patinkin, Katrina Anstad, Debbie Pacheco, Jessica Cordova-Cramer, and Stephanie Whittles-Wax. Our engineer is Ryan Derringer of Welterweight Sound, a video and audio production by Mark Whiteway of Bellows Media. You can watch on cnn.com slash watch, or the CNN app. If you haven't subscribed to Lemonada Media Premium yet, now's the perfect time. You can hear Don't Listen to Us completely ad-free. Plus, you'll unlock exclusive bonus content like behind the scenes conversations, questions so weird they didn't make it on air, Becky the dog, shenanigans, and more. Just tap the subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe on any other app, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime membership. That's lemonadapremium.com. Don't miss out.
