August 2, 2022 • 38 mins
Cheryl Hines has been displaying her comedic chops for 11 seasons of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm, earning her critical acclaim and two Emmy nominations. She’s also known for her work in the feature film “Waitress,” the sitcom “Suburgatory” and most recently, the second season of “The Flight Attendant.” Hines utilized her talents behind the scenes, producing the television series “Campus Ladies” and directing the film “Serious Moonlight,” starring Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton. She’s also a member of one of America’s most well-known political families, as the wife of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Cheryl Hines and Alec discuss how Cheryl found her way to acting, what it’s like to work with the one-and-only Larry David, and how she’s changed since meeting her husband.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the
Thing from My Heart Radio. It takes real comedic chops
to play the woman starring opposite Larry David for eleven
seasons on the cringe worthy meta hit Curb Your Enthusiasm
My Guest Today, Actress, director and producer Cheryl Hines plays
(00:26):
the cantankerous comedian's wife with the improv skills and killer
timing that have earned her two Emmy nominations for the role.
As an actress, Hynes is known for her memorable turns
in the critically acclaimed film Waitress, the sitcom Suburgatory, and
most recently on HBO's The Flight Attendant. She's also brought
(00:49):
her talents behind the scenes, producing the Oxygen series Campus
Ladies and directing the film Serious Moonlight starring Meg Ryan
and Timothy Hutton. Hines is now also a member of
one of America's most well known and respected families. She
married her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In two thousand fourteen.
(01:11):
With Hines starring as Cheryl David for two decades and counting,
I wanted to know how she got her start in acting. Well,
I mean I did commercials when I was young in Florida,
and then I went to University of Central Florida and
this is how old I am. Okay, my senior year there,
(01:34):
that's when Universal Studio is open. So they did like
a big casting call, like over a thousand actors showed
up because all these kids wanted to, you know, work
there and get a job as an actor because they
had different shows. And so I got hired. And I
mean so yes, I was getting paid to act if
(01:57):
you consider that professional. I tell everybody who starts out
when they come to me and say like, oh, what
do you do? You know they always want to work
that angle? What do you do to make it? How
do I get an agent? All that bullshit. My feeling
about that is you do anything. I don't have any pride,
don't have any pride. Just I was doing a soap
(02:18):
opera in New York, my first job. And while I
was doing the soap opera, I still went down. This
is pre internet, of course, when dinosaurs roamed the earth,
and you go down and we go to the n
y U Film School bulletin board where they had a
casting section and they'd say, you know, call Frank, called
Joe Cole Susie. We're making a movie and they're shooting
(02:40):
in a bar that they've closed down for like all
Saturday day and night. We're gonna shot the whole thing
in one night. Student film. I go down, I do
the film. But my point is that I would do
the show, and then I went down and I do
I did uh a showcase theater. On the weekends, we
rehearse at night. I finished the show. We finished taping
at three o'clock. Every afternoon was a half hour run
(03:01):
downtown Van Dam Theater. Do a play Thursday, Friday, Saturday night.
My point is, I said to people, say yes to anything. Yeah,
it doesn't matter. You gotta put it out there. You
gotta put it out there the way. Oh definitely. I
mean when I first moved to l A, I mean
I didn't have an agent. I didn't you know, I
was bartending. But I would audition for a lot of
(03:22):
student films. I would audition for everything because somebody had
advised me to, you know, they were like, you'll get
better at auditioning the more auditions you go to. And
of course at the time, I felt like, well that's
so mean to the productions, to audition for something that
I probably couldn't even do if I got casts. But
I didn't have to worry about that part um. I
(03:42):
did audition for student films because I knew that I
would get experience. It was good experience to audition for that,
and that those filmmakers are gonna, if they're good, go
on to make other films. Right, So everybody has to
start somewhere. You're standing there one day at a barbecue
(04:03):
and somebody standing next to you and you're like, and
this is before history rights itself, and you're like, what's
your name? That guys like David David O. Russell And
you're like, oh, could you pass me the mustard? What
are you working on? I mean like you're there in
the infancy of someone's career and they remember you. They
you came to l A when you were how old?
I was twenty five, and so you stayed there beyond college?
(04:29):
You stayed in Florida. No, New York. No. I didn't
go to New York. No. I just went from Florida
to l A because I knew two people in l A.
I didn't know anybody in New York. Who in l A?
Did you know? I? Knew. There was a screenwriter named
Mike France who has passed away sadly. But he wrote
Golden I, one of the Bond movies. But but his family,
(04:53):
My family grew up together in winter Haven, Florida, so
I knew him although he was a friend of my brothers. Well,
you know, you grow up and you're like, oh, we're
kind of the same age and you're cute. But he
was living out here. And then I had a friend
from high school named Paul Beckett, and he lived out
here too, and he was a professional background actor, not
(05:17):
an amateur background power. It was his full time. He
was a professional background actor. Yes, Now, when you came here,
what year was that? A late eighties? When you get
out there, what's the vibe? Well, so when I first
came out here, I like, you're saying, do anything, like,
(05:40):
do everything anything to try to you know, as they
say in football, move the chains. Right. So there was
a woman and I won't even remember her name. Her
first name was Melissa, but I think I saw an
ad for a quote unquote intern. And I only say
quote unquote because I wasn't even in school. But it
was just another way of saying we're not going to
(06:01):
pay you, but I would love for someone to come
work in my office. So I did, and I you know,
helped like go through headg shots and this and that.
And one day she she looked at me and she
was like, you're attractive. You should do okay, but you
should get a boob job. And I was like wow
when she had to do the card, her Husbane's card, Yeah,
(06:22):
and it's I'm going to cost you. Um so describe
winter Haven. I mean with them saying the girl from
winter Haven is everybody complete and no one's telling you
you need to have a boob job in winter Haven.
Only when you get to l A. But when you
were home and growing up there was he just very
ordinary and all Americans. Well, so I went to from
winter Haven, I went to Tallahassee. That's in Tallahassee. That's
(06:44):
where I went to went to middle school in high school.
So yes, all American and conservative in Tallahassee. So you know,
guys wore khakis and polo shirt. All the guys look
like football coaches. Your husband. By the way, I had
(07:07):
at one point it was like you cannot wear khaki
pleaded khaki's like you can't, so he has left them behind.
But yeah, and then the girls. You know, it was
really it was really pretty like I don't want to
say average, that's but but like group think, you know
what I mean, it's like traditional traditional, that's the word.
(07:29):
So no, nobody was really that, you know, it wasn't.
I didn't know one person who had a breast augmentation
when I was in high school. But when I was
in l A in the beginning, I actually heard someone
say to someone an actress told me that the guy
or the woman that that that hinted to them that
(07:51):
they should have their boobs done. The person that said
this to my friend said, don't you understand? He said,
this is a sign of how beautiful you are. And
when you when you, when you, when you have your
boobs done, you're gonna be right there. You're gonna be
We're gonna sell you, and you're gonna do so many
commercials movies like there are women who we could give
them a boo job, and it's really not going to
(08:12):
make a difference, he said, They're not gonna they're not
going to be hirable, expect much like oh God, what's
your name? Let me write that down to send it
to my lawyer. It's weird. It's weird. It was interesting
because at that time I hadn't even thought about it,
and it did not seem like it was necessary. But
(08:37):
what you know, I went home and I started thinking
about all the actors, actresses that I really looked up
to that I felt like, Goldie Hawn doesn't have big ones,
you know what. I started thinking of all the actresses
that I really admired, and did breast size have anything
to do with it? And I thought, oh, no, I
don't think those are the parts I'm like going for.
(08:59):
I'm not I'm not dying to be on Baywatch, you
know what I mean. So it was sort of that
when I first got here and then I started I
started studying and performing at some point at the Groundlings
Theater in West Hollywood, which was all improv and in
sketch comedy, and you know, I didn't really experience too
(09:23):
much of the harassment. Yeah, definitely, not not any harassment.
But even like guys have it easier than girls, like
at the Groundlings, my experience wasn't that much more democratic.
The Yeah, I've been so fortunate because I haven't really
felt that in a sense, you know. And then when
(09:46):
I I directed a little independent film a while ago,
but that was the question, and it was was to
like probably fourteen years ago or something. It was like, wow,
you're a female director. That's crazy. And I was like
(10:06):
it is. They're like, yeah, like never even. It was
just so crazy to them, and I was like, oh,
I I guess it is. I never thought about it.
Now for some reason, you have omitted, as we're kind
of doing, or rather semi chronological stroll down the path here,
(10:27):
that how did you get to become an assistant for
Rob Reiner? Well, so I was. I was working as
a bartender in a hotel downtown at the Intercontinental Hotel.
I don't even know if it's still there. So I
was bartending and one of my friends, I had a
friend who was working for or heard that Rob Reiner
(10:49):
was turning fifty and they needed an extra assistant to
help put the party together. And they thought of me,
and she said, you know, do you want to go
meet them and see? You know, it's a temporary job.
You can do it during the day and then still
barton at night, which is what I did. And I
really loved Rob and Michelle writer and at some point
(11:14):
they offered me a full time job. And how long
did that last? Probably two years, two and a half
years years. I worked with Rob who had the great
line once we did the movie Goes to Mississippi and Yeah.
He came up to me and he said, uh, he said,
do me a favor. He said, we don't want to
(11:34):
put a camera in the top in the back of
the stage in the on the ceiling and shoot down
like a big overhead master. And he said, is that
a right with you? Do you mind doing it again?
I have like a three page moneologue. I said yeah,
I said, gonna be shot it and covered. And I go, yeah, right,
you've got a good piece of material. You never get
(11:56):
tired of doing it because you know the next movie
you're gonna do, you're gonna have one line of day
and that line is going to be get down, Everybody,
get down. So when you have good material, you'll do
it again and again and again. I want to talk
to you about directing a movie. You did the movie
with Meg I did, I did. I did a film
called Serious Moonlight. Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell
(12:19):
and Justin Long they and they were all really great
and that film. You know, it was a complicated sort
of moment in time because I had just done that
the movie Waitress. I was in the movie Waitress as
an actress, and Adrian Shelley had written and directed and
was in Waitress. It's part of the Adrian Shelly story. Yeah,
(12:42):
And so before Waitress came out, tragically, Adrian was killed
in New York City, and then Waitress premiered in uh
Sundance and without Adrian, and it was, you know, it
was very bittersweet because that film is so it's a
little bit magical and people really fell in love with it.
(13:03):
And Adrian had written this script Serious Moonlight. And Andy Oustroy,
who was married to Adrian, called me after Waitress and
right after Adrian had been killed and said, you know,
I want to produce this film that Adrian wrote, and
(13:23):
I I want you to consider directing it because I
think you would get the tone of it. And at
that time I was like, are you talking to me?
I'm like, wait a second, what what do you ask?
What are we talking about? Because I had what didn't
even wasn't even thinking about directing a film. You know,
I had directed some television, but not a film, and Uh,
(13:45):
what television did you direct? Well? I directed Curb before them, No, no,
nobody have since no. I had produced and and I
helped create a show called Campus Ladies that was about
these two uh middle aged ladies that go to college
for the first time and live in a freshman door
(14:06):
in a triple with a nineteen year old girl who's like,
oh my god, I cannot live with you two actually,
and Jonah Hill played the r A. So I like
to think that I gave him his first job, which
is true. So I I directed a few episodes of that,
but it was really fun. So I had to sort
of search my soul and figure out is this something
(14:28):
that I should do? I can do? And then I
talked to my director friends like Barry Sonnenfeld and and
they all said, yeah, you should just do it. Like
nobody can tell you. You can't even tell somebody what's
going to happen when they direct. It's something that you
have to experience. We can't even tell you what you're
(14:50):
going to go through. But just go for it. Do it,
you know, call me if there was a problem, call
me with questions, which is what I did, and we
shot in uh fifteen days, I think fifteen days and
uh yeah, and then Meg said yes to the script
and Timothy Hutton and I mean it was it was
(15:15):
a it was a great and terrifying and stressful experience
when you went to the Groundlings. Who was your teacher?
My first teacher there was Lisa Kudrow. Isn't that amazing?
It's so amazing. And the reason I went to the Groundlings,
like I was saying, is I met Phil Hartman's sister
(15:36):
at the bar of the Intercontinental Hotel and she was like,
that's where my brother got to start. And I said,
oh my god, I've got to go to this theater
and see what it's about. And when I went, I
fell in love with it. I couldn't believe what they
were doing on that stage. But I had no money.
I didn't even have a refrigerator at this point because
I didn't know apartments didn't come with the refrigerators. But
all I did was talking about the Groundlings, and that's
(15:58):
really what I where I wanted to go, you know, study.
And so on my birthday, all the regulars and the
Wade staff Chip did and paid for my first Groundlings class,
and then my teacher was Lisa Kudro, actor and producer
(16:18):
Cheryl Hines. If you enjoy conversations with funny and insightful actresses,
check out my episode with Kristen Bell and the moment
I said, you know what, I have a thing and
it's a quirky, weird, funny, bubbly fun thing that's can
be snarky and I love doing it. I do it
pretty well. Why not lean into it? And that is
(16:39):
when I felt like I started becoming happier, when I
stopped trying to be in everyone else's category. To hear
more of my conversation with Kristen Bell, go to Here's
the Thing dot Org. After the break, Cheryl Hine shares
what it's like to direct the One and Only Larry David.
(17:08):
I'm Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here is
the Thing. When Cheryl Hines was first introduced to Larry
David during her Curb Your Enthusiasm audition, the actress had
no idea if she was about to encounter John Cassavetti's
Howie Mandel with a funny dweeb from chemistry class. I
didn't even know what he looked like, and at that
(17:30):
time I was still working for Rob Reiner, and Rob
and Larry know each other. And I knew that they
know each other because because because Sel was a Castle Rock. Yeah,
but at that time I was auditioning for a lot
of stuff. My agent called and said they were looking
for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife and
(17:55):
it's all going to be improvised. I said, well, how
old is that guy? Isn't he old? And my agent,
who my agent at the time, was not a great agent.
If you're listening, you know who you are, um, but
he was like because he was like, look, you're probably
(18:15):
not going to get this part. Just go have a
good audition. Then maybe there's something else for you in
the show. And I was like, thank you, Okay, So
that's what I did. I just I didn't know what
he looked like. I didn't know anything about him, about Larry.
And when I was walking down the hallway to audition,
(18:37):
the casting director said, don't touch Larry. He doesn't like
for people to touch him. I was like, okay, and
they said, uh, you know, it's supposed to sort of
feel like a documentary, so up at any point it
feels fake or false, the audition will be over. I
was like, Okay. They were like in here's Larry, there's
(18:57):
this is a mine field, and there's some minds on
the floor that will blow up your whole audition. To
make sure you don't step on them. Right, they're out
there somewhere. Did they really say that to you? I mean,
and actually it was good advice because you know, because
because curb your enthusiasm is all improvised. So I've been
in the room to improvise with other actors that come
(19:20):
into audition for our show. And when you're improvising and
you know this, like you have to make decisions quickly,
and you have to you how to do yeah, and
you have to assume a relationship in an improv you
just do otherwise it's too strangers, you know, yes, and
we say yes. So if you're improvising with someone, your inclination,
(19:44):
especially if your husband and wife, might be to touch
the other person. So, knowing what I know now about Larry, yeah,
don't touch him. He doesn't want to. He doesn't want
twenty strangers touching him, even if it's in an audition
for his show, right, even it might improve the audition. Yeah,
he doesn't want that, is he still that way. He
(20:06):
still got that, uh how a Mandel thing. Don't touch me? Yes,
that thing too, your elbow fispum, no touching, don't touch me. Yeah.
I never would have guessed that about Larry. I didn't
know that about Larry. What I only one time had
an opportunity. They were just like a brief discussion of
(20:26):
me doing the show, and I guess it was I
want to guess that it was McEnroe did the show.
I was going to play myself and Larry and I
share a limo from l a X coming into town
and they said to me that here's the idea. And
I thought, uh, oh great, and we couldn't work it
out dates wise or whatever, and uh he never called
me again. It never asked me again. And uh, but
(20:49):
I was asked to do the show. I think the
person that played the part I was supposed to play
was McEnroe. So when you do the show now, the
show has been obviously over twenty years. Yes, so you've
been in and around these people for twenty years now.
I know that when I did a show, and I
and I love the people, there was like a handful,
not many certainly, who I never wanted it to end.
(21:10):
I never tired of being around them. When Curb is over,
have you had enough of Curb and you're ready to
take a break. And that is a put down of anybody,
But it's like, there's a thing where you've done this
for so long now, No, you like when you have
a break. No, you can do fifty two shows a year.
We'll see. That's the thing too, because up for a
season for us is ten episodes, so and then we
(21:33):
do it like every other year or something. But I
have the same sort of feelings about Larry. I mean
I feel like, you know, when you're in high school
and you're you have a chemistry lab class and they
pair you up with somebody random and you're like, oh
my god, I'm stuck with this guy. Um, and then
(21:54):
you realize, oh my god, this is the smartest, funniest
guy I've ever met in my entire life. Um. And
you you know, you love going to class every day
because the two of you make things explode. And that's
how I feel about Larry. I mean, I feel like
in all of them. I mean, I love Susie, I
love jaff Richard Lewis. It's like I just I could
(22:15):
do it every day, all day for the rest of
my life. I watched that show, and I mean people,
you know, the great gift of that show is that
you gotta have people who can deliver a line. You know,
Susie Essman, you gotta have that woman was how to
deliver a line. She's like, she's like the Olivier of vulgarity,
(22:37):
you know what I mean? And I think to myself,
is Larry somebody who does he want to bring in
new people? Does he want to try new people, Let's
write new characters, let's freshen up. Or is he one
of those guys where I got a company of actors
and I like them and I want to work with them.
I like what I'm gonna stick with what I have.
He's a combination. It's always been odd to me that
(22:59):
we have actors, famous people who play a version of themselves,
and then we also have famous people who play a character.
Like Vince Vaughn has been playing a character, so it's
it's funny, but he it really is uh story driven,
so he he comes up with the ideas. Larry comes
(23:19):
up with the ideas, and Jeff Schafers is really amazing
behind the scenes. So they come up with ideas for
the shows and then they take it from there. But
you know, I think he likes to cast people that
he knows. But also you know the casting. They've casted
a lot of people casted. Is that a word they've cast?
(23:42):
I think the past tense of cast is cast. Even
when you say it wrong, Sherrott sounds great. Well when
they cast, when you blow the line, it's fantastic. So yeah,
I think it's a combination, is what I'm trying to
say now. Speaking of casting, I am of the belief
that for the core, they're real central characters, not the
(24:03):
guests that come and go or recurrings. And so for that,
I did thirty Rock, and I fully believe that if
one of those people was different, we might not have
made it. Chemistry is the word, obviously, and there's a chemistry,
and we did we talk about the chemistry because on
thirty Rock, I really believe it had to be Tina
and Jack and Tracy and h Jane Krokowski, and if
(24:23):
they put somebody else in there, it would not have
been it might not have worked. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
mean I do feel the same way. You know, Curb
is such a different show because because there's no script
and there's there it's it's not like you know, I've
done other um, I've done other shows where there are
(24:45):
scripts and there's a table read and everybody laughs at
the funny lines, and so you kind of get an
idea of that if this is working or if it's not.
But on Curb there's no table read because there's no script.
There's no you know, there's no audience camera. You know,
crew is in a different room and you're just sitting
(25:05):
in a living room talking. So at the beginning, it
was really hard to know. Before it aired, I had
no idea if like people would how people respond to it.
How many takes do you get a lot of takes
or no. He likes to move on. He likes to
move on. If it's just if it's just being Larry,
(25:28):
we've done it in two takes. You know, if there
are more people or if it's more involved, then you
have to cover. But but because it's improvised, there's always
a camera on Larry and a camera over Larry to
whomever he's he's the Jackie Gleason of the show. Yeah,
(25:49):
so you know, no two takes are the same. So
if you get a take. If he gets a take
that he likes, he'll be like, yeah, let's move on.
What was it like to direct him. It was kind
of hilarious because it was a real fifty fifty crap shoot.
Like I would go in and say, this time, when
you see j B, maybe you're less angry and a
(26:12):
little and he was like, no, I don't think so.
And then sometimes I'll say, look, you just chipped your tooth,
you know, babe, Let's see your reaction to that. And
he's like, okay, I'll do that. So it was real.
You kind of never knew what you were going to get.
I had a famous director once who he said to me, uh,
(26:35):
let's do it again and just take everything off of it.
I go, oh really, He goes, yeah, I feel like
you're kind of putting something on it. It's like it's
too much. I go really. He goes, yeah, not not
not a great deal, but it's a little bit. Goes,
just take a little bit off of I go, okay, okay,
I go and I do it again. I do exactly
what I did the time, and he goes, let's do
it again, and uh really, just trying to take a
(26:58):
little bit more off of it. Just try it again
if you can, and just take a little bit more,
because I really feel like there's still You're like doing
something like the guy. And in my mind, I'm thinking
the character is a performer, the character is trying to
charm people, the character is a movie star. And he goes,
do it again. I go, okay, watch this, I said,
you watch this, I'm gonna I'm gonna take it off.
I go back out there and do exactly saying and
(27:20):
I come off the set and he goes, okay, just
really really just try to take everything off. Don't don't,
don't do anything, just say the lines and just throw
it away. And I go, you got it. I said,
you got I'm sort of sorry, and I said, I said,
you watch somebody really really get it. I'm gonna take
everything off it. And I go out and I do
the exact same fucking thing again, and he said to
(27:42):
He goes, okay, let's move on like you. We're not
going to get wed another time to waste here. That
is the thing about directing. You learn quickly, like you
can't make somebody do something. Actor director Cheryl hines, if
you're enjoying this conversation. Tell a friend and be sure
(28:03):
to follow Here's the Thing on the I Heart Radio app,
Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back,
Cheryl Hynes tells us how marrying a Kennedy has changed her.
(28:31):
H I'm Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here's
the Thing. Cheryl Hynes has spent eleven seasons on the
Emmy winning Curb Your Enthusiasm, during which she has seen
an endless parade of talented guest stars. I was curious
who made her list of favorite appearances. There was a
time when we were shooting in New York when Larry
(28:55):
did the Producers on Broadway. So we were all in
one trailer off Broadway, and uh, during lunch, We're all
sitting there with our little paper plates on our laps,
and David Swimmer was there because he was also in it.
Mel Brooks was there, Larry, and then Jerry Seinfeld was
just walking by and he was there, and we're just
(29:18):
hanging out eating lunch, and then and Bancroft came in
to change in the other little tiny room in the back.
But you know, we did, we did, like the sign
Feld reunion one year and that was amazing. And then
like Tracy Ullman, you know, I mean to be able
to work with her, was this has been just been
(29:40):
one after another. And Dustin Hoffman, I mean you name it. Oh.
And then Martin Scorsese that was fun. And Marty as
we call him right um, he was doing this scene
with Larry and he's playing Martin Scorsese in the show
and Larry, you know, being a asshole to him like
(30:03):
let me do this, let me do that, and uh.
In between takes, I would up to Barty and I
was like, no, actor, whatever, talk to you like that
in real life. And he was like, you'd be surprised,
you'd be amazed. You wouldn't believe what actors say to me.
I was like, I don't know, but if you give
an actor a note, they're not like saying bad to you.
(30:24):
And he's like, you would be talked like I know,
So it's departed with him, and he was like that guy,
that guy right there, that guy right there, that guy
right there, that guy right there on the screen, that
guy right there in the green shirt, that guy right there.
Go yeah, he goes. But he funked up, right, did
he sunk up? Did he sunk up? He sucked up? Right?
Did he suck up? I go, yeah, he sucked up?
Because how do you feel about? How do you feel
right now? Right now? How do you feel? How do
(30:44):
you feel? I go, I go, I'm angry? Goes, You're angry?
How angry are you? Are? You? Really? Are you fucking furious? You?
Are you? Like unbelieving the guy there in the green
shirt sucked up? But how furious to you? I go,
I go, what do you wanta? Do you want to?
You want to grab me? You want to you want
to choke him to death? Right? You want you? You're
really fucking angry? Right? I go, yeah, yes, yes, I'm angry.
I want to beat the ship out. And he goes,
ha ha ha, let's shoot that. Let's shoot that. You
(31:05):
go over there, you Graham. You throw him against the wall,
You beat the ship out of him. We just made
it up. We do take one. I bounced the guy
against the wall. The set is embraced the wall, so
the set almost falls down. I fling this guy against
the wall to slug this guy and Mark and you
hear Marty of him a video village going and I go, okay,
(31:26):
So they go, okay, let's stop, and we'll embraced the
set and we'll do it again, and we do this.
And he was so if he was inspired, you know,
if he was moved, if he was so uh inclined,
he's the greatest boy. He was just I mean, I
only had two small parts in two films with him,
but he was so, so, so amazing. Now you were
(31:46):
married once before, and you have your daughter with your
first husband, and then of course at this point in
your life, you're very successful. What I learned about you,
I'm a very good judge of character. And there is
nobody in the town is a bad word to say
about you. Everybody loves you. Everybody loves Cheryl Haynes, and
(32:06):
she's the star, one of the stars of this huge show.
And everybody and and the and the curb your enthusiasm,
of course, lives in that weird little quadrant where people
in the industry watched the show. We stayed at thirty Rocks,
stayed on the air because Lauren Michaels would be an
aspen and someone would say, my son broke his arm skiing,
and he had he couldn't go skiing. We're in the
(32:26):
hotel room and we watched seasons three and four or
thirty rocks that shows hysterical. So people in the business
watched the show. Curbs a show that people in the
business watched the show. So everybody loves you. The show
is a great success. And you decided to get married again.
What do you do, Cheryl my Mary Kennedy? Yeah, yeah,
(32:48):
how did how Larry and you took Larry's dating recommendation?
Larry was the he was the opposite of He was
so Larry. And he didn't set you up with Bobby No,
I mean he introduced us just because we were at
the same event. But then later, you know, Larry was like,
that's a terrible idea. No, no, no, don't don't get
(33:10):
involved that that's a terrible idea. And then cut to yeah,
we've been married for eight years something like that. You
must have a ball hanging out with that crop. We
have so much fun and you're in You're right, there's
His family is so so much more I don't know,
welcoming and more personable than you could imagine. I don't know.
(33:34):
And when I met him and I was like, oh,
I'm going to meet all the Kennedy's. That sounds intimidating,
and then you meet them and they're just really fun,
a good time. Oh yeah, that's right, that's right. Were
there things that were issues that you maybe kind of
sort of had some interest in? Has he deepened your
(33:54):
passion for any issues at all? Well? I met Bobby
at a Waterkeeper Alliance fundraiser, so Bobby started Waterkeeper and
definitely being around him and understanding, you know, the environment
better and and how big corporations are just they would
(34:17):
it's much easier and cheaper for them to pay fines
for killing people bring the product to market at its
true cost, he taught me. Yeah, so I have learned
about it sort of on that the bigger scale and
more of the um legal side of it, more than
just you know, recycle. So it's definitely a learning And
(34:41):
I go in and out of being interested in politics
because and sometimes I cannot. I can't these days, I
can't even watch the news. But then, you know, I
don't know, in six months, I might only be watching
the news all the time because but but yeah, I
learned a lot from him. What have you taught him?
I think I've taught him to I mean, I don't
(35:04):
want to say lighten up because he's it's interesting. You
wouldn't think that he's as funny and play phil as
he is, just if you only knew him from his
you know, persona that he presents to people. So um,
I've taught him that, hopefully it's I'm teaching him like
sometimes check it at the door, like don't bring everything home.
(35:26):
He's invested in so many heavy chases. Yeah that it's like,
oh man, sometimes you just need to watch dirty rock
and get why not. But you're very right, which is
you can't be saving the world all the time, you know.
And it's like sometimes I get so frustrated and I'm like, look, yes,
(35:47):
we're all dying of everything. Whatever you think is killing us,
it is. It is, so just yeah, let's enjoy the night. Yeah. Now,
did Saturday and Night with Larry when we did the
debate and he was Bernie Sanders. He said, I'm not
like my opponent. I've got four pairs of underwear and
(36:09):
I washed them out in the sink every night and
leave them on the radiator. And we had a ball
and he was very, very very funny. You and he
are divorced on the show, Yes, And I'm dating Ted
Danson on the show. That's kind of a lateral move agewise.
We thought was like Roger Federer, right, like a hot guy, right.
(36:31):
And then I pooled around with Larry behind Ted's back. Oh,
I did the movie. It's complicated. That's what I did.
I had an affair with my ex wife. I loved
its complicated. No, no, no, But but when you divorce
your character you've been with all this time, was it
a little bit wistful for you? When Larry and you
got divorced? It was terrible. We're glad you run off
(36:53):
and go have an affair with Ted Dathson. No, it
was terrible. I hated it. I still hate it. But
then we tried to get it back together, and yeah, listen,
it's not that kind of show. I'm not having love
scenes with anybody. But I don't know. I keep thinking
that Larry and Cheryl, they would they belong together. It
(37:15):
seems like, I gotta tell you, everybody loves you. It's
a nice position to be in. I wouldn't know what
that was like, which I knew. I wish I knew
what that was like. For one day. My love to you,
my love to your your man. I will my thanks
(37:35):
to Cheryl Hines. This episode was recorded at CDM Studios
in New York City. We're produced by Kathleen Russo, Zack McNeice,
and Maureen Hoban. Our engineer is Frank Imperial. Our social
media manager is Danielle Gingrich. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the
Thing is brought to you by iHeart Radio four. Complete
(38:09):
contro
This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the
Thing from My Heart Radio. It takes real comedic chops
to play the woman starring opposite Larry David for eleven
seasons on the cringe worthy meta hit Curb Your Enthusiasm
My Guest Today, Actress, director and producer Cheryl Hines plays
(00:26):
the cantankerous comedian's wife with the improv skills and killer
timing that have earned her two Emmy nominations for the role.
As an actress, Hynes is known for her memorable turns
in the critically acclaimed film Waitress, the sitcom Suburgatory, and
most recently on HBO's The Flight Attendant. She's also brought
(00:49):
her talents behind the scenes, producing the Oxygen series Campus
Ladies and directing the film Serious Moonlight starring Meg Ryan
and Timothy Hutton. Hines is now also a member of
one of America's most well known and respected families. She
married her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In two thousand fourteen.
(01:11):
With Hines starring as Cheryl David for two decades and counting,
I wanted to know how she got her start in acting. Well,
I mean I did commercials when I was young in Florida,
and then I went to University of Central Florida and
this is how old I am. Okay, my senior year there,
(01:34):
that's when Universal Studio is open. So they did like
a big casting call, like over a thousand actors showed
up because all these kids wanted to, you know, work
there and get a job as an actor because they
had different shows. And so I got hired. And I
mean so yes, I was getting paid to act if
(01:57):
you consider that professional. I tell everybody who starts out
when they come to me and say like, oh, what
do you do? You know they always want to work
that angle? What do you do to make it? How
do I get an agent? All that bullshit. My feeling
about that is you do anything. I don't have any pride,
don't have any pride. Just I was doing a soap
(02:18):
opera in New York, my first job. And while I
was doing the soap opera, I still went down. This
is pre internet, of course, when dinosaurs roamed the earth,
and you go down and we go to the n
y U Film School bulletin board where they had a
casting section and they'd say, you know, call Frank, called
Joe Cole Susie. We're making a movie and they're shooting
(02:40):
in a bar that they've closed down for like all
Saturday day and night. We're gonna shot the whole thing
in one night. Student film. I go down, I do
the film. But my point is that I would do
the show, and then I went down and I do
I did uh a showcase theater. On the weekends, we
rehearse at night. I finished the show. We finished taping
at three o'clock. Every afternoon was a half hour run
(03:01):
downtown Van Dam Theater. Do a play Thursday, Friday, Saturday night.
My point is, I said to people, say yes to anything. Yeah,
it doesn't matter. You gotta put it out there. You
gotta put it out there the way. Oh definitely. I
mean when I first moved to l A, I mean
I didn't have an agent. I didn't you know, I
was bartending. But I would audition for a lot of
(03:22):
student films. I would audition for everything because somebody had
advised me to, you know, they were like, you'll get
better at auditioning the more auditions you go to. And
of course at the time, I felt like, well that's
so mean to the productions, to audition for something that
I probably couldn't even do if I got casts. But
I didn't have to worry about that part um. I
(03:42):
did audition for student films because I knew that I
would get experience. It was good experience to audition for that,
and that those filmmakers are gonna, if they're good, go
on to make other films. Right, So everybody has to
start somewhere. You're standing there one day at a barbecue
(04:03):
and somebody standing next to you and you're like, and
this is before history rights itself, and you're like, what's
your name? That guys like David David O. Russell And
you're like, oh, could you pass me the mustard? What
are you working on? I mean like you're there in
the infancy of someone's career and they remember you. They
you came to l A when you were how old?
I was twenty five, and so you stayed there beyond college?
(04:29):
You stayed in Florida. No, New York. No. I didn't
go to New York. No. I just went from Florida
to l A because I knew two people in l A.
I didn't know anybody in New York. Who in l A?
Did you know? I? Knew. There was a screenwriter named
Mike France who has passed away sadly. But he wrote
Golden I, one of the Bond movies. But but his family,
(04:53):
My family grew up together in winter Haven, Florida, so
I knew him although he was a friend of my brothers. Well,
you know, you grow up and you're like, oh, we're
kind of the same age and you're cute. But he
was living out here. And then I had a friend
from high school named Paul Beckett, and he lived out
here too, and he was a professional background actor, not
(05:17):
an amateur background power. It was his full time. He
was a professional background actor. Yes, Now, when you came here,
what year was that? A late eighties? When you get
out there, what's the vibe? Well, so when I first
came out here, I like, you're saying, do anything, like,
(05:40):
do everything anything to try to you know, as they
say in football, move the chains. Right. So there was
a woman and I won't even remember her name. Her
first name was Melissa, but I think I saw an
ad for a quote unquote intern. And I only say
quote unquote because I wasn't even in school. But it
was just another way of saying we're not going to
(06:01):
pay you, but I would love for someone to come
work in my office. So I did, and I you know,
helped like go through headg shots and this and that.
And one day she she looked at me and she
was like, you're attractive. You should do okay, but you
should get a boob job. And I was like wow
when she had to do the card, her Husbane's card, Yeah,
(06:22):
and it's I'm going to cost you. Um so describe
winter Haven. I mean with them saying the girl from
winter Haven is everybody complete and no one's telling you
you need to have a boob job in winter Haven.
Only when you get to l A. But when you
were home and growing up there was he just very
ordinary and all Americans. Well, so I went to from
winter Haven, I went to Tallahassee. That's in Tallahassee. That's
(06:44):
where I went to went to middle school in high school.
So yes, all American and conservative in Tallahassee. So you know,
guys wore khakis and polo shirt. All the guys look
like football coaches. Your husband. By the way, I had
(07:07):
at one point it was like you cannot wear khaki
pleaded khaki's like you can't, so he has left them behind.
But yeah, and then the girls. You know, it was
really it was really pretty like I don't want to
say average, that's but but like group think, you know
what I mean, it's like traditional traditional, that's the word.
(07:29):
So no, nobody was really that, you know, it wasn't.
I didn't know one person who had a breast augmentation
when I was in high school. But when I was
in l A in the beginning, I actually heard someone
say to someone an actress told me that the guy
or the woman that that that hinted to them that
(07:51):
they should have their boobs done. The person that said
this to my friend said, don't you understand? He said,
this is a sign of how beautiful you are. And
when you when you, when you, when you have your
boobs done, you're gonna be right there. You're gonna be
We're gonna sell you, and you're gonna do so many
commercials movies like there are women who we could give
them a boo job, and it's really not going to
(08:12):
make a difference, he said, They're not gonna they're not
going to be hirable, expect much like oh God, what's
your name? Let me write that down to send it
to my lawyer. It's weird. It's weird. It was interesting
because at that time I hadn't even thought about it,
and it did not seem like it was necessary. But
(08:37):
what you know, I went home and I started thinking
about all the actors, actresses that I really looked up
to that I felt like, Goldie Hawn doesn't have big ones,
you know what. I started thinking of all the actresses
that I really admired, and did breast size have anything
to do with it? And I thought, oh, no, I
don't think those are the parts I'm like going for.
(08:59):
I'm not I'm not dying to be on Baywatch, you
know what I mean. So it was sort of that
when I first got here and then I started I
started studying and performing at some point at the Groundlings
Theater in West Hollywood, which was all improv and in
sketch comedy, and you know, I didn't really experience too
(09:23):
much of the harassment. Yeah, definitely, not not any harassment.
But even like guys have it easier than girls, like
at the Groundlings, my experience wasn't that much more democratic.
The Yeah, I've been so fortunate because I haven't really
felt that in a sense, you know. And then when
(09:46):
I I directed a little independent film a while ago,
but that was the question, and it was was to
like probably fourteen years ago or something. It was like, wow,
you're a female director. That's crazy. And I was like
(10:06):
it is. They're like, yeah, like never even. It was
just so crazy to them, and I was like, oh,
I I guess it is. I never thought about it.
Now for some reason, you have omitted, as we're kind
of doing, or rather semi chronological stroll down the path here,
(10:27):
that how did you get to become an assistant for
Rob Reiner? Well, so I was. I was working as
a bartender in a hotel downtown at the Intercontinental Hotel.
I don't even know if it's still there. So I
was bartending and one of my friends, I had a
friend who was working for or heard that Rob Reiner
(10:49):
was turning fifty and they needed an extra assistant to
help put the party together. And they thought of me,
and she said, you know, do you want to go
meet them and see? You know, it's a temporary job.
You can do it during the day and then still
barton at night, which is what I did. And I
really loved Rob and Michelle writer and at some point
(11:14):
they offered me a full time job. And how long
did that last? Probably two years, two and a half
years years. I worked with Rob who had the great
line once we did the movie Goes to Mississippi and Yeah.
He came up to me and he said, uh, he said,
do me a favor. He said, we don't want to
(11:34):
put a camera in the top in the back of
the stage in the on the ceiling and shoot down
like a big overhead master. And he said, is that
a right with you? Do you mind doing it again?
I have like a three page moneologue. I said yeah,
I said, gonna be shot it and covered. And I go, yeah, right,
you've got a good piece of material. You never get
(11:56):
tired of doing it because you know the next movie
you're gonna do, you're gonna have one line of day
and that line is going to be get down, Everybody,
get down. So when you have good material, you'll do
it again and again and again. I want to talk
to you about directing a movie. You did the movie
with Meg I did, I did. I did a film
called Serious Moonlight. Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell
(12:19):
and Justin Long they and they were all really great
and that film. You know, it was a complicated sort
of moment in time because I had just done that
the movie Waitress. I was in the movie Waitress as
an actress, and Adrian Shelley had written and directed and
was in Waitress. It's part of the Adrian Shelly story. Yeah,
(12:42):
And so before Waitress came out, tragically, Adrian was killed
in New York City, and then Waitress premiered in uh
Sundance and without Adrian, and it was, you know, it
was very bittersweet because that film is so it's a
little bit magical and people really fell in love with it.
(13:03):
And Adrian had written this script Serious Moonlight. And Andy Oustroy,
who was married to Adrian, called me after Waitress and
right after Adrian had been killed and said, you know,
I want to produce this film that Adrian wrote, and
(13:23):
I I want you to consider directing it because I
think you would get the tone of it. And at
that time I was like, are you talking to me?
I'm like, wait a second, what what do you ask?
What are we talking about? Because I had what didn't
even wasn't even thinking about directing a film. You know,
I had directed some television, but not a film, and Uh,
(13:45):
what television did you direct? Well? I directed Curb before them, No, no,
nobody have since no. I had produced and and I
helped create a show called Campus Ladies that was about
these two uh middle aged ladies that go to college
for the first time and live in a freshman door
(14:06):
in a triple with a nineteen year old girl who's like,
oh my god, I cannot live with you two actually,
and Jonah Hill played the r A. So I like
to think that I gave him his first job, which
is true. So I I directed a few episodes of that,
but it was really fun. So I had to sort
of search my soul and figure out is this something
(14:28):
that I should do? I can do? And then I
talked to my director friends like Barry Sonnenfeld and and
they all said, yeah, you should just do it. Like
nobody can tell you. You can't even tell somebody what's
going to happen when they direct. It's something that you
have to experience. We can't even tell you what you're
(14:50):
going to go through. But just go for it. Do it,
you know, call me if there was a problem, call
me with questions, which is what I did, and we
shot in uh fifteen days, I think fifteen days and
uh yeah, and then Meg said yes to the script
and Timothy Hutton and I mean it was it was
(15:15):
a it was a great and terrifying and stressful experience
when you went to the Groundlings. Who was your teacher?
My first teacher there was Lisa Kudrow. Isn't that amazing?
It's so amazing. And the reason I went to the Groundlings,
like I was saying, is I met Phil Hartman's sister
(15:36):
at the bar of the Intercontinental Hotel and she was like,
that's where my brother got to start. And I said,
oh my god, I've got to go to this theater
and see what it's about. And when I went, I
fell in love with it. I couldn't believe what they
were doing on that stage. But I had no money.
I didn't even have a refrigerator at this point because
I didn't know apartments didn't come with the refrigerators. But
all I did was talking about the Groundlings, and that's
(15:58):
really what I where I wanted to go, you know, study.
And so on my birthday, all the regulars and the
Wade staff Chip did and paid for my first Groundlings class,
and then my teacher was Lisa Kudro, actor and producer
(16:18):
Cheryl Hines. If you enjoy conversations with funny and insightful actresses,
check out my episode with Kristen Bell and the moment
I said, you know what, I have a thing and
it's a quirky, weird, funny, bubbly fun thing that's can
be snarky and I love doing it. I do it
pretty well. Why not lean into it? And that is
(16:39):
when I felt like I started becoming happier, when I
stopped trying to be in everyone else's category. To hear
more of my conversation with Kristen Bell, go to Here's
the Thing dot Org. After the break, Cheryl Hine shares
what it's like to direct the One and Only Larry David.
(17:08):
I'm Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here is
the Thing. When Cheryl Hines was first introduced to Larry
David during her Curb Your Enthusiasm audition, the actress had
no idea if she was about to encounter John Cassavetti's
Howie Mandel with a funny dweeb from chemistry class. I
didn't even know what he looked like, and at that
(17:30):
time I was still working for Rob Reiner, and Rob
and Larry know each other. And I knew that they
know each other because because because Sel was a Castle Rock. Yeah,
but at that time I was auditioning for a lot
of stuff. My agent called and said they were looking
for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife and
(17:55):
it's all going to be improvised. I said, well, how
old is that guy? Isn't he old? And my agent,
who my agent at the time, was not a great agent.
If you're listening, you know who you are, um, but
he was like because he was like, look, you're probably
(18:15):
not going to get this part. Just go have a
good audition. Then maybe there's something else for you in
the show. And I was like, thank you, Okay, So
that's what I did. I just I didn't know what
he looked like. I didn't know anything about him, about Larry.
And when I was walking down the hallway to audition,
(18:37):
the casting director said, don't touch Larry. He doesn't like
for people to touch him. I was like, okay, and
they said, uh, you know, it's supposed to sort of
feel like a documentary, so up at any point it
feels fake or false, the audition will be over. I
was like, Okay. They were like in here's Larry, there's
(18:57):
this is a mine field, and there's some minds on
the floor that will blow up your whole audition. To
make sure you don't step on them. Right, they're out
there somewhere. Did they really say that to you? I mean,
and actually it was good advice because you know, because
because curb your enthusiasm is all improvised. So I've been
in the room to improvise with other actors that come
(19:20):
into audition for our show. And when you're improvising and
you know this, like you have to make decisions quickly,
and you have to you how to do yeah, and
you have to assume a relationship in an improv you
just do otherwise it's too strangers, you know, yes, and
we say yes. So if you're improvising with someone, your inclination,
(19:44):
especially if your husband and wife, might be to touch
the other person. So, knowing what I know now about Larry, yeah,
don't touch him. He doesn't want to. He doesn't want
twenty strangers touching him, even if it's in an audition
for his show, right, even it might improve the audition. Yeah,
he doesn't want that, is he still that way. He
(20:06):
still got that, uh how a Mandel thing. Don't touch me? Yes,
that thing too, your elbow fispum, no touching, don't touch me. Yeah.
I never would have guessed that about Larry. I didn't
know that about Larry. What I only one time had
an opportunity. They were just like a brief discussion of
(20:26):
me doing the show, and I guess it was I
want to guess that it was McEnroe did the show.
I was going to play myself and Larry and I
share a limo from l a X coming into town
and they said to me that here's the idea. And
I thought, uh, oh great, and we couldn't work it
out dates wise or whatever, and uh he never called
me again. It never asked me again. And uh, but
(20:49):
I was asked to do the show. I think the
person that played the part I was supposed to play
was McEnroe. So when you do the show now, the
show has been obviously over twenty years. Yes, so you've
been in and around these people for twenty years now.
I know that when I did a show, and I
and I love the people, there was like a handful,
not many certainly, who I never wanted it to end.
(21:10):
I never tired of being around them. When Curb is over,
have you had enough of Curb and you're ready to
take a break. And that is a put down of anybody,
But it's like, there's a thing where you've done this
for so long now, No, you like when you have
a break. No, you can do fifty two shows a year.
We'll see. That's the thing too, because up for a
season for us is ten episodes, so and then we
(21:33):
do it like every other year or something. But I
have the same sort of feelings about Larry. I mean
I feel like, you know, when you're in high school
and you're you have a chemistry lab class and they
pair you up with somebody random and you're like, oh
my god, I'm stuck with this guy. Um, and then
(21:54):
you realize, oh my god, this is the smartest, funniest
guy I've ever met in my entire life. Um. And
you you know, you love going to class every day
because the two of you make things explode. And that's
how I feel about Larry. I mean, I feel like
in all of them. I mean, I love Susie, I
love jaff Richard Lewis. It's like I just I could
(22:15):
do it every day, all day for the rest of
my life. I watched that show, and I mean people,
you know, the great gift of that show is that
you gotta have people who can deliver a line. You know,
Susie Essman, you gotta have that woman was how to
deliver a line. She's like, she's like the Olivier of vulgarity,
(22:37):
you know what I mean? And I think to myself,
is Larry somebody who does he want to bring in
new people? Does he want to try new people, Let's
write new characters, let's freshen up. Or is he one
of those guys where I got a company of actors
and I like them and I want to work with them.
I like what I'm gonna stick with what I have.
He's a combination. It's always been odd to me that
(22:59):
we have actors, famous people who play a version of themselves,
and then we also have famous people who play a character.
Like Vince Vaughn has been playing a character, so it's
it's funny, but he it really is uh story driven,
so he he comes up with the ideas. Larry comes
(23:19):
up with the ideas, and Jeff Schafers is really amazing
behind the scenes. So they come up with ideas for
the shows and then they take it from there. But
you know, I think he likes to cast people that
he knows. But also you know the casting. They've casted
a lot of people casted. Is that a word they've cast?
(23:42):
I think the past tense of cast is cast. Even
when you say it wrong, Sherrott sounds great. Well when
they cast, when you blow the line, it's fantastic. So yeah,
I think it's a combination, is what I'm trying to
say now. Speaking of casting, I am of the belief
that for the core, they're real central characters, not the
(24:03):
guests that come and go or recurrings. And so for that,
I did thirty Rock, and I fully believe that if
one of those people was different, we might not have
made it. Chemistry is the word, obviously, and there's a chemistry,
and we did we talk about the chemistry because on
thirty Rock, I really believe it had to be Tina
and Jack and Tracy and h Jane Krokowski, and if
(24:23):
they put somebody else in there, it would not have
been it might not have worked. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
mean I do feel the same way. You know, Curb
is such a different show because because there's no script
and there's there it's it's not like you know, I've
done other um, I've done other shows where there are
(24:45):
scripts and there's a table read and everybody laughs at
the funny lines, and so you kind of get an
idea of that if this is working or if it's not.
But on Curb there's no table read because there's no script.
There's no you know, there's no audience camera. You know,
crew is in a different room and you're just sitting
(25:05):
in a living room talking. So at the beginning, it
was really hard to know. Before it aired, I had
no idea if like people would how people respond to it.
How many takes do you get a lot of takes
or no. He likes to move on. He likes to
move on. If it's just if it's just being Larry,
(25:28):
we've done it in two takes. You know, if there
are more people or if it's more involved, then you
have to cover. But but because it's improvised, there's always
a camera on Larry and a camera over Larry to
whomever he's he's the Jackie Gleason of the show. Yeah,
(25:49):
so you know, no two takes are the same. So
if you get a take. If he gets a take
that he likes, he'll be like, yeah, let's move on.
What was it like to direct him. It was kind
of hilarious because it was a real fifty fifty crap shoot.
Like I would go in and say, this time, when
you see j B, maybe you're less angry and a
(26:12):
little and he was like, no, I don't think so.
And then sometimes I'll say, look, you just chipped your tooth,
you know, babe, Let's see your reaction to that. And
he's like, okay, I'll do that. So it was real.
You kind of never knew what you were going to get.
I had a famous director once who he said to me, uh,
(26:35):
let's do it again and just take everything off of it.
I go, oh really, He goes, yeah, I feel like
you're kind of putting something on it. It's like it's
too much. I go really. He goes, yeah, not not
not a great deal, but it's a little bit. Goes,
just take a little bit off of I go, okay, okay,
I go and I do it again. I do exactly
what I did the time, and he goes, let's do
it again, and uh really, just trying to take a
(26:58):
little bit more off of it. Just try it again
if you can, and just take a little bit more,
because I really feel like there's still You're like doing
something like the guy. And in my mind, I'm thinking
the character is a performer, the character is trying to
charm people, the character is a movie star. And he goes,
do it again. I go, okay, watch this, I said,
you watch this, I'm gonna I'm gonna take it off.
I go back out there and do exactly saying and
(27:20):
I come off the set and he goes, okay, just
really really just try to take everything off. Don't don't,
don't do anything, just say the lines and just throw
it away. And I go, you got it. I said,
you got I'm sort of sorry, and I said, I said,
you watch somebody really really get it. I'm gonna take
everything off it. And I go out and I do
the exact same fucking thing again, and he said to
(27:42):
He goes, okay, let's move on like you. We're not
going to get wed another time to waste here. That
is the thing about directing. You learn quickly, like you
can't make somebody do something. Actor director Cheryl hines, if
you're enjoying this conversation. Tell a friend and be sure
(28:03):
to follow Here's the Thing on the I Heart Radio app,
Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back,
Cheryl Hynes tells us how marrying a Kennedy has changed her.
(28:31):
H I'm Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here's
the Thing. Cheryl Hynes has spent eleven seasons on the
Emmy winning Curb Your Enthusiasm, during which she has seen
an endless parade of talented guest stars. I was curious
who made her list of favorite appearances. There was a
time when we were shooting in New York when Larry
(28:55):
did the Producers on Broadway. So we were all in
one trailer off Broadway, and uh, during lunch, We're all
sitting there with our little paper plates on our laps,
and David Swimmer was there because he was also in it.
Mel Brooks was there, Larry, and then Jerry Seinfeld was
just walking by and he was there, and we're just
(29:18):
hanging out eating lunch, and then and Bancroft came in
to change in the other little tiny room in the back.
But you know, we did, we did, like the sign
Feld reunion one year and that was amazing. And then
like Tracy Ullman, you know, I mean to be able
to work with her, was this has been just been
(29:40):
one after another. And Dustin Hoffman, I mean you name it. Oh.
And then Martin Scorsese that was fun. And Marty as
we call him right um, he was doing this scene
with Larry and he's playing Martin Scorsese in the show
and Larry, you know, being a asshole to him like
(30:03):
let me do this, let me do that, and uh.
In between takes, I would up to Barty and I
was like, no, actor, whatever, talk to you like that
in real life. And he was like, you'd be surprised,
you'd be amazed. You wouldn't believe what actors say to me.
I was like, I don't know, but if you give
an actor a note, they're not like saying bad to you.
(30:24):
And he's like, you would be talked like I know,
So it's departed with him, and he was like that guy,
that guy right there, that guy right there, that guy
right there, that guy right there on the screen, that
guy right there in the green shirt, that guy right there.
Go yeah, he goes. But he funked up, right, did
he sunk up? Did he sunk up? He sucked up? Right?
Did he suck up? I go, yeah, he sucked up?
Because how do you feel about? How do you feel
right now? Right now? How do you feel? How do
(30:44):
you feel? I go, I go, I'm angry? Goes, You're angry?
How angry are you? Are? You? Really? Are you fucking furious? You?
Are you? Like unbelieving the guy there in the green
shirt sucked up? But how furious to you? I go,
I go, what do you wanta? Do you want to?
You want to grab me? You want to you want
to choke him to death? Right? You want you? You're
really fucking angry? Right? I go, yeah, yes, yes, I'm angry.
I want to beat the ship out. And he goes,
ha ha ha, let's shoot that. Let's shoot that. You
(31:05):
go over there, you Graham. You throw him against the wall,
You beat the ship out of him. We just made
it up. We do take one. I bounced the guy
against the wall. The set is embraced the wall, so
the set almost falls down. I fling this guy against
the wall to slug this guy and Mark and you
hear Marty of him a video village going and I go, okay,
(31:26):
So they go, okay, let's stop, and we'll embraced the
set and we'll do it again, and we do this.
And he was so if he was inspired, you know,
if he was moved, if he was so uh inclined,
he's the greatest boy. He was just I mean, I
only had two small parts in two films with him,
but he was so, so, so amazing. Now you were
(31:46):
married once before, and you have your daughter with your
first husband, and then of course at this point in
your life, you're very successful. What I learned about you,
I'm a very good judge of character. And there is
nobody in the town is a bad word to say
about you. Everybody loves you. Everybody loves Cheryl Haynes, and
(32:06):
she's the star, one of the stars of this huge show.
And everybody and and the and the curb your enthusiasm,
of course, lives in that weird little quadrant where people
in the industry watched the show. We stayed at thirty Rocks,
stayed on the air because Lauren Michaels would be an
aspen and someone would say, my son broke his arm skiing,
and he had he couldn't go skiing. We're in the
(32:26):
hotel room and we watched seasons three and four or
thirty rocks that shows hysterical. So people in the business
watched the show. Curbs a show that people in the
business watched the show. So everybody loves you. The show
is a great success. And you decided to get married again.
What do you do, Cheryl my Mary Kennedy? Yeah, yeah,
(32:48):
how did how Larry and you took Larry's dating recommendation?
Larry was the he was the opposite of He was
so Larry. And he didn't set you up with Bobby No,
I mean he introduced us just because we were at
the same event. But then later, you know, Larry was like,
that's a terrible idea. No, no, no, don't don't get
(33:10):
involved that that's a terrible idea. And then cut to yeah,
we've been married for eight years something like that. You
must have a ball hanging out with that crop. We
have so much fun and you're in You're right, there's
His family is so so much more I don't know,
welcoming and more personable than you could imagine. I don't know.
(33:34):
And when I met him and I was like, oh,
I'm going to meet all the Kennedy's. That sounds intimidating,
and then you meet them and they're just really fun,
a good time. Oh yeah, that's right, that's right. Were
there things that were issues that you maybe kind of
sort of had some interest in? Has he deepened your
(33:54):
passion for any issues at all? Well? I met Bobby
at a Waterkeeper Alliance fundraiser, so Bobby started Waterkeeper and
definitely being around him and understanding, you know, the environment
better and and how big corporations are just they would
(34:17):
it's much easier and cheaper for them to pay fines
for killing people bring the product to market at its
true cost, he taught me. Yeah, so I have learned
about it sort of on that the bigger scale and
more of the um legal side of it, more than
just you know, recycle. So it's definitely a learning And
(34:41):
I go in and out of being interested in politics
because and sometimes I cannot. I can't these days, I
can't even watch the news. But then, you know, I
don't know, in six months, I might only be watching
the news all the time because but but yeah, I
learned a lot from him. What have you taught him?
I think I've taught him to I mean, I don't
(35:04):
want to say lighten up because he's it's interesting. You
wouldn't think that he's as funny and play phil as
he is, just if you only knew him from his
you know, persona that he presents to people. So um,
I've taught him that, hopefully it's I'm teaching him like
sometimes check it at the door, like don't bring everything home.
(35:26):
He's invested in so many heavy chases. Yeah that it's like,
oh man, sometimes you just need to watch dirty rock
and get why not. But you're very right, which is
you can't be saving the world all the time, you know.
And it's like sometimes I get so frustrated and I'm like, look, yes,
(35:47):
we're all dying of everything. Whatever you think is killing us,
it is. It is, so just yeah, let's enjoy the night. Yeah. Now,
did Saturday and Night with Larry when we did the
debate and he was Bernie Sanders. He said, I'm not
like my opponent. I've got four pairs of underwear and
(36:09):
I washed them out in the sink every night and
leave them on the radiator. And we had a ball
and he was very, very very funny. You and he
are divorced on the show, Yes, And I'm dating Ted
Danson on the show. That's kind of a lateral move agewise.
We thought was like Roger Federer, right, like a hot guy, right.
(36:31):
And then I pooled around with Larry behind Ted's back. Oh,
I did the movie. It's complicated. That's what I did.
I had an affair with my ex wife. I loved
its complicated. No, no, no, But but when you divorce
your character you've been with all this time, was it
a little bit wistful for you? When Larry and you
got divorced? It was terrible. We're glad you run off
(36:53):
and go have an affair with Ted Dathson. No, it
was terrible. I hated it. I still hate it. But
then we tried to get it back together, and yeah, listen,
it's not that kind of show. I'm not having love
scenes with anybody. But I don't know. I keep thinking
that Larry and Cheryl, they would they belong together. It
(37:15):
seems like, I gotta tell you, everybody loves you. It's
a nice position to be in. I wouldn't know what
that was like, which I knew. I wish I knew
what that was like. For one day. My love to you,
my love to your your man. I will my thanks
(37:35):
to Cheryl Hines. This episode was recorded at CDM Studios
in New York City. We're produced by Kathleen Russo, Zack McNeice,
and Maureen Hoban. Our engineer is Frank Imperial. Our social
media manager is Danielle Gingrich. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the
Thing is brought to you by iHeart Radio four. Complete
(38:09):
contro
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