September 11, 2024 • 23 mins
First, she was Connie, then she was Karen... Then, she was Karen again before appearing as Connie twice more! Talk about whiplash!! The woman behind these characters, Debbie Gregory, joins us for part 1 of her interview today!
Tune in to hear all about her beginnings as an actress, which had a little something to do with Phil Donahue!! Plus, all of her memories from Full House. It's all here on How Rude, Tanneritos!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Hey there, Fana Ritos, and welcome to an all new
episode of How Rude Tana Ritos. As you know, there's
an actress who's appeared on Full House more than once,
but as two completely different characters. She was first introduced
as Becky's sister Connie, then came back as Karen, and
will eventually appear as Connie again. Talk about whiplash and
(00:39):
if that isn't wacky enough, this isn't the only TV
show where she has played multiple characters. What Debbie Gregory
herself is joining the podcast today to tell us all
about her roles on Full House and how this opportunity
came to be. So please give a warm welcome to Debbie.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Do you hear me? Guys?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Oh yeah, Hi, there you are.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We can hear you.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Okay, can you see me?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I can't see you, but I can hear you. And
Jody just went to do a she went to get
a coffee or find a microphone, one or the other.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
I don't know. I already see that cookie jar.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh I know.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, I've got all my Full House swag behind me.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
What do you have?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You have your hat?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I have a hat. I still have this little fanny pack.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Fanny pack. Yes, I have the fanny pack. I don't
think I have the hat. I am jealous. Where did
I put that hat? These are wrap party gifts. I'm
assuming you have a.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Real practical Christmas gift that everybody probably needed.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
A messenger bag. Yes see, I like the practical gifts.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's like, there's only so many water bottles you need,
but a messenger bag.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Love it, I know, and I know it's storage. I
have a denim jacket and a Bomber baseball jacket. And yes,
it's never gonna die. No never, You're going to have
it in your heart and in the universe forever. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
The fans are the fans are so loyal that they
are just keeping this train going.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
We love it. They love it. We're very excited to
have you on the show today.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
This is so honored and I'm so shocked that you
even want me on the show. That's so crazy.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Oh no, we were like, do you think Debbie would
come on the show?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
No, it's so funny how everybody makes well. They make
such a big deal about the two characters, like.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Okah, this has been a big topic.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
This has been a big topic, and we've only gotten
to your second your second episode of the five you
were on on Full House, so we just saw you
as Karen in the Greatest Birthday Party, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
My god, the circus.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
I just watched it. Whenever Maddie contacted me, I was,
I'm so impressed with your whole podcast. I've been listening
since you.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So I love you. Yeah, it's been it's been really fun.
But yeah it was. We were like, I was like,
wait a minute, she looks really familiar, and then it
was like, wait that it was. It was one of
It was a great Full House esque moment, like such
an eighties nineties sitcom moment in the soap op remote
where it's like just don't yeah, we know you'd see.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
The handle about it away.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
We're gonna yeah. But it was great and definitely something
that the fans UH love to pick up on.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
But you know, I think that happened a lot like
I was on an I was on Hearts of Fire
with the John Ritter and Market Post and I was
first a guest star in their DC location and they
were going to set me up with Billy Bob Thornton's character,
and then the show moved to Uh, oh my gosh,
(03:50):
where they moved to. The producers were from I don't know.
They're from the South somewhere. So they moved moved to
the newspaper, local newspaper, and then I was their secretary,
so I came back as another character. Got it. It's
so interesting. And then on Full House, I think Jeff's secretary,
Robin was on a few times.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
She's she's yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
We've seen her once as one of the ripper parties.
She was rocking out with her tambourines.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah, that was like right around the time I was
on the Greatest Birthday.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, that's exciting. That is so cool.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Well, we first see you as Connie, who is Becky's sister,
also the mother of Howie, who Michelle gets very obsessed with.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Very fast. I don't know if you I don't know
if you heard the Howie episode I watched.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Oh I heard, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Totally, okay, okay, yeah, Howie.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Forty seven times.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Forty seven times Michelle says Howie, Howie.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
And I said three words, two of which was probably Howie. No.
I think I said something like that it's a cute
couple or something. I have no line. So it's so
funny that fans would even remember that little part.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, yeah, the fans are shows over. I mean again,
we know nothing compared to the fans they are. They
are guiding us through much of the much of the episodes.
But yeah, they definitely they definitely picked up on that. Now,
how I mean, I'd love to hear your story, you know,
three full house days. I heard that weirdly. Phil Donahue,
(05:32):
who just passed, uh this past week, is he the
person who initially encouraged you to start acting? And yeah, really,
how did that?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Okay, I'll give you a brief. I always wanted to
be a producer and okay, and in high school, Okay,
my best friend to this day, I'm going to see
you're in San Clemente. Is Karen Miller?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Okay, so I know. So we went to high school
together and then her father was the executive producer of
The Mike Douglas Show. And then he had to transfer
from Miami. We lived in Miami, Okay, transferred to Philly,
and so Karen lived with me our senior year, so
she didn't have to miss being with all our friends
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So then, of Karen, she's such a Karen Miller was
one of the producers on Full House and has sort
of stayed in contact. I know my mom has talked
to her throughout the years. We you know, followed each
other on social media and stuff. But anyway, for those
of you wondering who Karen is, she was a lovely, wonderful,
incredible producer that was on the show when we were
young and was always super sweet and kind as.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Yeah, you should have her on.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
We should, Yeah, we should get Karen absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Okay, that's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Dad was in Miami and we almost died. Karen and
I found out that Casey and the Sunshine Band was
going to be on Michael Mike Douglas show.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yea.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
That's like before your time and you weren't born, so we.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Know, but I mean I know of Casey and the
Sunshine Band.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, okay, yeah. Well, so we skipped school to go
to this Mike Douglas taping and got to meet Casey
and I thought I was going to die and we
took pictures with him and it was just so fun.
So they college, and I want to be I want
to do that. I wanted to you know, do TV television,
and so I majored in broadcast journalism at University of Florida. Okay, yeah,
(07:31):
and I I took off my junior year to go
intern at a TV station in Miami called w TVJ.
So I worked for public affairs down there, and then
I worked for a remember PM magazine.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I was a little bit like.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
A precursor to Entertainment Tonight Act Yeah yeah, okay evolved
into more just you know, pop parazzi stories, but it
used to have more content. And so then I went
back to college. Oh when I left, you know, interns
always get offered a job and they're like, Okay, come
back when you graduate. So I went back my senior
(08:08):
year and worked on everything television, Like I was a DJ. Oh,
I was a DJ for a little bit, and then
I worked at the Tables station and then I had
a show called Come Together and I reported and produced that.
And after I don't know how long, I guess I
was there, like one year, Playboy magazine came and I
(08:31):
went to interview them and they were like, I said, oh,
what are you looking for? And he's like, oh, blonde
hair and blue eyes, something like you. And I said, no,
I'm not doing it, and so he goes, oh, you
(08:51):
can be dressed, and I said, all right. So I
was in the Girls of the SEC in nineteen eighty
one and then all I would say, I wouldn't even
give Playboy anything because I didn't want to tarnish my
reputation as a broadcast serious journalist. And all they wrote
is Wie wants a career in broadcasting. And that's the
(09:12):
way it is. And that's like what Walter Cronkite used to.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
End all his right.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
So anyway, I digress. I went to Miami produced the
show called Am South Florida Okay, and then that got canceled.
It was in the eighties, and Phil Donahue hired me
to freelance produce for him for two months. He was
coming down to Florida and he said, oh, I know
you're out of a job, and so he hired a
(09:39):
couple of us from our show and for two months,
and he couldn't take me back to Chicago. And he
just looks at me and he's like, you know, you
should really go in front of the camera. And I
was like, oh, well, what time is it. I don't
have a job. Okay, I'll try it.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
And that's right.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Crazyly how I got in front of the camera so crazy.
I go to California, Karen's there page at CBS and
I'm like, Karen, you know, can I talk to the
casting director over there about going from behind the camera
to in front of the camera And She's like, yeah, sure,
(10:17):
come in. So it was the casting director for Capital,
the soap opera.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
I walked in like on a Thursday and said, hey,
you know, told her my story and she hands me
a script and says, read that line. And it was
like one line and she goes, oh, well, you wear
a bathing suit on television. I'm like yes, And so
on Monday morning, be here and wear a bathing suit.
And I got apart. I got one line on Capitol,
(10:44):
and so that got me crazily into the right business.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah did you do? Like? Was it a repeat on Capital?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Was recurring? It was a recurring part on Capitol. And
then Young and Less hired me after them, and I
was somebody's I don't I never really watched the show,
but I was somebody's light attendant on her private jet
a blog. I don't know what her character's name was,
but yeah, So then I did those and then I
got an agent who said, oh, don't you soaps do
(11:20):
like sitcoms and commercials, and so I started doing that.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So many people in this business start off in soap operas.
I mean a lot. Yeah, oh well you you have
me do maybe, yeah, gosh John John Brotherton John.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah. Definitely a lot of people in this business start,
you know, in the world of soap operas. And I
will say, my hats always go off to soap opera
actors because it's a it is a it's a grind,
it's it's every day. It's a lot of different stuff
thrown at you every day.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
So yeah, it's a great training ground for new actors
though you know, it's a trial by fire, just throw
you in there.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
And and sitcoms are right after that. I mean, I
mean every day, five days of tell, four days a week.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And then yeah, yeah, it definitely is it's it has
its own I mean, you know, I think we always
talk about, like, well, single cam has its own thing
because those days can be like thirteen fourteen hour days
and they're you know long, and you're on location and whatever.
There's there's nice pluses and minuses, you know, pros and
cons to each sort of thing. But what how long
(12:34):
did you were you doing that before you then like
kind of got your first sitcom gig. Was it pretty
quick or did you find yourself?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So I moved out there in eighty six and then
I was doing the soaps and I don't know, do
you want to hear the tea met Jeff?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Right, you can share whatever you you can edit it
out if.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You can always be like that, or we'll be like
I have Jeff here we go.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it. I don't think he
listens to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So you're saying he does sometimes. I went to lunch
with Hey, yeah he does sometimes, but it's fine, no,
go for it.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I hope he gives us his blessings.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You know he will, Oh my god, he does. Jeff
is yeah, yeah, he loves the podcast. He loves us.
So yeah, it's more all good.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
And I just I just spoke with him a few
months ago. I know he had a surgery and.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, yeah he's doing better. I went to lunch with
him on Tuesday and he's he's doing great.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
So yeah yeah, so so.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I know we love Jeff, but we know what
we know Jeff, So what's the tea.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Oh well, so I went with Karen to I was
on my way to move to New York in summer
of eighty seven. Okay, it takes me to the screening
of his movie Summer School, all right, right, okay, And
but I was on my way. I was leaving. Uh,
I had you know, I was in love and I
thought I was going to marry this guy in New York.
(14:10):
And so whatever I was, nothing really happened, and then
I had Uh. I flew to New York, only lasted
there a year, came back. I was in the commissary
with Karen, I think, and we I don't know what happened.
So I had.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I had no idea that you guys met through Karen.
I had. I like I had. I didn't know that
piece of of of the puzzle.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It's all yeah, I didn't either.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
It's all her fault.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
She's the matchmaker.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Now she wasn't. She wasted the match maker.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
She was just there, Okay, yeah, don't go.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
She was probably like this is a terrible idea, right right, yeah,
She's like you're gonna go, right, yeah. I've had tons
of friends like that. They're like, no, separately, you guys
are don't forces.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, but we did. And it was anyway, So I
think that episode Baby Love was just a weird episode.
And I was just around and he said, oh, do
you want to this part? It was like one line.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was a quick one.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
It was was the focus was all on Howie. You
know what I mean. It was. It was the obsession.
You were just the device which got the legendary Howie
into the building. And then that didn't matter.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Yeah, it required a lot of training.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
It did, it really did. It was a lot of
It was a lot of work. And yeah, and then
and then it turns out Howie what was was.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
A young one, a young child, twin girls, how I
was played by twin girls.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And then didn't she didn't didn't we say? She came
back to to play something else?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
No, No, how he comes back in season four for
the wedding, but he's recast as male actor as Okay,
got it, That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
That's what I was.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, well that how Wee.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
They were such babies.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It didn't matter, that's yeah, No, it didn't matter. It
totally didn't matter. Had you done other sitcom stuff prior
to Full House? Or was that your first That was
your first sitcom one.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
I had only done. I did some commercials. I did
a Budweiser commercial and I think a natural turky. No
that was after. Yeah, I did some commercials. Oh god,
I did a cigarette commercial even back then. Yeah, so
I was like, I'm not inhaling, so I hope I
(16:55):
mean obviously right, Yeah, But that was it between the
soaps and a commercials. And then I had moved to
New York and my agents hated me being there. They
couldn't cast me in anything, and they said come back
to LA and I was like, oh good, because it's
not working out with this guy. So it all made
that come back. And so I was in LA for
(17:16):
ten years, doing sitcoms here and there and commercials.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
And so at this point, did did you prefer being
in front of the camera or did you kind of
miss being behind the camera As.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
A producer, I would have liked to have like figured
out a way to do both. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah there's appealing parts about each job that you don't
get with the other job.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Now, one thing, one interesting thing about Karen is that
when we we first see her as the aunt to
a kid, that's that's not Howie.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, first year as as Connie, whose mom to Howie.
Then we meet her as Karen, who is the aunt
to a kid at Michelle's birthday party. Then we see
Karen again in season three. Oh yeah, as the time right,
but this time she's a dance teacher who dates Danny
and ends up being a complete slob. Oh, so the
(18:22):
story of Karen develops. Karen.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yeah, I don't know if Karen in the in the
birthday episode is the same Karen even and you know, I.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Ask it's a different Karen. It's a different Karen impersonating
the other Karen because she's already in person Connie is
already impersonating that Karen. And now that Karen has split
and is now impersonating the Karen. That's what I'm saying.
Soap operas. It was the eighties. Nobody it was like, fine,
(18:55):
it doesn't matter, bring him back from the dead.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah, and I think that, but we have to ask
Jack that question. Why. I mean, I'm grateful, and I
of course, you know, loved being on the show as
much as I could and so, but you know, I'm
sorry to any fans who are like, so.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
No, this is great. Are you kidding?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Characters?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
They know it's perfect. This is the brilliance of Full House,
and the brilliance of eighties television is that it just
didn't matter. It was like, it's fine, don't worry about it. Well,
you know, because there was so much time in like
a season went, you know, twenty two, twenty four, twenty
six episodes once a week, Like somebody you saw in
(19:41):
the beginning of season two, they could have come back,
and you were like that sort of vaguely for whatever,
like it didn't. You're like, oh, I saw him on
another show or something. It didn't. It's not like when
you watch him now, like back to back, you're like,
wait a minute, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Because back then we would run the show and then
we would run a rerun maybe in the summer, and
then saw the show again. And now it's crazy And
I have three children. Now you're twenty five, twenty four,
and twenty two, and wow, my twenty five year old
was a baby, a youngster old enough to know right.
(20:17):
I loved watching Full House, except whenever I kissed Danny
rid of any block it so nobody would see his
mom kissing another.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Man, and oh my god, that's hysterical.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
He didn't get it. He didn't. He was like young enough,
he knew I was kissing another man, but he didn't
get it was television and.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Right right, make believe.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yes, well, kids, you don't.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
You don't want to see your mom or dad kiss
anybody like each other, anybody.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You're like, you're not a human. You're like, yeah, yeah,
you're not. You don't have real feelings and people and things. Yeah. Now,
so did your kids grow up than watching watching Full House?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Sure, I mean I was. I was a celebrity in
their school. Are you kidding?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And oh, you know, it was really.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Fun too, because oh my gosh. Okay, so Bob was
great at donating stuff for me, and I reconnected with him.
I don't know how he remembered this, but we were
at a Broadway show and it was intermission, and so
I was in the lobby area and all of a sudden,
some when he comes up and whispers in my ear,
(21:35):
I was rolling your socks while we were kissing. Was like.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Holding socks behind my back.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I said that to him, and oh, okay, well we
were kidding, and you know, he remembered that. He remembered
that and he recognized me, and it was so fun
and he was just as awesome as and then we
connected and he gave me scripts and photos whenever I
(22:07):
needed anything. And he came to Tampa to do the
you know a bit at the Improv and it was
right around my birthday in September, so I rallied up
sixty friends and just took over the place for one
of his shows.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And oh, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
It worked so fine, and he was he roasted me,
to know when my my ex husband was so mad,
like he wouldn't even meet Bob after the show, and
I was like, dude, he's he's making it all up.
I never I never even touched I mean nothing.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Comics and I loved it.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Hey, thanks so much for listening to part one of
our interviews, So make sure and tune in for part
two of our interviews. In the meantime, make sure that
you're following us on Instagram so you can get those
fun behind the scenes picks and and all kinds of
new stuff and that is at how Rude Podcast. You
can follow us on Instagram or you can send us
an email at howarudpodcast at gmail dot com. Don't forget
(23:09):
to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening,
so that you can get the newest episodes as soon
as they come out. Oh remember, everybody. The world is small,
but the house is full of Karen's and Connie's endless.
I can't wait to see the next one. She's in
yep and who she appears as? And socks behind your back.
Hey there, Fana Ritos, and welcome to an all new
episode of How Rude Tana Ritos. As you know, there's
an actress who's appeared on Full House more than once,
but as two completely different characters. She was first introduced
as Becky's sister Connie, then came back as Karen, and
will eventually appear as Connie again. Talk about whiplash and
(00:39):
if that isn't wacky enough, this isn't the only TV
show where she has played multiple characters. What Debbie Gregory
herself is joining the podcast today to tell us all
about her roles on Full House and how this opportunity
came to be. So please give a warm welcome to Debbie.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Do you hear me? Guys?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Oh yeah, Hi, there you are.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
We can hear you.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Okay, can you see me?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I can't see you, but I can hear you. And
Jody just went to do a she went to get
a coffee or find a microphone, one or the other.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
I don't know. I already see that cookie jar.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh I know.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, I've got all my Full House swag behind me.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
What do you have?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You have your hat?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I have a hat. I still have this little fanny pack.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Fanny pack. Yes, I have the fanny pack. I don't
think I have the hat. I am jealous. Where did
I put that hat? These are wrap party gifts. I'm
assuming you have a.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Real practical Christmas gift that everybody probably needed.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
A messenger bag. Yes see, I like the practical gifts.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's like, there's only so many water bottles you need,
but a messenger bag.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Love it, I know, and I know it's storage. I
have a denim jacket and a Bomber baseball jacket. And yes,
it's never gonna die. No never, You're going to have
it in your heart and in the universe forever. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
The fans are the fans are so loyal that they
are just keeping this train going.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
We love it. They love it. We're very excited to
have you on the show today.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
This is so honored and I'm so shocked that you
even want me on the show. That's so crazy.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Oh no, we were like, do you think Debbie would
come on the show?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
No, it's so funny how everybody makes well. They make
such a big deal about the two characters, like.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Okah, this has been a big topic.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
This has been a big topic, and we've only gotten
to your second your second episode of the five you
were on on Full House, so we just saw you
as Karen in the Greatest Birthday Party, Oh.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
My god, the circus.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
I just watched it. Whenever Maddie contacted me, I was,
I'm so impressed with your whole podcast. I've been listening
since you.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So I love you. Yeah, it's been it's been really fun.
But yeah it was. We were like, I was like,
wait a minute, she looks really familiar, and then it
was like, wait that it was. It was one of
It was a great Full House esque moment, like such
an eighties nineties sitcom moment in the soap op remote
where it's like just don't yeah, we know you'd see.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
The handle about it away.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
We're gonna yeah. But it was great and definitely something
that the fans UH love to pick up on.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
But you know, I think that happened a lot like
I was on an I was on Hearts of Fire
with the John Ritter and Market Post and I was
first a guest star in their DC location and they
were going to set me up with Billy Bob Thornton's character,
and then the show moved to Uh, oh my gosh,
(03:50):
where they moved to. The producers were from I don't know.
They're from the South somewhere. So they moved moved to
the newspaper, local newspaper, and then I was their secretary,
so I came back as another character. Got it. It's
so interesting. And then on Full House, I think Jeff's secretary,
Robin was on a few times.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
She's she's yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
We've seen her once as one of the ripper parties.
She was rocking out with her tambourines.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah, that was like right around the time I was
on the Greatest Birthday.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, that's exciting. That is so cool.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Well, we first see you as Connie, who is Becky's sister,
also the mother of Howie, who Michelle gets very obsessed with.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Very fast. I don't know if you I don't know
if you heard the Howie episode I watched.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Oh I heard, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Totally, okay, okay, yeah, Howie.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Forty seven times.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Forty seven times Michelle says Howie, Howie.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
And I said three words, two of which was probably Howie. No.
I think I said something like that it's a cute
couple or something. I have no line. So it's so
funny that fans would even remember that little part.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, yeah, the fans are shows over. I mean again,
we know nothing compared to the fans they are. They
are guiding us through much of the much of the episodes.
But yeah, they definitely they definitely picked up on that. Now,
how I mean, I'd love to hear your story, you know,
three full house days. I heard that weirdly. Phil Donahue,
(05:32):
who just passed, uh this past week, is he the
person who initially encouraged you to start acting? And yeah, really,
how did that?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Okay, I'll give you a brief. I always wanted to
be a producer and okay, and in high school, Okay,
my best friend to this day, I'm going to see
you're in San Clemente. Is Karen Miller?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Right?
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Okay, so I know. So we went to high school
together and then her father was the executive producer of
The Mike Douglas Show. And then he had to transfer
from Miami. We lived in Miami, Okay, transferred to Philly,
and so Karen lived with me our senior year, so
she didn't have to miss being with all our friends
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So then, of Karen, she's such a Karen Miller was
one of the producers on Full House and has sort
of stayed in contact. I know my mom has talked
to her throughout the years. We you know, followed each
other on social media and stuff. But anyway, for those
of you wondering who Karen is, she was a lovely, wonderful,
incredible producer that was on the show when we were
young and was always super sweet and kind as.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Yeah, you should have her on.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
We should, Yeah, we should get Karen absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Okay, that's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Dad was in Miami and we almost died. Karen and
I found out that Casey and the Sunshine Band was
going to be on Michael Mike Douglas show.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yea.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
That's like before your time and you weren't born, so we.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Know, but I mean I know of Casey and the
Sunshine Band.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, okay, yeah. Well, so we skipped school to go
to this Mike Douglas taping and got to meet Casey
and I thought I was going to die and we
took pictures with him and it was just so fun.
So they college, and I want to be I want
to do that. I wanted to you know, do TV television,
and so I majored in broadcast journalism at University of Florida. Okay, yeah,
(07:31):
and I I took off my junior year to go
intern at a TV station in Miami called w TVJ.
So I worked for public affairs down there, and then
I worked for a remember PM magazine.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I was a little bit like.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
A precursor to Entertainment Tonight Act Yeah yeah, okay evolved
into more just you know, pop parazzi stories, but it
used to have more content. And so then I went
back to college. Oh when I left, you know, interns
always get offered a job and they're like, Okay, come
back when you graduate. So I went back my senior
(08:08):
year and worked on everything television, Like I was a DJ. Oh,
I was a DJ for a little bit, and then
I worked at the Tables station and then I had
a show called Come Together and I reported and produced that.
And after I don't know how long, I guess I
was there, like one year, Playboy magazine came and I
(08:31):
went to interview them and they were like, I said, oh,
what are you looking for? And he's like, oh, blonde
hair and blue eyes, something like you. And I said, no,
I'm not doing it, and so he goes, oh, you
(08:51):
can be dressed, and I said, all right. So I
was in the Girls of the SEC in nineteen eighty
one and then all I would say, I wouldn't even
give Playboy anything because I didn't want to tarnish my
reputation as a broadcast serious journalist. And all they wrote
is Wie wants a career in broadcasting. And that's the
(09:12):
way it is. And that's like what Walter Cronkite used to.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
End all his right.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
So anyway, I digress. I went to Miami produced the
show called Am South Florida Okay, and then that got canceled.
It was in the eighties, and Phil Donahue hired me
to freelance produce for him for two months. He was
coming down to Florida and he said, oh, I know
you're out of a job, and so he hired a
(09:39):
couple of us from our show and for two months,
and he couldn't take me back to Chicago. And he
just looks at me and he's like, you know, you
should really go in front of the camera. And I
was like, oh, well, what time is it. I don't
have a job. Okay, I'll try it.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
And that's right.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Crazyly how I got in front of the camera so crazy.
I go to California, Karen's there page at CBS and
I'm like, Karen, you know, can I talk to the
casting director over there about going from behind the camera
to in front of the camera And She's like, yeah, sure,
(10:17):
come in. So it was the casting director for Capital,
the soap opera.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
I walked in like on a Thursday and said, hey,
you know, told her my story and she hands me
a script and says, read that line. And it was
like one line and she goes, oh, well, you wear
a bathing suit on television. I'm like yes, And so
on Monday morning, be here and wear a bathing suit.
And I got apart. I got one line on Capitol,
(10:44):
and so that got me crazily into the right business.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah did you do? Like? Was it a repeat on Capital?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Was recurring? It was a recurring part on Capitol. And
then Young and Less hired me after them, and I
was somebody's I don't I never really watched the show,
but I was somebody's light attendant on her private jet
a blog. I don't know what her character's name was,
but yeah, So then I did those and then I
got an agent who said, oh, don't you soaps do
(11:20):
like sitcoms and commercials, and so I started doing that.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
So many people in this business start off in soap operas.
I mean a lot. Yeah, oh well you you have
me do maybe, yeah, gosh John John Brotherton John.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah. Definitely a lot of people in this business start,
you know, in the world of soap operas. And I
will say, my hats always go off to soap opera
actors because it's a it is a it's a grind,
it's it's every day. It's a lot of different stuff
thrown at you every day.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
So yeah, it's a great training ground for new actors
though you know, it's a trial by fire, just throw
you in there.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
And and sitcoms are right after that. I mean, I
mean every day, five days of tell, four days a week.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And then yeah, yeah, it definitely is it's it has
its own I mean, you know, I think we always
talk about, like, well, single cam has its own thing
because those days can be like thirteen fourteen hour days
and they're you know long, and you're on location and whatever.
There's there's nice pluses and minuses, you know, pros and
cons to each sort of thing. But what how long
(12:34):
did you were you doing that before you then like
kind of got your first sitcom gig. Was it pretty
quick or did you find yourself?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
So I moved out there in eighty six and then
I was doing the soaps and I don't know, do
you want to hear the tea met Jeff?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Right, you can share whatever you you can edit it
out if.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
You can always be like that, or we'll be like
I have Jeff here we go.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go for it. I don't think he
listens to this podcast.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So you're saying he does sometimes. I went to lunch
with Hey, yeah he does sometimes, but it's fine, no,
go for it.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
I hope he gives us his blessings.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You know he will, Oh my god, he does. Jeff
is yeah, yeah, he loves the podcast. He loves us.
So yeah, it's more all good.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
And I just I just spoke with him a few
months ago. I know he had a surgery and.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, yeah he's doing better. I went to lunch with
him on Tuesday and he's he's doing great.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
So yeah yeah, so so.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I know we love Jeff, but we know what
we know Jeff, So what's the tea.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Oh well, so I went with Karen to I was
on my way to move to New York in summer
of eighty seven. Okay, it takes me to the screening
of his movie Summer School, all right, right, okay, And
but I was on my way. I was leaving. Uh,
I had you know, I was in love and I
thought I was going to marry this guy in New York.
(14:10):
And so whatever I was, nothing really happened, and then
I had Uh. I flew to New York, only lasted
there a year, came back. I was in the commissary
with Karen, I think, and we I don't know what happened.
So I had.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I had no idea that you guys met through Karen.
I had. I like I had. I didn't know that
piece of of of the puzzle.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It's all yeah, I didn't either.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
It's all her fault.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
She's the matchmaker.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Now she wasn't. She wasted the match maker.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
She was just there, Okay, yeah, don't go.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
She was probably like this is a terrible idea, right right, yeah,
She's like you're gonna go, right, yeah. I've had tons
of friends like that. They're like, no, separately, you guys
are don't forces.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, but we did. And it was anyway, So I
think that episode Baby Love was just a weird episode.
And I was just around and he said, oh, do
you want to this part? It was like one line.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was a quick one.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
It was was the focus was all on Howie. You
know what I mean. It was. It was the obsession.
You were just the device which got the legendary Howie
into the building. And then that didn't matter.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Yeah, it required a lot of training.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
It did, it really did. It was a lot of
It was a lot of work. And yeah, and then
and then it turns out Howie what was was.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
A young one, a young child, twin girls, how I
was played by twin girls.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And then didn't she didn't didn't we say? She came
back to to play something else?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
No, No, how he comes back in season four for
the wedding, but he's recast as male actor as Okay,
got it, That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
That's what I was.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, well that how Wee.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
They were such babies.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It didn't matter, that's yeah, No, it didn't matter. It
totally didn't matter. Had you done other sitcom stuff prior
to Full House? Or was that your first That was
your first sitcom one.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
I had only done. I did some commercials. I did
a Budweiser commercial and I think a natural turky. No
that was after. Yeah, I did some commercials. Oh god,
I did a cigarette commercial even back then. Yeah, so
I was like, I'm not inhaling, so I hope I
(16:55):
mean obviously right, Yeah, But that was it between the
soaps and a commercials. And then I had moved to
New York and my agents hated me being there. They
couldn't cast me in anything, and they said come back
to LA and I was like, oh good, because it's
not working out with this guy. So it all made
that come back. And so I was in LA for
(17:16):
ten years, doing sitcoms here and there and commercials.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
And so at this point, did did you prefer being
in front of the camera or did you kind of
miss being behind the camera As.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
A producer, I would have liked to have like figured
out a way to do both. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah there's appealing parts about each job that you don't
get with the other job.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Now, one thing, one interesting thing about Karen is that
when we we first see her as the aunt to
a kid, that's that's not Howie.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, first year as as Connie, whose mom to Howie.
Then we meet her as Karen, who is the aunt
to a kid at Michelle's birthday party. Then we see
Karen again in season three. Oh yeah, as the time right,
but this time she's a dance teacher who dates Danny
and ends up being a complete slob. Oh, so the
(18:22):
story of Karen develops. Karen.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Yeah, I don't know if Karen in the in the
birthday episode is the same Karen even and you know, I.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Ask it's a different Karen. It's a different Karen impersonating
the other Karen because she's already in person Connie is
already impersonating that Karen. And now that Karen has split
and is now impersonating the Karen. That's what I'm saying.
Soap operas. It was the eighties. Nobody it was like, fine,
(18:55):
it doesn't matter, bring him back from the dead.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yeah, and I think that, but we have to ask
Jack that question. Why. I mean, I'm grateful, and I
of course, you know, loved being on the show as
much as I could and so, but you know, I'm
sorry to any fans who are like, so.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
No, this is great. Are you kidding?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Characters?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
They know it's perfect. This is the brilliance of Full House,
and the brilliance of eighties television is that it just
didn't matter. It was like, it's fine, don't worry about it. Well,
you know, because there was so much time in like
a season went, you know, twenty two, twenty four, twenty
six episodes once a week, Like somebody you saw in
(19:41):
the beginning of season two, they could have come back,
and you were like that sort of vaguely for whatever,
like it didn't. You're like, oh, I saw him on
another show or something. It didn't. It's not like when
you watch him now, like back to back, you're like,
wait a minute, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Because back then we would run the show and then
we would run a rerun maybe in the summer, and
then saw the show again. And now it's crazy And
I have three children. Now you're twenty five, twenty four,
and twenty two, and wow, my twenty five year old
was a baby, a youngster old enough to know right.
(20:17):
I loved watching Full House, except whenever I kissed Danny
rid of any block it so nobody would see his
mom kissing another.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Man, and oh my god, that's hysterical.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
He didn't get it. He didn't. He was like young enough,
he knew I was kissing another man, but he didn't
get it was television and.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Right right, make believe.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yes, well, kids, you don't.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
You don't want to see your mom or dad kiss
anybody like each other, anybody.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
You're like, you're not a human. You're like, yeah, yeah,
you're not. You don't have real feelings and people and things. Yeah. Now,
so did your kids grow up than watching watching Full House?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Sure, I mean I was. I was a celebrity in
their school. Are you kidding?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And oh, you know, it was really.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Fun too, because oh my gosh. Okay, so Bob was
great at donating stuff for me, and I reconnected with him.
I don't know how he remembered this, but we were
at a Broadway show and it was intermission, and so
I was in the lobby area and all of a sudden,
some when he comes up and whispers in my ear,
(21:35):
I was rolling your socks while we were kissing. Was like.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Holding socks behind my back.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I said that to him, and oh, okay, well we
were kidding, and you know, he remembered that. He remembered
that and he recognized me, and it was so fun
and he was just as awesome as and then we
connected and he gave me scripts and photos whenever I
(22:07):
needed anything. And he came to Tampa to do the
you know a bit at the Improv and it was
right around my birthday in September, so I rallied up
sixty friends and just took over the place for one
of his shows.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And oh, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
It worked so fine, and he was he roasted me,
to know when my my ex husband was so mad,
like he wouldn't even meet Bob after the show, and
I was like, dude, he's he's making it all up.
I never I never even touched I mean nothing.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Comics and I loved it.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Hey, thanks so much for listening to part one of
our interviews, So make sure and tune in for part
two of our interviews. In the meantime, make sure that
you're following us on Instagram so you can get those
fun behind the scenes picks and and all kinds of
new stuff and that is at how Rude Podcast. You
can follow us on Instagram or you can send us
an email at howarudpodcast at gmail dot com. Don't forget
(23:09):
to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening,
so that you can get the newest episodes as soon
as they come out. Oh remember, everybody. The world is small,
but the house is full of Karen's and Connie's endless.
I can't wait to see the next one. She's in
yep and who she appears as? And socks behind your back.
Hosts And Creators
Andrea Barber
Jodie Sweetin
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!