May 14, 2024 • 44 mins
On our special Mother's Day episode, Ophira chats with actress and director Laura Prepon about 6-year-old flirtation, her kids' recent set visit and the beauty of batch-cooking.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It used to be chairs all. Let them start letting
of sales, fun pandas a joke, Hello listeners, this is
parenting is a joke. I'm a chipped wine glass named
Befira Eisenberg. And on the show we bring together professional
comedians and funny people to talk about their career being
creative and how they are managing that. The unpredictability of
(00:24):
working in entertainment with the unpredictability of raising children. How
the fuck are they doing it? This week I said
to my son, Hey, just a reminder, Sunday is Mother's Day,
so you know, let's think of something fun to do together.
And his response was, oh, yeah, what day is kid's Day?
And I said every day, every day is kid's Day.
(00:45):
He was like really, so can I have an iPhone?
So that's where things are at. Anyhow. My guest is
also away working from her family. She's an amazing actor
and director. It's a prepon and she is coming right up.
She is still recovering from a recent interaction with her
six year old.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
She ran into one of her classmates and he literally like,
parcourt up this, you know, like the huge soccer nets.
And he looked at my daughter and she was like, Teddy,
what are you doing? And He's like trying to impress you,
and she literally put her foot down in her hand
on her hip and was just like Teddy. And I
was like, oh my gosh, she's six. This can't be happening.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yet more with me and Laura prepon right after this break,
Hello listeners, Happy Mother's Day, Happy Mother's Day. I just
came back from a week on the road and yeah
(01:49):
coming back. Who I had one of those classic travel
days from hell where connections were missed. It was a
total airport nightmare. But I've emerged. I've emerged slightly broken
and without my baggage. Well that's not true. My baggage
made it. My luggage did not. And also I arrived
(02:09):
a day late, so that day was insane, and I
saw my child for about an hour and then I
had to get ready and run to a show. At
the show though, an old friend said, how's parenting going?
And you know what I said, I said, I have
no idea. I haven't been around so cool. Yeah, I
feel no guilt. I'm fine, but you know, it changed
(02:31):
my perspective of now I want to celebrate Mother's Day
this year because Normally, I always feel like I want
to be left alone and just put into a sensory
deprivation chamber for a number of hours. But no, this year,
due to being away and just overwhelming guilt, I want
to spend time with my family doing whatever they want
to do. That's right. So that's why we went to
(02:53):
Dave and Busters and I laid down seventy bucks on
game cards. It was nice. Now, if you are listening
to our pod for a while, you probably remember last
year that, in honor of Mother's Day, I replied one
by one to some of those happy Mother's Day emails
that bombard my inbox every year from places like crighton
(03:16):
Barrel and Kohle's, because ah, my mom is gone, and
so sometimes I find them very insensitive and I was
just moved to reply. This year, I noticed something very different. Okay,
maybe you didn't notice this, but many brands sent emails
like we know Mother's Day can be a really difficult
(03:37):
day for some people. So if you want to opt
out of our Mother's Day emails, just click the button
below with love the Gooder Sunglasses family. Wow. Fascinating. I
very much appreciate the heartfelt empathy and their cheap sunglasses gooder,
very good. But of course it was still like a
(03:59):
three step process that also involved like a personalized comments
section as to why you were opting out, arguably more
difficult than just deleting the email, but I guess I
appreciate the effort. I think that. Being said, I was
still bombarded with dozens of marketing doozies in my inbox,
and you know what, I wanted to keep the tradition
(04:20):
alive by replying to them one by one and letting
them know how inappropriate their Mother's Day email felt to me.
So here you go, dear Urban Stams. To answer the
question you posed in your subject line, My mother's favorite
flowers were peonies. I rested some on her grave that
I stole from a neighbor's nearby yard about three years ago.
(04:44):
But thanks for offering them to me again, Oh flowers,
something else that I can also watch slowly die. Dear Amazon,
thanks for saying, fret not procrastinator. There is still time
to treat mom, right, but I assure you I can
keep putting this off forever. But it is so kind
that you offered to make sure that the best gifts
(05:06):
can be delivered right to my mom in just a
few days. Her plot is number one forty seven, right
next to my uncle Louise. But I don't need same
day delivery, so take your time. Oh, while I'm at
at Amazon, is you're a product writer a millennial going
through divorce? Because the copy for your book light says
(05:26):
if your mom still reads paper books and shares a
bed with someone else, she absolutely needs a personal reading light. Jeez, wow,
way to slam physical books Amazon. Then again, I guess
you might say my mom shares a bed with a
lot of people, a garden bed, that is, but she
(05:50):
will never have to worry about disturbing them or light
for that matter. Well, hello Gardener Supply Company, Ah, thanks
so much for your Mother's Day email full of tools
for the avid gardening mom. You got that right. My
mom loved a garden green thumb, and you finally offered
(06:10):
something I can get her for Mother's Day, a shovel.
I know she'll dig it. Dear Sephora, I love your
stuff and I appreciate your message urging me to help
my mom get her glow on this Mother's Day. You
might describe my mom as drop dead gorgeous, but I'm
(06:31):
pretty sure all the flesh is gone. However, hair decays
much slower, so let me know what hair oil or
conditioner you might suggest. Yes, yes, it would be for
really really dry hair. Dear william Sonoma, thank you so
much for your email about treating my mom to a
(06:54):
personalized keepsake. In my case, I'll call that a gravestone.
And yes, as suggested, let's put an heirloom recipe on it.
How about for her butter cookies? Ah, that might brighten
some people's day at the cemetery, right, Nothing like seeing
someone take a photo of a headstone while muttering delicious.
(07:15):
Never grieve when you're hungry, people, So there you go, everybody,
Happy Mother's Day. And a highlight of my mother's day
week was getting to talk to the amazingly talented and
super fun Laura Prepond. So that's the segue. Everybody, enjoy
that conversation. All right now, my guest, Today, everybody brought
(07:37):
to life three iconic television characters, Ted's awful high school girlfriend,
Karen on How I Met your Mother, Alex Bouse from
Oranges the New Black, and of course Donna from that
seventies show. She's been in many movies. She's written two books,
she is a director, a celebrity chef with her own
(07:58):
line of cookware that I am obsessed with buying. And
of course she's a mom, so I'm very excited. Hey
it's Lord Prepond. Hello, Hifiera. Thanks for having me. You know,
I was actually just thinking, as far as you look
at how kids, how names come back into fashion with
people's kids. But I was thinking, Donna, your seventies character's
(08:21):
name that is not returned.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I have two kiddos and there is not a
single Donna in either of their classes.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
No, okay, you have two little kids, if my math
from reading about you is correct, Just to get a
sense of the parenting chaos that is your life right now. Yeah,
I think I'm right in saying that you have a
four year old and a seven year old.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I do have a well yeah she's about tenty seven,
so basically, yeah she's seven.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, okay, so you might have the easiest kids on
the planet. I don't know, you might be losing it.
I don't know, But how do you feel about when
you're maybe in some bit of struggle, someone's saying to you,
you got to enjoy every moment of this because it
goes so fast.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I get it when I hear that now I'm in
a particular place right now because I happen to be
away from my kids. Right now. I'm on a directing
job and I've been away from my home for a
little while. So right now I'm actually in a place of,
oh my gosh, i feel like I'm missing everything. Yeah,
(09:18):
all the mom guilt of it all and everything, even
though they were just out here visiting me. But I
am kind of in a place of, like, I just
FaceTime with them and they already look huger than they
did four days ago. So I actually am like currently
struggling right now because it's so hard being away from them.
So maybe I'm just in a different kind of mental space.
(09:39):
But it's just like working mom. I mean, you know,
it's like.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I'm away from my kid right now too. And I've
been on the road for almost a week. And actually
my husband said to me, yesterday goes, so I'll see
you tomorrow, and I was like, no, no, Wednesday, Yeah,
and yeah, exactly, it's hard to balance the guilt. There
is still this idea that as a woman, you do
not follow your dreams or your passions. Or your career
(10:05):
until those kids leave home. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I mean, you know, it's interesting because my friend, a
really good friend of mine, Amber Tamblin, was on your podcast, yes,
and you know, we're both working moms, and I remember
when I first asked her about, you know, juggling work
life stuff, just to what you were just talking about.
She was like, you know what, it's it's quality over quantity. Yeah.
(10:28):
When I'm with them, my husband, who's also in the industry,
we really try to be super present. Yeah, I know
other friends that I you know, and no judgment, we're
all juggling a lot, you know what I mean. But
when they're there and they're like half on their phone,
half out the door, half doing whatever, they might be
physically there, but they're actually not spending any time with
(10:49):
their kids. So my husband and I really try to
put in like our own rules of like never let
the kids see us on our phone if we have
to take a business call, walk out to a different room,
and you know what I mean. Like the quality over
quantity thing in terms of being a working mom is
huge for me. Like after I had my daughter, I
was filming Orange as the New Black, and I was
(11:10):
back at work in four weeks and I was directing
that show, you know, six weeks later, and that was insane,
And I felt this extra pressure as a woman, and
I'm just you know, speaking for myself, like as a woman,
I was like, I got to kill it, Like, yeah,
I know, there's no room for error. There's no room
for error, especially like because I just had a kid
(11:32):
and everyone's going to be like, oh, is she going
to be able to do it now that she's a mom? Like,
and I remember having this crazy pressure on myself to
be like, I have to go in. I have to
kill it a canvass a beat.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
On both ends. But you're also still killing it as
a mom, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Hundred percent. And it's it's interesting because I'm you know,
working with these wonderful actors right now who are the
you know generation beneath us, And one of them was
asking me about directing and trying to figure out how
to explain to her like you have to be so
comfortable with a ton of pressure on your head, and
(12:08):
especially as a woman, you have to do an incredible job.
You just have to. We haven't actually had the talk yet,
and I don't know if I should say that because
I don't. I don't want to put that on. And
maybe it's a generational thing with me where.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Like we had to kill I don't know, like do
you know are you saying part of it that you
have to kill it as a director who's a woman
because there's not a lot of female directors out there
in comparison number wise, and so you have to kill
it because you also have to represent all women.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yes, it's not you know what I mean? No, but
like Ofira, I've been on sets where my male director
because I've been doing this a lot, I've had the
great honor of doing my job, which I love for
a long time. I come on to a set and
you know, not to make it generly that the director
happened to be male and sitting in the director churt
(13:01):
getting a haircut during a scene, didn't even know what
we were doing. And I'm like, I could never do it.
Can you imagine if I was sitting in the director
chirt getting a haircut while I'm directing? It's amazing, like
literally like another director, like we're waiting to start and
he's just outside smoking a cigarette, and like, oh yes,
(13:22):
could you imagine?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Like never, like never, never, and those are light fair.
I mean, I've got other directors where like the set,
the first AD, who their job is to keep us
on track, actually came up to me and was like, Laura,
you should leave the set. You should literally and their
job is scheduling and keeping you on schedule. And the
first AD was like, Laura, you should leave because it
(13:45):
was so wildly inappropriate what the director was doing. Like,
it's just you wouldn't believe it. And so for me,
I do feel like I have a pressure of I
don't know if you're maybe that's pressure I just put
on myself.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I mean it could be, as I'm prepared to talk
to you. I just I was thinking being a parent, directing,
I mean, directing can feel very I'm assuming the same
as being a parent. You're taking care of people. You're
telling me what to do, building them up at times
to try to get the best out of them. You're
hoping that that works, and also dealing with all these
(14:17):
external factors, protecting them from those external factors or actors.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, it's all of the above, and I you know,
I love it. It takes me away from my family
for longer, but I feel very fulfilled when I'm doing it,
and I'm It's just one of those things. The first
time I did it, I was just like, Oh, this
is what I'm meant to do.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You like being in charge, you like calling the shots.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
It's not even it's interesting. It's like it's not even that.
It's you're solving problems all day, you know. And very
rarely am I asking an actor to do something that
I've never personally done myself. Yeah, I don't even know
if that's ever happened. Like everything I've asked an actor
to do, I've physically been there and emotionally been there
with performance and care and getting a vision onto a
(15:02):
screen that's going to affect people. Yeah, the parenting, the multitasking.
You got to me an incredible multitasker, and I am,
and I just it just feels very fulfilling because it
it literally fires on every cylinder. And I get home
at night and I literally am like I gave it.
At no point did it? Was I not giving it
(15:24):
my all? Like for real? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So yeah, So, oh, by the way, happy Mother's Day you,
Happy Mother's Day. Thank you? So speaking of that, like,
what's your Mother's day vibe? Do you have traditions, and
I will just tell you I'm coming from the place
of on Mother's Day, if I could just sit in
a dark room alone for three hours, I'd take that.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I get it. I totally understand, and there are some
times where I feel that as well. I think every
parent does, honestly, because I've been traveling so much for work,
I just want to be with my family. And we're
really tight as a family. My husband is my best friend,
and it's a little antisocial because we just want to
(16:07):
be with each other and our kids, and we need
to start. One of our New Year's resolutions this year
is like, look, we have to start trying to like
go out more and like being a social It's actually
one of our New Year's resolutions. But we really hunkering
down with my husband and my kids is like my
favorite thing. So that's the best Mother's Day is just
being hanging out all yeah, just snuggling with them and
(16:31):
breathing them in and just feeling their skin and just
squishing that. Like I just want to hold my family.
When I'm working, I'm like watching videos of them and
you know, from like my babies like then crawling and
walking and now they're so big, and you know, it's
(16:52):
just it's been really tough. So I just want to
snuggle with them and hold them as much as possible,
and they try to squirm away, but like, nope, mom,
I just try to hold them. But if you were
to ask me this before I started this gig and
I was working from home, it might have been I
(17:12):
need to be in a dark room for three hours
and whatever. It just depends on my job. It's very
different depending on what when you're talking.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
To me, Did you always want to have kids?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It's interesting, like I never I also started working at
such a young age, Like I really was like a
career person since I was like fifteen, Like I just
have been on the go for a long time. I
was never the type of little girl who would like
plan my wedding and think about getting married, and it
(17:47):
just wasn't me. It just wasn't me. And I never
really thought about kids until I met my husband, who,
funny enough, I've known since I was a teenager, but
until we reconnected when we were old. Wow, you know,
we always joked that we we had to earn each other.
You know, we had to go through a lot of life,
like get each other.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
You're like, I'll come back for the second.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah, exactly, exactly exactly. We had a lot of lessons
before then, but yeah, but once we got together, it
was just it wasn't even a conversation. It was just like,
uh oh, this is happening. And then all of a sudden,
I was pregnant.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You know, did he want to have kids? Was he
like that? You were the girl?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, like we we don't usually tell our story because
most it's like, oh, really, you guys just met and
like a month later, you're like pregnant. Like it was
kind of like that, but we already, like we already
knew each other since we were teenagers, so we kind
of like picked up a conversation we were always having.
It's like that kind of thing. Like a week later,
he was looking for rings and we just knew it
(18:45):
was happening. And then I was like pregnant, And then
I'm really happy I didn't find out I was pregnant
until I did because my first episode of directing Orange
is the New Black, my character was taken hostage and
like wrapped in a shower curtain with no use of
my limbs and oh yeah, and all this crazy stuff,
(19:07):
and then the day after I was so ill, we
wrapped and the next day I was so sick and
I'm like, oh my gosh, I got sick on set,
and I that morning I found out I was pregnant.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You're like, or.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah or yeah exactly. So instead of going to the
drug store to get like nikeael or whatever, I was like,
maybe I was just get to pregnant lust. And I'm so
glad I didn't know, because I was absolutely terrified. I
had a very unconventional upbringing and my mother was not
the most maternal person, so I literally had no clue.
And I'm glad, like I was, I'm so happy I
(19:45):
didn't know I was pregnant when I was doing these scenes,
because I would have been so scared of like, oh
my gosh, right, am I going to damage something like
you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, so then you know, you have a first kid,
but then you went back you were like, let's have
another one.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
We were not one and done, and so was that
obviously I assume intentional. You're like, We're.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
What's funny is I joke with my friends that making
new people it must be based on you know, like
it must be based on some kind of amnesia, because
when you're going through it, you're you have moments as
a new mother of be at least I did, of
being like terrified and like how did I do this
to myself? And you're crying all the time or whatever,
(20:27):
and then all of a sudden, a little while later,
somehow miraculously you just forget all that and you're pregnant.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
You're like, I was so lovely, that such a wonder.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah, exactly. We had my daughter, and then my second
pregnancy actually ended up turning into a really awful situation.
I actually wrote about it in my second book, and
you know, it was something you know, like you wait
for the clear ends basically of like second trimester of
like everything's great and you know, we don't have to
(20:58):
get into it now, but basically it wasn't. We found
out it wasn't great, and my body couldn't carry it
and I was in danger and it was a very
awful situation. And then after that it took me like
a year to recover from that, Like it was that
was a really devastating situation to have to go through.
(21:18):
And then we were blessed again with my son. Yeah,
and every day. I was so terrified. I would just
literally pray and meditate and just like hold my body parts,
being like you can grow a healthy baby, this can
you can do this? Like it was so I was
so traumatized by what had occurred.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
And I know that you because you wrote about it
about having postpart of anxiety with your first child, which
can really rock people, and I found it did for
me as well. And I think I made the mistake
in hindsight of not talking enough about it and not
acknowledging it enough. Did you feel like you had a
community of people to talk to at the time.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh, no, I had no clue what I was doing.
I like, liliarly like no. I mean, that's one of
the reasons why I wrote My first book was more
it was all about basically food and the crux of
how I feed my family and myself, which is like
it's all about batch cooking and prepping ahead, like that's
a huge part of my life. So that was like
(22:18):
my first cookbook. My second book was about exactly what
you just said, Like I felt that nobody was talking
about it, and I was like, someone's got to talk
about this because I am so lost. And when I
was going to try to find books about it. I
really couldn't find any. I found some books that were
more kind of like sardonic takes on motherhood, which I
(22:38):
couldn't really relate to because I really wasn't in that
mental landscape. Yeah, I really just needed something to connect
to to explain what the heck am I going through.
I think, as I've been working since I was such
a young age, I'm not like a very anxious person.
I'm good at dealing with a lot of pressure on
my back and my shoulder. When I had my kid,
(22:59):
my first daughter, and I was a complete disaster, I
literally was like, who is this person? And what's interesting
is I have a phenomenal doctor in New York. Her
name is Lee Moron. She's also Amber's doctor. I remember
her talking to my husband when I was pregnant and
she was like, I gotta tell you. She's like, I'm
a little worried about Laura because she's a career woman,
(23:21):
she's very driven, and she's like, I'm concerned that when
she realizes that this is so out of her control
that she will be deeply addicted. And that's exactly what happened,
and it wasn't depression. It really wasn't like you all
you mainly hear about postpartum depression, which I didn't have.
I had like a hyper vigilance to protecting this baby,
(23:44):
like and we were in Lower East Side at the time,
and any like siren that went by, I'm like, I
have to protect my daughter, Like I lost it.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I earphones. You're like, put the earphones on, put the
little mix.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, I was freaking out. I had like a heart
rate monitor on her. I was like, would stare. I
think that's why I literally to wear glasses now is
because I would stare at her baby monitor till my
retinas were like burnt out of my head. Like. And
I wrote my book because I'm like, I cannot be
the only one dealing with this, and I felt like
(24:16):
people didn't really talk about it, no.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
And the shame and then there's just shame about it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Same And that book really was that I wrote was
really healing for me because I brought in, you know,
a bunch of other friends into it and interviewed them
about it and whatever. But it would really help me
so much, and it was really healing for me. And
then having my second child, you really like you're like, Okay,
now I'm feeling more confident as a mother, and I
(24:42):
can figure this out a little more, you know, And
now that they're sturdier and older, like it's definitely obviously
calming down. But yeah, I really struggled with that a lot.
I really really did.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
When you were interviewing these different people for your book,
was there any other takeaway from it that surprised you
from speaking to people?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Oh, my gosh, there were so many takeaways talking to
other career moms like Jenji Kohen, who created Orange is
the New Black. Her whole thing too is like quality
over quantity, and when you're with your kids, do stuff
you love, don't you know, if your partner is better
at like doing the soccer game thing and you're more
of like staying home and reading, do the staying home
(25:23):
and reading because the kids are going to know when
you're muscling through it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Like that's really good advice.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Oh, there was so much good stuff there was. You know.
I talked to a woman named Jill Blakeway, who is
She really is more of like a Chinese running theory
acupuncture stuff like that, but she's wrote some wonderful books
about relationships, and you know, I interviewed her and her
main thing was like, you have to make sure you
keep your partnership alive as much as you can't put
(25:50):
your partnership to the side to focus on your kids.
It's all a cohesive thing, you know. So if you
happen to be raising your kids with a partner, make
sure you feed that as much as you feed the
relationship with your child.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And I mean I felt too that, you know, I
did not know what it was like to work with
my husband on a high risk project before.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Totally, Yes, totally, but yeah, it really was. It was
an awesome experience. And now I finally feel like I'm
arriving to a place where I'm not I still worry
about them all the time all and I don't think
that ever goes away.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
I don't think that ever goes away.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And then it's also just stuff like it's all phases,
Like you're in a phase now, it doesn't last forever,
and then you'll be in a whole other.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Phase and you don't even remember the last one exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I used to pride myself on having an incredible memory,
and now there's stuff where I'm like, don't know, I
actually don't know where that memory went, but it's gone,
and yeah, it's filled with all this other stuff having
to juggle, like your whole family schedule in your head.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
And I we're like, oh god, the logistics. You know
what you're saying about the partners, like making sure you
carve out time to create some closeness with your partner.
I was taking a flight the other day, and you know,
the third call for the flight is parents traveling with
small children, and I was like, the fourth call should
be parents who are on the verge of divorce traveling
(27:18):
with small children. You really see what people I was
without my child, but you really see when people have
to get it together to get on that plane with
their little tiny kids. Oh my god, exactly where the
relationship is at.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I know. I know Carrie like trying to break down
the stroller and like, oh my gosh, it's the best.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Nobody can figure out anything.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Oh my gosh. It's so true. And you know what's
funny is like you also know the people who aren't
parents because you see them just like watching like what
is the big deal? I just get on the face
and you're just like you don't get it, man, You're there,
you know, and whereas like, you know, we watch the
we're just like, oh gosh, we've so been there and
we know what that.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I was like, yeah, and I want to help, but
I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Help much empathy.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
So I saw an adorable post recently of your children
visiting you on set as you were directing that ninety show.
What was it like? Were they? Were they a little
in awe?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So my husband is also you know, an actor, director, writer,
he's you know, been in this lovely racket that we're
in for a long time as well. And we never
really told our kids what we do. You know, what's
funny is my daughter, she thinks I'm a professional chef.
That's what she tells people. It's that's greatny when she
thinks I'm a chef. And what's funny is when she
plays with her dollhouse. Mommy is always asleep in the
(28:46):
kitchen because that's what she always sees me. She always
sees me in the kitchen, and literally everybody has their
little beds and then Mommy's asleep on the floor in
the kitchen. Oh, on the floor, Yeah, on the floor.
Had a cocktail that yeah, that's where mommy sleeves. When
I was directing Orange when she was a baby, she
visited me, but she was very very young, so she
(29:08):
doesn't remember that. What's interesting is that now she's about
to be seven, she has a little bit of an
idea of what my husband does because she visited him
on a movie set once, which is very different than
what I'm currently working on, which is a multi camera sitcom,
which is like it's all on a sound stage, right,
So when they visited him, he was just like driving
(29:28):
in a car with a camera attached with a car,
and she was just like, Daddy, you're weird. Like they
didn't know, so we didn't really tell him. But what's
crazy is my daughter comes home one day and she's like, Mommy,
are you an actor? And I said what are you
talking about? And she said, are you an actor? My
friend at school told me that you're an actor? And
I was like, what her mother? I saw the kid's
(29:50):
mother and I was like, hey, did you talk to
your daughter about what we do for a living. I'm
just curious and she's like, oh, yeah, she watched something
and got really scared I and I showed her on
that seventies show, being like, look, you know this isn't
real either, you know her and she she's playing a
fake person. And so then they were all talking about
(30:10):
it at school and my daughter was like super confused,
and then I was like, oh man, So she we
didn't even get to explain really what we do because
at school she found out about it from some kid
in her class.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So then they came to visit me on spring break,
and I brought her to set for the first time,
as like, you know, she's not going to remember Orange
because she was too little. So I brought her to
set on Nineties that nineties show and walked her around
and explained, this is what mommy does for a living.
And she watched me act, she watched me direct, and
(30:47):
when she first saw me acting in front of a
live studio audience, she was sitting in my chair during
the taping, and she was so confused because she's like, wait,
that's mommy, but this is mommy, Like Mommy's on.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
The right and you know.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
And then so she's putting it together and we're trying
to explain it in a way that's like not scary
or weird anyway. So it was kind of let out
of the bag before we could fully explain it. Yeah,
so it kind of forced our hand because you know,
we don't live around the industry. That was a specific
decision we made as a family that we're not going
to raise our kids around. You know, we're very fortunate
(31:20):
to have the jobs we have, but we specifically are like,
we're not raising our kids around the entertainment industry.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
But just because maybe I'm missing it, so forgive me,
but why didn't you want them to know that you
were an actor or why were you just delaying that information?
Speaker 2 (31:34):
We felt that it would be really confusing for them.
I also I didn't want my daughter, I don't know,
like she's very prone right now, she's in a phase
where she's very kind of prone to what how she
looks and stuff. I absolutely she's growing up, right, She's
(31:55):
about to step and so she's like, Mommy, I don't
want to wear that because the other kids are wearing this,
and why did she say? I look like this? And
I and you know, literally the other day she was like, mommy,
you know, blah blah blah said they don't like me.
And I said, okay, well do you like you? And
she said yes, and I'm like, then it doesn't matter
if blah blah blah, you know what I mean, Like
you're surrounded in love, love yourself, like I'm you know
(32:18):
what I mean. So they're because she happens to be
in this phase of what people think. I don't. I
didn't want her to know that her parents are like
in the public eye, and we're trying to be very
careful about how we explain what we do for a living.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
No, that makes a ton of sense. That makes a
ton of sense.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And everybody's different. Look, there's no right way to do this,
Like I wish there's no right way, like, and we
all have our own ways of doing it, you know,
Like we didn't even get her her first Barbie in
Soul this year. We didn't want her to think that
that's what you had to look like.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You know what I mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, nothing against Barbie, Like she's just like all these
empowering different jobs and stuff like that. But I don't know,
we're just very sensitive to the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Listen, I grew up, I was obsessed with barbiees and nothing.
I love Barbiees and nothing against Barbie. She has all
these different jobs but there's no denying what that doll
looks like. Yes, sorry, it's just no denying it.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So, and you know, my son who a boy, and
he right now very strongly identifies as a boy. Yes,
and like usually he's in sweatpants and a T shirt
just with some graphic on it. And recently, you know,
at eight years old, he really carefully picked out some clothes,
talking to me intently about what how he wanted his look.
(33:37):
And I was just like, oh my god. It probably
just goes like great, be creative, it's fun, but you
wanted to stay on that line.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
It's really interesting that you bring that up because my daughter,
since she came out of the womb, she's always been
a very like very secure in her gender, very very secure.
It's just one of those things we just roll with it. Like,
you know, most people called me a tomboy growing up.
I always hung out with guys. Like most people, you know,
(34:07):
I wear a lot of baseball hats, T shirts and jeans.
That's like you like, you know what I mean. I
dress up when I have to, I wear makeup when
I have to, but my day to day I'm like,
no makeup, baseball cap, T shirt, and jeans. This has
always been like that. Yeah, my daughter is she won't
even leave the house unless she's in a dress. Her
hair needs to be like perfect, her her favorite color
(34:29):
is like pink. Everything is like pink princess dresses. And
I and we go. We take their lead. That's another
reason I think why we were very careful to not
go into maybe what we do for a living, and
because you know, I think that she would have been
very into the fact that mommy and daddy might be famous, you.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Know what I mean, Like absolutely, it's the outside looking in.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, exactly, and we are trying to really kind of
thread that needle and there's no right way, you know
what I mean. But it's interesting that you said that
about your son because I you know, same with my daughter,
Like and we just take their.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Lead, honestly. The way in which he approaches being a boy,
because he's a I wouldn't say a nerdy boy, but
I think he likes to throwing that word around. So
he's not into sports. He wants a girlfriend at eight,
He's like, he.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Wants a girlfriend. I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
I'm like, slow it down, dude, Oh.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
My gosh, I saw my daughter flirt for the first time,
and I almost over. I almost fell over. I couldn't
not like the And by the way, this is when
she was like just turning six. We were in Dumbo.
We were out on a pier in Dumbo in Brooklyn,
(35:47):
and she ran into one of her classmates and he
literally like Parkrd. This kid was so athletic. He Parkord
like up this, you know, like the huge soccer nets. Yeah,
so he like Parkord up this soccer and was like
hanging from it. And I was like, jeez, how's this
kid doing this? And he looked at my daughter and
she was like and she's like, Teddy, what are you doing?
And he's like trying to impress you? And she literally
(36:12):
put her foot down in her hand on her hip
and was just like Teddy, and I wow fell over,
and my husband and I were both there and I
was like, oh my gosh, she's six. This can't be
happening yet.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
But I got handed to the other kid, Teddy too,
for being so over it. I'm trying to impress you. Amazing,
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
I was blown away too. He actually said, trying to
impress you. This is a six year old, his athletic
ability climbing up the thing. I was already and apparently
my daughter was blown away too because she was like
blushing and like her little pand on her hip. Oh
my gosh, I was the whole thing, right, Like I
(36:55):
want that memory to be out of my fre Can
that go away like this?
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Right?
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You know?
Speaker 1 (37:00):
On the show, we are always talking about the intersection
between being an artist and being a parent. Also just
with like social media. It's with all of the stuff
out there. Does your daughter have awareness of social media?
Is she she has.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
No idea about such?
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, And my husband and I are very careful about
we never show their faces. When I do show them,
it's always a discussion, Like even if one of their
like feet is in the frame, we have a discussion
about it. And look, I mean it's tricky to navigate,
and I'm not just like everyone has their own way
(37:36):
of doing it. Again, like I'm not judging, Like this
is just what we do in our family. Also, for
security reasons, I don't want them all over the place,
especially with all this crazy stuff coming out right now,
with all this weird stuff. You can do from seeing kids'
faces and making their voices what they're going to sound
like when they're old, Like, it's very odd. And whenever
(37:56):
I'm doing social media for my own stuff, she thinks
it's just kind of videos that are going to be
going out that people are going to see. But she
has no concept of She's never like seen Instagram or
Facebook ramming that stuff. It's the constant line of how
do you include people in your life but also keep
(38:17):
your anonymity at home?
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, I mean I struggle with it. Surely your authentic self,
but also you'll never get this part of it. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
It's a constant conversation in our house. It really is.
We're trying to just preserve being a kid as much
as possible. Oh, I know, and you know, device hygiene.
We're also very careful about. We're a very tactile family.
So we're all about being out in nature, digging in
the dirt, like making art with your hands, like and
(38:49):
also because we're performers and actors, like we're you know,
being very tactiles, like just part of what we do.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yeah, you're a cook, I mean like you're you know
how to speak of tactile, I mean, are making things
all the time. But I will tell you that the
number one thing whoever is doing the meal prep people go.
If I could get rid of anything in my life,
it is meal planning. It bogs people down. They can't
do it. They feel completely helpless. And Okay, so I
(39:20):
know that you've written about this, I know that you've
talked about it, but.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Yeah, I don't mind me the crux of my product line,
it's like, literally make people's lives easier in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
And you are all about the when you said like
batch cooking, so you're you're always doing meals for down
the road? Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You know, as a working parent, the only way I
can get homemade meals on the table is if a
batch cook. That's that's literally the only way I've found
that I can do it. I betch cook two to
three times a week. But it's so easy for me now,
it's like second nature, and I batch cook key elements
and then I reimagine them into different meals. I mean,
that's that's literally how we do it in our house.
(39:56):
I've taught my husband and do it. I've what our
babies to do it, like I'm teaching my kids how.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Oh that's great, but yeah, that's like the key for
me is like batch cooking, and then you re imagine
in fun ways.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So my son right now is obsessed with hard boiled eggs,
although he won't eat the yellow, which drives me.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Yeah, I get that. No, I get that. My son's
like that suit with boy.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
So but just because I know you were, you talked
about it at one point, how to make the perfect
heart boiled it every time?
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Perfect yellow?
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Okay, So I do the boil them, put the lid
on and let them sit minutes. No, like you put
them in room temperature eggs. You put them in water,
You wait for it to boil. Then you turn off
the stove, put a lid on it, and you wait
eight and.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
You get to a different burner and you yes, exactly, yeah,
And then what do you do after the eight minutes?
Speaker 1 (40:45):
That's it? They're ready?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Oh okay, do you do an ice bath after that?
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I don't because I'm lazy, but I bet that'd be right.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Look, there's no one way to boil an eggs, you
know what I mean? No, I I do a similar approach.
And this is my mom taught me this as a kid,
because she she taught me. My mom was this insane
incredible chef. So she taught me a lot of stuff. Sorry,
I'm because I'm directing acting. My voice gets a little
horse sal that's okay, I talk all week. I'm putting
(41:13):
a cough drop in my mouth.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Sorry, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
So I do you fill the eggs with water? You
bring it to a boil, like a rapid boil. Yeah,
put it to a different burner, a cold burner. Cover
it fifteen minutes fifteen, then you for exactly fifteen minutes
right when it goes off. You got to get them
off with it or it over over cook and turned gray.
And then you pluck, you crack them and plunge them
in an ice bath right away and peel them in
(41:37):
about two minutes and they're perfect.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Oh. The ice bath probably makes it easier to peel.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (41:42):
It does because it constricts the membrane inside it.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, it's you to feel okay, So that little value add.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
No, but clearly yours is work. And look are your
kids eating your.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Eggs well except for the yellow yes, and that's working.
The whole perfect part is the part they're not eating. Yeah, exactly,
Thank you so much. Lurea Preef on You are the best,
so we'reks.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
For having me. I really appreciate it. I fear it
was fun.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Happy Mother's Day to you, and if you're not a mom,
you know what. Happy day to you. You're awesome. Thank
you so much for listening. Next week a brand new
episode what the Return guest Rachel Feinstein, and she has
a brand new comedy special called Big Guy and it's
out on May twenty first on Netflix. So listen to
(42:31):
this and then catch that. Subscribe to this podcast. I
know I say it often, but I mean it. If
you could head over to Apple Podcasts and post a review,
it's super helpful. Life Hacker just called us the number
one podcast for moms. Thank you. I love it. We
also have a substack with new content written every week, jokes, lists,
personal stories, so check it out. Just go to substack
(42:53):
and search for Parenting as a Joke. You can follow
us on the socials, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. We are at
Parenting as a Joke. On x we are Parenting Joke,
and we've got another live taping in the books. June fourteenth,
We're doing a live podcast taping of the show Parenting
is a Joke in Hoboken, New Jersey. That's on June
(43:16):
fourteenth at Miles Square Theater. If you want tickets, you
can go to my website and just click on the
link Ofiraisberg dot com or follow me at ofira E.
Our episode is produced by me and Julie Smith clem.
Our editor is Nita Porzuki. Our sound designer is Tito
Toby Mack. Our digital marketing is done by Laura Vogel.
Our video editor is Melissa Weiss. Our overqualified intern is
(43:39):
Jeffrey Kaufman. Thanks to all of the engineers at Citybox.
And I'll leave you with a little snippet from my
Mother's Day.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Hey mom, Yeah, what would be the gift you think
you most want on Mother's Day?
Speaker 1 (43:54):
I want.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Love from my family. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
I want used to you know, read and maybe do
some writing.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
And then I would love to take a hike together.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Okay, And now I'm going to say what I will
give you for Mother's Day.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Bye. Law
It used to be chairs all. Let them start letting
of sales, fun pandas a joke, Hello listeners, this is
parenting is a joke. I'm a chipped wine glass named
Befira Eisenberg. And on the show we bring together professional
comedians and funny people to talk about their career being
creative and how they are managing that. The unpredictability of
(00:24):
working in entertainment with the unpredictability of raising children. How
the fuck are they doing it? This week I said
to my son, Hey, just a reminder, Sunday is Mother's Day,
so you know, let's think of something fun to do together.
And his response was, oh, yeah, what day is kid's Day?
And I said every day, every day is kid's Day.
(00:45):
He was like really, so can I have an iPhone?
So that's where things are at. Anyhow. My guest is
also away working from her family. She's an amazing actor
and director. It's a prepon and she is coming right up.
She is still recovering from a recent interaction with her
six year old.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
She ran into one of her classmates and he literally like,
parcourt up this, you know, like the huge soccer nets.
And he looked at my daughter and she was like, Teddy,
what are you doing? And He's like trying to impress you,
and she literally put her foot down in her hand
on her hip and was just like Teddy. And I
was like, oh my gosh, she's six. This can't be happening.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yet more with me and Laura prepon right after this break,
Hello listeners, Happy Mother's Day, Happy Mother's Day. I just
came back from a week on the road and yeah
(01:49):
coming back. Who I had one of those classic travel
days from hell where connections were missed. It was a
total airport nightmare. But I've emerged. I've emerged slightly broken
and without my baggage. Well that's not true. My baggage
made it. My luggage did not. And also I arrived
(02:09):
a day late, so that day was insane, and I
saw my child for about an hour and then I
had to get ready and run to a show. At
the show though, an old friend said, how's parenting going?
And you know what I said, I said, I have
no idea. I haven't been around so cool. Yeah, I
feel no guilt. I'm fine, but you know, it changed
(02:31):
my perspective of now I want to celebrate Mother's Day
this year because Normally, I always feel like I want
to be left alone and just put into a sensory
deprivation chamber for a number of hours. But no, this year,
due to being away and just overwhelming guilt, I want
to spend time with my family doing whatever they want
to do. That's right. So that's why we went to
(02:53):
Dave and Busters and I laid down seventy bucks on
game cards. It was nice. Now, if you are listening
to our pod for a while, you probably remember last
year that, in honor of Mother's Day, I replied one
by one to some of those happy Mother's Day emails
that bombard my inbox every year from places like crighton
(03:16):
Barrel and Kohle's, because ah, my mom is gone, and
so sometimes I find them very insensitive and I was
just moved to reply. This year, I noticed something very different. Okay,
maybe you didn't notice this, but many brands sent emails
like we know Mother's Day can be a really difficult
(03:37):
day for some people. So if you want to opt
out of our Mother's Day emails, just click the button
below with love the Gooder Sunglasses family. Wow. Fascinating. I
very much appreciate the heartfelt empathy and their cheap sunglasses gooder,
very good. But of course it was still like a
(03:59):
three step process that also involved like a personalized comments
section as to why you were opting out, arguably more
difficult than just deleting the email, but I guess I
appreciate the effort. I think that. Being said, I was
still bombarded with dozens of marketing doozies in my inbox,
and you know what, I wanted to keep the tradition
(04:20):
alive by replying to them one by one and letting
them know how inappropriate their Mother's Day email felt to me.
So here you go, dear Urban Stams. To answer the
question you posed in your subject line, My mother's favorite
flowers were peonies. I rested some on her grave that
I stole from a neighbor's nearby yard about three years ago.
(04:44):
But thanks for offering them to me again, Oh flowers,
something else that I can also watch slowly die. Dear Amazon,
thanks for saying, fret not procrastinator. There is still time
to treat mom, right, but I assure you I can
keep putting this off forever. But it is so kind
that you offered to make sure that the best gifts
(05:06):
can be delivered right to my mom in just a
few days. Her plot is number one forty seven, right
next to my uncle Louise. But I don't need same
day delivery, so take your time. Oh, while I'm at
at Amazon, is you're a product writer a millennial going
through divorce? Because the copy for your book light says
(05:26):
if your mom still reads paper books and shares a
bed with someone else, she absolutely needs a personal reading light. Jeez, wow,
way to slam physical books Amazon. Then again, I guess
you might say my mom shares a bed with a
lot of people, a garden bed, that is, but she
(05:50):
will never have to worry about disturbing them or light
for that matter. Well, hello Gardener Supply Company, Ah, thanks
so much for your Mother's Day email full of tools
for the avid gardening mom. You got that right. My
mom loved a garden green thumb, and you finally offered
(06:10):
something I can get her for Mother's Day, a shovel.
I know she'll dig it. Dear Sephora, I love your
stuff and I appreciate your message urging me to help
my mom get her glow on this Mother's Day. You
might describe my mom as drop dead gorgeous, but I'm
(06:31):
pretty sure all the flesh is gone. However, hair decays
much slower, so let me know what hair oil or
conditioner you might suggest. Yes, yes, it would be for
really really dry hair. Dear william Sonoma, thank you so
much for your email about treating my mom to a
(06:54):
personalized keepsake. In my case, I'll call that a gravestone.
And yes, as suggested, let's put an heirloom recipe on it.
How about for her butter cookies? Ah, that might brighten
some people's day at the cemetery, right, Nothing like seeing
someone take a photo of a headstone while muttering delicious.
(07:15):
Never grieve when you're hungry, people, So there you go, everybody,
Happy Mother's Day. And a highlight of my mother's day
week was getting to talk to the amazingly talented and
super fun Laura Prepond. So that's the segue. Everybody, enjoy
that conversation. All right now, my guest, Today, everybody brought
(07:37):
to life three iconic television characters, Ted's awful high school girlfriend,
Karen on How I Met your Mother, Alex Bouse from
Oranges the New Black, and of course Donna from that
seventies show. She's been in many movies. She's written two books,
she is a director, a celebrity chef with her own
(07:58):
line of cookware that I am obsessed with buying. And
of course she's a mom, so I'm very excited. Hey
it's Lord Prepond. Hello, Hifiera. Thanks for having me. You know,
I was actually just thinking, as far as you look
at how kids, how names come back into fashion with
people's kids. But I was thinking, Donna, your seventies character's
(08:21):
name that is not returned.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I have two kiddos and there is not a
single Donna in either of their classes.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
No, okay, you have two little kids, if my math
from reading about you is correct, Just to get a
sense of the parenting chaos that is your life right now. Yeah,
I think I'm right in saying that you have a
four year old and a seven year old.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I do have a well yeah she's about tenty seven,
so basically, yeah she's seven.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, okay, so you might have the easiest kids on
the planet. I don't know, you might be losing it.
I don't know, But how do you feel about when
you're maybe in some bit of struggle, someone's saying to you,
you got to enjoy every moment of this because it
goes so fast.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I get it when I hear that now I'm in
a particular place right now because I happen to be
away from my kids. Right now. I'm on a directing
job and I've been away from my home for a
little while. So right now I'm actually in a place of,
oh my gosh, i feel like I'm missing everything. Yeah,
(09:18):
all the mom guilt of it all and everything, even
though they were just out here visiting me. But I
am kind of in a place of, like, I just
FaceTime with them and they already look huger than they
did four days ago. So I actually am like currently
struggling right now because it's so hard being away from them.
So maybe I'm just in a different kind of mental space.
(09:39):
But it's just like working mom. I mean, you know,
it's like.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I'm away from my kid right now too. And I've
been on the road for almost a week. And actually
my husband said to me, yesterday goes, so I'll see
you tomorrow, and I was like, no, no, Wednesday, Yeah,
and yeah, exactly, it's hard to balance the guilt. There
is still this idea that as a woman, you do
not follow your dreams or your passions. Or your career
(10:05):
until those kids leave home. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I mean, you know, it's interesting because my friend, a
really good friend of mine, Amber Tamblin, was on your podcast, yes,
and you know, we're both working moms, and I remember
when I first asked her about, you know, juggling work
life stuff, just to what you were just talking about.
She was like, you know what, it's it's quality over quantity. Yeah.
(10:28):
When I'm with them, my husband, who's also in the industry,
we really try to be super present. Yeah, I know
other friends that I you know, and no judgment, we're
all juggling a lot, you know what I mean. But
when they're there and they're like half on their phone,
half out the door, half doing whatever, they might be
physically there, but they're actually not spending any time with
(10:49):
their kids. So my husband and I really try to
put in like our own rules of like never let
the kids see us on our phone if we have
to take a business call, walk out to a different room,
and you know what I mean. Like the quality over
quantity thing in terms of being a working mom is
huge for me. Like after I had my daughter, I
was filming Orange as the New Black, and I was
(11:10):
back at work in four weeks and I was directing
that show, you know, six weeks later, and that was insane,
And I felt this extra pressure as a woman, and
I'm just you know, speaking for myself, like as a woman,
I was like, I got to kill it, Like, yeah,
I know, there's no room for error. There's no room
for error, especially like because I just had a kid
(11:32):
and everyone's going to be like, oh, is she going
to be able to do it now that she's a mom? Like,
and I remember having this crazy pressure on myself to
be like, I have to go in. I have to
kill it a canvass a beat.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
On both ends. But you're also still killing it as
a mom, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Hundred percent. And it's it's interesting because I'm you know,
working with these wonderful actors right now who are the
you know generation beneath us, And one of them was
asking me about directing and trying to figure out how
to explain to her like you have to be so
comfortable with a ton of pressure on your head, and
(12:08):
especially as a woman, you have to do an incredible job.
You just have to. We haven't actually had the talk yet,
and I don't know if I should say that because
I don't. I don't want to put that on. And
maybe it's a generational thing with me where.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Like we had to kill I don't know, like do
you know are you saying part of it that you
have to kill it as a director who's a woman
because there's not a lot of female directors out there
in comparison number wise, and so you have to kill
it because you also have to represent all women.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yes, it's not you know what I mean? No, but
like Ofira, I've been on sets where my male director
because I've been doing this a lot, I've had the
great honor of doing my job, which I love for
a long time. I come on to a set and
you know, not to make it generly that the director
happened to be male and sitting in the director churt
(13:01):
getting a haircut during a scene, didn't even know what
we were doing. And I'm like, I could never do it.
Can you imagine if I was sitting in the director
chirt getting a haircut while I'm directing? It's amazing, like
literally like another director, like we're waiting to start and
he's just outside smoking a cigarette, and like, oh yes,
(13:22):
could you imagine?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Like never, like never, never, and those are light fair.
I mean, I've got other directors where like the set,
the first AD, who their job is to keep us
on track, actually came up to me and was like, Laura,
you should leave the set. You should literally and their
job is scheduling and keeping you on schedule. And the
first AD was like, Laura, you should leave because it
(13:45):
was so wildly inappropriate what the director was doing. Like,
it's just you wouldn't believe it. And so for me,
I do feel like I have a pressure of I
don't know if you're maybe that's pressure I just put
on myself.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I mean it could be, as I'm prepared to talk
to you. I just I was thinking being a parent, directing,
I mean, directing can feel very I'm assuming the same
as being a parent. You're taking care of people. You're
telling me what to do, building them up at times
to try to get the best out of them. You're
hoping that that works, and also dealing with all these
(14:17):
external factors, protecting them from those external factors or actors.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, it's all of the above, and I you know,
I love it. It takes me away from my family
for longer, but I feel very fulfilled when I'm doing it,
and I'm It's just one of those things. The first
time I did it, I was just like, Oh, this
is what I'm meant to do.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You like being in charge, you like calling the shots.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
It's not even it's interesting. It's like it's not even that.
It's you're solving problems all day, you know. And very
rarely am I asking an actor to do something that
I've never personally done myself. Yeah, I don't even know
if that's ever happened. Like everything I've asked an actor
to do, I've physically been there and emotionally been there
with performance and care and getting a vision onto a
(15:02):
screen that's going to affect people. Yeah, the parenting, the multitasking.
You got to me an incredible multitasker, and I am,
and I just it just feels very fulfilling because it
it literally fires on every cylinder. And I get home
at night and I literally am like I gave it.
At no point did it? Was I not giving it
(15:24):
my all? Like for real? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So yeah, So, oh, by the way, happy Mother's Day you,
Happy Mother's Day. Thank you? So speaking of that, like,
what's your Mother's day vibe? Do you have traditions, and
I will just tell you I'm coming from the place
of on Mother's Day, if I could just sit in
a dark room alone for three hours, I'd take that.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I get it. I totally understand, and there are some
times where I feel that as well. I think every
parent does, honestly, because I've been traveling so much for work,
I just want to be with my family. And we're
really tight as a family. My husband is my best friend,
and it's a little antisocial because we just want to
(16:07):
be with each other and our kids, and we need
to start. One of our New Year's resolutions this year
is like, look, we have to start trying to like
go out more and like being a social It's actually
one of our New Year's resolutions. But we really hunkering
down with my husband and my kids is like my
favorite thing. So that's the best Mother's Day is just
being hanging out all yeah, just snuggling with them and
(16:31):
breathing them in and just feeling their skin and just
squishing that. Like I just want to hold my family.
When I'm working, I'm like watching videos of them and
you know, from like my babies like then crawling and
walking and now they're so big, and you know, it's
(16:52):
just it's been really tough. So I just want to
snuggle with them and hold them as much as possible,
and they try to squirm away, but like, nope, mom,
I just try to hold them. But if you were
to ask me this before I started this gig and
I was working from home, it might have been I
(17:12):
need to be in a dark room for three hours
and whatever. It just depends on my job. It's very
different depending on what when you're talking.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
To me, Did you always want to have kids?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It's interesting, like I never I also started working at
such a young age, Like I really was like a
career person since I was like fifteen, Like I just
have been on the go for a long time. I
was never the type of little girl who would like
plan my wedding and think about getting married, and it
(17:47):
just wasn't me. It just wasn't me. And I never
really thought about kids until I met my husband, who,
funny enough, I've known since I was a teenager, but
until we reconnected when we were old. Wow, you know,
we always joked that we we had to earn each other.
You know, we had to go through a lot of life,
like get each other.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
You're like, I'll come back for the second.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yeah, exactly, exactly exactly. We had a lot of lessons
before then, but yeah, but once we got together, it
was just it wasn't even a conversation. It was just like,
uh oh, this is happening. And then all of a sudden,
I was pregnant.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You know, did he want to have kids? Was he
like that? You were the girl?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, like we we don't usually tell our story because
most it's like, oh, really, you guys just met and
like a month later, you're like pregnant. Like it was
kind of like that, but we already, like we already
knew each other since we were teenagers, so we kind
of like picked up a conversation we were always having.
It's like that kind of thing. Like a week later,
he was looking for rings and we just knew it
(18:45):
was happening. And then I was like pregnant, And then
I'm really happy I didn't find out I was pregnant
until I did because my first episode of directing Orange
is the New Black, my character was taken hostage and
like wrapped in a shower curtain with no use of
my limbs and oh yeah, and all this crazy stuff,
(19:07):
and then the day after I was so ill, we
wrapped and the next day I was so sick and
I'm like, oh my gosh, I got sick on set,
and I that morning I found out I was pregnant.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
You're like, or.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah or yeah exactly. So instead of going to the
drug store to get like nikeael or whatever, I was like,
maybe I was just get to pregnant lust. And I'm so
glad I didn't know, because I was absolutely terrified. I
had a very unconventional upbringing and my mother was not
the most maternal person, so I literally had no clue.
And I'm glad, like I was, I'm so happy I
(19:45):
didn't know I was pregnant when I was doing these scenes,
because I would have been so scared of like, oh
my gosh, right, am I going to damage something like
you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, so then you know, you have a first kid,
but then you went back you were like, let's have
another one.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
We were not one and done, and so was that
obviously I assume intentional. You're like, We're.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
What's funny is I joke with my friends that making
new people it must be based on you know, like
it must be based on some kind of amnesia, because
when you're going through it, you're you have moments as
a new mother of be at least I did, of
being like terrified and like how did I do this
to myself? And you're crying all the time or whatever,
(20:27):
and then all of a sudden, a little while later,
somehow miraculously you just forget all that and you're pregnant.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
You're like, I was so lovely, that such a wonder.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah, exactly. We had my daughter, and then my second
pregnancy actually ended up turning into a really awful situation.
I actually wrote about it in my second book, and
you know, it was something you know, like you wait
for the clear ends basically of like second trimester of
like everything's great and you know, we don't have to
(20:58):
get into it now, but basically it wasn't. We found
out it wasn't great, and my body couldn't carry it
and I was in danger and it was a very
awful situation. And then after that it took me like
a year to recover from that, Like it was that
was a really devastating situation to have to go through.
(21:18):
And then we were blessed again with my son. Yeah,
and every day. I was so terrified. I would just
literally pray and meditate and just like hold my body parts,
being like you can grow a healthy baby, this can
you can do this? Like it was so I was
so traumatized by what had occurred.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
And I know that you because you wrote about it
about having postpart of anxiety with your first child, which
can really rock people, and I found it did for
me as well. And I think I made the mistake
in hindsight of not talking enough about it and not
acknowledging it enough. Did you feel like you had a
community of people to talk to at the time.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh, no, I had no clue what I was doing.
I like, liliarly like no. I mean, that's one of
the reasons why I wrote My first book was more
it was all about basically food and the crux of
how I feed my family and myself, which is like
it's all about batch cooking and prepping ahead, like that's
a huge part of my life. So that was like
(22:18):
my first cookbook. My second book was about exactly what
you just said, Like I felt that nobody was talking
about it, and I was like, someone's got to talk
about this because I am so lost. And when I
was going to try to find books about it. I
really couldn't find any. I found some books that were
more kind of like sardonic takes on motherhood, which I
(22:38):
couldn't really relate to because I really wasn't in that
mental landscape. Yeah, I really just needed something to connect
to to explain what the heck am I going through.
I think, as I've been working since I was such
a young age, I'm not like a very anxious person.
I'm good at dealing with a lot of pressure on
my back and my shoulder. When I had my kid,
(22:59):
my first daughter, and I was a complete disaster, I
literally was like, who is this person? And what's interesting
is I have a phenomenal doctor in New York. Her
name is Lee Moron. She's also Amber's doctor. I remember
her talking to my husband when I was pregnant and
she was like, I gotta tell you. She's like, I'm
a little worried about Laura because she's a career woman,
(23:21):
she's very driven, and she's like, I'm concerned that when
she realizes that this is so out of her control
that she will be deeply addicted. And that's exactly what happened,
and it wasn't depression. It really wasn't like you all
you mainly hear about postpartum depression, which I didn't have.
I had like a hyper vigilance to protecting this baby,
(23:44):
like and we were in Lower East Side at the time,
and any like siren that went by, I'm like, I
have to protect my daughter, Like I lost it.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I earphones. You're like, put the earphones on, put the
little mix.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, I was freaking out. I had like a heart
rate monitor on her. I was like, would stare. I
think that's why I literally to wear glasses now is
because I would stare at her baby monitor till my
retinas were like burnt out of my head. Like. And
I wrote my book because I'm like, I cannot be
the only one dealing with this, and I felt like
(24:16):
people didn't really talk about it, no.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
And the shame and then there's just shame about it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Same And that book really was that I wrote was
really healing for me because I brought in, you know,
a bunch of other friends into it and interviewed them
about it and whatever. But it would really help me
so much, and it was really healing for me. And
then having my second child, you really like you're like, Okay,
now I'm feeling more confident as a mother, and I
(24:42):
can figure this out a little more, you know, And
now that they're sturdier and older, like it's definitely obviously
calming down. But yeah, I really struggled with that a lot.
I really really did.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
When you were interviewing these different people for your book,
was there any other takeaway from it that surprised you
from speaking to people?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Oh, my gosh, there were so many takeaways talking to
other career moms like Jenji Kohen, who created Orange is
the New Black. Her whole thing too is like quality
over quantity, and when you're with your kids, do stuff
you love, don't you know, if your partner is better
at like doing the soccer game thing and you're more
of like staying home and reading, do the staying home
(25:23):
and reading because the kids are going to know when
you're muscling through it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Like that's really good advice.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Oh, there was so much good stuff there was. You know.
I talked to a woman named Jill Blakeway, who is
She really is more of like a Chinese running theory
acupuncture stuff like that, but she's wrote some wonderful books
about relationships, and you know, I interviewed her and her
main thing was like, you have to make sure you
keep your partnership alive as much as you can't put
(25:50):
your partnership to the side to focus on your kids.
It's all a cohesive thing, you know. So if you
happen to be raising your kids with a partner, make
sure you feed that as much as you feed the
relationship with your child.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And I mean I felt too that, you know, I
did not know what it was like to work with
my husband on a high risk project before.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Totally, Yes, totally, but yeah, it really was. It was
an awesome experience. And now I finally feel like I'm
arriving to a place where I'm not I still worry
about them all the time all and I don't think
that ever goes away.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
I don't think that ever goes away.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And then it's also just stuff like it's all phases,
Like you're in a phase now, it doesn't last forever,
and then you'll be in a whole other.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Phase and you don't even remember the last one exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I used to pride myself on having an incredible memory,
and now there's stuff where I'm like, don't know, I
actually don't know where that memory went, but it's gone,
and yeah, it's filled with all this other stuff having
to juggle, like your whole family schedule in your head.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
And I we're like, oh god, the logistics. You know
what you're saying about the partners, like making sure you
carve out time to create some closeness with your partner.
I was taking a flight the other day, and you know,
the third call for the flight is parents traveling with
small children, and I was like, the fourth call should
be parents who are on the verge of divorce traveling
(27:18):
with small children. You really see what people I was
without my child, but you really see when people have
to get it together to get on that plane with
their little tiny kids. Oh my god, exactly where the
relationship is at.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I know. I know Carrie like trying to break down
the stroller and like, oh my gosh, it's the best.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Nobody can figure out anything.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Oh my gosh. It's so true. And you know what's
funny is like you also know the people who aren't
parents because you see them just like watching like what
is the big deal? I just get on the face
and you're just like you don't get it, man, You're there,
you know, and whereas like, you know, we watch the
we're just like, oh gosh, we've so been there and
we know what that.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I was like, yeah, and I want to help, but
I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Help much empathy.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
So I saw an adorable post recently of your children
visiting you on set as you were directing that ninety show.
What was it like? Were they? Were they a little
in awe?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So my husband is also you know, an actor, director, writer,
he's you know, been in this lovely racket that we're
in for a long time as well. And we never
really told our kids what we do. You know, what's
funny is my daughter, she thinks I'm a professional chef.
That's what she tells people. It's that's greatny when she
thinks I'm a chef. And what's funny is when she
plays with her dollhouse. Mommy is always asleep in the
(28:46):
kitchen because that's what she always sees me. She always
sees me in the kitchen, and literally everybody has their
little beds and then Mommy's asleep on the floor in
the kitchen. Oh, on the floor, Yeah, on the floor.
Had a cocktail that yeah, that's where mommy sleeves. When
I was directing Orange when she was a baby, she
visited me, but she was very very young, so she
(29:08):
doesn't remember that. What's interesting is that now she's about
to be seven, she has a little bit of an
idea of what my husband does because she visited him
on a movie set once, which is very different than
what I'm currently working on, which is a multi camera sitcom,
which is like it's all on a sound stage, right,
So when they visited him, he was just like driving
(29:28):
in a car with a camera attached with a car,
and she was just like, Daddy, you're weird. Like they
didn't know, so we didn't really tell him. But what's
crazy is my daughter comes home one day and she's like, Mommy,
are you an actor? And I said what are you
talking about? And she said, are you an actor? My
friend at school told me that you're an actor? And
I was like, what her mother? I saw the kid's
(29:50):
mother and I was like, hey, did you talk to
your daughter about what we do for a living. I'm
just curious and she's like, oh, yeah, she watched something
and got really scared I and I showed her on
that seventies show, being like, look, you know this isn't
real either, you know her and she she's playing a
fake person. And so then they were all talking about
(30:10):
it at school and my daughter was like super confused,
and then I was like, oh man, So she we
didn't even get to explain really what we do because
at school she found out about it from some kid
in her class.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So then they came to visit me on spring break,
and I brought her to set for the first time,
as like, you know, she's not going to remember Orange
because she was too little. So I brought her to
set on Nineties that nineties show and walked her around
and explained, this is what mommy does for a living.
And she watched me act, she watched me direct, and
(30:47):
when she first saw me acting in front of a
live studio audience, she was sitting in my chair during
the taping, and she was so confused because she's like, wait,
that's mommy, but this is mommy, Like Mommy's on.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
The right and you know.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
And then so she's putting it together and we're trying
to explain it in a way that's like not scary
or weird anyway. So it was kind of let out
of the bag before we could fully explain it. Yeah,
so it kind of forced our hand because you know,
we don't live around the industry. That was a specific
decision we made as a family that we're not going
to raise our kids around. You know, we're very fortunate
(31:20):
to have the jobs we have, but we specifically are like,
we're not raising our kids around the entertainment industry.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
But just because maybe I'm missing it, so forgive me,
but why didn't you want them to know that you
were an actor or why were you just delaying that information?
Speaker 2 (31:34):
We felt that it would be really confusing for them.
I also I didn't want my daughter, I don't know,
like she's very prone right now, she's in a phase
where she's very kind of prone to what how she
looks and stuff. I absolutely she's growing up, right, She's
(31:55):
about to step and so she's like, Mommy, I don't
want to wear that because the other kids are wearing this,
and why did she say? I look like this? And
I and you know, literally the other day she was like, mommy,
you know, blah blah blah said they don't like me.
And I said, okay, well do you like you? And
she said yes, and I'm like, then it doesn't matter
if blah blah blah, you know what I mean, Like
you're surrounded in love, love yourself, like I'm you know
(32:18):
what I mean. So they're because she happens to be
in this phase of what people think. I don't. I
didn't want her to know that her parents are like
in the public eye, and we're trying to be very
careful about how we explain what we do for a living.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
No, that makes a ton of sense. That makes a
ton of sense.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And everybody's different. Look, there's no right way to do this,
Like I wish there's no right way, like, and we
all have our own ways of doing it, you know,
Like we didn't even get her her first Barbie in
Soul this year. We didn't want her to think that
that's what you had to look like.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You know what I mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, nothing against Barbie, Like she's just like all these
empowering different jobs and stuff like that. But I don't know,
we're just very sensitive to the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Listen, I grew up, I was obsessed with barbiees and nothing.
I love Barbiees and nothing against Barbie. She has all
these different jobs but there's no denying what that doll
looks like. Yes, sorry, it's just no denying it.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So, and you know, my son who a boy, and
he right now very strongly identifies as a boy. Yes,
and like usually he's in sweatpants and a T shirt
just with some graphic on it. And recently, you know,
at eight years old, he really carefully picked out some clothes,
talking to me intently about what how he wanted his look.
(33:37):
And I was just like, oh my god. It probably
just goes like great, be creative, it's fun, but you
wanted to stay on that line.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
It's really interesting that you bring that up because my daughter,
since she came out of the womb, she's always been
a very like very secure in her gender, very very secure.
It's just one of those things we just roll with it. Like,
you know, most people called me a tomboy growing up.
I always hung out with guys. Like most people, you know,
(34:07):
I wear a lot of baseball hats, T shirts and jeans.
That's like you like, you know what I mean. I
dress up when I have to, I wear makeup when
I have to, but my day to day I'm like,
no makeup, baseball cap, T shirt, and jeans. This has
always been like that. Yeah, my daughter is she won't
even leave the house unless she's in a dress. Her
hair needs to be like perfect, her her favorite color
(34:29):
is like pink. Everything is like pink princess dresses. And
I and we go. We take their lead. That's another
reason I think why we were very careful to not
go into maybe what we do for a living, and
because you know, I think that she would have been
very into the fact that mommy and daddy might be famous, you.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Know what I mean, Like absolutely, it's the outside looking in.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, exactly, and we are trying to really kind of
thread that needle and there's no right way, you know
what I mean. But it's interesting that you said that
about your son because I you know, same with my daughter,
Like and we just take their.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Lead, honestly. The way in which he approaches being a boy,
because he's a I wouldn't say a nerdy boy, but
I think he likes to throwing that word around. So
he's not into sports. He wants a girlfriend at eight,
He's like, he.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Wants a girlfriend. I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
I'm like, slow it down, dude, Oh.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
My gosh, I saw my daughter flirt for the first time,
and I almost over. I almost fell over. I couldn't
not like the And by the way, this is when
she was like just turning six. We were in Dumbo.
We were out on a pier in Dumbo in Brooklyn,
(35:47):
and she ran into one of her classmates and he
literally like Parkrd. This kid was so athletic. He Parkord
like up this, you know, like the huge soccer nets. Yeah,
so he like Parkord up this soccer and was like
hanging from it. And I was like, jeez, how's this
kid doing this? And he looked at my daughter and
she was like and she's like, Teddy, what are you doing?
And he's like trying to impress you? And she literally
(36:12):
put her foot down in her hand on her hip
and was just like Teddy, and I wow fell over,
and my husband and I were both there and I
was like, oh my gosh, she's six. This can't be
happening yet.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
But I got handed to the other kid, Teddy too,
for being so over it. I'm trying to impress you. Amazing,
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
I was blown away too. He actually said, trying to
impress you. This is a six year old, his athletic
ability climbing up the thing. I was already and apparently
my daughter was blown away too because she was like
blushing and like her little pand on her hip. Oh
my gosh, I was the whole thing, right, Like I
(36:55):
want that memory to be out of my fre Can
that go away like this?
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Right?
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You know?
Speaker 1 (37:00):
On the show, we are always talking about the intersection
between being an artist and being a parent. Also just
with like social media. It's with all of the stuff
out there. Does your daughter have awareness of social media?
Is she she has.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
No idea about such?
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, And my husband and I are very careful about
we never show their faces. When I do show them,
it's always a discussion, Like even if one of their
like feet is in the frame, we have a discussion
about it. And look, I mean it's tricky to navigate,
and I'm not just like everyone has their own way
(37:36):
of doing it. Again, like I'm not judging, Like this
is just what we do in our family. Also, for
security reasons, I don't want them all over the place,
especially with all this crazy stuff coming out right now,
with all this weird stuff. You can do from seeing kids'
faces and making their voices what they're going to sound
like when they're old, Like, it's very odd. And whenever
(37:56):
I'm doing social media for my own stuff, she thinks
it's just kind of videos that are going to be
going out that people are going to see. But she
has no concept of She's never like seen Instagram or
Facebook ramming that stuff. It's the constant line of how
do you include people in your life but also keep
(38:17):
your anonymity at home?
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, I mean I struggle with it. Surely your authentic self,
but also you'll never get this part of it. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
It's a constant conversation in our house. It really is.
We're trying to just preserve being a kid as much
as possible. Oh, I know, and you know, device hygiene.
We're also very careful about. We're a very tactile family.
So we're all about being out in nature, digging in
the dirt, like making art with your hands, like and
(38:49):
also because we're performers and actors, like we're you know,
being very tactiles, like just part of what we do.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Yeah, you're a cook, I mean like you're you know
how to speak of tactile, I mean, are making things
all the time. But I will tell you that the
number one thing whoever is doing the meal prep people go.
If I could get rid of anything in my life,
it is meal planning. It bogs people down. They can't
do it. They feel completely helpless. And Okay, so I
(39:20):
know that you've written about this, I know that you've
talked about it, but.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Yeah, I don't mind me the crux of my product line,
it's like, literally make people's lives easier in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
And you are all about the when you said like
batch cooking, so you're you're always doing meals for down
the road? Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You know, as a working parent, the only way I
can get homemade meals on the table is if a
batch cook. That's that's literally the only way I've found
that I can do it. I betch cook two to
three times a week. But it's so easy for me now,
it's like second nature, and I batch cook key elements
and then I reimagine them into different meals. I mean,
that's that's literally how we do it in our house.
(39:56):
I've taught my husband and do it. I've what our
babies to do it, like I'm teaching my kids how.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Oh that's great, but yeah, that's like the key for
me is like batch cooking, and then you re imagine
in fun ways.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So my son right now is obsessed with hard boiled eggs,
although he won't eat the yellow, which drives me.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Yeah, I get that. No, I get that. My son's
like that suit with boy.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
So but just because I know you were, you talked
about it at one point, how to make the perfect
heart boiled it every time?
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Perfect yellow?
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Okay, So I do the boil them, put the lid
on and let them sit minutes. No, like you put
them in room temperature eggs. You put them in water,
You wait for it to boil. Then you turn off
the stove, put a lid on it, and you wait
eight and.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
You get to a different burner and you yes, exactly, yeah,
And then what do you do after the eight minutes?
Speaker 1 (40:45):
That's it? They're ready?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Oh okay, do you do an ice bath after that?
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I don't because I'm lazy, but I bet that'd be right.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Look, there's no one way to boil an eggs, you
know what I mean? No, I I do a similar approach.
And this is my mom taught me this as a kid,
because she she taught me. My mom was this insane
incredible chef. So she taught me a lot of stuff. Sorry,
I'm because I'm directing acting. My voice gets a little
horse sal that's okay, I talk all week. I'm putting
(41:13):
a cough drop in my mouth.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Sorry, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
So I do you fill the eggs with water? You
bring it to a boil, like a rapid boil. Yeah,
put it to a different burner, a cold burner. Cover
it fifteen minutes fifteen, then you for exactly fifteen minutes
right when it goes off. You got to get them
off with it or it over over cook and turned gray.
And then you pluck, you crack them and plunge them
in an ice bath right away and peel them in
(41:37):
about two minutes and they're perfect.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Oh. The ice bath probably makes it easier to peel.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (41:42):
It does because it constricts the membrane inside it.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, it's you to feel okay, So that little value add.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
No, but clearly yours is work. And look are your
kids eating your.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Eggs well except for the yellow yes, and that's working.
The whole perfect part is the part they're not eating. Yeah, exactly,
Thank you so much. Lurea Preef on You are the best,
so we'reks.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
For having me. I really appreciate it. I fear it
was fun.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Happy Mother's Day to you, and if you're not a mom,
you know what. Happy day to you. You're awesome. Thank
you so much for listening. Next week a brand new
episode what the Return guest Rachel Feinstein, and she has
a brand new comedy special called Big Guy and it's
out on May twenty first on Netflix. So listen to
(42:31):
this and then catch that. Subscribe to this podcast. I
know I say it often, but I mean it. If
you could head over to Apple Podcasts and post a review,
it's super helpful. Life Hacker just called us the number
one podcast for moms. Thank you. I love it. We
also have a substack with new content written every week, jokes, lists,
personal stories, so check it out. Just go to substack
(42:53):
and search for Parenting as a Joke. You can follow
us on the socials, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. We are at
Parenting as a Joke. On x we are Parenting Joke,
and we've got another live taping in the books. June fourteenth,
We're doing a live podcast taping of the show Parenting
is a Joke in Hoboken, New Jersey. That's on June
(43:16):
fourteenth at Miles Square Theater. If you want tickets, you
can go to my website and just click on the
link Ofiraisberg dot com or follow me at ofira E.
Our episode is produced by me and Julie Smith clem.
Our editor is Nita Porzuki. Our sound designer is Tito
Toby Mack. Our digital marketing is done by Laura Vogel.
Our video editor is Melissa Weiss. Our overqualified intern is
(43:39):
Jeffrey Kaufman. Thanks to all of the engineers at Citybox.
And I'll leave you with a little snippet from my
Mother's Day.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Hey mom, Yeah, what would be the gift you think
you most want on Mother's Day?
Speaker 1 (43:54):
I want.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Love from my family. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
I want used to you know, read and maybe do
some writing.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
And then I would love to take a hike together.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Okay, And now I'm going to say what I will
give you for Mother's Day.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Bye. Law
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