December 14, 2023 • 56 mins
Joshua Malina, our resident David Rosen and king of lawyer-speak is here to join Katie and Guillermo as they dive into life on set, prepping (or not prepping) before filming, and pranks on set. Josh messed with everyone on set except for Shonda Rhimes and Guillermo, and he explains exactly why. Then, Josh explains his casting process, and how he became a series regular. Plus, Katie & G break down some amazing quotes from the episode and realize that Katie is a terrible driver.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
partnership with Iheartradios.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Katie, Do you like how unattractive I am? Like, I'm
a real chameleon?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Are you kidding me? Shut the fuck up? No?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
No, Like me without makeup is impressive, and me with
makeup is I'm a fucking dream.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Look what do you want? Yo? How was the audition?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It was my first time ever using a teleprompter?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Have you?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh really? Oh yeah, I've used teleprompters, but not for
scripted stuff, only for like hosts, the type things.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, when i get like eight pages of monologues, now,
I'm like, oh, guys, especially if it's like dea crap.
Speaking of dea and lawyerly speak, we have the fucking
most mischievous guest today coming on, and he's the best
lawyer speak motherfucker actor I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh yeah, can you believe.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
This motherfucker at how easy? I hate him? I know,
I know, And I'm drilling like legal talk and making
it feel like it just like comes off the time.
And also it takes me days to prep that, and
this shit came in like yesterday.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, it takes me days because I need to be confident,
Like I want to feel confident. But this motherfucker, I
mean you've said this before. God, he'll look at that
shit in the makeup trader and be like and then get.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
An inn and it's easy. And he's not even shaken.
He can't be shook.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, because he could give a shit too. He's like,
I don't care, I don't care. I just want the cake.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Great, I mean, this is his middle name should be.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I just want the paycheck.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Had you ever had auditions where you have to like
pick up sides or a script, oh my capos or
some o the time?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Are you kidding? All the time?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Really?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
When I first moved to La I would have to
drive to my agency and there would be a basket
in the lobby if it was after hours, and they
would leave your script in a Manila envelope with your
name on it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Oh yeah, I remember that. At the time of this recording,
I would just also like to say, this is the
seventeenth year to the day anniversary when I moved to Las.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
What.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Oh, that's a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
It's a long time, Like I can't even believe it.
But I always remember getting off at lax, being like,
what did I just do to blow out my life
like this? Renting a beatter piece of shit sucked up car,
and I got on the four h five and the
ten scariest drive of my entire life. And I had
(02:58):
a Thomas guy to get around.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Some big ass nerd created the Thomas Guide. I was like,
don't even come at me with this thick book of
fucking coordinates, Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So I used to try to get around auditions.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Oh hell no.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I'm a geographic dumb dumb. I'm a bad driver, like
very bad, which reminds me. Also, you and I, You
and I are cut, we have the same We shot
the pilot and it's raining and you're in a you're
so hot, you're in a leather jacket and you're in
a jeep wrangler that has no top.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh my god. Remember, And you're.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Like, can I follow you to get on the one
oh one? And I kept saying like yeah, yeah, yeah,
I got it, I got it, I got it. And
I see you in my rearview mirror like following me,
and I don't know where I'm going, and I just
remember I keep pulling Uie's and you're pulling Uie's and
it's straining as shit.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, I was like, it would be worse if it
was just me, a girl. I was impressed at all.
I was like, do you think take your time now?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
There are a few controversial players that we have had
on the podcast that we're going to have on the podcast.
Controversial players. This one is a controversial player because he
is a polarizing motherfucker.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
This is the number one fucking polarizing.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Like you either are on board with his antics or
you are afraid, which makes you mad at him.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, I fucking Teeter Tod. I'm back and forth like
I love him and I laugh and I enjoy it,
and then I'm like, I cannot believe you freaking did that.
I'm so pissed at him, Like I go back and forth.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
He's kind of scared of you.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I could feel that too, because I'll go off on
a motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
See, he never fucked with you, no yah, And I
feel like it's because he was always a little bit like, oh,
you don't do that to Garmo, Like you don't there,
he didn't do to you what he's done did to me,
or because I'm such a fucking easy target. But here's
the thing, he's the most talented dude without trying, which
is so frustrating. Yeah, like Josh Molina is the smartest person.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
In the room.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh yeah, but also a quick win and a quick
intelligence like I people ask me a question and I
have to be like, give me twenty minutes to go
try to understand the question and think of what I'm
gonna say.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Sometimes, guys, we would do cold reads of our scripts,
and I would be fucking mortified that they would find
out in a cold read, like how exactly dumb I am?
And like I wouldn't know how to pronounce a word,
or there might be like a turn of phrase or
something that was like a colloquialism. Same, like quickly look
at Quinn's lines to make sure there wasn't something that
would out how like unintelligent I was. Because there were
(05:35):
so many fucking smart people in our cast, Like do
you know that Bellamy Young and Josh Williana went to Yale.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Fucking Yale dude like Yuryo.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Kidding and Shanda went to Dartmouth. Half the writers or
more were like journalists perfect like unorbelievable talenty Harry went
to gw g's right. Obviously, she's a political animal and
just ridiculously smart.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Where'd you go, Katie.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I went to schoolcident. Oh, you gotta be smart
to get in there.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, listen, it's not easy to get into.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, you have to have done well. But it has
nothing to do with smarts. For me, I just was
good at school, and if I wasn't going to get
a great grade, I knew how to do extra time
in the teacher's room to make them like me and
give me an a like. I was working that shit
ya from Jump. But guys, we have teased one of
the most controversial and polarizing guests to have ever been
(06:32):
on the skin of Rewatch podcast and on Scandal. I
love him. I think he's so amazing. And we are
talking about episode two oh one called White Hats Off,
which aired on September twenty seventh of twenty twelve, and it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Was written by Jenna Bands and directed by our very
own we love him so much, Tom Verica.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Whoa, whoa, We love you, Tom Verica. It was guest
starring Wendy Davis Is, Kimberly, Mitchell Reese Rios as Reporter
Number one did Nora Wilcott is reporter number two, Erica
Schaeffer's TV newscaster, j Jackson as local newscaster.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
And then we have Jimmy Kimmel as himself, Jackson Hurst
as Congressman Jacob Shaw, Gillian Armanante as Moira, O'Donnell Maro
Sodan as doctor Brown. And I wanted to add Shelley
Morrison as the judge who played Rosario in Will and Grace.
I mean, come on, she was the job.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Come on.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
This is the synopsis. This was our first episode back.
I mean, after we shot the first seven episodes of
the first season, we didn't know for sure if we
were going to get a second season, right, we didn't know.
Six months after Quin's arrest, Olivia and the OPA team
are confident they'll win her case, as David Rosen's evidence
is mostly just Quinn's motive, her cheating ex boyfriend, and
the fact that she fled.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
The OPA team helps a congressman navigate a sex tape scandal.
Is Quinn's case begins to crumble around her, but Olivia
refuses to let Quinn be.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Found guilty, probably because she and Huck were the ones
actually behind Quinn's new identity. I remember literally spending all
summer with people asking me if I knew who Quinn
Perkins was, and I was.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Like, uh no, because because at the cliffhanger at the
end of season one is Olivia telling Quinn, do you
want to tell them who you are? Or you want
me to tell them? Right?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Do you want to tell them who you really are?
Should I?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Or should I? Yeah? So people held on too that
for how long before we came back?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well, this aired September twenty seventh, in twenty twelve, and
I think our last Scandal episode was like May. So
it was like this summer that I got married.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Oh oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I have this memory of two hundred and fifteen people
going like, so, who.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Are who is it? Who are you?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Who is Quinn? Who is Quinn? And I'm like, I
don't know, I don't know. Yeah, I hope I have
a job. I hope ahead a job.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And probably the writers didn't fully know exactly which direction
they we're going to go either, I would think, right,
I mean think they.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Knew it, Yeah, I don't think they knew it all.
Every episode with Hollis Doyle until this point, he is
seen eating or mentioning gettysburger.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Mmm, gettysburger. How good does a burger sound right now? Fuck?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I would rush a burger right now.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Like ugh, I was watching Anthony Bourdain, uh last night,
and he's eating a cheeseburger at just like a you know,
one of those like stands outside he was in, like
I don't know, he was like in Jamaica or somewhere,
but it was just a greasy cheeseburger and it looks
so fucking good.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I mean, come on, oh god, I love it. There
are three fucking continuity errors in this episode. Photos of
a Lane show that she's blonde, but in truth or Consequences,
the actors playing a Lane is a brunette.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
A brunette.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Oh this is the best. Yeah, Jesse Tyler is not
Adam Shapiro at this time. It's some other dude that
they took photos of and they whoopsie doodle.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, they didn't know Adam was gonna play play the role.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
No.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
After Olivia and David leave the court, the next scene
shows the Monument of Iwojima with the State House in
Washington monument in the background, But the EU Gema monument
is not in DC. It's in Arlington.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
That's messed up advertising.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That's that's that's that continuity that didn't happen. Were there
any winning scenes from this episode?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And you're in it. The scene where you end up
firing Olivia and she comes to see you in jail, right,
and your other attorney that you hire is there, and
Olivia's like, give me a moment, please, and You're like, fine,
give us a moment and you're their face off, you know,
you and Olivia going add it and you stand up
and we see Quinn's fury, like, come out. You were
(10:39):
so good. You were a fucking powerhouse.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And that's oh god, I thought I was horrible.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
No, I was gonna ask you, have you ever flipped
out like that? You've done that? Right? Yeah? Well that
scene where you flip out on Olivia. Man, I fucking
loved it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I was like, hell yeah, I really think. I really
think all of Josh's room scenes are fucking unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Oh so good. That courtroom stuff is really really fun,
fun to watch. And and again we mentioned to do
and hard to do, and can we say how much
I love how much we love a Gillian Armanante who
played your defense attorney. Oh she's so great in this episode.
And I looked her up too, and she she had
been in two epic movies. One was a Dog Fight
(11:24):
with Lily Taylor. If you've ever seen that film, it
no great movie.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I see nothing. I watched nothing, I do nothing.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And then she was in Girl Interrupted with Winona Ryder.
Oh I thought was interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Abby is into watching the sex tape herself. I wrote,
there's the your ornamental not instrumental, yes, which is a
big winning line from since that's amazing. You are ornamental,
not your ornamental not instrumental.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Oh so good.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Oh my god, it's Olivia. It's so slow and they
say hello and hi.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I love that this whole time. Huck and Olivia have
the best poker face. Oh, Like they're the ones that
speaking Quinn and moved her to a whole different state,
right yes, and changed her identity and they know this
throughout the whole episode. And those two have the best
like poker face, like they're not letting anything show.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
And not until the end of the episode do we
know that all of Quinn Perkins is hucked on Olivia.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And Huck is like, she took everything we gave her
we're good to go or something like that. Yo. It
made me also think like what would I have done
in that situation? Would I have been like fuck, yeah,
I'm gonna do this, or would I would have you know,
like flipped out and ran outside of the hotel crying, Like.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, I don't think I would have done it.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I don't think so either.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Like I feel like that's such a tell about Quinn
and who she is that she just was like, Okay,
I'll just be a new person.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
One of them many reasons we're bringing Josh Malina into
this episode is because he's about to embark on the
craziest season two, like so insane. But also this is
the first episode where Josh Molina and Bellamy young our
series regular.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
That's right. I can't believe that they weren't always regulars either,
because they're both.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So good, so present, their storylines are so important to
season one.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
They were just guest stars.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Germo in a sliding doors. Josh or Bellamy could have
booked something or been offered something.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Oh for sure, and we would have had some a
different first lady in a different rosen.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, and they would have been unavailable, like when you're
a recurring guest star. There's nothing in the thing that
says that you're loyal to that one show.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, yeah, we'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Oh my god, Wait the most the one whoa facial.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
There, I know why I did too.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Ah, you handsome. We were saying that you might be
the most controversial Scandal guests.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
As far as controversial, I think I am the closest
to having gotten fired without actually getting fired.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I got called to uncomfortable meetings a couple of times
because of pranks.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I believe it. I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I also told Giermo before you came on, I was like,
I think there's very few people that that Josh was
actually afraid of on Scandal, like fucking with them too much.
And it was like Shanda, Betsy and Geirmo. I was like,
they're the only thing people Josh fucked with but for
some reason actually respected some sort of line.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I'm going based in fear. I think that's true. Well,
I'm only scared of Germo because I watched the show. Personally,
he's a pussy cat. But I made a mistake of
watching a few episodes of Scandal, and I was like,
I gotta watch it.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
For that guy, and you were like, this motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You know, he's fucking scary. He's fucking scary. Wait, Josh,
so the West Wing podcast, when did you start it
and when did you end it?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
March twenty sixteen, and then I believe the final wrap
up episode was on my birthday January seventeenth, twenty twenty,
so it was about four years. Just shy of four years.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Holy oh wow.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
We did a live show at the Ace Theater.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Oh the Ace. That's huge. Oh nice, The Ace Theater
is fucking massive.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yeah. Fun fact about season one of Scandal, uh huh.
I was a guest star in all seven episodes of
season one, and I remember Kerry One saying to me, so,
I'm in every episode of season one and you're in
every episode of season one. But I'm a series regular
and you, Josh, are guest star. What does that mean?
I said? You know how, at the end of the week,
(15:52):
you get a lot of money. At the end of
the week, I get very little money. And that's what
the difference is.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Isn't that always a bitch? I've been in the positions
and then you always feel bad and your agents are
always like you either got to walk away or you know,
just accept it and keep doing the job.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Oh, by the way, that happens now more than ever.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Usually I would just stay and keep doing the job
for no money, because you don't want to lose a job.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah. No, I wanted to work for Shanda Rhimes. I
had done episodes of before her, I'm Practice and Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
You did you did a graze?
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Yeah? Oh yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Were you adorable? Wait? What did you play on Grays?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I was young. On Gray's. I was Leslie Grossman's husband
and she needed a equal transplant and I had great
lines like no poop, no poop for you.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You came onto the right podcast, Josh, because we talk
about poop a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
We talked about shitting like nobody business. But wait, Josh,
two things.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
One.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
We wanted to have you on this episode two oh
one because congratulations, this is when you became a series regular.
So now you can continue your story.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Of why yes, the first.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Seven were you a little bit? And then the first
episode of season two, why did it change? And my
other story I want to say really quickly is that
when we shot the pilot, you walked onto the set
and it is the only time I think I've told
you this and your head's about to get big. It's
the only time in seven seasons that I saw Shonda
Rhymes get starstruck.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
She loves you so much.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Josh Melena walked on and she was like, Oh my god,
I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out. I was like, I'm
kind of freaking out too, but she was like, I'm
totally freaking out, Like I love Josh Milena.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
She was a big West Wing fan, right age West
Wing fan. Yeah, and really quickly you played Seth Hammer
on Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
There it is. That's right, Seth Hammer. It was Hammertown
for a week.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Why did you become a regular? How did this happen?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, here's what happened. I had been offered episodes of
Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy because in fact, I think
Shanda's a big West Wing fan and she couldn't have
been nice to me when I worked on that. My
agents called said, Shonda Rhymes has a pilot. I'm like, well,
doesn't she just want to give it to me? She
keeps offering me episode And the answer was no, she
doesn't just want to give it to you, she wants
you to audition. And then I went in and I remember,
(17:59):
very awkward, this is really weird. You know, there's like
usually a chair for the actor, but there was just
an open space. And then there was a chair like
next against the wall, and I went and I just
kind of sat in it next to the wall. And
then I was like, well, this can't be right, and
they were like, no, no, that's a weird instinct funny
stand up and do the scenes. And I did them
(18:21):
and I felt like it went well, and Shonta Rhymes said, well,
that's all I need to see. Oh wow, which you
could take one of two ways. And I remember calling
my agents and going like either I've ruined my relationship
with Tonta Rhymes or I think maybe they're gonna give
it to me, like because she said that's all I
need to see.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Do you remember what the scenes were?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I remember one where like I talked about her spidy
senses something.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, So it scenes with o Libya. Maybe
when she knocks on your door and you have the
dartmouth sweater on and you're so cute and you're wearing
like a darkness sweatshirt.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Cute, You're very sweet. I think that's exactly what it was.
And then what they said was this, you got the pilot,
and I was like, I'm thrilled. And there's this amount
of money and I was like, wow, that's pretty good.
They said, wait, wait, wait, but you can choose how
many episodes you want to be in for the same
amount of money what In other words, what it came
out to was seven times minimum. So they're like, if
(19:10):
you want to be in the entire season, you just
have to work for minimum in every episode, or you
can take a real nice big check for one or
a pretty good check for two. And I was like, oh,
I want to I don't care. I want to be
in all of them.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Did you feel like you wanted to be in all
of them? Because then you were like, that's going to
make my character like you need needed.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah. Yeah, it made it. It seem like the greatest
chance of becoming a regular. And in the end, we
actually made a contract where I signed up to do
all seven as a guest star, and there was already
in the contract that if they were to go to
a second season and if they wanted me, I would
be a regular.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So that was cute.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
So I was just desperately like waiting.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Wait. Was Dan Bulkotinski auditioning for David Rosen as well?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yes, he was, no way. Unfortunately he didn't get it,
but he did get an end.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
He did, Yeah, he did. He also auditioned Hawk too.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Well that shows one of the nice things about Shonda,
which is that she's like Aaron Sorkin. She has people
she loves to work with, and she'll give you your
shot and figure out where she might be able to
slot you in, Like she loves Dan's work and like,
all right, this role, maybe that's not Claire, this isn't Oh,
I think we found the one, and so we're lucky
to be in her in her sphere of player.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
When you came on board and started to like, see
why I say you're controversial is because our cast is
incredibly gushy and huggy and kissy and lovey and texty,
and Josh is like not was the West Wing cast
like really cool and like whatever? And then you got
(20:41):
into our cast and you were like, this is insane.
These people love each other way too much. They have
to stop hugging at every table read nobody fucking cares stop.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Yeah, I think the west Wing was somewhere on the
spectrum between my like let's never talk to each other
or touch each other and the scandal ethos of like,
let's just have a big friendship organ Somewhere between those
two is west wing. It was probably right in the middle,
got it.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Speaking of texting, though, I remember Josh did love texting
on other people's phones.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And what he would text was I'm horny.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I put it on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
He never did it to me, but you've done it
to Katie me three times.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Now. Let's set the scene ten years ago. I don't
think I even had a lock on my phone, to
be honest. I mean, I was just that naive and trustworthy.
I just remember chasing you and being like, give me
back my phone, and he'd get on my Twitter account
and he would just tweet from my Twitter account I'm morny.
And then I would just get like days of like
why isn't Adam taking care of that, and just mortified.
(21:47):
But that's just the beginning. Have you been a pranks
through your whole life?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I have, Indeed I have. When I guests star on
other people's shows, I'm usually well behaved but then once
I start feeling comfortable as a series regular on something
like now I'm bored, let's have some fun. Yeah, and
I usually feel like I won't get fired and unscandaled
a couple of times it was like Shonda and Betsy
need to talk.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
To you about and were you, like really scared?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
The first time I finished filming a scene and Ad
came to me and said, hey, don't change out of
your wardrobe. You need to go straight to Shandan Betsy's office,
I was like really, And I said what about? And
She's like, I don't know. They didn't say, and I was,
as I was walking there, was thinking, can't be getting.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
A raise, can't be good.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
It seems unlikely that this is good news. And when
I got up there, it wasn't good news. Jimmy Kimmel,
who was a prankster himself, had sent me all these
codes that allow you to send a text or an
email as if it's from a specific person's phone. And
I remember writing back to Jimmy like, this is great.
Do you think it would be a bad idea to
(22:55):
write emails from Shonda Rhymes to people? And he said no,
I think that would be a great idea, but I
would wait until Scared handles off.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
The air.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Right now. No.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I was like, it's April Fool's Day, Like, how can
I not do this? And I just wrote an email
to Tom Verica, our executive directing producer, and I wrote
him an email from Shanda that just said not cool.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Tom lost his ship.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Well, as it turns out, he was in the middle
of renegotiating his contract. This is just bad timing renegotiating.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Josh, are you fucking kidding me?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah? I figured he'd see it. He knows it's a prifool,
so probably call me and be like, dude, did you
do this? Or he'll call Shana the laugh. But weeks
past and I was like, maybe it didn't even go through,
like they should worry about. Then I got this thing
like go see them in their office and I sat
down and they started saying like Tom Verica got in
an email. I was like, oh, not cool, Tom, Yeah
I did that, and they were like, don't impersonate me.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I how did they even find out that it was you?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
They didn't. I think they just went through there.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
They were like it's gotta be Josh.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Apparently there was a whole like Disney ABC investigations. I
think they like I don't think they forensically traced it
to me. I think just someone said, like, who's the asshole,
who's most likely to have done this?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I remember vague things after this came out that they
were like, holy shit, Shanda thought she had been hacked.
They had hired like people to look through the server
and make sure that no one else was emailing.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
On The hack was definitely escalated into something I didn't anticipate,
as pranks sometimes do, and that was a bummer. And
then the second time, which was really bad, was when Portiuderossity,
whom I love and played my love interest on and off.
She was leaving, she was filming her final day, and
(24:46):
so I took I can't even remember whether it was
a sunscreen or vasoline, and I put it under the
door handle on the driver's side of her crazy expensive
car in the parking spot next to mine. Every day
I'd be like, oh a Lamborghini.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Oh wow, unbelievable, Look this is my love language.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I wouldn't do it to somebody I didn't like, but
I expected to hear from Portia like that night or
the next morning, like you got me and blah blah blah,
never heard anything again. Weeks past. Again, I finished filming
a scene and somebody was like, you have to go
straight to there. I'm like, no, not this again. And
I remember I went up there and uh, I was
(25:26):
nervously eating candy from the little candy jar waiting in
the ante room to I guess Shanda's thing. And she
walked past me and the first time ever, she gave
me a death stare. And I was like, oh my god,
this is really bad, like because usually I can see
she like kind of even though I'm a rasped me,
(25:48):
but this was dead. This was a thousand yards stare.
Like I just I ran cold. I mean, I'm sweating
at she's just telling the story. And I went in
and I think I said, what is it this time?
Like trying to break the ice and they were not
having it. They were not laughing, and I think I
then said, please tell me this isn't about portion car
(26:09):
door handle, and they were like, yeah, as a matter
of fact, that is what it's about. And again bad
timing didn't occur to me the final scene she was
filming spoiler alert Can I give a spoiler? Maybe not? Okay,
I believe she died by being beaten to death with
a golf club. Oh yeah, so she was leaving the show.
(26:30):
I'm sure that had some emotion in it. She had
filmed getting killed by golf club for seven hours, and
at three in the morning, she went to her car
and she got a handful of acoline and she thought like, wow,
somebody hates me. And I was like, whoa, no, And
I remember saying to that You're absolutely right to be
upset about this. The last thing I wanted to do
was upset her. I've talked about doing this thing. I
(26:51):
thought she would know immediately. Here's what I can tell you.
I can tell you that I'm going to walk out
of this office. I'm going to text Portia and I
give you my word, it's not going to be long
before I come back with a text that's like, oh
my god, you got me. And they were like okay,
And I walked out and runs, I'm so sorry. I'm
the one who did the vaclay and you know I
(27:13):
love you, and literally she wrote back like, oh my god,
I love it. And I walked back and I was like,
does this get me off the hook? I showed them
my phone.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
God, damn, damn you, Josh.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
My god.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I remember Betsy saying essentially, we are accomplished women who
have more important things to do than field phone calls
from Ellen DeGeneres who's mad that her. Oh my god.
I was like, you know what, You're absolutely right. This
is a reflection on the fact that I am not accomplished.
(27:47):
I have nothing but free time to do these kinds
of things, and it really shouldn't spill over into your
busy days. I'm terribly sorry. I would like to continue
working here.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Please accept my Oh God, and Josh, because you are you,
you will always get off like I just think. I mean,
I just even if it's by this the skin of
your teeth, you will get off. And I don't know
why or how you've made it this far.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I mean that would scare me enough where I don't
think I'll skate that close to the edge ever again.
Because I was thinking if I have to call my
wife and go like I lost my job as scandal
and when she says why, I say, well, think to
kick out of this.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Would like the golf club.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
And she would have been riot, like, what's wrong with you?
Grow up? You're in your fifties.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Okay, next question, how the fuck did you? Okay, first
of all, I know you should all over. Well, you're
really interested all over like like being you know, being
an actor and like you know you're not actorly in that.
But it's really bullshit because I do think somewhere in your.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Heart you Oh, I do love it. I'm not. I
watched this episode and I was like, I'm always thinking,
I'm gonna think for the first time like that was
pretty good. Not watching, I was like, my voice is.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Terrible because no one else is thinking that. I guess, Josh,
you're so good.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I'm not trying to make you say.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
We've been saying it, Yo, We've taped how many episodes
already and we are constantly saying how great you are.
And this episode doesn't even it doesn't even show the
caliber of your work. That episode when you wake up
and there's a dead woman in your bed like you were,
that was brilliant in that episode, such great.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Work wrote you like amazing. I mean, whether or not
it's to your taste. They wrote for you sex scenes
and murder and fucking jury shit and like you're a
school teacher and you're afraid and you're like you got
to do a lot of Oh.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, absolutely. For the first few episodes, I thought I
was on a procedural. I was like, this is where
you basically give same performance in the same character for
seven years hopefully or eight years and nine years and
nothing changes. Then like whatever. A few episodes in, I
was like what I read the script, like, which's who.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Having sex in the shop?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah? I was just like, oh, this is insane. And
then a few more episodes later I'm like, oh my god,
I'm part of the insanity. There's still, by the way,
people who can't believe, like there's a woman who's been
tweeting the last couple of weeks like not another sex
scene with Josh Malina, like, Shanda, what are you doing
to me? I was like, if you think you were
surprised to be seeing me have sex in or if
you think how surprised I was to open a script
(30:32):
and be.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Like, I have it you and you and Abby. Abby
and David Rosen were like the first couple I feel
like on the show where we were like, oh my god,
these are two lead characters that were going to put
together like in a sexual scenario.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And you guys had such.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I was surprised.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
You guys.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Oh, you guys were really good, but you.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Were also like that that mean big brother who would
do shit to Darby, Like on set, I remember, we'd
be rehearsing You're Opa or wherever we had a scene
and she would be holding her sides. If she was
sitting on a chair that had wheels, you would grab
her and wheel her like fifty feet away.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
You did that to me all the time too, or.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
You would smack her sides, like, oh josh.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
There are definitely people listening now. We're laughing as if
it's great, and there are people listening now, are going
he isn't, but you're Shanda's always talking about her no
asshole policy. It's like, how did this guy?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I'm telling you, we've talked about this on this podcast.
You won't listen to it, so it doesn't matter. But
let me tell your face, no, we talk about how
fucking good you are. And my question is, I don't
understand how you're that good when you don't try and
I try so hard, And how do you memorize lines
in the makeup chair? Why does your brain work like that?
(31:47):
Like we just watched the episode where we're like you
sit and you have this amazing monologue where you're like, stab,
stab stab, Oh how I love to stab and it's
a whole monologue that's iron I remember that.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And Harrison like stop talking stuff talking, and you just
go on and on and on.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
But like, do you never prepare or the night before
look over stuff? What's your process?
Speaker 3 (32:09):
That's a good question, just becase Shanda listens to this,
I want to defend myself. I take it seriously to
on a certain level. I do try. I read a
script once to be like, let's see what the story is,
although if I'm probably honest, I read my scenes first.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I do that too, though I do that too.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Now that it's all delivered electronto being you can just
search Rosen, I'm like, okay, that's all my stuff. Now
let's figure out what's going on. And then when it
was scandal, I would always send the script to my
dad and then I'd be like, so explain to me
what's going on.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Oh my god, I should have done that. Me and
Katie should have done that. Send it to your dad,
because sometimes we'd be like, what's happening.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Yeah, I was like my dad and my mom are
like my biggest supporters, and they always watched it and
they kept track of it. I'm actually at their house
right now, and I would often say to my dad,
so like talk me through like plot wise, I don't
know why am I in court? And I'm defend what
you remember in season three and you killed that?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And then so they watch everything you ever do, like
backwards and force, just because they love you and they're
so proud of you.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Pretty much. Yes, that's true. They're very, very supportive Jewish parents.
So I do have a very good memory for dialogue.
I don't know what I have for lunch yesterday, but
I can remember dialogue very quickly.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Has that changed since COVID or in Age?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
No? I don't think so. Now and now I'm doing plays,
I realized how much I had trained myself to learn
dialogue quickly and forget it quickly. Like if I did
shot this dialogue on Monday, I knew it cold, but
on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Do you have like the Guara had that too, like
an amazing short term memory. You can plug it in
and then the next day it's talking gone.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
The minute we walk off set, when that scene is done,
it's out of my brain, like it's gone, and Katie
would be like, let's try to do that scene we
did like last month, and I was like, Katie, what
are you talking about? I can't even remember when we're kidding.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
I would do it for fun. I memorize long haul, though,
like I'm such a theater bitch. But okay, if you
had a big monologue on scandal, would you learn it
the night before or always in the makeup chair, like
what were you doing?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I would definitely familiarize myself with it the night before,
feeling that and not just out of laziness, but like
some some smart person once said to me, like, you
want to learn your stuff for TV, but just shy
of knowing it cold, so that it'll appear like you're
finding it a little bit, like you'll seem like a
human being. Yeah, it doesn't sound like they'd memorize something,
(34:32):
so I got I'm very good at finding the line
where like I got it pretty much. I'm gonna sleep
on it and to wake up and in the makeup chair,
I'm gonna nail it down and I'll probably run it
with the other person who also in the makeup chair.
But I do remember one awkward day where we were
all looking at our sides and I said something like,
you know, guys, reminder, who's Christine? And everybody just slowly
looked them in. They're like, are you kidding? Like the
(34:54):
whole season is about this character. I don't know. I
just remember being really embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
I was like, oh, you were being so you were
like really no, I really don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
I was like, I don't understand the scene why we
also obsessed with the cuisine or whatever it was. And
they were just like, what is wrong with you? I
was embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Wait do you ever think about like what do I
want in the scene or what's my moment before or anything?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
No?
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Right, Like you just I just think you have that
same actor chip in your brain. Like it's like you're
really good at text obviously between Sorkin and this show,
like text is not an issue for you, and you're
I'm telling you, Josh, your work in these two seasons.
I'm so jealous because I know you're not right like
my action or my objective or my like you know,
(35:37):
thinking about beats or shifts. You know, you're just there.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, I feel like I have a good instinct for it.
But the truth is what usually when I watch my work.
I'm like, you were fine. I'm not. I'm not usually
like us, like I'm horribly insecure. But maybe if I
did some of those things you're saying, I'd be better
than that.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Maybe I know that's what makes you so good. That's
not part of your process.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Do you think that is? Like, I think there's some
effortlessness to something that's so difficult, you making it look
like it's so fucking easy. This is for ladies and gentlemen.
Josh Milina is about to be starring back on Broadway.
He's been on Broadway before. If you can catch him,
you should. In Leopoltstad, written by the one and only
(36:24):
fucking Tom Stoppard, I already have my tickets. I'm going
June tenth with eight family members.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Katie, I want to go, come.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
With me June eighth. I'm going to see any gladiators listening.
Do come June eighth. I will be at Leopoltstad's screaming
and probably crying. It's that script is remarkable.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
It's amazing he's write and I was seventeen, almost eighteen,
and my dad's best friend was and still is Manny Aisenberg.
This famous amazing producer who produced Tom Stoppbards is the
real thing on Broadway. So I got invited to Opening Night,
and as a seventeen year old, I was assuming that
I was just like the writing, like my mind, his
writing is unreal. And now literally forty years later, yes,
(37:05):
I can't believe him.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
See, this is why people keep you around.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Really quickly. Since we're talking about some pass work, I'm
gonna rattle off some of Josh's credits. Give it because
I live it this up and I was like, oh
my god, Like, there's so much and so much epic
projects that he's done. A few good men, the American President,
Tracy takes on clock Watchers with my buddy Parker Posey,
the Larry Sanders Show, Sports Night, The West Wing, Stargate,
(37:30):
Grey's Anatomy, I Carly and my favorite Big Bank theory
of course. But I'm also like a huge horror film fan.
And you haven't been in a harror film, but you
were in a thriller called Malice that Aaron Sorkin I
also wrote.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Correct, Yes, but I was in one horror movie comedy
called The Knights of Badass. Oh, and I think Steve
Zahn was in it. Peter Dinklice. It was comedy horror
about a bunch of Larper's live action role players.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I'm gonna watch it.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Tonight and I'm coming over and I'm getting stoned and
I'm watching it with you.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yes, it was low budget to begin with, and then
they didn't get the full effects. But there's I know
the director is not happy with how it turned out,
and I spoiler alert, have my jaw ripped off as
I'm being pilated by a wood d well.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Listen. I went out Amazon Prime and I bought Malice
because I wanted to watch it. When I looked up
your credit, Josh plays this really cute like resident doctor
or nurse who comes out and speaks to Bill Pullman.
But it's a really fun like old school like eighties
thriller movie.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Well the funny. Patrick Marber, the director, when he was
talking to me about potentially doing the role, said, and
you know, it takes place in Vienna, but we've toyed
with doing Viennie as or German and we didn't do that.
And it opened in London, so you know, he said,
you don't have to sound British, but you can't sound America?
Can I do in Mexican like everyone is sounding.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So you're not even doing like heightened American, like like
the Gilded Age or something.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
No, it's pretty fifty years ago. You couldn't get a
foot in, you couldn't travel with a.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
That's really good, Josh, it's really good.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
We will be back with more after the break now
that I'm trying to jog my memory about like David
Rosen's journey. Okay, so you auditioned for the role. Yes,
Shanda was into you. You went, got called to the
principal's office a few times. You had love interests with
(39:36):
Abby Portia and were you also with Artemis.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Yes, Artemists is lovely a Susan.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Oh and Zoey Perry.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
And Zoe Perry and off camera didn't came. But dirty,
dirty Susie whatever her name is, Susie with.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
The we didn't. When we have Shaanda back on, got
to ask her like, I don't think there's a single
character on our show that went through that many lives,
Like what's that about?
Speaker 3 (40:09):
For sure? That is just Seana going. I can do
anything on television. I can take the least attractive oldest
member of my past and have him have more sense
than I'm telling you. That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
You were successfully pranked by us and the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Remember in this episode.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yes, Kimmel is in an episode two one, that's right,
and he's interviewing the Congressman Jacob Shaw, who's the case
of the Wei And we love Kimmel, but he approached us,
like by the end of Scandal, they were like, we
want to get Josh, and they spent so much money
on this prank.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Like, well, first of all, I had had an idea
and I remember pitching our pr people like Bachelor has
all these watch parties, and the Bachelor people show up,
you're surprised and they love it, like everybody's having their
wine and popcorn Scandal watching part parties. Why don't we
like surprise a few people and like maybe it's a
nice way to go out with the final season. And
they did it through Good Morning America and Tony was
(41:08):
the first and this was all part of the parts. Yeah.
Then they were like, Josh, you have to do one
of these. And I actually really didn't watch, like I
don't want to do it.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
But it really speaks to your heart, which is as
much as Josh, Willie is a prankster, smartest person in
the room, keeps his life interesting by like really pushing
boundaries with people. But Josh, you with fans is ridiculous,
Like you give them all the time in the world.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
You're nice to say. I mean, I you're very nice
to say that, and I know it comes from like
I can't believe anybody's having to see me, so I'm
like got to keep your fans happy, like so you're
keep in business, and like also just appreciation for people
who are appreciating you, Like Scandal fans are the best I
did enjoy.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
So the prank was about them asking you to show
at the end of this run. You know, they asked
me and Josh to come to a Scandal Rocks watch
party and they we knew they would be watching Scandal
and we would walk in and it was up to
me to convince Josh that he should use a confetti
blower thing. And when we come in, oh god, one
of those guns a Convetti cannon.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
I remember, we go in there watching Scandal, can see
and we pop in with our with our cameras. Boom,
I pulled the competitia and like everyone's laughing and having fun.
And then I see the mom in her chair like
it seemed really startled by the confetti cannon.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Clutching her chest hard.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
For this and she's actually clutching her chest, and I'm
starting to think, like, oh that was this is bad.
We really we really scared this woman. Then I'm like, oh, no,
she's an Actually she's in medical discomfort. And I will
admit I was nice enough to like I definitely went
over and I think I held her hand and I
was trying to calm it down. The one thing I
did is also cover my ass because I'm thinking that
(42:48):
if she died, did I kill her? Is this like
second agreement in voluntary man slater? And you can see
me in the actual video of the press only.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Being quiet because I.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Can't no I'm saying, and I say to her something
like they handed me the thing or it wasn't my
I'm not going down, like I'm trying to lay down
my legal case for when And then next thing I know,
I hear I hear a siren like an ambulance has
(43:19):
been called, and I'm like, oh my god, this is
actually happening, and the paramedics burst through with the cot
but one of the paramedics is Jimmy Kimmel, and my
mind is like what's going on? And I'm like, wow,
you got me so bad. They throw me into this stretcher.
I'm deeply embarrassed, but also husually really that I didn't
kill this woman. And they wheel me outside, and unbeknownst
(43:41):
to me, they were concerned that I would not fall
for it, and they wanted to backup freaking prank. So
there's a fire engine in the driveway and I get
sit up and they blast me with those from.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Like what oh, yeah, they blasted him with a fire
hole the old lady actress. I had been there all
day rehearsing for like three hours, like different ways the
scene could go. I have never done a prank in
my entire life. I am so wildly uncomfortable with making
people upset or feel bad or like pranking to me
(44:17):
is like I'm.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
One of those people that gives it up right away.
I'm like, I'm just kidding, this is we're just joking.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
So then I remember the garage door slowly opening and
there's like video village is in there, and we all
have earbuds in like all the actors in a scene
the older woman who pretend to have a heart attack me,
we had earbuds in case. The director was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
Never even thought about that.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Oh, it was insane. They spent like a billion dollars.
It was insane. And also I remember before we did
it are publicist. I think it was Chris Anderson at
the time calling me and saying, do you know if
Josh has ever had a heart attack or if someone
recently that he loves has had a heart attack, Because
we want to do this, but we also like, I
don't want it to go horribly awry in case it
(45:03):
like God, we don't know, like maybe his aunt or
someone just had a heart attack and he's just gonna
be that's actually very still unwell.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
And I remember thinking afterwards I wish I had been
on to what they were doing. If I had figured
it out, I could have then pretended myself to have
a heart attack and see if I could flip.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Survived it. I would not have.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
The best Oh.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Ever, but unfortunately it turns out that the fact that
you do practical jokes and pranks for thirty years doesn't
mean that you're any less galible than anybody else. Because
I felt for it completely. I remember actually texting Kimmel
when I was going to bed that night and I
was like, well done, and he rubbed back me like
was that real? Did you really fall for that? Like
he actually almost couldn't leave it. I was like, dude,
(45:48):
that was one hundred percent, But how.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Could you not? That wasn't just like a run of
the mill fucking thing. I mean that was like actors
who would.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Rehearse if we were doing the drop in for Kimmel's
you would have known America. My mind was prank, but
I don't think good morning America. Nothing occurred.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
I lovely you have Kimmel's phone number. Fucking Katie has
Seanda Rhyme's phone.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Number, Kim's phone number, his number? Wait really quickly about
this episode? What was the parts you watched last night
that you thought you were uh yeah.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
In the courtroom. I have memories of shooting this episode
because it was a lot of me, and it was
a lot of a lot of people sitting well, I
strut around doing things, and part of it was literally vocally,
I was like, I don't sound like you want to
you know when you're like and isn't it true you
want to be one of those you say, what the hell?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
You keep saying what the hell when they let Quinn
in this episode to jog all of your listener's memory.
This is the episode where who was Quinn Perkins? Who
was Quinn Perkins? But wait, okay, so you thought your
acting was bad? You say what the hell a lot?
What did you feel like when you read this script?
Not about this episode where Darby to put her hand
in your mouth or you're something like that.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
I felt very similarly to the way I felt when
I finally watched it. I was like, I don't know
what's going on? Is this supposed to be sexy? Is
this some sort of BDSM? Is this horrible hot? I
read it, we shot it, I watched it, and I
still never figured out what it was.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Josh, I can't okay, wait wait wait wait, there's more.
There's more, this more, okay. This is the first episode
that marked both bellmy Young and Josh Molina a series regulars.
You guys went to Yale, but not at the same time.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
She is younger than I, so she she knew who
I was.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
She did not?
Speaker 3 (47:40):
She did no, I think, because I think we were
actually maybe in guys and dollars together. The idea that
she may have had a smaller role or been in
the ensemble and I had to lead. It's funny because
I can't sing and she has a beautiful voice.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Did you do a ton of plays in college? Josh,
I did.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Yeah, I'm an undergraduate theater Saudi's major. Every now and
then people think like, oh, you went to Yale drama school.
I'm like, no, I went to the other one and
was a drama mate. I went to the not because
they just drama school, but I knew I wanted to
be an acro already, and my parents were like, for
the love of God, get a college degree.
Speaker 2 (48:12):
Also, what it was your degree in intert It's.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Not like it didn't help me at all with acting
and wouldn't have helped me in anything else.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Do you remember what the first play was that you did?
Speaker 3 (48:23):
There, I do? I did. Christopher Durang's sister, Mary Ignatius
explains it all.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
Do you have any memories from the first two seasons
that stick out? Do you have any memories from the pilot?
Speaker 3 (48:35):
I remember shooting those scenes at the door with Kerry
and seen in a bar with Kerry. Most of my
stuff was with Kerry, and I just remember liking her
a lot, like like I just remember vibing like she's
cool first of all, Like whenever the number one person
on the call tot is cool, it's like, yeah, this
is a very good sign.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
Did you feel like at the end of season one,
like we're definitely going to get a season too. Did
you feel like it would have was going to be
one hundred and twenty four episode's show.
Speaker 3 (49:05):
I just remember early on thinking it was a procedural approach,
and procedurals, if they hit.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
They last a long time.
Speaker 3 (49:11):
Yeah, they last a long time, and they're they they're
worth a lot in syndication because you can play them
in any order and it doesn't matter, and people can
pop in and watch a rerun or whatever. And then
once it started turning into this insane show that was
burning through plot, I was like, oh my god, this
episode has as much plot as a full season of
another show Like this cannot sustain. So I started getting nervous.
(49:32):
Even as the show is getting better and more interesting
and crazy and it was fun, I was like, this
is gonna this might be a death sentence.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
We'd already shot the president by like the thirteenth episode
in and it's like, what the fuck are we gonna do?
Speaker 3 (49:43):
No, exactly, I underestimated the fiendish creative mind of Shanda
Rhimes and her writers because like they never had any
problem coming up with seven plots per episode that were
completely insane and like, oh, they can keep this running
as long as they want, like this is why I'm
not a writer and they But then I also remember
when it was like taking off on Twitter and I
(50:04):
was like again literally like butterflies in my stomach, like
I think this may be turning into a thing, like
everybody's talking about it and people are stopping me in
the street, Like it really was a fun ride with
an incredible group of people, like to get one of
those in the careers, like more than you can hope for.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
I remember thinking, is this gonna be like a Grays
and Atomy situation? Like are we gonna go for like twelve
thirteen seasons? And then you know, obviously Shanda knew there
was a beginning of the middle and an end to
the to the show, and she let us know that
it was ending. But I think we were all so bummed,
right because the network wanted us to keep going. I
was like, wait, what I know.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
I was definitely. I even remember as Shonda was telling
us in the conference call, like that she's ending it.
I was text neighbor and we're like, god.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah, you were texting me like oh yeah, like how
could you we have the white whale, we have the
fucking white hat. Yeah, You're the best. I'm so excited
to see you and leopoldstadd Yeah, this was.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
So much fun. I realized how much I miss you.
When I don't see you, I don't miss you at all.
But now that I'm seeing you, I really I was like, oh,
I do like them more than I realized. To our gladiators,
I haven't earned a dime since the show went off there,
but thank you for that brief window in my life
when I didn't have to worry about money for like
five years. It's awesome. It's all because of you, guys.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Josh, you are the best.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
We love you.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
Love you, guys.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Tell George we love him and we'll be bugging him asap.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
I'll tell him he's not on the show.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
Tweeted, tweety tweeted, lidd tweet tweet, tweet, tweet tweet tweet.
Oh my god, people were fucking pumped from these tweets
because this was the fucking season two premiere at ABC.
Scandal fans tweeted so ready for at Scandal babyc premiere
hashtag one minute, don't hate hashtag ask Scandal.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
And Lisa Belenoir tweeted homemade coconut shrimp hashtag I'm fancy
retweet call me Dalla what y'all bring into the Scandal
watch party? So she made some coconut shrimp and brought
it to a Scandal watch party.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
A Yem at Everybody Loves DJ wrote, I'm ready to
find out who the hell Quinn is tonight hashtag scandal.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Ug real y'all two underscore Tall says what the fuck
is Quinn Perkins? Hashtag scandal, hashtag gladiators and suits.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
Everyone's talking about Quinn at Chrissy B. Davis wrote, I
had so many thoughts as to who Quinn could be.
We'll be happy to finally find out tonight hashtag scandal.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
I like that, And then Aaron at Aaron J. Cruz tweeted,
who of the Scandal cast is the most like the
character they play? Hashtag asked scandal. That's when we were
doing that hashtag ask scandal and then we would, you know,
answer as many questions as we could.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yes, we did hashtag as Scandal forever.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Who do you think is most like the character that
they play? Fucking I think Carrie Washington as Olivia.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
I think so too in some ways. In some ways
she's Olivia is not goofy, right, and Carrie's got a
lot of Olivia popiner. I think I and Quinn have
a lot of starting. I think Josh Molina and David
Rosen have some stuff.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Everybody has a little bit of you don't characters? I mean,
you know, in the in the being quiet and sometimes
wanting to be alone. I could see that being you know,
similar to myself and talk.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Yeah, but how can you literally make your voice and
the mask of your face different?
Speaker 1 (53:37):
Oh yeah, Like you do.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Things as your face is gear mode that you don't
do on your face as huck.
Speaker 1 (53:43):
That's so true. That's so true.
Speaker 2 (53:45):
Like you have a mask that actually like changes, which
is fucking amazing to behold. The next episode is called
Grant for the People.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
The People.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
I don't remember what the fuck happens. I have no idea,
but y'all are going to want to listen and stay
tuned because you know it's going to be a good time.
Speaker 1 (54:02):
We gotta go watch it now so we're ready for
the next episode of this podcast.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Any Gladiators that don't think Josh Willene is hot enough
to have a sex scene leave him alone.
Speaker 1 (54:10):
He's so hot, I think. I think Josh super se
I do too.
Speaker 2 (54:15):
Also, I'm so jealous that he's going to have lunch
right now with George Newburn of The Century City.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
Mall, we should go crash that ship right now.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
He invited us. Did you get that text?
Speaker 1 (54:26):
No, I haven't even looked at my phone because we're
doing a podcast.
Speaker 2 (54:29):
He texted us yesterday saying, Yo, I'm not sure what
time you guys stop recording, but I'm going to have
lunch with George Newburn if you both like to come.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
Oh I didn't get that.
Speaker 2 (54:38):
But whatever, we didn't want to go anyway.
Speaker 4 (54:39):
That shit is yeah, yeah, but yo, Josh is so
freaking smart and talented and fun to talk to, Like
we could have done this for like three more hours.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
I know, he's so much fun. I love all.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
He's the best, and he really was an important energy
on Skin.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
He really was important. He has so many great episodes
where his work is superstellar, so we're definitely going to
have him back.
Speaker 2 (55:05):
Yes. Absolutely. I love you all so much. Thank you
for listening.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Thank you everyone, Thank you guys for joining us on
Unpacking the Toolbox. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe,
share with your friends, rate, or leave us a review.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
Scandal is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, alex Alce, Lauren Homan,
Tyler Klang, and Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is
Vince de Johnny, with music by Chad Fisher.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
Scandal is a production of ABC Signature, and you can
follow along by rewatching Scandal on Hulu.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit
the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.
Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
partnership with Iheartradios.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Katie, Do you like how unattractive I am? Like, I'm
a real chameleon?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Are you kidding me? Shut the fuck up? No?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
No, Like me without makeup is impressive, and me with
makeup is I'm a fucking dream.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Look what do you want? Yo? How was the audition?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It was my first time ever using a teleprompter?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Have you?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh really? Oh yeah, I've used teleprompters, but not for
scripted stuff, only for like hosts, the type things.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, when i get like eight pages of monologues, now,
I'm like, oh, guys, especially if it's like dea crap.
Speaking of dea and lawyerly speak, we have the fucking
most mischievous guest today coming on, and he's the best
lawyer speak motherfucker actor I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh yeah, can you believe.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
This motherfucker at how easy? I hate him? I know,
I know, And I'm drilling like legal talk and making
it feel like it just like comes off the time.
And also it takes me days to prep that, and
this shit came in like yesterday.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, it takes me days because I need to be confident,
Like I want to feel confident. But this motherfucker, I
mean you've said this before. God, he'll look at that
shit in the makeup trader and be like and then get.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
An inn and it's easy. And he's not even shaken.
He can't be shook.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, because he could give a shit too. He's like,
I don't care, I don't care. I just want the cake.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Great, I mean, this is his middle name should be.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I just want the paycheck.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Had you ever had auditions where you have to like
pick up sides or a script, oh my capos or
some o the time?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Are you kidding? All the time?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Really?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
When I first moved to La I would have to
drive to my agency and there would be a basket
in the lobby if it was after hours, and they
would leave your script in a Manila envelope with your
name on it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Oh yeah, I remember that. At the time of this recording,
I would just also like to say, this is the
seventeenth year to the day anniversary when I moved to Las.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
What.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Oh, that's a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
It's a long time, Like I can't even believe it.
But I always remember getting off at lax, being like,
what did I just do to blow out my life
like this? Renting a beatter piece of shit sucked up car,
and I got on the four h five and the
ten scariest drive of my entire life. And I had
(02:58):
a Thomas guy to get around.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Some big ass nerd created the Thomas Guide. I was like,
don't even come at me with this thick book of
fucking coordinates, Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So I used to try to get around auditions.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Oh hell no.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I'm a geographic dumb dumb. I'm a bad driver, like
very bad, which reminds me. Also, you and I, You
and I are cut, we have the same We shot
the pilot and it's raining and you're in a you're
so hot, you're in a leather jacket and you're in
a jeep wrangler that has no top.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Oh my god. Remember, And you're.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Like, can I follow you to get on the one
oh one? And I kept saying like yeah, yeah, yeah,
I got it, I got it, I got it. And
I see you in my rearview mirror like following me,
and I don't know where I'm going, and I just
remember I keep pulling Uie's and you're pulling Uie's and
it's straining as shit.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, I was like, it would be worse if it
was just me, a girl. I was impressed at all.
I was like, do you think take your time now?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
There are a few controversial players that we have had
on the podcast that we're going to have on the podcast.
Controversial players. This one is a controversial player because he
is a polarizing motherfucker.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
This is the number one fucking polarizing.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Like you either are on board with his antics or
you are afraid, which makes you mad at him.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, I fucking Teeter Tod. I'm back and forth like
I love him and I laugh and I enjoy it,
and then I'm like, I cannot believe you freaking did that.
I'm so pissed at him, Like I go back and forth.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
He's kind of scared of you.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I could feel that too, because I'll go off on
a motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
See, he never fucked with you, no yah, And I
feel like it's because he was always a little bit like, oh,
you don't do that to Garmo, Like you don't there,
he didn't do to you what he's done did to me,
or because I'm such a fucking easy target. But here's
the thing, he's the most talented dude without trying, which
is so frustrating. Yeah, like Josh Molina is the smartest person.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
In the room.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh yeah, but also a quick win and a quick
intelligence like I people ask me a question and I
have to be like, give me twenty minutes to go
try to understand the question and think of what I'm
gonna say.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Sometimes, guys, we would do cold reads of our scripts,
and I would be fucking mortified that they would find
out in a cold read, like how exactly dumb I am?
And like I wouldn't know how to pronounce a word,
or there might be like a turn of phrase or
something that was like a colloquialism. Same, like quickly look
at Quinn's lines to make sure there wasn't something that
would out how like unintelligent I was. Because there were
(05:35):
so many fucking smart people in our cast, Like do
you know that Bellamy Young and Josh Williana went to Yale.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Fucking Yale dude like Yuryo.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Kidding and Shanda went to Dartmouth. Half the writers or
more were like journalists perfect like unorbelievable talenty Harry went
to gw g's right. Obviously, she's a political animal and
just ridiculously smart.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Where'd you go, Katie.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I went to schoolcident. Oh, you gotta be smart
to get in there.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, listen, it's not easy to get into.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, you have to have done well. But it has
nothing to do with smarts. For me, I just was
good at school, and if I wasn't going to get
a great grade, I knew how to do extra time
in the teacher's room to make them like me and
give me an a like. I was working that shit
ya from Jump. But guys, we have teased one of
the most controversial and polarizing guests to have ever been
(06:32):
on the skin of Rewatch podcast and on Scandal. I
love him. I think he's so amazing. And we are
talking about episode two oh one called White Hats Off,
which aired on September twenty seventh of twenty twelve, and it.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Was written by Jenna Bands and directed by our very
own we love him so much, Tom Verica.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Whoa, whoa, We love you, Tom Verica. It was guest
starring Wendy Davis Is, Kimberly, Mitchell Reese Rios as Reporter
Number one did Nora Wilcott is reporter number two, Erica
Schaeffer's TV newscaster, j Jackson as local newscaster.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
And then we have Jimmy Kimmel as himself, Jackson Hurst
as Congressman Jacob Shaw, Gillian Armanante as Moira, O'Donnell Maro
Sodan as doctor Brown. And I wanted to add Shelley
Morrison as the judge who played Rosario in Will and Grace.
I mean, come on, she was the job.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Come on.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
This is the synopsis. This was our first episode back.
I mean, after we shot the first seven episodes of
the first season, we didn't know for sure if we
were going to get a second season, right, we didn't know.
Six months after Quin's arrest, Olivia and the OPA team
are confident they'll win her case, as David Rosen's evidence
is mostly just Quinn's motive, her cheating ex boyfriend, and
the fact that she fled.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
The OPA team helps a congressman navigate a sex tape scandal.
Is Quinn's case begins to crumble around her, but Olivia
refuses to let Quinn be.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Found guilty, probably because she and Huck were the ones
actually behind Quinn's new identity. I remember literally spending all
summer with people asking me if I knew who Quinn
Perkins was, and I was.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Like, uh no, because because at the cliffhanger at the
end of season one is Olivia telling Quinn, do you
want to tell them who you are? Or you want
me to tell them? Right?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Do you want to tell them who you really are?
Should I?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Or should I? Yeah? So people held on too that
for how long before we came back?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well, this aired September twenty seventh, in twenty twelve, and
I think our last Scandal episode was like May. So
it was like this summer that I got married.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Oh oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I have this memory of two hundred and fifteen people
going like, so, who.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Are who is it? Who are you?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Who is Quinn? Who is Quinn? And I'm like, I
don't know, I don't know. Yeah, I hope I have
a job. I hope ahead a job.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And probably the writers didn't fully know exactly which direction
they we're going to go either, I would think, right,
I mean think they.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Knew it, Yeah, I don't think they knew it all.
Every episode with Hollis Doyle until this point, he is
seen eating or mentioning gettysburger.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Mmm, gettysburger. How good does a burger sound right now? Fuck?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I would rush a burger right now.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Like ugh, I was watching Anthony Bourdain, uh last night,
and he's eating a cheeseburger at just like a you know,
one of those like stands outside he was in, like
I don't know, he was like in Jamaica or somewhere,
but it was just a greasy cheeseburger and it looks
so fucking good.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I mean, come on, oh god, I love it. There
are three fucking continuity errors in this episode. Photos of
a Lane show that she's blonde, but in truth or Consequences,
the actors playing a Lane is a brunette.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
A brunette.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Oh this is the best. Yeah, Jesse Tyler is not
Adam Shapiro at this time. It's some other dude that
they took photos of and they whoopsie doodle.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, they didn't know Adam was gonna play play the role.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
No.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
After Olivia and David leave the court, the next scene
shows the Monument of Iwojima with the State House in
Washington monument in the background, But the EU Gema monument
is not in DC. It's in Arlington.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
That's messed up advertising.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That's that's that's that continuity that didn't happen. Were there
any winning scenes from this episode?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And you're in it. The scene where you end up
firing Olivia and she comes to see you in jail, right,
and your other attorney that you hire is there, and
Olivia's like, give me a moment, please, and You're like, fine,
give us a moment and you're their face off, you know,
you and Olivia going add it and you stand up
and we see Quinn's fury, like, come out. You were
(10:39):
so good. You were a fucking powerhouse.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And that's oh god, I thought I was horrible.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
No, I was gonna ask you, have you ever flipped
out like that? You've done that? Right? Yeah? Well that
scene where you flip out on Olivia. Man, I fucking
loved it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I was like, hell yeah, I really think. I really
think all of Josh's room scenes are fucking unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Oh so good. That courtroom stuff is really really fun,
fun to watch. And and again we mentioned to do
and hard to do, and can we say how much
I love how much we love a Gillian Armanante who
played your defense attorney. Oh she's so great in this episode.
And I looked her up too, and she she had
been in two epic movies. One was a Dog Fight
(11:24):
with Lily Taylor. If you've ever seen that film, it
no great movie.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I see nothing. I watched nothing, I do nothing.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And then she was in Girl Interrupted with Winona Ryder.
Oh I thought was interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Abby is into watching the sex tape herself. I wrote,
there's the your ornamental not instrumental, yes, which is a
big winning line from since that's amazing. You are ornamental,
not your ornamental not instrumental.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Oh so good.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Oh my god, it's Olivia. It's so slow and they
say hello and hi.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I love that this whole time. Huck and Olivia have
the best poker face. Oh, Like they're the ones that
speaking Quinn and moved her to a whole different state,
right yes, and changed her identity and they know this
throughout the whole episode. And those two have the best
like poker face, like they're not letting anything show.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
And not until the end of the episode do we
know that all of Quinn Perkins is hucked on Olivia.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And Huck is like, she took everything we gave her
we're good to go or something like that. Yo. It
made me also think like what would I have done
in that situation? Would I have been like fuck, yeah,
I'm gonna do this, or would I would have you know,
like flipped out and ran outside of the hotel crying, Like.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, I don't think I would have done it.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I don't think so either.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Like I feel like that's such a tell about Quinn
and who she is that she just was like, Okay,
I'll just be a new person.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
One of them many reasons we're bringing Josh Malina into
this episode is because he's about to embark on the
craziest season two, like so insane. But also this is
the first episode where Josh Molina and Bellamy young our
series regular.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
That's right. I can't believe that they weren't always regulars either,
because they're both.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So good, so present, their storylines are so important to
season one.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
They were just guest stars.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Germo in a sliding doors. Josh or Bellamy could have
booked something or been offered something.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Oh for sure, and we would have had some a
different first lady in a different rosen.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Yeah, and they would have been unavailable, like when you're
a recurring guest star. There's nothing in the thing that
says that you're loyal to that one show.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, yeah, we'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Oh my god, Wait the most the one whoa facial.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
There, I know why I did too.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Ah, you handsome. We were saying that you might be
the most controversial Scandal guests.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
As far as controversial, I think I am the closest
to having gotten fired without actually getting fired.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
I got called to uncomfortable meetings a couple of times
because of pranks.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I believe it. I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I also told Giermo before you came on, I was like,
I think there's very few people that that Josh was
actually afraid of on Scandal, like fucking with them too much.
And it was like Shanda, Betsy and Geirmo. I was like,
they're the only thing people Josh fucked with but for
some reason actually respected some sort of line.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I'm going based in fear. I think that's true. Well,
I'm only scared of Germo because I watched the show. Personally,
he's a pussy cat. But I made a mistake of
watching a few episodes of Scandal, and I was like,
I gotta watch it.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
For that guy, and you were like, this motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You know, he's fucking scary. He's fucking scary. Wait, Josh,
so the West Wing podcast, when did you start it
and when did you end it?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
March twenty sixteen, and then I believe the final wrap
up episode was on my birthday January seventeenth, twenty twenty,
so it was about four years. Just shy of four years.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Holy oh wow.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
We did a live show at the Ace Theater.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Oh the Ace. That's huge. Oh nice, The Ace Theater
is fucking massive.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yeah. Fun fact about season one of Scandal, uh huh.
I was a guest star in all seven episodes of
season one, and I remember Kerry One saying to me, so,
I'm in every episode of season one and you're in
every episode of season one. But I'm a series regular
and you, Josh, are guest star. What does that mean?
I said? You know how, at the end of the week,
(15:52):
you get a lot of money. At the end of
the week, I get very little money. And that's what
the difference is.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Isn't that always a bitch? I've been in the positions
and then you always feel bad and your agents are
always like you either got to walk away or you know,
just accept it and keep doing the job.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Oh, by the way, that happens now more than ever.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Usually I would just stay and keep doing the job
for no money, because you don't want to lose a job.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah. No, I wanted to work for Shanda Rhimes. I
had done episodes of before her, I'm Practice and Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
You did you did a graze?
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Yeah? Oh yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Were you adorable? Wait? What did you play on Grays?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I was young. On Gray's. I was Leslie Grossman's husband
and she needed a equal transplant and I had great
lines like no poop, no poop for you.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You came onto the right podcast, Josh, because we talk
about poop a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
We talked about shitting like nobody business. But wait, Josh,
two things.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
One.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
We wanted to have you on this episode two oh
one because congratulations, this is when you became a series regular.
So now you can continue your story.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Of why yes, the first.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Seven were you a little bit? And then the first
episode of season two, why did it change? And my
other story I want to say really quickly is that
when we shot the pilot, you walked onto the set
and it is the only time I think I've told
you this and your head's about to get big. It's
the only time in seven seasons that I saw Shonda
Rhymes get starstruck.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
She loves you so much.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Josh Melena walked on and she was like, Oh my god,
I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out. I was like, I'm
kind of freaking out too, but she was like, I'm
totally freaking out, Like I love Josh Milena.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
She was a big West Wing fan, right age West
Wing fan. Yeah, and really quickly you played Seth Hammer
on Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
There it is. That's right, Seth Hammer. It was Hammertown
for a week.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Why did you become a regular? How did this happen?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, here's what happened. I had been offered episodes of
Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy because in fact, I think
Shanda's a big West Wing fan and she couldn't have
been nice to me when I worked on that. My
agents called said, Shonda Rhymes has a pilot. I'm like, well,
doesn't she just want to give it to me? She
keeps offering me episode And the answer was no, she
doesn't just want to give it to you, she wants
you to audition. And then I went in and I remember,
(17:59):
very awkward, this is really weird. You know, there's like
usually a chair for the actor, but there was just
an open space. And then there was a chair like
next against the wall, and I went and I just
kind of sat in it next to the wall. And
then I was like, well, this can't be right, and
they were like, no, no, that's a weird instinct funny
stand up and do the scenes. And I did them
(18:21):
and I felt like it went well, and Shonta Rhymes said, well,
that's all I need to see. Oh wow, which you
could take one of two ways. And I remember calling
my agents and going like either I've ruined my relationship
with Tonta Rhymes or I think maybe they're gonna give
it to me, like because she said that's all I
need to see.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Do you remember what the scenes were?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I remember one where like I talked about her spidy
senses something.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, So it scenes with o Libya. Maybe
when she knocks on your door and you have the
dartmouth sweater on and you're so cute and you're wearing
like a darkness sweatshirt.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Cute, You're very sweet. I think that's exactly what it was.
And then what they said was this, you got the pilot,
and I was like, I'm thrilled. And there's this amount
of money and I was like, wow, that's pretty good.
They said, wait, wait, wait, but you can choose how
many episodes you want to be in for the same
amount of money what In other words, what it came
out to was seven times minimum. So they're like, if
(19:10):
you want to be in the entire season, you just
have to work for minimum in every episode, or you
can take a real nice big check for one or
a pretty good check for two. And I was like, oh,
I want to I don't care. I want to be
in all of them.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Did you feel like you wanted to be in all
of them? Because then you were like, that's going to
make my character like you need needed.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Yeah. Yeah, it made it. It seem like the greatest
chance of becoming a regular. And in the end, we
actually made a contract where I signed up to do
all seven as a guest star, and there was already
in the contract that if they were to go to
a second season and if they wanted me, I would
be a regular.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So that was cute.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
So I was just desperately like waiting.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Wait. Was Dan Bulkotinski auditioning for David Rosen as well?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yes, he was, no way. Unfortunately he didn't get it,
but he did get an end.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
He did, Yeah, he did. He also auditioned Hawk too.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Well that shows one of the nice things about Shonda,
which is that she's like Aaron Sorkin. She has people
she loves to work with, and she'll give you your
shot and figure out where she might be able to
slot you in, Like she loves Dan's work and like,
all right, this role, maybe that's not Claire, this isn't Oh,
I think we found the one, and so we're lucky
to be in her in her sphere of player.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
When you came on board and started to like, see
why I say you're controversial is because our cast is
incredibly gushy and huggy and kissy and lovey and texty,
and Josh is like not was the West Wing cast
like really cool and like whatever? And then you got
(20:41):
into our cast and you were like, this is insane.
These people love each other way too much. They have
to stop hugging at every table read nobody fucking cares stop.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Yeah, I think the west Wing was somewhere on the
spectrum between my like let's never talk to each other
or touch each other and the scandal ethos of like,
let's just have a big friendship organ Somewhere between those
two is west wing. It was probably right in the middle,
got it.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Speaking of texting, though, I remember Josh did love texting
on other people's phones.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And what he would text was I'm horny.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I put it on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
He never did it to me, but you've done it
to Katie me three times.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Now. Let's set the scene ten years ago. I don't
think I even had a lock on my phone, to
be honest. I mean, I was just that naive and trustworthy.
I just remember chasing you and being like, give me
back my phone, and he'd get on my Twitter account
and he would just tweet from my Twitter account I'm morny.
And then I would just get like days of like
why isn't Adam taking care of that, and just mortified.
(21:47):
But that's just the beginning. Have you been a pranks
through your whole life?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I have, Indeed I have. When I guests star on
other people's shows, I'm usually well behaved but then once
I start feeling comfortable as a series regular on something
like now I'm bored, let's have some fun. Yeah, and
I usually feel like I won't get fired and unscandaled
a couple of times it was like Shonda and Betsy
need to talk.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
To you about and were you, like really scared?
Speaker 3 (22:12):
The first time I finished filming a scene and Ad
came to me and said, hey, don't change out of
your wardrobe. You need to go straight to Shandan Betsy's office,
I was like really, And I said what about? And
She's like, I don't know. They didn't say, and I was,
as I was walking there, was thinking, can't be getting.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
A raise, can't be good.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
It seems unlikely that this is good news. And when
I got up there, it wasn't good news. Jimmy Kimmel,
who was a prankster himself, had sent me all these
codes that allow you to send a text or an
email as if it's from a specific person's phone. And
I remember writing back to Jimmy like, this is great.
Do you think it would be a bad idea to
(22:55):
write emails from Shonda Rhymes to people? And he said no,
I think that would be a great idea, but I
would wait until Scared handles off.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
The air.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Right now. No.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I was like, it's April Fool's Day, Like, how can
I not do this? And I just wrote an email
to Tom Verica, our executive directing producer, and I wrote
him an email from Shanda that just said not cool.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Tom lost his ship.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Well, as it turns out, he was in the middle
of renegotiating his contract. This is just bad timing renegotiating.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Josh, are you fucking kidding me?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah? I figured he'd see it. He knows it's a prifool,
so probably call me and be like, dude, did you
do this? Or he'll call Shana the laugh. But weeks
past and I was like, maybe it didn't even go through,
like they should worry about. Then I got this thing
like go see them in their office and I sat
down and they started saying like Tom Verica got in
an email. I was like, oh, not cool, Tom, Yeah
I did that, and they were like, don't impersonate me.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I how did they even find out that it was you?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
They didn't. I think they just went through there.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
They were like it's gotta be Josh.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Apparently there was a whole like Disney ABC investigations. I
think they like I don't think they forensically traced it
to me. I think just someone said, like, who's the asshole,
who's most likely to have done this?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I remember vague things after this came out that they
were like, holy shit, Shanda thought she had been hacked.
They had hired like people to look through the server
and make sure that no one else was emailing.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
On The hack was definitely escalated into something I didn't anticipate,
as pranks sometimes do, and that was a bummer. And
then the second time, which was really bad, was when Portiuderossity,
whom I love and played my love interest on and off.
She was leaving, she was filming her final day, and
(24:46):
so I took I can't even remember whether it was
a sunscreen or vasoline, and I put it under the
door handle on the driver's side of her crazy expensive
car in the parking spot next to mine. Every day
I'd be like, oh a Lamborghini.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Oh wow, unbelievable, Look this is my love language.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I wouldn't do it to somebody I didn't like, but
I expected to hear from Portia like that night or
the next morning, like you got me and blah blah blah,
never heard anything again. Weeks past. Again, I finished filming
a scene and somebody was like, you have to go
straight to there. I'm like, no, not this again. And
I remember I went up there and uh, I was
(25:26):
nervously eating candy from the little candy jar waiting in
the ante room to I guess Shanda's thing. And she
walked past me and the first time ever, she gave
me a death stare. And I was like, oh my god,
this is really bad, like because usually I can see
she like kind of even though I'm a rasped me,
(25:48):
but this was dead. This was a thousand yards stare.
Like I just I ran cold. I mean, I'm sweating
at she's just telling the story. And I went in
and I think I said, what is it this time?
Like trying to break the ice and they were not
having it. They were not laughing, and I think I
then said, please tell me this isn't about portion car
(26:09):
door handle, and they were like, yeah, as a matter
of fact, that is what it's about. And again bad
timing didn't occur to me the final scene she was
filming spoiler alert Can I give a spoiler? Maybe not? Okay,
I believe she died by being beaten to death with
a golf club. Oh yeah, so she was leaving the show.
(26:30):
I'm sure that had some emotion in it. She had
filmed getting killed by golf club for seven hours, and
at three in the morning, she went to her car
and she got a handful of acoline and she thought like, wow,
somebody hates me. And I was like, whoa, no, And
I remember saying to that You're absolutely right to be
upset about this. The last thing I wanted to do
was upset her. I've talked about doing this thing. I
(26:51):
thought she would know immediately. Here's what I can tell you.
I can tell you that I'm going to walk out
of this office. I'm going to text Portia and I
give you my word, it's not going to be long
before I come back with a text that's like, oh
my god, you got me. And they were like okay,
And I walked out and runs, I'm so sorry. I'm
the one who did the vaclay and you know I
(27:13):
love you, and literally she wrote back like, oh my god,
I love it. And I walked back and I was like,
does this get me off the hook? I showed them
my phone.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
God, damn, damn you, Josh.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
My god.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I remember Betsy saying essentially, we are accomplished women who
have more important things to do than field phone calls
from Ellen DeGeneres who's mad that her. Oh my god.
I was like, you know what, You're absolutely right. This
is a reflection on the fact that I am not accomplished.
(27:47):
I have nothing but free time to do these kinds
of things, and it really shouldn't spill over into your
busy days. I'm terribly sorry. I would like to continue
working here.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Please accept my Oh God, and Josh, because you are you,
you will always get off like I just think. I mean,
I just even if it's by this the skin of
your teeth, you will get off. And I don't know
why or how you've made it this far.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I mean that would scare me enough where I don't
think I'll skate that close to the edge ever again.
Because I was thinking if I have to call my
wife and go like I lost my job as scandal
and when she says why, I say, well, think to
kick out of this.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Would like the golf club.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
And she would have been riot, like, what's wrong with you?
Grow up? You're in your fifties.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Okay, next question, how the fuck did you? Okay, first
of all, I know you should all over. Well, you're
really interested all over like like being you know, being
an actor and like you know you're not actorly in that.
But it's really bullshit because I do think somewhere in your.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Heart you Oh, I do love it. I'm not. I
watched this episode and I was like, I'm always thinking,
I'm gonna think for the first time like that was
pretty good. Not watching, I was like, my voice is.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Terrible because no one else is thinking that. I guess, Josh,
you're so good.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
I'm not trying to make you say.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
We've been saying it, Yo, We've taped how many episodes
already and we are constantly saying how great you are.
And this episode doesn't even it doesn't even show the
caliber of your work. That episode when you wake up
and there's a dead woman in your bed like you were,
that was brilliant in that episode, such great.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Work wrote you like amazing. I mean, whether or not
it's to your taste. They wrote for you sex scenes
and murder and fucking jury shit and like you're a
school teacher and you're afraid and you're like you got
to do a lot of Oh.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, absolutely. For the first few episodes, I thought I
was on a procedural. I was like, this is where
you basically give same performance in the same character for
seven years hopefully or eight years and nine years and
nothing changes. Then like whatever. A few episodes in, I
was like what I read the script, like, which's who.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Having sex in the shop?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah? I was just like, oh, this is insane. And
then a few more episodes later I'm like, oh my god,
I'm part of the insanity. There's still, by the way,
people who can't believe, like there's a woman who's been
tweeting the last couple of weeks like not another sex
scene with Josh Malina, like, Shanda, what are you doing
to me? I was like, if you think you were
surprised to be seeing me have sex in or if
you think how surprised I was to open a script
(30:32):
and be.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Like, I have it you and you and Abby. Abby
and David Rosen were like the first couple I feel
like on the show where we were like, oh my god,
these are two lead characters that were going to put
together like in a sexual scenario.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
And you guys had such.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I was surprised.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
You guys.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Oh, you guys were really good, but you.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Were also like that that mean big brother who would
do shit to Darby, Like on set, I remember, we'd
be rehearsing You're Opa or wherever we had a scene
and she would be holding her sides. If she was
sitting on a chair that had wheels, you would grab
her and wheel her like fifty feet away.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
You did that to me all the time too, or.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
You would smack her sides, like, oh josh.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
There are definitely people listening now. We're laughing as if
it's great, and there are people listening now, are going
he isn't, but you're Shanda's always talking about her no
asshole policy. It's like, how did this guy?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I'm telling you, we've talked about this on this podcast.
You won't listen to it, so it doesn't matter. But
let me tell your face, no, we talk about how
fucking good you are. And my question is, I don't
understand how you're that good when you don't try and
I try so hard, And how do you memorize lines
in the makeup chair? Why does your brain work like that?
(31:47):
Like we just watched the episode where we're like you
sit and you have this amazing monologue where you're like, stab,
stab stab, Oh how I love to stab and it's
a whole monologue that's iron I remember that.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And Harrison like stop talking stuff talking, and you just
go on and on and on.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
But like, do you never prepare or the night before
look over stuff? What's your process?
Speaker 3 (32:09):
That's a good question, just becase Shanda listens to this,
I want to defend myself. I take it seriously to
on a certain level. I do try. I read a
script once to be like, let's see what the story is,
although if I'm probably honest, I read my scenes first.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I do that too, though I do that too.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Now that it's all delivered electronto being you can just
search Rosen, I'm like, okay, that's all my stuff. Now
let's figure out what's going on. And then when it
was scandal, I would always send the script to my
dad and then I'd be like, so explain to me
what's going on.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Oh my god, I should have done that. Me and
Katie should have done that. Send it to your dad,
because sometimes we'd be like, what's happening.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Yeah, I was like my dad and my mom are
like my biggest supporters, and they always watched it and
they kept track of it. I'm actually at their house
right now, and I would often say to my dad,
so like talk me through like plot wise, I don't
know why am I in court? And I'm defend what
you remember in season three and you killed that?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And then so they watch everything you ever do, like
backwards and force, just because they love you and they're
so proud of you.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Pretty much. Yes, that's true. They're very, very supportive Jewish parents.
So I do have a very good memory for dialogue.
I don't know what I have for lunch yesterday, but
I can remember dialogue very quickly.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Has that changed since COVID or in Age?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
No? I don't think so. Now and now I'm doing plays,
I realized how much I had trained myself to learn
dialogue quickly and forget it quickly. Like if I did
shot this dialogue on Monday, I knew it cold, but
on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Do you have like the Guara had that too, like
an amazing short term memory. You can plug it in
and then the next day it's talking gone.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
The minute we walk off set, when that scene is done,
it's out of my brain, like it's gone, and Katie
would be like, let's try to do that scene we
did like last month, and I was like, Katie, what
are you talking about? I can't even remember when we're kidding.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
I would do it for fun. I memorize long haul, though,
like I'm such a theater bitch. But okay, if you
had a big monologue on scandal, would you learn it
the night before or always in the makeup chair, like
what were you doing?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I would definitely familiarize myself with it the night before,
feeling that and not just out of laziness, but like
some some smart person once said to me, like, you
want to learn your stuff for TV, but just shy
of knowing it cold, so that it'll appear like you're
finding it a little bit, like you'll seem like a
human being. Yeah, it doesn't sound like they'd memorize something,
(34:32):
so I got I'm very good at finding the line
where like I got it pretty much. I'm gonna sleep
on it and to wake up and in the makeup chair,
I'm gonna nail it down and I'll probably run it
with the other person who also in the makeup chair.
But I do remember one awkward day where we were
all looking at our sides and I said something like,
you know, guys, reminder, who's Christine? And everybody just slowly
looked them in. They're like, are you kidding? Like the
(34:54):
whole season is about this character. I don't know. I
just remember being really embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
I was like, oh, you were being so you were
like really no, I really don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
I was like, I don't understand the scene why we
also obsessed with the cuisine or whatever it was. And
they were just like, what is wrong with you? I
was embarrassing.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Wait do you ever think about like what do I
want in the scene or what's my moment before or anything?
Speaker 1 (35:15):
No?
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Right, Like you just I just think you have that
same actor chip in your brain. Like it's like you're
really good at text obviously between Sorkin and this show,
like text is not an issue for you, and you're
I'm telling you, Josh, your work in these two seasons.
I'm so jealous because I know you're not right like
my action or my objective or my like you know,
(35:37):
thinking about beats or shifts. You know, you're just there.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, I feel like I have a good instinct for it.
But the truth is what usually when I watch my work.
I'm like, you were fine. I'm not. I'm not usually
like us, like I'm horribly insecure. But maybe if I
did some of those things you're saying, I'd be better
than that.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Maybe I know that's what makes you so good. That's
not part of your process.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Do you think that is? Like, I think there's some
effortlessness to something that's so difficult, you making it look
like it's so fucking easy. This is for ladies and gentlemen.
Josh Milina is about to be starring back on Broadway.
He's been on Broadway before. If you can catch him,
you should. In Leopoltstad, written by the one and only
(36:24):
fucking Tom Stoppard, I already have my tickets. I'm going
June tenth with eight family members.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Katie, I want to go, come.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
With me June eighth. I'm going to see any gladiators listening.
Do come June eighth. I will be at Leopoltstad's screaming
and probably crying. It's that script is remarkable.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
It's amazing he's write and I was seventeen, almost eighteen,
and my dad's best friend was and still is Manny Aisenberg.
This famous amazing producer who produced Tom Stoppbards is the
real thing on Broadway. So I got invited to Opening Night,
and as a seventeen year old, I was assuming that
I was just like the writing, like my mind, his
writing is unreal. And now literally forty years later, yes,
(37:05):
I can't believe him.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
See, this is why people keep you around.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Really quickly. Since we're talking about some pass work, I'm
gonna rattle off some of Josh's credits. Give it because
I live it this up and I was like, oh
my god, Like, there's so much and so much epic
projects that he's done. A few good men, the American President,
Tracy takes on clock Watchers with my buddy Parker Posey,
the Larry Sanders Show, Sports Night, The West Wing, Stargate,
(37:30):
Grey's Anatomy, I Carly and my favorite Big Bank theory
of course. But I'm also like a huge horror film fan.
And you haven't been in a harror film, but you
were in a thriller called Malice that Aaron Sorkin I
also wrote.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
Correct, Yes, but I was in one horror movie comedy
called The Knights of Badass. Oh, and I think Steve
Zahn was in it. Peter Dinklice. It was comedy horror
about a bunch of Larper's live action role players.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I'm gonna watch it.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Tonight and I'm coming over and I'm getting stoned and
I'm watching it with you.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Yes, it was low budget to begin with, and then
they didn't get the full effects. But there's I know
the director is not happy with how it turned out,
and I spoiler alert, have my jaw ripped off as
I'm being pilated by a wood d well.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Listen. I went out Amazon Prime and I bought Malice
because I wanted to watch it. When I looked up
your credit, Josh plays this really cute like resident doctor
or nurse who comes out and speaks to Bill Pullman.
But it's a really fun like old school like eighties
thriller movie.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Well the funny. Patrick Marber, the director, when he was
talking to me about potentially doing the role, said, and
you know, it takes place in Vienna, but we've toyed
with doing Viennie as or German and we didn't do that.
And it opened in London, so you know, he said,
you don't have to sound British, but you can't sound America?
Can I do in Mexican like everyone is sounding.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So you're not even doing like heightened American, like like
the Gilded Age or something.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
No, it's pretty fifty years ago. You couldn't get a
foot in, you couldn't travel with a.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
That's really good, Josh, it's really good.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
We will be back with more after the break now
that I'm trying to jog my memory about like David
Rosen's journey. Okay, so you auditioned for the role. Yes,
Shanda was into you. You went, got called to the
principal's office a few times. You had love interests with
(39:36):
Abby Portia and were you also with Artemis.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Yes, Artemists is lovely a Susan.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Oh and Zoey Perry.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
And Zoe Perry and off camera didn't came. But dirty,
dirty Susie whatever her name is, Susie with.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
The we didn't. When we have Shaanda back on, got
to ask her like, I don't think there's a single
character on our show that went through that many lives,
Like what's that about?
Speaker 3 (40:09):
For sure? That is just Seana going. I can do
anything on television. I can take the least attractive oldest
member of my past and have him have more sense
than I'm telling you. That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
You were successfully pranked by us and the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Remember in this episode.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yes, Kimmel is in an episode two one, that's right,
and he's interviewing the Congressman Jacob Shaw, who's the case
of the Wei And we love Kimmel, but he approached us,
like by the end of Scandal, they were like, we
want to get Josh, and they spent so much money
on this prank.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Like, well, first of all, I had had an idea
and I remember pitching our pr people like Bachelor has
all these watch parties, and the Bachelor people show up,
you're surprised and they love it, like everybody's having their
wine and popcorn Scandal watching part parties. Why don't we
like surprise a few people and like maybe it's a
nice way to go out with the final season. And
they did it through Good Morning America and Tony was
(41:08):
the first and this was all part of the parts. Yeah.
Then they were like, Josh, you have to do one
of these. And I actually really didn't watch, like I
don't want to do it.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
But it really speaks to your heart, which is as
much as Josh, Willie is a prankster, smartest person in
the room, keeps his life interesting by like really pushing
boundaries with people. But Josh, you with fans is ridiculous,
Like you give them all the time in the world.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
You're nice to say. I mean, I you're very nice
to say that, and I know it comes from like
I can't believe anybody's having to see me, so I'm
like got to keep your fans happy, like so you're
keep in business, and like also just appreciation for people
who are appreciating you, Like Scandal fans are the best I
did enjoy.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
So the prank was about them asking you to show
at the end of this run. You know, they asked
me and Josh to come to a Scandal Rocks watch
party and they we knew they would be watching Scandal
and we would walk in and it was up to
me to convince Josh that he should use a confetti
blower thing. And when we come in, oh god, one
of those guns a Convetti cannon.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
I remember, we go in there watching Scandal, can see
and we pop in with our with our cameras. Boom,
I pulled the competitia and like everyone's laughing and having fun.
And then I see the mom in her chair like
it seemed really startled by the confetti cannon.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Clutching her chest hard.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
For this and she's actually clutching her chest, and I'm
starting to think, like, oh that was this is bad.
We really we really scared this woman. Then I'm like, oh, no,
she's an Actually she's in medical discomfort. And I will
admit I was nice enough to like I definitely went
over and I think I held her hand and I
was trying to calm it down. The one thing I
did is also cover my ass because I'm thinking that
(42:48):
if she died, did I kill her? Is this like
second agreement in voluntary man slater? And you can see
me in the actual video of the press only.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Being quiet because I.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Can't no I'm saying, and I say to her something
like they handed me the thing or it wasn't my
I'm not going down, like I'm trying to lay down
my legal case for when And then next thing I know,
I hear I hear a siren like an ambulance has
(43:19):
been called, and I'm like, oh my god, this is
actually happening, and the paramedics burst through with the cot
but one of the paramedics is Jimmy Kimmel, and my
mind is like what's going on? And I'm like, wow,
you got me so bad. They throw me into this stretcher.
I'm deeply embarrassed, but also husually really that I didn't
kill this woman. And they wheel me outside, and unbeknownst
(43:41):
to me, they were concerned that I would not fall
for it, and they wanted to backup freaking prank. So
there's a fire engine in the driveway and I get
sit up and they blast me with those from.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Like what oh, yeah, they blasted him with a fire
hole the old lady actress. I had been there all
day rehearsing for like three hours, like different ways the
scene could go. I have never done a prank in
my entire life. I am so wildly uncomfortable with making
people upset or feel bad or like pranking to me
(44:17):
is like I'm.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
One of those people that gives it up right away.
I'm like, I'm just kidding, this is we're just joking.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
So then I remember the garage door slowly opening and
there's like video village is in there, and we all
have earbuds in like all the actors in a scene
the older woman who pretend to have a heart attack me,
we had earbuds in case. The director was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
Never even thought about that.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
Oh, it was insane. They spent like a billion dollars.
It was insane. And also I remember before we did
it are publicist. I think it was Chris Anderson at
the time calling me and saying, do you know if
Josh has ever had a heart attack or if someone
recently that he loves has had a heart attack, Because
we want to do this, but we also like, I
don't want it to go horribly awry in case it
(45:03):
like God, we don't know, like maybe his aunt or
someone just had a heart attack and he's just gonna
be that's actually very still unwell.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
And I remember thinking afterwards I wish I had been
on to what they were doing. If I had figured
it out, I could have then pretended myself to have
a heart attack and see if I could flip.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Survived it. I would not have.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
The best Oh.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Ever, but unfortunately it turns out that the fact that
you do practical jokes and pranks for thirty years doesn't
mean that you're any less galible than anybody else. Because
I felt for it completely. I remember actually texting Kimmel
when I was going to bed that night and I
was like, well done, and he rubbed back me like
was that real? Did you really fall for that? Like
he actually almost couldn't leave it. I was like, dude,
(45:48):
that was one hundred percent, But how.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Could you not? That wasn't just like a run of
the mill fucking thing. I mean that was like actors
who would.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
Rehearse if we were doing the drop in for Kimmel's
you would have known America. My mind was prank, but
I don't think good morning America. Nothing occurred.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
I lovely you have Kimmel's phone number. Fucking Katie has
Seanda Rhyme's phone.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Number, Kim's phone number, his number? Wait really quickly about
this episode? What was the parts you watched last night
that you thought you were uh yeah.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
In the courtroom. I have memories of shooting this episode
because it was a lot of me, and it was
a lot of a lot of people sitting well, I
strut around doing things, and part of it was literally vocally,
I was like, I don't sound like you want to
you know when you're like and isn't it true you
want to be one of those you say, what the hell?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
You keep saying what the hell when they let Quinn
in this episode to jog all of your listener's memory.
This is the episode where who was Quinn Perkins? Who
was Quinn Perkins? But wait, okay, so you thought your
acting was bad? You say what the hell a lot?
What did you feel like when you read this script?
Not about this episode where Darby to put her hand
in your mouth or you're something like that.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
I felt very similarly to the way I felt when
I finally watched it. I was like, I don't know
what's going on? Is this supposed to be sexy? Is
this some sort of BDSM? Is this horrible hot? I
read it, we shot it, I watched it, and I
still never figured out what it was.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Josh, I can't okay, wait wait wait wait, there's more.
There's more, this more, okay. This is the first episode
that marked both bellmy Young and Josh Molina a series regulars.
You guys went to Yale, but not at the same time.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
She is younger than I, so she she knew who
I was.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
She did not?
Speaker 3 (47:40):
She did no, I think, because I think we were
actually maybe in guys and dollars together. The idea that
she may have had a smaller role or been in
the ensemble and I had to lead. It's funny because
I can't sing and she has a beautiful voice.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Did you do a ton of plays in college? Josh,
I did.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Yeah, I'm an undergraduate theater Saudi's major. Every now and
then people think like, oh, you went to Yale drama school.
I'm like, no, I went to the other one and
was a drama mate. I went to the not because
they just drama school, but I knew I wanted to
be an acro already, and my parents were like, for
the love of God, get a college degree.
Speaker 2 (48:12):
Also, what it was your degree in intert It's.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
Not like it didn't help me at all with acting
and wouldn't have helped me in anything else.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Do you remember what the first play was that you did?
Speaker 3 (48:23):
There, I do? I did. Christopher Durang's sister, Mary Ignatius
explains it all.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (48:29):
Do you have any memories from the first two seasons
that stick out? Do you have any memories from the pilot?
Speaker 3 (48:35):
I remember shooting those scenes at the door with Kerry
and seen in a bar with Kerry. Most of my
stuff was with Kerry, and I just remember liking her
a lot, like like I just remember vibing like she's
cool first of all, Like whenever the number one person
on the call tot is cool, it's like, yeah, this
is a very good sign.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
Did you feel like at the end of season one,
like we're definitely going to get a season too. Did
you feel like it would have was going to be
one hundred and twenty four episode's show.
Speaker 3 (49:05):
I just remember early on thinking it was a procedural approach,
and procedurals, if they hit.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
They last a long time.
Speaker 3 (49:11):
Yeah, they last a long time, and they're they they're
worth a lot in syndication because you can play them
in any order and it doesn't matter, and people can
pop in and watch a rerun or whatever. And then
once it started turning into this insane show that was
burning through plot, I was like, oh my god, this
episode has as much plot as a full season of
another show Like this cannot sustain. So I started getting nervous.
(49:32):
Even as the show is getting better and more interesting
and crazy and it was fun, I was like, this
is gonna this might be a death sentence.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
We'd already shot the president by like the thirteenth episode
in and it's like, what the fuck are we gonna do?
Speaker 3 (49:43):
No, exactly, I underestimated the fiendish creative mind of Shanda
Rhimes and her writers because like they never had any
problem coming up with seven plots per episode that were
completely insane and like, oh, they can keep this running
as long as they want, like this is why I'm
not a writer and they But then I also remember
when it was like taking off on Twitter and I
(50:04):
was like again literally like butterflies in my stomach, like
I think this may be turning into a thing, like
everybody's talking about it and people are stopping me in
the street, Like it really was a fun ride with
an incredible group of people, like to get one of
those in the careers, like more than you can hope for.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
I remember thinking, is this gonna be like a Grays
and Atomy situation? Like are we gonna go for like twelve
thirteen seasons? And then you know, obviously Shanda knew there
was a beginning of the middle and an end to
the to the show, and she let us know that
it was ending. But I think we were all so bummed,
right because the network wanted us to keep going. I
was like, wait, what I know.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
I was definitely. I even remember as Shonda was telling
us in the conference call, like that she's ending it.
I was text neighbor and we're like, god.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah, you were texting me like oh yeah, like how
could you we have the white whale, we have the
fucking white hat. Yeah, You're the best. I'm so excited
to see you and leopoldstadd Yeah, this was.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
So much fun. I realized how much I miss you.
When I don't see you, I don't miss you at all.
But now that I'm seeing you, I really I was like, oh,
I do like them more than I realized. To our gladiators,
I haven't earned a dime since the show went off there,
but thank you for that brief window in my life
when I didn't have to worry about money for like
five years. It's awesome. It's all because of you, guys.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Josh, you are the best.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
We love you.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
Love you, guys.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Tell George we love him and we'll be bugging him asap.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
I'll tell him he's not on the show.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
Tweeted, tweety tweeted, lidd tweet tweet, tweet, tweet tweet tweet.
Oh my god, people were fucking pumped from these tweets
because this was the fucking season two premiere at ABC.
Scandal fans tweeted so ready for at Scandal babyc premiere
hashtag one minute, don't hate hashtag ask Scandal.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
And Lisa Belenoir tweeted homemade coconut shrimp hashtag I'm fancy
retweet call me Dalla what y'all bring into the Scandal
watch party? So she made some coconut shrimp and brought
it to a Scandal watch party.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
A Yem at Everybody Loves DJ wrote, I'm ready to
find out who the hell Quinn is tonight hashtag scandal.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Ug real y'all two underscore Tall says what the fuck
is Quinn Perkins? Hashtag scandal, hashtag gladiators and suits.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
Everyone's talking about Quinn at Chrissy B. Davis wrote, I
had so many thoughts as to who Quinn could be.
We'll be happy to finally find out tonight hashtag scandal.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
I like that, And then Aaron at Aaron J. Cruz tweeted,
who of the Scandal cast is the most like the
character they play? Hashtag asked scandal. That's when we were
doing that hashtag ask scandal and then we would, you know,
answer as many questions as we could.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yes, we did hashtag as Scandal forever.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Who do you think is most like the character that
they play? Fucking I think Carrie Washington as Olivia.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
I think so too in some ways. In some ways
she's Olivia is not goofy, right, and Carrie's got a
lot of Olivia popiner. I think I and Quinn have
a lot of starting. I think Josh Molina and David
Rosen have some stuff.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Everybody has a little bit of you don't characters? I mean,
you know, in the in the being quiet and sometimes
wanting to be alone. I could see that being you know,
similar to myself and talk.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Yeah, but how can you literally make your voice and
the mask of your face different?
Speaker 1 (53:37):
Oh yeah, Like you do.
Speaker 2 (53:39):
Things as your face is gear mode that you don't
do on your face as huck.
Speaker 1 (53:43):
That's so true. That's so true.
Speaker 2 (53:45):
Like you have a mask that actually like changes, which
is fucking amazing to behold. The next episode is called
Grant for the People.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
The People.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
I don't remember what the fuck happens. I have no idea,
but y'all are going to want to listen and stay
tuned because you know it's going to be a good time.
Speaker 1 (54:02):
We gotta go watch it now so we're ready for
the next episode of this podcast.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Any Gladiators that don't think Josh Willene is hot enough
to have a sex scene leave him alone.
Speaker 1 (54:10):
He's so hot, I think. I think Josh super se
I do too.
Speaker 2 (54:15):
Also, I'm so jealous that he's going to have lunch
right now with George Newburn of The Century City.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
Mall, we should go crash that ship right now.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
He invited us. Did you get that text?
Speaker 1 (54:26):
No, I haven't even looked at my phone because we're
doing a podcast.
Speaker 2 (54:29):
He texted us yesterday saying, Yo, I'm not sure what
time you guys stop recording, but I'm going to have
lunch with George Newburn if you both like to come.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
Oh I didn't get that.
Speaker 2 (54:38):
But whatever, we didn't want to go anyway.
Speaker 4 (54:39):
That shit is yeah, yeah, but yo, Josh is so
freaking smart and talented and fun to talk to, Like
we could have done this for like three more hours.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
I know, he's so much fun. I love all.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
He's the best, and he really was an important energy
on Skin.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
He really was important. He has so many great episodes
where his work is superstellar, so we're definitely going to
have him back.
Speaker 2 (55:05):
Yes. Absolutely. I love you all so much. Thank you
for listening.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Thank you everyone, Thank you guys for joining us on
Unpacking the Toolbox. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe,
share with your friends, rate, or leave us a review.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
Scandal is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, alex Alce, Lauren Homan,
Tyler Klang, and Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is
Vince de Johnny, with music by Chad Fisher.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
Scandal is a production of ABC Signature, and you can
follow along by rewatching Scandal on Hulu.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit
the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.
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