June 6, 2022 • 42 mins
Welcome back to our show! Today's episode is super special because we're talking to the writer who brought True American to New Girl. Lesley tells the origin stories of the game at Vassar. Plus, she plays our version of the game, live!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ring, ring, ring ring. May I please speak with Zoe. Oh, Hello, Lamar.
Let's patch in, Hannah, God, I forgot what it was
like working with you guys. Hello everybody, and welcome to
(00:32):
Welcome to our show. I'm Zoe Chanelle. We're here with
Lamar and Morris and Hannah Sebone and we have a
wonderful writer producer, Leslie wake Webster with us, who was
with us for our first season. Unfortunately we only got
her for for the first season. So we're happy to
(00:55):
have her back because she's the part of part of
forming a lot of great traditions on New Girl, and um,
we want to talk to her about them. Hello, Leslie, Welcome, Hey,
thank you. I'm so glad to be here. UM. A
fun thing that your listeners will immediately understand is that
I was almost forty on the first season of New Girl,
(01:16):
and that was one of the many reasons that I
was maybe not the best fit for the show. I
was not living that amazing twenty something a lifestyle that
we were writing about. But you had quit, you had
been there. I have been there. I had lived some
fun times, but they were far away and I was
I was driving to work in a minivan. I was
(01:40):
just because you're like many vans, right, like like um,
Danny DeVito and get shorty. Yeah, just oh you have children?
I do? I do. I'm not gonna lie to you.
That would be a little bit weird. If you had
a mini van and didn't have children, you are then
you kill people for a living tons of candy in
(02:03):
or you're a movie star. Who's Who's Who's unique and
and quirky? Right does Dannivido actually but not in real life?
That no, no, no, that the character he plays in
that short he has a minivan and then he loves
it so much that he gets, like everyone else to
buy minivans because he's so convincing. Um about the minivan.
I used to drive a minivan. I drove a four star. No, well,
(02:26):
my mom had a minivan and then my car died
on me. Yeah, and so she got a new card,
said you can take the minivan. Let me tell you something.
Women do not respond to a guy in minivan than killer.
She didn't like that you could open that you could
do hands free, slide open the back door that hands free.
(02:49):
Let me tell you something pretty nice. I had a
minivan for one year. Actually, Wallow. I was on New
Girl because I had two babies. Um Whallow was on
New Girl and I had to I end up getting
rid of it because it was just too wide. It
was like the card so it's such a wide load
like it just I was like, I felt like I
(03:11):
was clipping the five few rors all the time on things.
So you had to go. Yes, So, Leslie, you left us,
left us? Well, let's start from the beginning. How did
you come to us before you abandoned it? Oh? Sure, well,
I think about halfway through season one of New Girl
(03:32):
there had been a couple of staff changes, a couple
of people had left, and uh, even getting the meeting
on New Girl was like the hot hot thing in
town and everyone was talking about the show. And I
had a writer friend who worked on at Donnick Kerry,
who I think was therefore maybe three, And I called
Donic and I was like, everyone around town says this
(03:54):
show is amazing and that you guys don't sleep. Is
that true? And he was like yes and yes, uh,
and I was just so thrilled. It was such an
exciting show and it's so different from anything else. And
so my agent was like, hey, you know twenty wants
you to meet on this They're they're looking for a
couple of upper level women writers, and you know, just
(04:15):
be warned. It seems like the show works long hours.
And I so desperately wanted to meet on the show
that I was like, yes, yes, I can do it,
and like it turned out, guys, I couldn't do it
at all. I physically could not be well. It was tough.
Are Like hours on set were tough, and then your
hours in the writing room were equally as tough. It was.
It was it was like a marathon the first three
(04:39):
issue years, and then it did get a little bit better,
but the hours were still Like if we worked a
twelve hour day, I was like, whoa short day, That's
so nice, Like I'm out of the you know, like
I got out, you know, in twelve hours. I felt
like I was like I have energy to do four
more hours. Just because I got so accustomed to work
sixty hours. I would only I would do half days
(05:01):
in the writer's room. When I the one episode that
I did right, well, you're also acting, but that even
that was just brutal. I said, what else could I put? Like,
what else could I write on this whiteboard? Guys, what
what are we doing here? Like it was I mean
just jokes after jokes after jokes for so so long.
(05:21):
So I I definitely commend you on that. I don't
commend you on leaving us, but it was it was
walking into a party that was just like a party
that had been going on for several weeks. Like I
remember my first day on set. Um we were at gosh,
we were on location. Justin Long was guest starring. There's
(05:41):
a table read on location and I showed up at
like eight in the morning. I was like, oh, this
is gonna be cool. And I think our day went
till too that night. It was just that would be
about right, yeah, just about was that the Thanksgiving up?
That sounds very thanks There was definitely a holiday element too.
Is the craziest episode of shooting ever done because we
(06:07):
were I think we're behind on writing, We're behind on
some episodes. We had to shoot pickups for other episodes
that week, and they and the I think the studio
had said we want lots of coverage. And our director
of that episode, who was awesome, Miguel Arteta, was like,
I take you seriously, I'm gonna get three cameras and
(06:27):
we had like we were always setting up three cameras,
which is not normal. We'd normally have two cameras and
but three cameras, and then we were doing a lot
of coverage in addition to the fact that we had
three cameras, Like, I mean, we're moving those cameras a lot.
So um, we went to six in the morning on
Sunday morning that because I had a flight. I had
(06:47):
a flight at eight thirty am on Sunday to go
to Canada. And I remember whoever was a ding that
episode coming up to me saying, I don't think you're
making the flight. I was like, so, was that possible?
So you showed up for the most intense New Girl
(07:09):
episode of all times. Yeah, it was very intense, but
it was very exciting. I mean it was fun. I
mean in spite of the fact that was Yeah, you
could just tell there was something really like magical happening
on stage. But also everyone was kind of in this crazy,
vaguely sleep deprived state, and the entire time I was
on the shop continue that I take take issue. I'm
(07:34):
I'm pretty sure there was no vague about the sleep
That's why I developed my love for coffee or my
addiction to coffee was during that first season, because you
didn't drink coffee before Welcome. So wait, Leslie, you came
(08:03):
in halfway ish through first season, stay to the end,
and left. But while you were there, you contributed something
to this show that has become iconic. Yeah, as this
show itself an obsession among fans. So tell us how
(08:25):
you tell us about the origins of True American. I
am so glad that I contributed one very cool thing
to the show. It makes me very happy. Um, the
origins of True American are weird, Um, So I it's
actually not a game that I played. It's a game
that a friend of mine played. Um. A guy who
went to Vassar so already an interesting guy. And I
(08:50):
can't remember which parts of True American I knew about
at the time, in which parts I've learned more about since.
So I can't give you the exact chronological timeline of
what I ne win. But here is the origin of
True American. My friend Matt, who went to Vassar. Uh,
he and several friends were in this dorm that had
kind of he described as a nineteen sixties ramada in
vibe like it was partly curved, so that like when
(09:13):
you walked around, it's like if you were drunk, you'd
be like where am I? And every day I was
saw Vassar evidently is a very like sort of you know,
Ivy League looking old school. But there's this one very
modern dorm. And in this dorm there's a lounge and
the lounge had like raised floors and a sunken seating pit.
So there was like a very nineteen sixties, almost like
(09:35):
spaceship vibe to it, and there were three different like
ways you could access the seating pit. And they got this.
They created this game called True American, and it was
kind of ironic. It was sort of in honor of
like American Gladiator, like kind of making fun of how
ridiculous that was um and the object or True American.
There was one guy who was was American, but my
(09:58):
friend Matt says he had a very eurovi vibe. His
name was Renee, and Renee had a very euro vibe
and he has the euro name. I feel by euro
do me mean like euro club vibe or like like
old euro club like black turtlenecks, bodybuilding craftwork type. Okay,
(10:21):
so he has like yeah, okay, so euro vibe okay,
euro Vibe. And evidently part of the game before they
before they would play it, they would go outside and
sing a song in the courtyard to announce that they
were playing True American because the courtyard had because it
was a semicircle, I had like great acoustics, and this
the hong would kind of like echo around and annoy
(10:42):
everyone who was trying to study um. And then they
would also make wagers on who got to like who
if you lost True American, what dumb thing you had
to do, And that was all sort of part of
the ritual of True American. And then the actual game
of True American was not about drinking. It was about
getting from one side of the lounge to the other,
(11:02):
uh and breaking through a cardboard barrier that had been
set up. So there would be like three or four
guys going up against Renee because he was the bodybuilder,
and they would just try to get from one side
of the lounge to the other. And I think he
weren't supposed to touch the floor, which might be how
we got to the Flora's lava in the writer's room.
And I always assumed that True American had been a
(11:24):
drinking game, but I think I assumed that because I
learned about it while I was drunk. This explains a lot. Yeah,
because I just called my buddy in preparation for talking
to you guys. I was like, Hey, can you just
remind me how you played True American? And at the
end of it, I was like, wait, so it wasn't
a drinking game, and he's like, no, it was not
a drinking game, serious athletic sport, right, Yeah, this is
(11:51):
so different from you know, what's so cool about the
the evolution of Through American as a part of New
Girl was that they brought up this in on another
episode that took was shooting very long hours and was
a bit chaotic. I'm pretty sure it was like the
Fancy Man episode maybe or um. But I do remember
(12:13):
that love Rock was on set and he's like, there's
this game True American, and it's this game that they
played in college. The guys played in college, and it
was written into the script like a series of kind
of quick cuts, like things happening, and there was a
lot of room for us to make up stuff, so
we did, and I remember myself making up being like, Okay,
(12:36):
what if we said one, two, three, four JFK, and
then the other people said FDR, and then we you
that was me, Yes, that was me. That was I
remember that because I didn't know anything about politics. And
and then the George Washington cherry tree was also me
because weirdly, I it's too convoluted. But I was like,
what if we also said George Washington cherry tree, And
(12:57):
for some reason everyone went along with me. So she's
only want to know about US history. I actually love
US history. So it was fun for me to just
be able to put a few little nerdy things in there.
But yeah, it was like we were allowed to do
a lot of like improvisation to make the game like
(13:18):
a weird you know, even when we were shooting. I
remember while we were shooting that, Hey, you know what,
I don't actually need to remember anything continuity wise. I'll
just do whatever. Remember where you were? No, I don't
think I will. And it didn't matter, It didn't matter
at all, matter at all. Just remember the floor's lava
(13:38):
and whatever she says JFK, we scream FDR. And the
idea was to make it like intentionally opaque, so that
no one would figure out how to play it. Um
that like you think would be one thing, and then
and then there are all these rules that make no
sense that that we don't even really know the answer to,
because it's supposed to be a mystery to the audience
(13:59):
and to I believe it was Russell fancy man, Um
it's coming in and he's like, wait, what is this game?
These people? You know, these twenty eight year olds are playing.
So I think it was intentionally vague, and then it
just stayed intentionally vague. And then all these people wanted
to play it, and we were like, we don't know
how to play it. You're the only one, you and Renee.
(14:20):
There was no historical and like American history angle that
comes to the original true American that was always addition
and infusion. Who knew. I really thought that that was
like the you know, the root of the game, but
it was not. There were no lines really written in it.
It was like the original it was it was like
(14:41):
originally in the script, it was like them shotgunning. Is
that what you call it? Shot? I remember they always no.
I had never heard of it until we did. Until
we started well, so I started shooting New Girl. I
was like, wait, no, all right, you started a narrative, Um, Lamauren,
that is untrue. And I didn't know what shot gunning was. Um,
(15:08):
because I get I would get drunk after one beer,
so if I like, why would I want to drink
it fast? That bad idea, bad idea on my part. Um.
But um, so yeah, I didn't know what that was.
It was just like they shot gun beers. Um, they're
trying the floor's lava. They're trying to avoid, you know,
be on the floor. It was just kind of it
was kind of more stage direction. There were and then
I think it was Jesse directing. I don't remember. Please
(15:30):
don't quote me on any of this. We're gonna have
to go and say it was I think it was
an episode Normal, and I think it was Jesse. Was
it normal? I just dropped in the chat. True American
first appeared in season one, episode twenty Normal. Jesse. I
directed it and Jesse directed it. I just remember because
the way Jesse works, he likes to like, let everybody
have you know, some um no, let everybody have a
(15:55):
little you know. He's like, oh yeah, just kind of like,
you know, have fun with it. So he was kind
of letting us gave us some, you know, a little
bit of freedom to to do stuff. So that's worthy. Wait, Leslie,
was that your episode? Did you write that? That was
in my episode? I think Love wrote the draft on
that episode, and I mean truly, I told this story
late at night in the writer's room. Love took the inspiration,
(16:18):
wrote something, and then I really feel that True American
was created on the stage and the moment. By the
time it came back in the cut, it's like, this
is an amazing game. And it had that kind of
mythical feel that all drinking games have when you're you
sober up and you're like, how did we play that?
I don't quite remember? So you have so you have
teenage kids. I have teenage kids now, and god, I
(16:41):
hope they never play a game like True America. You
know you are. Would that be shady of you to
say they couldn't play? That's kind of messed up. You
got a little play. It was like I remember Love
trying to explain it because apparently it came from you
late at night, and like him trying to explain it
second hand, and then like just it was like a
(17:03):
game of telephone that created the New Girl version of
true American You so you so you so you know
about the origins of it. You were there from the
origins of the the the O G game, but you
heard of it, so it was like a game of
telephone for you too. Yeah, you know. The whole thing
was very much like you know in real life when
(17:24):
you're like, oh, I heard of this drinking game. My
friends played this drinking game. And it just keeps changing
and changing depending on who's telling who about it. And
here's the question. Have Matt and Renee like seeing the
show and do they know that they are Actually I
know no. I told Matt last night. I was like, hey, listen,
I'm I'm going to talk about this game that I
(17:46):
stole from you and your college experience on a podcast.
And it was the first team knew about it. And
by the way, I was like, I I'm happy to
pass along his phone numbers, like they may want interview you.
So that would be great. That would great. So, Leslie,
you're so talented. What are you working on now? Right now?
(18:08):
I'm on I'm on Mr. Mayor, which is a Tina
Fee Robert Carlock show. And uh, the only reason I'm
working on it is because they always do their New
York shows, but because of the pandemic and Zoom, this
was my first chance to work with them, and it
was that's so cool. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like as
(18:29):
a writer, it's almost like you know how you go
around Disneyland and get like your little passport stamped or
signed by different characters. As a writer, like especially writer
who staffs on shows, which is mostly what I do,
there are certain like showrunners or shows you're just like,
I want to work on this. I went like, I
wanted to work on New Girl, and I got my
little passport stamp for that. I had very much wanted
(18:49):
to work for Robert and Tina for forever and I
just got the chance. So and you've and you've worked
with Hannah, you've worked with Hannah before, Yes, Hannah and
I worked so hard last year to sell a brilliant
a brilliant idea that nobody wanted. Nobody wanted to But
I mean, listen to you there right now, Like I
feel like it's really it's a tough time to pitch shows. Yeah,
(19:13):
I was at the height of COVID just had broken
and so the industry was in a different spot. Let's
put it that way. But let's you've worked on like
really iconic show like American Dad and Life in Pieces
and a show you created I did. I created, Yes,
Perfect Harmony with Bradley Whitford and Anna Camp, which was
just very good cast you And you did that with
(19:36):
Jason Winer, who is you know, an awesome director. First
come across Jason when he was directing A New Girl.
That was my question, did you develop that relationship because
you worked with Winer on so much stuff through New Girl. Well,
that was the very first time I met him, and
then it made it easier I I was then you
(19:57):
know Jason, it was always had a pilot that was
going somewhere, So then it was easier to get meetings
on the pilots that Jason was directing. And then I
think Life and Pieces he was an EP on that.
So we developed a relationship there um and I really
found him. He was one of those rare people who
can he helps the writers he works with tell a
better story. Yeah, he's really like he's uniquely talented in
(20:20):
terms of like like he has his own style that
is very good at like establishing a story and quickly
like like telling an intricate story. You know in a
way that's like fits in twenty two minutes. He has
that magical touch for pilots. It's really incredible. But yeah,
(20:41):
when I talked to Winner about that idea, he was like,
there's one person. She's the best, and she's incredible, and
she's mine. I only want to work with Leslie. So
that's how, Yeah, we reconnected, which was really nice. I know.
So I wanted our show to go so badly Hannah
and I mean obviously because there's a great show, and
(21:02):
also because I just think it would be so funny.
Like Hannah and I are both very tall ladies, and
Jason is not a tall person. Wait not tall. I
think he was tall. What are you handed? She's five,
she's we're the same height. But they made Hannah ware
heels for like the first like big heels for the
first however five seasons, because they wanted her to look
(21:25):
like she was taller than me, so she was always
having to stay in like on an apple you I'm
just we're five five right, five five five six five
five and a half something like that. What about you left?
Oh my gosh, I'm six ft tall. Personality is me?
And yeah, Zoe, I think of you as very really short.
(21:46):
I know everyone thinks I'm five to They're like, but
you're five too. I'm like, everybody thinks i'm five ten,
i am six four. That's that's that just goes to
show the sweetest man live shows the lies that can
happen when you're just like basically digitally dating, which is
(22:10):
what Leslie and I did for a year developing this
show where we only met on face time. You thought
I was like a five ten model struke I never met.
It was the pandemic developing a show. So we just
did everything over did an entire I did, I have not.
I wrote a show last year that we pitched and
(22:32):
didn't go, and my writing partner and I basically didn't
see each other the entire time we were writing and
the entire time we were pitching, and I ran away
to Canada too, So I did writing. Yeah, me and
my writing partner. My daughter asked if somebody like my
(22:55):
friend was talking about his wife, and then she asked,
she goes, is she a cat? The other day when
I was dying, I'm like, oh my god, and he's like, no, no,
she's not a cat. And I was like, oh, okay,
just checking. I thought she might be a cat. So
(23:15):
you so from coming from coming from New Girl. I
know you spoke about the long hours and some of
the things you didn't expect. You know, you were pre
you were pre um, you were warned a little bit
by Donic, but that experience kind of you kind of
jumped right into it and you were in the fire
when you left. Did you have a did you learn
(23:37):
anything from the show? To me? On another show that
didn't go thank Godard, I was. I was relieved to
not try to like keep up that physical pace. It
it really it really felt like it was undoable. Um
Olympic Olympics, I might say Olympics, yes, yes, but also
(24:00):
like a weird like Hunger Games Olympics where people are
just dying. As I thought that was going to be
me and we felt the same way as a cast.
Trust me, it wasn't. It was. I remember where was it?
I was at a an award show and I kept
seeing people and they were like, we've heard about your show,
and I was like what, and they're like, we know.
(24:22):
The hours are crazy like writers, actors, like everyone. And
the only other show that worked as crazy hours was Community. Yes, yes,
that's true. That's and those are the only people I've
worked with. Some community alarms, and they can top New Girl.
They'll be like I had a thirty six hour day
and it's like, okay, well I don't think we ever
had that, but yeah, yeah, I think it was crazier.
(24:45):
I think they just got really behind and our show
we were just they were just wanting like an over
abundance of jokes. Yeah. Well, I remember. I take away
from New Girl that I had was it was like
I really did learned to be a better joke writer
because we would alter every single line um and I
(25:06):
remember thinking at first, like this is a little nuts,
but like, these these lines are already good. That was
the interesting part was that the scripts were already pretty good,
and then we rewrote them as if they were disasters
that needed saving, and they weren't. But it did mean
that I learned to pitch, you know, twenty lines for
every joke that existed, and we would rewrite in final draft,
(25:27):
and the rewrite program would do the alts as Blue
because it was in revision mode, and in the writer's
room we had this weird little cult saying of blue
is true. Blue is true because we're just trying to
generate blue lines on the screen. Um. And I remember
at one point there was this might be in the
episode of one of the Fancy Man episodes, but um,
(25:48):
there's there's a party going on in the loft and
the line was Nix's making my ties. And we got
to that line and we were like, are we really
going to all this? And I think brett or Day
was like, yeah, we are. And so the writer's assistant
looked up like a bartending dictionary and just cut and
pasted like ten pages of other drinks that could come after,
(26:10):
like Nick's making my ties. And then I happened to
be on stage when that was being shot next to Liz,
and I watched the dawning Lis Merriweather, the creator. I
watched the dawning realization on her face, and she was like,
did they just cut and paste every single drink that exists? Yes,
that is exactly what we did. Oh my god, that's
(26:32):
very funny. You said in the beginning. Let's they just
want to circle back for a second. How the show
came to you as they were looking for high level
female writers. Yeah, because now ten years ago, was that
like a common request that was coming through that. That
honestly has been my entire career. Uh, and I really
hope it's changing there in comedy that's it used to be.
(26:56):
It was like it felt like it was about men women. Um,
I really really do think that is changing now. But
at the time, if like I used to be the
diversity now, that wasn't true on New Girl. New Girl
had other female writers, But a lot of the jobs
that I had in the first ten years of my
work were just like, we gotta get a gal in here. Yes, yes,
(27:18):
I had just got to get so she knows how
gals talk. That's exactly. I had just come from American Dad,
and it was seventeen guys in me. I was the
one voice of female dumb and that's that's I got
the rep sweats Like, that's a lot to represent all
of womankind. And yeah, so I think they did need
(27:44):
upper level writers, and um, I think the thought was like, hey,
it's a show about a girl, so maybe there should
be a woman. We did have a lot of female writers,
which was very Um it's it's reassuring as a female
(28:06):
because you know there are guys who know how to
write a female but you know, you want you want representation?
Who wrote that Mensies episode? Might say Mensies, Uh, wholeful
episode about menstruation. You might want a couple of ladies.
Wasn't that? I would die if it was love? It
(28:28):
was Berkeley, Berkeley, I know about the female anatomy. Well,
it was interesting because it's all about menstruation, but it
was also about Lamuren's character, which is what all women
secretly wish, which is like, just do it for one day, man,
one day. That's what was kind of I'll tell you,
(28:51):
we've never been a relationship and my my, my, my
partner is going through the men's the menstrual cycle. I
sympathize with her so much that I feel that pain too.
I'm sure you do. I'm You're just such an same level,
same level of pain. Yeah, it's hard to be a
narcissist and an empathy. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be
(29:14):
honest with you. She wasn't a narcissist, but I was
an EmPATH, So I get what you're saying. Yeah you
refer to the singular woman. Now, they had had it
every month. Yeah, no, some of them did and some
of them didn't. But yeah, those were boys. Yeah, yeah,
cute though cute. Welcome, should we dive into hicks Box? Box? Yes,
(29:53):
let's dive into Nick's Box. Sounds weird, doesn't it, Leslie?
It's are intriguing. Yeah, um, yeah, Nicks Box is a
thing that we do. Um, who wants to talk about it?
I can do it doesn't matter. Yeah, all right, welcome
(30:15):
back to the segment we'd like to call Nick's Box.
It's where we crawl into the back of Nick's closet
and we pull out the memories, the memories of the
cast and crew have kept hidden for years. So, Leslie,
what is your favorite memory from your time working on
A New Girl? Oh? Um, My favorite memory is a
(30:36):
very writer room specific memory, which is that we was
a late late late in the season and we had
gotten a little crazy with alting jokes. So and we
were just spending like fourteen hours a day sitting at
the table in front of the same screen. So to
mix it up, we set up computers all around the
office and they all have the script on them, and
(30:57):
each computer had a different chunk of the script on um,
and we sat down and one of the writer's assistants
would shout go and for five minutes, each person would
all as many variations on the jokes that were in
front of them as they could, and then the writer's
assistant would shout switch and we'd get up and you'd
run to the next office and you'd start altering those jokes.
(31:19):
Oh my god, I did not open exercise. And at
the end of you know, like an hour we had
we generated like twenty pages of alts And it was
just just like a way to create some variety in
the day. I think the other people in the office
hated it. It was chaotic, it was loud, but it
(31:40):
was fun. It was just a way to kind of
mix it up. I mean, that sounds like true American
I was. Yeah, I was gonna say, it sounds like
a college drinking game, but without the drinking and without
the college. Also say Zoe on I guess it must
have been the Valentine's at so that I worked on.
(32:01):
But you were so kind to me. I had told
you that I had little kids. I had a kindergartener
in a preschooler at the time, and you brought in
a Winnie the Pooh c D because you had composed
on that. It was so sweet and thoughtful of you,
and it's sweet of you to remember that. Um, I
(32:22):
have a preschooler and a kindergartener right now, so, oh
my gosh, and it's better record something and I am
expecting do you return the stuff to entertain my children?
Deep in that yep? Um, so we thought, Leslie, because
(32:47):
you were the one who brought the incredible True American
game to New Girl, that it made sense. We don't
usually do this with our guests, but to play True
American with you on the podcast, so should we go.
We'll ramp up the intro to the game. Am I
gonna have to stand on my chair here. I'll read
(33:09):
the intro to this game we are doing on our podcast.
Just so you understand. It's not a drinking game on
the podcast at the moment unless you have coffee and
then it's allowed water. Um, And so we kind of
I'll I'll ramp it up for you and you'll you'll
get it all right. All right, Welcome to True American,
(33:39):
where the rules don't make any sense and you leave
more confused than when you arrived. Today, we're playing Obama's
Favorite Quotes list. We're gonna read some of the most
iconic lines from season one, and then guests who said
the line Okay, oh great, this is going to be fantastic.
I know, Okay, I'm a little drunk and I can't
(34:02):
be too sure, but I think you're about to see
your best friend's penis. Okay, what's your guess? Is that me?
I think that might be me. It's definitely not Nick
and it's not Schmidt, so it's one of the three
of us. I think it's Winston saying it too. Yeah,
(34:22):
Schmidt about Nick, that's what's your guest. Oh. I was
going to say, I think it's Schmidt, but so al
he's ruled that out, so I don't know. By the way,
for a moment, I thought, because this quote came up
in the chat, I literally thought that was your producer
Joel just saying I'm a little drunk and I can't
be sure. U um, yeah, it might not be me
(34:51):
because of the like, at least in season one, we
didn't have Jest say well, they did like switch it around,
like towards the end of the season, all of a sudden,
Jess is just saying it all the time. But the
beginning they definitely didn't have me say it a lot.
So we're going with Winston. Okay, Winston. You're correct, Hanna.
I couldn't answer that because I knew it was me.
(35:14):
You remember that you you looked confused the entire time
we were talking about I just remember the whole the
point of that episode. I just remember it being why
do you want to see his penis? And right? It
was a big deal deal, all right, Lamuren, you want
to read the next one. I wish there was a
word that meant complete satisfaction and complete self loathing. That
(35:34):
feels smitty to me. That feels so like Nick Miller
to me, m but he was going to say, Jess,
So I think I might be really bad at this game.
I think it's I think it's Schmidt because I just
don't see Nick saying self loathing. So it just feels
(35:55):
like I feel like would know the word. It feels
like a big word. You know. Maybe you're right. I
don't know. I feel like Schmidt would actually know that word. Yeah, yeah,
that's true. Alright, I guess it's Stilga me Schmidt. But
I don't know who knows. I'm gonna I'm gonna guess Nick. Oh,
it's talking about Okay, talking about sleeping with Schmidt. Actually
(36:18):
now makes perfect it makes sense because I was like,
it's more articulate than Nick. But it doesn't feel a
hundred percent like Schmidt. But it felt like more like
Schmidt than Nick. Okay, cool, Okay, I knew it wasn't me.
All right, Okay, I know this. You're not the only
one that's hurting here, Jessica Day. The economy stinks, bees
are dying. Movies are pretty much all sequels, so we
(36:41):
can rule out Jessica Day. It's not Jessica Day. I
don't think it's Um, it's not Winston. I don't think
it's not c C who's upset with bees dying. It's
either Nick or Schmidt. What do you think, Leslie? I'm
gonna go with Schmidt because of the bees. Yeah, and
the economy. Me. I feel like Schmidt's the only one
(37:01):
concerned with the economy. Yeah, and it also feels like
it feels like except paranoid Nick less unless it's Justsica
Day talking to herself, it's not. But but I think
that I agree. I think it's Schmidt because it's like,
has a lot of runway for a short like line.
(37:24):
He I feel like like they always wrote Schmidt lines
like wordier than so let's get Schmitt. I'm gonna get Schmidt. Correct, correct, correct,
lucky guess last one, Zoe go, Okay, I want friends
(37:45):
who still lie to me because they don't want to
hurt my feelings. I sadly kind of mean that that's me.
Especially the tag at the end feels very I sadly
kind of mean that I feel is very wrong. It's
outside Dave, it's Nick Nick. Okay, Well, I kind have
(38:09):
said that the episode Jess lines that feels unfair Joel.
That was the trick of the whole thing that shows
why Nick and Jess were meant to be that an interchangeable.
That was the speech that was my first episode on
the show. I want to say, the thing that Jess
(38:29):
and Nick have in common that Jake and I have
in common is that we are both not fast talkers. Um,
and it takes it's difficult for me to talk really fast,
like how um you know Max can talk really fast. Um.
My rhythm is slower and Jake's rhythm is slower. And
(38:50):
so we both would commiserate because they'd be like faster
and I'd be like, I literally can just like I'll
talk like fast and then slow and fasten the slow,
but I can't get everything out fast. I have to
try hard. So when you see me actually talking really
fast on the show, you know that took a lot
of work for me and you need to love me more. Um, Leslie,
(39:14):
you are an absolute delight. This is thank you, thank
you for fun to you again and I feel like Leslie,
we will need to get Matt and Rene's phone number
because as this show goes on, there will be true
American questions and now we can go yeah, but there's
it's not gonna be the same true America. It's going
(39:35):
to be people want to know how to play like
a more physical version. We just have to make sure
that we have all of this information and now we
know where to go. Thanks Leslie, one late night to
this huge moment for our show and for this show.
That was great talking with you all. Thank you. Right, folks,
(39:59):
make shure you guys like and subscribe because Lamorne wants
you to, and me and Hannah we all do. It's
one thing we agree upon, that's right exactly. Um, we
love you. Sleep while guys, unless you just woke up safely,
drink some coffee, drink some tea, have a macha on Me,
(40:23):
on Me, brought to you by Afreds Coffee. Just throw
your venmo up there. Lamar ya, No, I will I
will buy every listener a cup of coffee. No, don't
say that would be really expensive. I didn't tell what
kind of coffee. Yeah, but still it could get expensive.
You can get expensive. It costs money. Yeah, guys, that's
(40:45):
the sponsor will pay for it. I'll say I do it.
I'll buy it. But then we really know the sponsor
is doing it. We have to get a coffee sponsor.
You're creating a lot of work right now. I'm not
in on this. Hannah and Zoe want to buy you
want to now? We don't do not do not. I
(41:06):
want to buy you a real estate the smart girl.
I would like to wish our happiness. He's comfort happiness
inasmuch as this episode and other episodes could bring you happy.
(41:29):
You've been listening to Welcome to Our Show, a New
Girl recap podcast. Welcome to Our Show is a production
of I Heart Radio, hosted by Zoey Deschanel Lamour and
Morris and Hannah Simone. Our executive producers Joel Monique. Our
engineer and editor is Daniel Goodman. Welcome to Our Show
theme song was written by Zoey Deschanel, performed and produced
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(41:52):
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Don't forget to rate, subscribe, and share far and wide.
Thanks for listening. We'll hear you next week. M
Ring, ring, ring ring. May I please speak with Zoe. Oh, Hello, Lamar.
Let's patch in, Hannah, God, I forgot what it was
like working with you guys. Hello everybody, and welcome to
(00:32):
Welcome to our show. I'm Zoe Chanelle. We're here with
Lamar and Morris and Hannah Sebone and we have a
wonderful writer producer, Leslie wake Webster with us, who was
with us for our first season. Unfortunately we only got
her for for the first season. So we're happy to
(00:55):
have her back because she's the part of part of
forming a lot of great traditions on New Girl, and um,
we want to talk to her about them. Hello, Leslie, Welcome, Hey,
thank you. I'm so glad to be here. UM. A
fun thing that your listeners will immediately understand is that
I was almost forty on the first season of New Girl,
(01:16):
and that was one of the many reasons that I
was maybe not the best fit for the show. I
was not living that amazing twenty something a lifestyle that
we were writing about. But you had quit, you had
been there. I have been there. I had lived some
fun times, but they were far away and I was
I was driving to work in a minivan. I was
(01:40):
just because you're like many vans, right, like like um,
Danny DeVito and get shorty. Yeah, just oh you have children?
I do? I do. I'm not gonna lie to you.
That would be a little bit weird. If you had
a mini van and didn't have children, you are then
you kill people for a living tons of candy in
(02:03):
or you're a movie star. Who's Who's Who's unique and
and quirky? Right does Dannivido actually but not in real life?
That no, no, no, that the character he plays in
that short he has a minivan and then he loves
it so much that he gets, like everyone else to
buy minivans because he's so convincing. Um about the minivan.
I used to drive a minivan. I drove a four star. No, well,
(02:26):
my mom had a minivan and then my car died
on me. Yeah, and so she got a new card,
said you can take the minivan. Let me tell you something.
Women do not respond to a guy in minivan than killer.
She didn't like that you could open that you could
do hands free, slide open the back door that hands free.
(02:49):
Let me tell you something pretty nice. I had a
minivan for one year. Actually, Wallow. I was on New
Girl because I had two babies. Um Whallow was on
New Girl and I had to I end up getting
rid of it because it was just too wide. It
was like the card so it's such a wide load
like it just I was like, I felt like I
(03:11):
was clipping the five few rors all the time on things.
So you had to go. Yes, So, Leslie, you left us,
left us? Well, let's start from the beginning. How did
you come to us before you abandoned it? Oh? Sure, well,
I think about halfway through season one of New Girl
(03:32):
there had been a couple of staff changes, a couple
of people had left, and uh, even getting the meeting
on New Girl was like the hot hot thing in
town and everyone was talking about the show. And I
had a writer friend who worked on at Donnick Kerry,
who I think was therefore maybe three, And I called
Donic and I was like, everyone around town says this
(03:54):
show is amazing and that you guys don't sleep. Is
that true? And he was like yes and yes, uh,
and I was just so thrilled. It was such an
exciting show and it's so different from anything else. And
so my agent was like, hey, you know twenty wants
you to meet on this They're they're looking for a
couple of upper level women writers, and you know, just
(04:15):
be warned. It seems like the show works long hours.
And I so desperately wanted to meet on the show
that I was like, yes, yes, I can do it,
and like it turned out, guys, I couldn't do it
at all. I physically could not be well. It was tough.
Are Like hours on set were tough, and then your
hours in the writing room were equally as tough. It was.
It was it was like a marathon the first three
(04:39):
issue years, and then it did get a little bit better,
but the hours were still Like if we worked a
twelve hour day, I was like, whoa short day, That's
so nice, Like I'm out of the you know, like
I got out, you know, in twelve hours. I felt
like I was like I have energy to do four
more hours. Just because I got so accustomed to work
sixty hours. I would only I would do half days
(05:01):
in the writer's room. When I the one episode that
I did right, well, you're also acting, but that even
that was just brutal. I said, what else could I put? Like,
what else could I write on this whiteboard? Guys, what
what are we doing here? Like it was I mean
just jokes after jokes after jokes for so so long.
(05:21):
So I I definitely commend you on that. I don't
commend you on leaving us, but it was it was
walking into a party that was just like a party
that had been going on for several weeks. Like I
remember my first day on set. Um we were at gosh,
we were on location. Justin Long was guest starring. There's
(05:41):
a table read on location and I showed up at
like eight in the morning. I was like, oh, this
is gonna be cool. And I think our day went
till too that night. It was just that would be
about right, yeah, just about was that the Thanksgiving up?
That sounds very thanks There was definitely a holiday element too.
Is the craziest episode of shooting ever done because we
(06:07):
were I think we're behind on writing, We're behind on
some episodes. We had to shoot pickups for other episodes
that week, and they and the I think the studio
had said we want lots of coverage. And our director
of that episode, who was awesome, Miguel Arteta, was like,
I take you seriously, I'm gonna get three cameras and
(06:27):
we had like we were always setting up three cameras,
which is not normal. We'd normally have two cameras and
but three cameras, and then we were doing a lot
of coverage in addition to the fact that we had
three cameras, Like, I mean, we're moving those cameras a lot.
So um, we went to six in the morning on
Sunday morning that because I had a flight. I had
(06:47):
a flight at eight thirty am on Sunday to go
to Canada. And I remember whoever was a ding that
episode coming up to me saying, I don't think you're
making the flight. I was like, so, was that possible?
So you showed up for the most intense New Girl
(07:09):
episode of all times. Yeah, it was very intense, but
it was very exciting. I mean it was fun. I
mean in spite of the fact that was Yeah, you
could just tell there was something really like magical happening
on stage. But also everyone was kind of in this crazy,
vaguely sleep deprived state, and the entire time I was
on the shop continue that I take take issue. I'm
(07:34):
I'm pretty sure there was no vague about the sleep
That's why I developed my love for coffee or my
addiction to coffee was during that first season, because you
didn't drink coffee before Welcome. So wait, Leslie, you came
(08:03):
in halfway ish through first season, stay to the end,
and left. But while you were there, you contributed something
to this show that has become iconic. Yeah, as this
show itself an obsession among fans. So tell us how
(08:25):
you tell us about the origins of True American. I
am so glad that I contributed one very cool thing
to the show. It makes me very happy. Um, the
origins of True American are weird, Um, So I it's
actually not a game that I played. It's a game
that a friend of mine played. Um. A guy who
went to Vassar so already an interesting guy. And I
(08:50):
can't remember which parts of True American I knew about
at the time, in which parts I've learned more about since.
So I can't give you the exact chronological timeline of
what I ne win. But here is the origin of
True American. My friend Matt, who went to Vassar. Uh,
he and several friends were in this dorm that had
kind of he described as a nineteen sixties ramada in
vibe like it was partly curved, so that like when
(09:13):
you walked around, it's like if you were drunk, you'd
be like where am I? And every day I was
saw Vassar evidently is a very like sort of you know,
Ivy League looking old school. But there's this one very
modern dorm. And in this dorm there's a lounge and
the lounge had like raised floors and a sunken seating pit.
So there was like a very nineteen sixties, almost like
(09:35):
spaceship vibe to it, and there were three different like
ways you could access the seating pit. And they got this.
They created this game called True American, and it was
kind of ironic. It was sort of in honor of
like American Gladiator, like kind of making fun of how
ridiculous that was um and the object or True American.
There was one guy who was was American, but my
(09:58):
friend Matt says he had a very eurovi vibe. His
name was Renee, and Renee had a very euro vibe
and he has the euro name. I feel by euro
do me mean like euro club vibe or like like
old euro club like black turtlenecks, bodybuilding craftwork type. Okay,
(10:21):
so he has like yeah, okay, so euro vibe okay,
euro Vibe. And evidently part of the game before they
before they would play it, they would go outside and
sing a song in the courtyard to announce that they
were playing True American because the courtyard had because it
was a semicircle, I had like great acoustics, and this
the hong would kind of like echo around and annoy
(10:42):
everyone who was trying to study um. And then they
would also make wagers on who got to like who
if you lost True American, what dumb thing you had
to do, And that was all sort of part of
the ritual of True American. And then the actual game
of True American was not about drinking. It was about
getting from one side of the lounge to the other,
(11:02):
uh and breaking through a cardboard barrier that had been
set up. So there would be like three or four
guys going up against Renee because he was the bodybuilder,
and they would just try to get from one side
of the lounge to the other. And I think he
weren't supposed to touch the floor, which might be how
we got to the Flora's lava in the writer's room.
And I always assumed that True American had been a
(11:24):
drinking game, but I think I assumed that because I
learned about it while I was drunk. This explains a lot. Yeah,
because I just called my buddy in preparation for talking
to you guys. I was like, Hey, can you just
remind me how you played True American? And at the
end of it, I was like, wait, so it wasn't
a drinking game, and he's like, no, it was not
a drinking game, serious athletic sport, right, Yeah, this is
(11:51):
so different from you know, what's so cool about the
the evolution of Through American as a part of New
Girl was that they brought up this in on another
episode that took was shooting very long hours and was
a bit chaotic. I'm pretty sure it was like the
Fancy Man episode maybe or um. But I do remember
(12:13):
that love Rock was on set and he's like, there's
this game True American, and it's this game that they
played in college. The guys played in college, and it
was written into the script like a series of kind
of quick cuts, like things happening, and there was a
lot of room for us to make up stuff, so
we did, and I remember myself making up being like, Okay,
(12:36):
what if we said one, two, three, four JFK, and
then the other people said FDR, and then we you
that was me, Yes, that was me. That was I
remember that because I didn't know anything about politics. And
and then the George Washington cherry tree was also me
because weirdly, I it's too convoluted. But I was like,
what if we also said George Washington cherry tree, And
(12:57):
for some reason everyone went along with me. So she's
only want to know about US history. I actually love
US history. So it was fun for me to just
be able to put a few little nerdy things in there.
But yeah, it was like we were allowed to do
a lot of like improvisation to make the game like
(13:18):
a weird you know, even when we were shooting. I
remember while we were shooting that, Hey, you know what,
I don't actually need to remember anything continuity wise. I'll
just do whatever. Remember where you were? No, I don't
think I will. And it didn't matter, It didn't matter
at all, matter at all. Just remember the floor's lava
(13:38):
and whatever she says JFK, we scream FDR. And the
idea was to make it like intentionally opaque, so that
no one would figure out how to play it. Um
that like you think would be one thing, and then
and then there are all these rules that make no
sense that that we don't even really know the answer to,
because it's supposed to be a mystery to the audience
(13:59):
and to I believe it was Russell fancy man, Um
it's coming in and he's like, wait, what is this game?
These people? You know, these twenty eight year olds are playing.
So I think it was intentionally vague, and then it
just stayed intentionally vague. And then all these people wanted
to play it, and we were like, we don't know
how to play it. You're the only one, you and Renee.
(14:20):
There was no historical and like American history angle that
comes to the original true American that was always addition
and infusion. Who knew. I really thought that that was
like the you know, the root of the game, but
it was not. There were no lines really written in it.
It was like the original it was it was like
(14:41):
originally in the script, it was like them shotgunning. Is
that what you call it? Shot? I remember they always no.
I had never heard of it until we did. Until
we started well, so I started shooting New Girl. I
was like, wait, no, all right, you started a narrative, Um, Lamauren,
that is untrue. And I didn't know what shot gunning was. Um,
(15:08):
because I get I would get drunk after one beer,
so if I like, why would I want to drink
it fast? That bad idea, bad idea on my part. Um.
But um, so yeah, I didn't know what that was.
It was just like they shot gun beers. Um, they're
trying the floor's lava. They're trying to avoid, you know,
be on the floor. It was just kind of it
was kind of more stage direction. There were and then
I think it was Jesse directing. I don't remember. Please
(15:30):
don't quote me on any of this. We're gonna have
to go and say it was I think it was
an episode Normal, and I think it was Jesse. Was
it normal? I just dropped in the chat. True American
first appeared in season one, episode twenty Normal. Jesse. I
directed it and Jesse directed it. I just remember because
the way Jesse works, he likes to like, let everybody
have you know, some um no, let everybody have a
(15:55):
little you know. He's like, oh yeah, just kind of like,
you know, have fun with it. So he was kind
of letting us gave us some, you know, a little
bit of freedom to to do stuff. So that's worthy. Wait, Leslie,
was that your episode? Did you write that? That was
in my episode? I think Love wrote the draft on
that episode, and I mean truly, I told this story
late at night in the writer's room. Love took the inspiration,
(16:18):
wrote something, and then I really feel that True American
was created on the stage and the moment. By the
time it came back in the cut, it's like, this
is an amazing game. And it had that kind of
mythical feel that all drinking games have when you're you
sober up and you're like, how did we play that?
I don't quite remember? So you have so you have
teenage kids. I have teenage kids now, and god, I
(16:41):
hope they never play a game like True America. You
know you are. Would that be shady of you to
say they couldn't play? That's kind of messed up. You
got a little play. It was like I remember Love
trying to explain it because apparently it came from you
late at night, and like him trying to explain it
second hand, and then like just it was like a
(17:03):
game of telephone that created the New Girl version of
true American You so you so you so you know
about the origins of it. You were there from the
origins of the the the O G game, but you
heard of it, so it was like a game of
telephone for you too. Yeah, you know. The whole thing
was very much like you know in real life when
(17:24):
you're like, oh, I heard of this drinking game. My
friends played this drinking game. And it just keeps changing
and changing depending on who's telling who about it. And
here's the question. Have Matt and Renee like seeing the
show and do they know that they are Actually I
know no. I told Matt last night. I was like, hey, listen,
I'm I'm going to talk about this game that I
(17:46):
stole from you and your college experience on a podcast.
And it was the first team knew about it. And
by the way, I was like, I I'm happy to
pass along his phone numbers, like they may want interview you.
So that would be great. That would great. So, Leslie,
you're so talented. What are you working on now? Right now?
(18:08):
I'm on I'm on Mr. Mayor, which is a Tina
Fee Robert Carlock show. And uh, the only reason I'm
working on it is because they always do their New
York shows, but because of the pandemic and Zoom, this
was my first chance to work with them, and it
was that's so cool. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like as
(18:29):
a writer, it's almost like you know how you go
around Disneyland and get like your little passport stamped or
signed by different characters. As a writer, like especially writer
who staffs on shows, which is mostly what I do,
there are certain like showrunners or shows you're just like,
I want to work on this. I went like, I
wanted to work on New Girl, and I got my
little passport stamp for that. I had very much wanted
(18:49):
to work for Robert and Tina for forever and I
just got the chance. So and you've and you've worked
with Hannah, you've worked with Hannah before, Yes, Hannah and
I worked so hard last year to sell a brilliant
a brilliant idea that nobody wanted. Nobody wanted to But
I mean, listen to you there right now, Like I
feel like it's really it's a tough time to pitch shows. Yeah,
(19:13):
I was at the height of COVID just had broken
and so the industry was in a different spot. Let's
put it that way. But let's you've worked on like
really iconic show like American Dad and Life in Pieces
and a show you created I did. I created, Yes,
Perfect Harmony with Bradley Whitford and Anna Camp, which was
just very good cast you And you did that with
(19:36):
Jason Winer, who is you know, an awesome director. First
come across Jason when he was directing A New Girl.
That was my question, did you develop that relationship because
you worked with Winer on so much stuff through New Girl. Well,
that was the very first time I met him, and
then it made it easier I I was then you
(19:57):
know Jason, it was always had a pilot that was
going somewhere, So then it was easier to get meetings
on the pilots that Jason was directing. And then I
think Life and Pieces he was an EP on that.
So we developed a relationship there um and I really
found him. He was one of those rare people who
can he helps the writers he works with tell a
better story. Yeah, he's really like he's uniquely talented in
(20:20):
terms of like like he has his own style that
is very good at like establishing a story and quickly
like like telling an intricate story. You know in a
way that's like fits in twenty two minutes. He has
that magical touch for pilots. It's really incredible. But yeah,
(20:41):
when I talked to Winner about that idea, he was like,
there's one person. She's the best, and she's incredible, and
she's mine. I only want to work with Leslie. So
that's how, Yeah, we reconnected, which was really nice. I know.
So I wanted our show to go so badly Hannah
and I mean obviously because there's a great show, and
(21:02):
also because I just think it would be so funny.
Like Hannah and I are both very tall ladies, and
Jason is not a tall person. Wait not tall. I
think he was tall. What are you handed? She's five,
she's we're the same height. But they made Hannah ware
heels for like the first like big heels for the
first however five seasons, because they wanted her to look
(21:25):
like she was taller than me, so she was always
having to stay in like on an apple you I'm
just we're five five right, five five five six five
five and a half something like that. What about you left?
Oh my gosh, I'm six ft tall. Personality is me?
And yeah, Zoe, I think of you as very really short.
(21:46):
I know everyone thinks I'm five to They're like, but
you're five too. I'm like, everybody thinks i'm five ten,
i am six four. That's that's that just goes to
show the sweetest man live shows the lies that can
happen when you're just like basically digitally dating, which is
(22:10):
what Leslie and I did for a year developing this
show where we only met on face time. You thought
I was like a five ten model struke I never met.
It was the pandemic developing a show. So we just
did everything over did an entire I did, I have not.
I wrote a show last year that we pitched and
(22:32):
didn't go, and my writing partner and I basically didn't
see each other the entire time we were writing and
the entire time we were pitching, and I ran away
to Canada too, So I did writing. Yeah, me and
my writing partner. My daughter asked if somebody like my
(22:55):
friend was talking about his wife, and then she asked,
she goes, is she a cat? The other day when
I was dying, I'm like, oh my god, and he's like, no, no,
she's not a cat. And I was like, oh, okay,
just checking. I thought she might be a cat. So
(23:15):
you so from coming from coming from New Girl. I
know you spoke about the long hours and some of
the things you didn't expect. You know, you were pre
you were pre um, you were warned a little bit
by Donic, but that experience kind of you kind of
jumped right into it and you were in the fire
when you left. Did you have a did you learn
(23:37):
anything from the show? To me? On another show that
didn't go thank Godard, I was. I was relieved to
not try to like keep up that physical pace. It
it really it really felt like it was undoable. Um
Olympic Olympics, I might say Olympics, yes, yes, but also
(24:00):
like a weird like Hunger Games Olympics where people are
just dying. As I thought that was going to be
me and we felt the same way as a cast.
Trust me, it wasn't. It was. I remember where was it?
I was at a an award show and I kept
seeing people and they were like, we've heard about your show,
and I was like what, and they're like, we know.
(24:22):
The hours are crazy like writers, actors, like everyone. And
the only other show that worked as crazy hours was Community. Yes, yes,
that's true. That's and those are the only people I've
worked with. Some community alarms, and they can top New Girl.
They'll be like I had a thirty six hour day
and it's like, okay, well I don't think we ever
had that, but yeah, yeah, I think it was crazier.
(24:45):
I think they just got really behind and our show
we were just they were just wanting like an over
abundance of jokes. Yeah. Well, I remember. I take away
from New Girl that I had was it was like
I really did learned to be a better joke writer
because we would alter every single line um and I
(25:06):
remember thinking at first, like this is a little nuts,
but like, these these lines are already good. That was
the interesting part was that the scripts were already pretty good,
and then we rewrote them as if they were disasters
that needed saving, and they weren't. But it did mean
that I learned to pitch, you know, twenty lines for
every joke that existed, and we would rewrite in final draft,
(25:27):
and the rewrite program would do the alts as Blue
because it was in revision mode, and in the writer's
room we had this weird little cult saying of blue
is true. Blue is true because we're just trying to
generate blue lines on the screen. Um. And I remember
at one point there was this might be in the
episode of one of the Fancy Man episodes, but um,
(25:48):
there's there's a party going on in the loft and
the line was Nix's making my ties. And we got
to that line and we were like, are we really
going to all this? And I think brett or Day
was like, yeah, we are. And so the writer's assistant
looked up like a bartending dictionary and just cut and
pasted like ten pages of other drinks that could come after,
(26:10):
like Nick's making my ties. And then I happened to
be on stage when that was being shot next to Liz,
and I watched the dawning Lis Merriweather, the creator. I
watched the dawning realization on her face, and she was like,
did they just cut and paste every single drink that exists? Yes,
that is exactly what we did. Oh my god, that's
(26:32):
very funny. You said in the beginning. Let's they just
want to circle back for a second. How the show
came to you as they were looking for high level
female writers. Yeah, because now ten years ago, was that
like a common request that was coming through that. That
honestly has been my entire career. Uh, and I really
hope it's changing there in comedy that's it used to be.
(26:56):
It was like it felt like it was about men women. Um,
I really really do think that is changing now. But
at the time, if like I used to be the
diversity now, that wasn't true on New Girl. New Girl
had other female writers, But a lot of the jobs
that I had in the first ten years of my
work were just like, we gotta get a gal in here. Yes, yes,
(27:18):
I had just got to get so she knows how
gals talk. That's exactly. I had just come from American Dad,
and it was seventeen guys in me. I was the
one voice of female dumb and that's that's I got
the rep sweats Like, that's a lot to represent all
of womankind. And yeah, so I think they did need
(27:44):
upper level writers, and um, I think the thought was like, hey,
it's a show about a girl, so maybe there should
be a woman. We did have a lot of female writers,
which was very Um it's it's reassuring as a female
(28:06):
because you know there are guys who know how to
write a female but you know, you want you want representation?
Who wrote that Mensies episode? Might say Mensies, Uh, wholeful
episode about menstruation. You might want a couple of ladies.
Wasn't that? I would die if it was love? It
(28:28):
was Berkeley, Berkeley, I know about the female anatomy. Well,
it was interesting because it's all about menstruation, but it
was also about Lamuren's character, which is what all women
secretly wish, which is like, just do it for one day, man,
one day. That's what was kind of I'll tell you,
(28:51):
we've never been a relationship and my my, my, my
partner is going through the men's the menstrual cycle. I
sympathize with her so much that I feel that pain too.
I'm sure you do. I'm You're just such an same level,
same level of pain. Yeah, it's hard to be a
narcissist and an empathy. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be
(29:14):
honest with you. She wasn't a narcissist, but I was
an EmPATH, So I get what you're saying. Yeah you
refer to the singular woman. Now, they had had it
every month. Yeah, no, some of them did and some
of them didn't. But yeah, those were boys. Yeah, yeah,
cute though cute. Welcome, should we dive into hicks Box? Box? Yes,
(29:53):
let's dive into Nick's Box. Sounds weird, doesn't it, Leslie?
It's are intriguing. Yeah, um, yeah, Nicks Box is a
thing that we do. Um, who wants to talk about it?
I can do it doesn't matter. Yeah, all right, welcome
(30:15):
back to the segment we'd like to call Nick's Box.
It's where we crawl into the back of Nick's closet
and we pull out the memories, the memories of the
cast and crew have kept hidden for years. So, Leslie,
what is your favorite memory from your time working on
A New Girl? Oh? Um, My favorite memory is a
(30:36):
very writer room specific memory, which is that we was
a late late late in the season and we had
gotten a little crazy with alting jokes. So and we
were just spending like fourteen hours a day sitting at
the table in front of the same screen. So to
mix it up, we set up computers all around the
office and they all have the script on them, and
(30:57):
each computer had a different chunk of the script on um,
and we sat down and one of the writer's assistants
would shout go and for five minutes, each person would
all as many variations on the jokes that were in
front of them as they could, and then the writer's
assistant would shout switch and we'd get up and you'd
run to the next office and you'd start altering those jokes.
(31:19):
Oh my god, I did not open exercise. And at
the end of you know, like an hour we had
we generated like twenty pages of alts And it was
just just like a way to create some variety in
the day. I think the other people in the office
hated it. It was chaotic, it was loud, but it
(31:40):
was fun. It was just a way to kind of
mix it up. I mean, that sounds like true American
I was. Yeah, I was gonna say, it sounds like
a college drinking game, but without the drinking and without
the college. Also say Zoe on I guess it must
have been the Valentine's at so that I worked on.
(32:01):
But you were so kind to me. I had told
you that I had little kids. I had a kindergartener
in a preschooler at the time, and you brought in
a Winnie the Pooh c D because you had composed
on that. It was so sweet and thoughtful of you,
and it's sweet of you to remember that. Um, I
(32:22):
have a preschooler and a kindergartener right now, so, oh
my gosh, and it's better record something and I am
expecting do you return the stuff to entertain my children?
Deep in that yep? Um, so we thought, Leslie, because
(32:47):
you were the one who brought the incredible True American
game to New Girl, that it made sense. We don't
usually do this with our guests, but to play True
American with you on the podcast, so should we go.
We'll ramp up the intro to the game. Am I
gonna have to stand on my chair here. I'll read
(33:09):
the intro to this game we are doing on our podcast.
Just so you understand. It's not a drinking game on
the podcast at the moment unless you have coffee and
then it's allowed water. Um, And so we kind of
I'll I'll ramp it up for you and you'll you'll
get it all right. All right, Welcome to True American,
(33:39):
where the rules don't make any sense and you leave
more confused than when you arrived. Today, we're playing Obama's
Favorite Quotes list. We're gonna read some of the most
iconic lines from season one, and then guests who said
the line Okay, oh great, this is going to be fantastic.
I know, Okay, I'm a little drunk and I can't
(34:02):
be too sure, but I think you're about to see
your best friend's penis. Okay, what's your guess? Is that me?
I think that might be me. It's definitely not Nick
and it's not Schmidt, so it's one of the three
of us. I think it's Winston saying it too. Yeah,
(34:22):
Schmidt about Nick, that's what's your guest. Oh. I was
going to say, I think it's Schmidt, but so al
he's ruled that out, so I don't know. By the way,
for a moment, I thought, because this quote came up
in the chat, I literally thought that was your producer
Joel just saying I'm a little drunk and I can't
be sure. U um, yeah, it might not be me
(34:51):
because of the like, at least in season one, we
didn't have Jest say well, they did like switch it around,
like towards the end of the season, all of a sudden,
Jess is just saying it all the time. But the
beginning they definitely didn't have me say it a lot.
So we're going with Winston. Okay, Winston. You're correct, Hanna.
I couldn't answer that because I knew it was me.
(35:14):
You remember that you you looked confused the entire time
we were talking about I just remember the whole the
point of that episode. I just remember it being why
do you want to see his penis? And right? It
was a big deal deal, all right, Lamuren, you want
to read the next one. I wish there was a
word that meant complete satisfaction and complete self loathing. That
(35:34):
feels smitty to me. That feels so like Nick Miller
to me, m but he was going to say, Jess,
So I think I might be really bad at this game.
I think it's I think it's Schmidt because I just
don't see Nick saying self loathing. So it just feels
(35:55):
like I feel like would know the word. It feels
like a big word. You know. Maybe you're right. I
don't know. I feel like Schmidt would actually know that word. Yeah, yeah,
that's true. Alright, I guess it's Stilga me Schmidt. But
I don't know who knows. I'm gonna I'm gonna guess Nick. Oh,
it's talking about Okay, talking about sleeping with Schmidt. Actually
(36:18):
now makes perfect it makes sense because I was like,
it's more articulate than Nick. But it doesn't feel a
hundred percent like Schmidt. But it felt like more like
Schmidt than Nick. Okay, cool, Okay, I knew it wasn't me.
All right, Okay, I know this. You're not the only
one that's hurting here, Jessica Day. The economy stinks, bees
are dying. Movies are pretty much all sequels, so we
(36:41):
can rule out Jessica Day. It's not Jessica Day. I
don't think it's Um, it's not Winston. I don't think
it's not c C who's upset with bees dying. It's
either Nick or Schmidt. What do you think, Leslie? I'm
gonna go with Schmidt because of the bees. Yeah, and
the economy. Me. I feel like Schmidt's the only one
(37:01):
concerned with the economy. Yeah, and it also feels like
it feels like except paranoid Nick less unless it's Justsica
Day talking to herself, it's not. But but I think
that I agree. I think it's Schmidt because it's like,
has a lot of runway for a short like line.
(37:24):
He I feel like like they always wrote Schmidt lines
like wordier than so let's get Schmitt. I'm gonna get Schmidt. Correct, correct, correct,
lucky guess last one, Zoe go, Okay, I want friends
(37:45):
who still lie to me because they don't want to
hurt my feelings. I sadly kind of mean that that's me.
Especially the tag at the end feels very I sadly
kind of mean that I feel is very wrong. It's
outside Dave, it's Nick Nick. Okay, Well, I kind have
(38:09):
said that the episode Jess lines that feels unfair Joel.
That was the trick of the whole thing that shows
why Nick and Jess were meant to be that an interchangeable.
That was the speech that was my first episode on
the show. I want to say, the thing that Jess
(38:29):
and Nick have in common that Jake and I have
in common is that we are both not fast talkers. Um,
and it takes it's difficult for me to talk really fast,
like how um you know Max can talk really fast. Um.
My rhythm is slower and Jake's rhythm is slower. And
(38:50):
so we both would commiserate because they'd be like faster
and I'd be like, I literally can just like I'll
talk like fast and then slow and fasten the slow,
but I can't get everything out fast. I have to
try hard. So when you see me actually talking really
fast on the show, you know that took a lot
of work for me and you need to love me more. Um, Leslie,
(39:14):
you are an absolute delight. This is thank you, thank
you for fun to you again and I feel like Leslie,
we will need to get Matt and Rene's phone number
because as this show goes on, there will be true
American questions and now we can go yeah, but there's
it's not gonna be the same true America. It's going
(39:35):
to be people want to know how to play like
a more physical version. We just have to make sure
that we have all of this information and now we
know where to go. Thanks Leslie, one late night to
this huge moment for our show and for this show.
That was great talking with you all. Thank you. Right, folks,
(39:59):
make shure you guys like and subscribe because Lamorne wants
you to, and me and Hannah we all do. It's
one thing we agree upon, that's right exactly. Um, we
love you. Sleep while guys, unless you just woke up safely,
drink some coffee, drink some tea, have a macha on Me,
(40:23):
on Me, brought to you by Afreds Coffee. Just throw
your venmo up there. Lamar ya, No, I will I
will buy every listener a cup of coffee. No, don't
say that would be really expensive. I didn't tell what
kind of coffee. Yeah, but still it could get expensive.
You can get expensive. It costs money. Yeah, guys, that's
(40:45):
the sponsor will pay for it. I'll say I do it.
I'll buy it. But then we really know the sponsor
is doing it. We have to get a coffee sponsor.
You're creating a lot of work right now. I'm not
in on this. Hannah and Zoe want to buy you
want to now? We don't do not do not. I
(41:06):
want to buy you a real estate the smart girl.
I would like to wish our happiness. He's comfort happiness
inasmuch as this episode and other episodes could bring you happy.
(41:29):
You've been listening to Welcome to Our Show, a New
Girl recap podcast. Welcome to Our Show is a production
of I Heart Radio, hosted by Zoey Deschanel Lamour and
Morris and Hannah Simone. Our executive producers Joel Monique. Our
engineer and editor is Daniel Goodman. Welcome to Our Show
theme song was written by Zoey Deschanel, performed and produced
by Zoey Deschanel and Pierre de Reader. Follow us on
(41:52):
Instagram and Welcome to Our Show pot. If you have
a question you'd like us to answer, you can email
us at Welcome to Our Show podcast at gmail dot com.
Don't forget to rate, subscribe, and share far and wide.
Thanks for listening. We'll hear you next week. M
Hosts And Creators
Lamorne Morris
Hannah Simone
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