January 9, 2024 • 8 mins
Jon’s hilarious new comedy, Extended Family. Exended Family premieres Saturday, December 23rd at 8/7c on NBC, with new weekly episodes returning Tuesday, January 2nd at 8:30/7:30c on NBC (following Night Court) All episodes will be available to stream next day on Peacock. ..Starring Jon Cryer, Extended Family is a new multi-cam comedy centered around the shifting family dynamics following a good-natured divorce — and the surprisingly hilarious moments that come with co-parenting. The gags on Extended Family will be messy, endearing, and packed with hilarity, and you won't want to miss them.What is Extended Family about?The official synopsis for Extended Family teases: "After an amicable divorce, Jim and Julia decide to continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them. Navigating the waters of divorce and child-sharing gets more complicated for Jim when Trey, the owner of his favorite sports team, enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart.”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, Renee, I'm great.How are you? Oh my gosh,
I am so excited to be chattingwith you because I just think you're I
love everything you do, and you'reone of those people that I wish I
could hang out with, like havea drink with, or would like you're
at my table whenever they always askbecause you're so hilarious. I love you.
Oh, thank you so much.Well, I will hope. I
(00:21):
mean, that's hard to live upto, but I'll do my best.
Please try very hard during this interview, John, first of all, congratulations
on extended family. That looks hilarious. Thank you so much. We're having
so much fun. We're almost doneshooting the first season, and it's so
(00:43):
nice to finally have it playing infront of people because we actually shot the
pilot almost almost two years ago.Are you serious. Yeah no, but
there was the NBC had their presidentleft and then the strike happened. Oh
yeah, that's true. Yeah,we've just been doing it and it's so
funny because there's kids on the show, and we're like, the kids are
(01:07):
going to be grown ups, soyou're going to have to have one of
those in the future two years fromnow. Well, I love Donald Faison
first of all, one of mymost favorite actors. He's he's fantastic.
Abigail Spencer and I feel like,do you get to control the clips they
use to promote the shows on TV? Do you know? Do they give
(01:27):
you a heads up? They do? Not know. Every now and then
you're shooting something you're going to andyou think to yourself, they're going to
use this in the promos, Likethe second I was taking the Sarah gun
to my butt. Uh huh,they're going to use this, you know.
Usually it's like physical bits of comedy. You're tripping, you falling because
you know, because that's the quickest, easiest laugh, you know. Uh
(01:53):
so uh But but no, Idon't have any control over it. I
you know, it's really up tothe promo department. But I've been really
happy with what the promo department hasbeen picking. It's fantastic. But I'm
just like that promo gets me everytime when you've got the fair gun on
your butt and they open the door, I'm like, this is a fan
whoever did this? What a whata draw? And of course I think
(02:15):
it's a timely show right because everyone'syou know, consciously uncoupling or trying to
be amicable, trying to be adultshere, and the show is about how
an amicable divorce, if there reallyis such a thing. And then like,
I don't want to give away everything, but I know it's been out
there about how you're trying to combineyour lives. One of your favorite sports
(02:36):
teams, the guy likes your nowex wife, like very timely premise,
though I would say, oh,thank you. Well, the crazy thing
is my parents have divorced amicably,and so, you know, and that
was back in you know, nineteenseventy two, you know, so you
know it can't it's been around fora while, thankfully, but you know,
(02:58):
we just what I loved about thisrelationship was, you know, is
that it's very specific. You know, this is you know, this is
how they chose to try to makesomething good out of something that they couldn't
work out, you know, AndI feel like, you know, when
you got kids, that it's yourresponsibility to try and find that at least,
you know, obviously this is nota solution for everybody. It helps
(03:19):
that that one of them owns theBoston Celtics, you know that that kind
of makes it a special situation andit was inspired by the way by the
real owner of the Boston Celtics whodoes this with he and his wife share
an apartment with her ex husband sothat the kids don't have to move.
See. You know, I appreciatethat and thank you for sharing that information.
(03:43):
But I am Sicilian, so thisdoes not compute with me. I
do apologize. I tried. Iwish I could. Maybe I'll let you
know. I'll use your show aslearning. That's what I'll do, Okay.
I just feel like I feel likeI'm not trying to stereotype my people,
my Sicilians, but this just isnot We don't underst stand this.
You know, Hey, all Ican tell you is Amelia who Amelia Lar
(04:08):
This is based on you know,it's a deeply a tell and and proud
of it, and you know thisworks. You know, it's a it's
a you know again, it's theseparticular people. I really love the characters
as written, and that's kind ofas an actor, when you get that
feeling like I really know these people, right, that's when you kind of
(04:30):
have to jump on it as aas a performer. Listen, I don't
have a lot of time with youand I have We all have our schedules
to keep, but I want tomake sure people know they can watch this
on Peacock. You can stream episodesthere obviously on NBC. This is a
fantastic show, extended family with oneof you know, the best comedic timing
(04:51):
professionals on the planet. I know, I know you have scripts. I
know you have to do this,but I just love it. And you
have been in front of us yourwhole life. You have a I know
that it's hard work for you.Maybe you don't. We don't see all
the tears in your life, rightJohn, but you have been blessed in
our eyes as being on screen sincethe eighties from of course, I mean
talk about the John Houston movies clearlytwo Men in a Baby or you know
(05:15):
what I mean, all the stuffthat you've done. Oh my gosh,
I capt forget the name of theshow. I'm like two and a half
Men. I'm like two and ahalf Men with three babies, whatever the
name of that show is. Butlike you've done so much and grown in
front of our eyes. It seemslike a charmed career to me, where
you're able to say this is whatyou've consistently done. I am aware of
(05:35):
how lucky I am in this business, and every now and then I have
that am I in a simulation afeeling when I because you know, I'll
step onto the set and be like, wait, I'm like the you know,
I'm one of the stars of aTV show. How the hell did
that happen? But you know,I have I have the benefit of I
(05:58):
sort of grew up backstage parents forperformers, and so I've always had sort
of a gut level of comfort inthis world, you know, and a
little bit of a nepo baby thingbecause you know, when you're when you
when you grow up in it,you sort of you get it in a
way that it's harder for people justwho are getting coming into it from outside.
And and so'm I. You know, Uh, I've had advantages that
(06:23):
I'm that I'm obviously grateful for.But uh, you know, every day
on the set I have there's neverbeen a day where I didn't feel lucky.
Even in the podcast genre. Nowbecause you have your own podcast show
or are you still actively uh doingthat with with your your podcast that you
(06:43):
have on I just did. Iwasn't sure if that's something you're still actively
doing or do you have to putit aside when you're taping with with Lawyers,
Guns and Money. No. No, The amazing thing about a podcast
is that it is something that youknow you can absolutely do while you're doing
it. I mean, Donald Faisonon Extended Family still does his podcast.
And yeah, I used to doa show called Undisclosed which was about wrongful
(07:05):
convictions and I used to do interviewpeople on it, and then when the
opportunity for Lawyers, Guns and Moneycame up, which is a very specific
story, I just jumped on itbecause it's an absolutely Banana's true story about
this young public defender in Miami innineteen eighty six who gets this nut client
(07:29):
whose claims to be working for theCIA, claims to be a gun runner
for the CIA, and he kindof dismissed his claims as like, Okay,
you're a crazy person. But thenthe guy gave him a phone number
and it was It ended up beinganswered in the White House and this young
public defender ended up uncovering what laterbecame known as the Iran Contra scandal.
(07:54):
But this huge, like world shakingscandal with this one kid in Miami and
it's just an amazing story called Lawyer'sGuns and Money. Well, I wish
I had more time with you becauseI have a ton of other questions,
But meanwhile, we're just going tohave to take this and be satisfied.
John Cryer, you're one of myabsolute favorites. I wish you a ton
of success on extended family and allof your projects. I appreciate your time
(08:16):
today, Thank you so much.That's gonna be my motto going forward is
take this and be satisfied. I'mgoing to take this and be satisfied today,
my friend. Bye.
Hey, Renee, I'm great.How are you? Oh my gosh,
I am so excited to be chattingwith you because I just think you're I
love everything you do, and you'reone of those people that I wish I
could hang out with, like havea drink with, or would like you're
at my table whenever they always askbecause you're so hilarious. I love you.
Oh, thank you so much.Well, I will hope. I
(00:21):
mean, that's hard to live upto, but I'll do my best.
Please try very hard during this interview, John, first of all, congratulations
on extended family. That looks hilarious. Thank you so much. We're having
so much fun. We're almost doneshooting the first season, and it's so
(00:43):
nice to finally have it playing infront of people because we actually shot the
pilot almost almost two years ago.Are you serious. Yeah no, but
there was the NBC had their presidentleft and then the strike happened. Oh
yeah, that's true. Yeah,we've just been doing it and it's so
funny because there's kids on the show, and we're like, the kids are
(01:07):
going to be grown ups, soyou're going to have to have one of
those in the future two years fromnow. Well, I love Donald Faison
first of all, one of mymost favorite actors. He's he's fantastic.
Abigail Spencer and I feel like,do you get to control the clips they
use to promote the shows on TV? Do you know? Do they give
(01:27):
you a heads up? They do? Not know. Every now and then
you're shooting something you're going to andyou think to yourself, they're going to
use this in the promos, Likethe second I was taking the Sarah gun
to my butt. Uh huh,they're going to use this, you know.
Usually it's like physical bits of comedy. You're tripping, you falling because
you know, because that's the quickest, easiest laugh, you know. Uh
(01:53):
so uh But but no, Idon't have any control over it. I
you know, it's really up tothe promo department. But I've been really
happy with what the promo department hasbeen picking. It's fantastic. But I'm
just like that promo gets me everytime when you've got the fair gun on
your butt and they open the door, I'm like, this is a fan
whoever did this? What a whata draw? And of course I think
(02:15):
it's a timely show right because everyone'syou know, consciously uncoupling or trying to
be amicable, trying to be adultshere, and the show is about how
an amicable divorce, if there reallyis such a thing. And then like,
I don't want to give away everything, but I know it's been out
there about how you're trying to combineyour lives. One of your favorite sports
(02:36):
teams, the guy likes your nowex wife, like very timely premise,
though I would say, oh,thank you. Well, the crazy thing
is my parents have divorced amicably,and so, you know, and that
was back in you know, nineteenseventy two, you know, so you
know it can't it's been around fora while, thankfully, but you know,
(02:58):
we just what I loved about thisrelationship was, you know, is
that it's very specific. You know, this is you know, this is
how they chose to try to makesomething good out of something that they couldn't
work out, you know, AndI feel like, you know, when
you got kids, that it's yourresponsibility to try and find that at least,
you know, obviously this is nota solution for everybody. It helps
(03:19):
that that one of them owns theBoston Celtics, you know that that kind
of makes it a special situation andit was inspired by the way by the
real owner of the Boston Celtics whodoes this with he and his wife share
an apartment with her ex husband sothat the kids don't have to move.
See. You know, I appreciatethat and thank you for sharing that information.
(03:43):
But I am Sicilian, so thisdoes not compute with me. I
do apologize. I tried. Iwish I could. Maybe I'll let you
know. I'll use your show aslearning. That's what I'll do, Okay.
I just feel like I feel likeI'm not trying to stereotype my people,
my Sicilians, but this just isnot We don't underst stand this.
You know, Hey, all Ican tell you is Amelia who Amelia Lar
(04:08):
This is based on you know,it's a deeply a tell and and proud
of it, and you know thisworks. You know, it's a it's
a you know again, it's theseparticular people. I really love the characters
as written, and that's kind ofas an actor, when you get that
feeling like I really know these people, right, that's when you kind of
(04:30):
have to jump on it as aas a performer. Listen, I don't
have a lot of time with youand I have We all have our schedules
to keep, but I want tomake sure people know they can watch this
on Peacock. You can stream episodesthere obviously on NBC. This is a
fantastic show, extended family with oneof you know, the best comedic timing
(04:51):
professionals on the planet. I know, I know you have scripts. I
know you have to do this,but I just love it. And you
have been in front of us yourwhole life. You have a I know
that it's hard work for you.Maybe you don't. We don't see all
the tears in your life, rightJohn, but you have been blessed in
our eyes as being on screen sincethe eighties from of course, I mean
talk about the John Houston movies clearlytwo Men in a Baby or you know
(05:15):
what I mean, all the stuffthat you've done. Oh my gosh,
I capt forget the name of theshow. I'm like two and a half
Men. I'm like two and ahalf Men with three babies, whatever the
name of that show is. Butlike you've done so much and grown in
front of our eyes. It seemslike a charmed career to me, where
you're able to say this is whatyou've consistently done. I am aware of
(05:35):
how lucky I am in this business, and every now and then I have
that am I in a simulation afeeling when I because you know, I'll
step onto the set and be like, wait, I'm like the you know,
I'm one of the stars of aTV show. How the hell did
that happen? But you know,I have I have the benefit of I
(05:58):
sort of grew up backstage parents forperformers, and so I've always had sort
of a gut level of comfort inthis world, you know, and a
little bit of a nepo baby thingbecause you know, when you're when you
when you grow up in it,you sort of you get it in a
way that it's harder for people justwho are getting coming into it from outside.
And and so'm I. You know, Uh, I've had advantages that
(06:23):
I'm that I'm obviously grateful for.But uh, you know, every day
on the set I have there's neverbeen a day where I didn't feel lucky.
Even in the podcast genre. Nowbecause you have your own podcast show
or are you still actively uh doingthat with with your your podcast that you
(06:43):
have on I just did. Iwasn't sure if that's something you're still actively
doing or do you have to putit aside when you're taping with with Lawyers,
Guns and Money. No. No, The amazing thing about a podcast
is that it is something that youknow you can absolutely do while you're doing
it. I mean, Donald Faisonon Extended Family still does his podcast.
And yeah, I used to doa show called Undisclosed which was about wrongful
(07:05):
convictions and I used to do interviewpeople on it, and then when the
opportunity for Lawyers, Guns and Moneycame up, which is a very specific
story, I just jumped on itbecause it's an absolutely Banana's true story about
this young public defender in Miami innineteen eighty six who gets this nut client
(07:29):
whose claims to be working for theCIA, claims to be a gun runner
for the CIA, and he kindof dismissed his claims as like, Okay,
you're a crazy person. But thenthe guy gave him a phone number
and it was It ended up beinganswered in the White House and this young
public defender ended up uncovering what laterbecame known as the Iran Contra scandal.
(07:54):
But this huge, like world shakingscandal with this one kid in Miami and
it's just an amazing story called Lawyer'sGuns and Money. Well, I wish
I had more time with you becauseI have a ton of other questions,
But meanwhile, we're just going tohave to take this and be satisfied.
John Cryer, you're one of myabsolute favorites. I wish you a ton
of success on extended family and allof your projects. I appreciate your time
(08:16):
today, Thank you so much.That's gonna be my motto going forward is
take this and be satisfied. I'mgoing to take this and be satisfied today,
my friend. Bye.
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