Inside Take Fountain: Jess Answers the Bernard Pivot Questionnaire

In this special episode of Take Fountain, Jess Canty takes on the legendary "10 Questions" made famous by Inside the Actors Studio. From her favorite word (and least favorite one we all agree on) to the sound that inspires her, Jess gives an unfiltered, honest, and deeply personal look at what drives her as a rep, creative, and human being.

Whether you're a working actor, a filmmaker, or someone who grew up dreaming of sitting across from James Lipton, this episode is a love letter to the craft — and to the questions that bring us closer to ourselves. This is more than just a fun behind-the-scenes moment; it's a thoughtful check-in for actors and entertainment professionals looking to stay connected to purpose in an often chaotic industry.

If you’re building a creative career and crave smart, meaningful conversation about the art and business of storytelling, this episode is for you. Get to know Jess, reflect on your own answers, and maybe even fall back in love with why you started this journey in the first place.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
On today's episode of Take Fountain, we are paying homage
to one of our favorite interview shows from the 1990s
inside the actor's studio.
It ran starting in 1994,
and I think they filmed close to 200 episodes.
Feels like a thousand. Yeah. With the host James Lipton.

(00:21):
It became, it started on Bravo actually,
before Bravo was All Housewives in reality shows.
That's right. Uh, it was this incredible resource,
I think, for anyone who was interested in the entertainment
business, especially actors. Yeah.
It was the hot ones of its time.
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
It wasn't the hot ones of its time.

(00:41):
I do love, I do love Hot ones. It's
So good. Hot ones is so
good. He's such a good interviewer.
He is. And it's that thing of,
I think James Lipson Lipson had this quality too.
Both of those shows kind of
broke people down to their essence.
I Right. Hot ones just gets there a little faster.
'cause when you're Yeah, yeah. When you're like,
a throat is on fire, you can't keep up with

(01:03):
Freaks. There is no, yeah. There's
no inside the actor studio
equivalent of the Conan O'Brien hot ones.
Right. It's like there's just no
Right. As
a theater nerd in high school, I always dreamed one day
of being able to answer these questions,
so I thought it would be fun since now we have the
power to do that ourselves.
Yeah. This is the

(01:23):
inside the Actors Studio slash Bernard pivo slash take
fountain edition of the 10 questions.
So Jess, I'm going
to ask you the world famous
questionnaire. Are you ready? This

(01:44):
Is, this is a big moment.
I'm, I'm very excited.
I have always wanted to answer these questions.
Everyone lean in, turn up the volume.
This is an important moment. This
Is an important moment for me.
Although I have not like pre I, I,
I feel like I've known these questions
and I've had so many answers to them.
Yeah. So I, I told myself like, not

(02:06):
to write anything down before this.
I'm, it's gonna be top of my head
as much as possible. Great.
What is your favorite word?
I love the word onap. Pia. I almost said onap Pia.
See, this is why we're friends.
Is that why I, I said it the other day to someone
and they were like, such a good word.

(02:28):
And I think I love it
because it sounds like the thing that it is,
Yeah. It really does.
Like, it, it feels like if you're trying
to describe a word for
The sounds, Like the sounds of things, then
that's the word you want.
Oh, so it's just annabi, like that's It's
Fun. It's fun, yeah.
Out of,

(02:49):
What is your least favorite word?
I think I gotta go with a lot of people's answers here
and say moist me.
Just don't like the sound of that word. It's just like, blah
Moist. Yeah.
Is a bit of an a Maia. It is,

(03:09):
It is. Yeah.
Ironically, It's too close. It's too good.
I don't like it. What
Turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?
Water in general, like bodies of water.
The ocean, specifically the Mediterranean.
I, I always feel

(03:31):
at peace in front of the ocean.
I feel inspired.
I feel like I wanna spend more time there always.
Um, so yeah, I would say large bodies of water, big lakes.
What turns you off?
I think people who focus on the negative, who,

(03:55):
who are determined to focus on the negative.
Um, and I think especially these days in our culture,
we're so surrounded by media that
knows that people click on negative more than
they click on positive.
And so we're so inundated with the negative.

(04:18):
I, I just, I, I am, I'm, it generally turns me off,
but I think in this environment especially,
I find myself getting more and more agitated by it
because, you know, we work in an industry that
is incredibly difficult to succeed at,
and yet, somehow lately the successes are ev are

(04:40):
framed negatively.
And you know, even with something like Sinners, where
in this is an incredible movie made by an incredible artist,
it's original idea
and it had, you know, a record breaking
the lowest weekend over weekend drop of any movie

(05:03):
rated R ever.
But all of the headlines are
about people complaining about the deal
that Ryan Coogler got
and about, you know, oh,
first it wasn't gonna make any money.
And then when it did, we had
to find something else negative.
And so, you know, that's just a, a small example,
but, but yeah.

(05:23):
Just the negativity for negativity,
for clicks for sure.
Um, definitely turns me off.
What is your favorite curse word?
So I think like you, I have to go with f**k
because it's so versatile.
Yeah. But there's this
beautiful word in Sicilian, which is Mia,

(05:47):
which basically means Dick.
But I just, the, again, it's one of those words
that's kind of fun to say.
Yeah. So I would say close second Minky.
Okay. What sound or noise do you love?
I love the sound of Uproarious laughter

(06:09):
in a live environment.
So whether it's at the theater
or in a movie theater for comedy.
Yeah. A group of people laughing.
What sound or noise do you hate?
I, I really can't stand like, metal on metal,
like the, like screechy scratchy.

(06:32):
Like it's giving me, it's giving me the Willie
is just thinking about it right now.
So yeah. Any kind of like
metal scraping on metal kind of thing?
Yeah. Uh,
what profession other than your own
would you like to attempt?
The older I get the more envious I am of

(06:52):
the John Stewarts and John Oliver's of the world.
I, I am so in awe of what they do,
but that blend between John Oliver especially that blend
between sort of, or contextualizing current events
and being able to keep it funny

(07:14):
and light, I think is just such an amazing skill.
So yeah. If I had a little magic wand, I would, I would have
done the necessary training
and you know, I don't think anyone can just drop into that.
Right. But, you know, the, I think
that would've been an amazing kind of job to have.
What profession would you not like to do?

(07:36):
I don't think I could handle being an ER surgeon. Oh.
Like I, and maybe this is just
because I recently was watching the Pit
and I could barely get
through an episode without like, doing this.
But I think it's, you know, just having

(07:57):
that life or death situation thrown at you over and over
and over and over again.
Um, I have so much respect for our first responders
and, and everyone who follows those professions.
And, and, but I know I could never attempt it.
You don't think that talent managing is getting

(08:18):
life to death thrown at you
Over different analogy.
Different. That's the thing. It's, it's, I've, it's funny
because, uh, another thing that inspired this was,
was kind of the studio and,
and talking about shows about that are about the industry.
And one of their recent episodes is kind of the thing
of like, whose job is more important?
Doctors are, or, uh, heads of a studio.

(08:41):
And I think storytelling
and what we do is incredibly culturally important.
Agree. And, you know, there was a great line in the episode
that Seth Rubin's character says, you know, you
as doctors help keep people alive.
We make life worth living,
or industry makes life worth living.
And so I truly believe that about storytelling.
So, and I think that's why it can feel

(09:03):
like that sometimes. Yeah.
So finally, if heaven exists,
what would you like to hear God say?
When you arrive at the pearly gates?
Uh, you get to go back and,
and do it again.
Ew. Because I, I think that

(09:26):
this, being on this planet
and being human beings is such a unique
and potentially singular experience in the universe,
at least as far as we know.
I think I've done a lot of things right in my life and,
but I, yeah, I'd love another couple shots at this.
And even if just to get to attempt, you know Yeah.

(09:48):
Be born in a different place. Get to see another, I always
Imagine there's people you knew like in high school
who like really just had it all together.
Yeah. Like those are people who got to go back
To Totally. I,
yeah. Like I feel like, you know, I,
I met this guy in Spain once
and he was like living on a bluff in like a hammock

(10:09):
and I was like, you've been here a few times,
you've done all the things right.
You have, you don't need anything but this.
'cause he was so centered
and like he didn't, it didn't feel like he wanted anything.
Right, right. Yeah. And I was like, I'm not there yet.
I'd love another couple tries at this to be able to enjoy

(10:32):
that version of a life. Yeah.
The, I, I want the Acts two of Palm Springs,
not the Acts three of Palm
Springs. Exactly. Yeah. I don't necessarily
want Groundhog Day.
Like I know that I wanna be aware of Yeah. Fair of it.
But fair enough. Yeah. That's
Our edition of the questions.
Thank you so much. If you enjoyed this episode, you know,
you should probably just click the thumbs up button.

(10:54):
Hey, while you're out it, why don't you, uh, leave a comment
below, let us know
what your favorite word is. What about Ron
Kma? Ron Kma
is a close second. Yeah, sure. It's a.