Modi x Debra Messing LIVE at 92NY

Episode 164: Filmed live at 92NY, Modi is joined by Emmy Award–winning actor, producer, and advocate Debra Messing for a candid conversation on identity, advocacy, and how comedy can change the culture.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, hello.
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
That's the night of communitycomedy machine.
No, are you ready?
No, this does not happen withouta producer, a manager, the

(00:23):
person that made the links tocome see the show, the emails
that don't end.
Please help me welcome to thestage my producer, my manager,
and my full-time husband, Leo.

SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
Hello.
Good evening and welcome to AndHere's Modi live at the 92nd
Street Y.
Thank you all so much for beinghere tonight.
What started as a littleexperiment, a way to capture
some of Modi's offstageconversations, has turned into
this beautiful, funny,surprisingly heartfelt project

(01:00):
that people all over the worldconnect to.
The podcast has become, in itsown way, a vessel for Mashiach
energy, spreading laughter,curiosity, and a little light
wherever it goes.
We've now taped 163 episodes.
Right?
This will be episode 164.
Some of you may remember we werehere at the 92nd Street Y for

(01:22):
our 100th episode, and we arethrilled to be here again
tonight.
We'd like to join the 92ndStreet Y in thanking the Henry
Nyas Foundation for makingtonight's event possible.
Yeah, give it up for the 92ndStreet Y.
Over time, we've had everyonefrom comedians and authors to
activists, musicians, newsanchors, close personal friends,

(01:44):
rabbis, cookbook authors, andbecause this is a Jewish
podcast, more than one doctor.
We've even had released hostageOmar Shem Tov and his family
join us, which was one of themost moving conversations we've
ever recorded.
The show is at its heart ameandering but warm
conversation, always with aJewish twist and always anchored

(02:06):
in humor and humanity.
Tonight feels particularlypoetic for me because our guest
embodies so much of what theshow is about, using art and
laughter to explore identity,faith, and resilience.
Deborah Messing is an EmmyAward-winning actor, producer,
and advocate whose work hasspanned Broadway film and
television.

(02:27):
She's used her platform tochampion social justice, women's
rights, and the Jewishcommunity, all while making
millions of people laugh alongthe way.
Of course, we all know and loveher from Will and Grace, a show
I technically wasn't allowed towatch growing up in my very
sheltered Catholic home.
God forbid I see a depiction ofa happy Will and become gay.

(02:49):
Or worse, see myself in graceand become an interior designer.
It is my genuine pleasure to setthe stage for two Jewish
entertainers and voices who areonly becoming more essential in
today's noisy and often dividedworld.
So with that, please help mewelcome Modi and Deborah
Messing.

SPEAKER_03 (03:23):
How are you?
Oh my God, this is so amazing.
When we began this and plannedthis, and it does take so much
work, this doesn't just happen.
What Leo has to go through isunbelievable.
To get your tochis in thesechairs is one of the it's a it's
a miracle.
It's nothing short of a miracle.
But when we began this, therewere still hostages.

(03:46):
And now we're in a differentzone.
We are in this zone ofgratefulness, of of gratitude,
of shiach energy.
Yeah, and I'm so happy you'rehere.

SPEAKER_04 (04:00):
Oh my gosh, I am so thrilled to be here.

SPEAKER_03 (04:04):
Amazing.
Now now you and I only met a fewmonths ago because we started
going to events together thatwere um that were Jewish and
whatever the the world broughtus together in some ways.
Um, but you and I could have metmany, many years ago.

SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
How's that?

SPEAKER_03 (04:22):
I auditioned to be will.
And um I have the pilot righthere.
In nine in November 5th, 1997, Iauditioned at NBC with Steve
O'Neill, and I didn't get therole.
And tonight we're gonna find outwhy I didn't get the role.

(04:46):
We are gonna read the auditionsides from the scene that I was
given with Will and Grace.
Leo will set us all up.

SPEAKER_00 (04:56):
Grace Adler, 30, adorable, neurotic, happening
New York chick.
Will Herman, early 30s,excessively handsome, masculine,
charming, subscribes to fourmagazines: The New Yorker, The
American Lawyer, Vanity Fair,and The Advocate.
Act one, scene B, InteriorGrace's office.
We are in a tribe aloft thatserves as the office of Grace's

(05:19):
interior design company, A Touchof Grace.
Grace holds up a pair offurniture feet in the shape of
eagle talons for Will to assess.

SPEAKER_04 (05:27):
And I want to use these on the love seat in their
library.

SPEAKER_03 (05:30):
Yes.
The accent that begs thequestion is it a comfy chair or
a bird of prey?

SPEAKER_04 (05:35):
Do you like it?

SPEAKER_03 (05:36):
I like it.

SPEAKER_04 (05:37):
Do you like it?

SPEAKER_03 (05:38):
Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_04 (05:38):
Do you like it?
Not that much.
You're wrong.
You're wrong.
Post Empire is very hot rightnow.
Jackie used them in the blueroom.
And if they're good enough forthe Kennedys, they're good
enough for Nick and Nicky Noxonfrom Armonk.

SPEAKER_03 (05:53):
Oh, if they're for Nick and Nicki Noxon from
Armonk, then I love it.
I gotta go to work.
I'll see you tonight at thepoker game.

SPEAKER_04 (06:00):
Yeah.
So you like it?

SPEAKER_03 (06:02):
I like it.

SPEAKER_04 (06:03):
Why they suck.

SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
Now you know why I didn't get the role.
Now, imagine that the role ofwill was played by an Israeli
gay.
A near not far, if you will.
Or a will, like when you die,you leave a will.

SPEAKER_04 (06:24):
And I want to use these on the love seed in their
library.

SPEAKER_03 (06:30):
Horrible.
It's horrible.
I don't know if it's a chair ora bird's nest.

SPEAKER_04 (06:34):
Do you like it?

SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
I like it.

SPEAKER_04 (06:36):
Do you like it?

SPEAKER_03 (06:38):
Beside, I know I like it.
I like it.

SPEAKER_04 (06:41):
You like it?

SPEAKER_03 (06:42):
No, no.

SPEAKER_04 (06:44):
Well, you're wrong.
Post Empire is very hot rightnow.
Jackie used them in the blueroom.
And if it's they're good enoughfor the Kennedys, they're good
enough for Nicki Nicki Noxinfrom Armunk.

SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
Nick Nik Noxin, Nikki Nikno, Mazan Nicki Nicki
Noxin.
Mazin Nicki Nik ma Mommy, I loveit.
It's beautiful.
If you pick it out, it's great,it's gonna be amazing.
I see you tonight.

SPEAKER_04 (07:06):
Ken.
So you like it?

SPEAKER_03 (07:11):
I love it.

SPEAKER_04 (07:12):
Why?
They suck.

SPEAKER_03 (07:15):
See?
Oh.
This is this is the actualscript.
And I think we're gonna have yousign it and then we'll donate it
to some J J C J A B C.
And some Jewish.
Oh, that was fun.
That was that was that wasamazing.
Okay, so everybody, our guest,Deborah Masson, you know her,

(07:38):
no?

SPEAKER_04 (07:39):
Hi everyone.

SPEAKER_03 (07:40):
Yes.
And she's so Jewish.
She's so she's so Jewish.
Burh Hashem.
Burch Hashem.
But you grew up in Rhode Island.

SPEAKER_04 (07:53):
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (07:53):
Now what's that like growing up in Rhode Island?
Like what what holidays did youcelebrate or didn't celebrate?

SPEAKER_04 (07:59):
Well, I was one of three Jews in the entire
community.
Wow.
Yeah.
But my parents were very Jewish.
My father was president of thetemple.
And so we always went to thehigh holidays.
Pesach was, of course, ourfavorite.
And we had our Catholic bestfriends come over and they would

(08:20):
go under the table looking forthe Afikomen.
And that was it.

SPEAKER_03 (08:26):
That was it.

SPEAKER_04 (08:26):
That was it.
I know when I was really littlewe went to temple for Sukkot.
I mean, I I couldn't even tellyou now which miniatera it is.

SPEAKER_03 (08:36):
No one knows which is no, there's nobody in this
room that can tell you whichminiatera it is.
Not one person.
Not one person.
Luckily, my rabbi, his birthdaywas on Shminyatzer, so that's
what I know.
That's my rabbi's birthday.
That's it.
That's otherwise no one knowswhat that means.

SPEAKER_04 (08:50):
That was it?

SPEAKER_03 (08:51):
Yeah.
And um, and you, but you you youso growing up, you did you did
you see people on televisionthat you related to?
Did you have to become thecharacter that you became?

SPEAKER_04 (09:02):
No, I I there was there was no representation for
a a Jewish woman on television.
Um, and so Barbara Streisand,funny girl, was my patron saint.
And um, it was actually a movie,uh, dirty dancing.
And yeah, baby.

(09:24):
That that was the first time Isaw myself.
I'm like, I'm a mess like her,I'm neurotic like her, I'm a
klutz like her, I have a strongnose like her, and she's famous
and can be an actor, so I guessI can too.

SPEAKER_03 (09:42):
Perfect, and you nailed it.
Um, do you prefer to play Jewishroles?

SPEAKER_04 (09:48):
Duh.
Yes, yes, of course.

SPEAKER_03 (09:52):
I anytime I got cast as anything that wasn't Jewish,
I was so like, wow, I have arange.
I have a range.
I'm it's an it's a like it wasan Italian or Puerto Rican.
It wasn't like I wasn't somewaspy guy at a country club.
It was the same thing as a Jew,you know.

SPEAKER_04 (10:10):
Grace was the first Jewish role I played.

SPEAKER_03 (10:12):
It was that was the first role you played that was
Jewish.

SPEAKER_04 (10:15):
Ever.

SPEAKER_03 (10:15):
Now you have to understand she has a huge acting
uh training and background intheater, and it's not just
Grace, it's just like there's alot.
But that was the first Jewishrole.

SPEAKER_04 (10:25):
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (10:25):
What were the roles before that they weren't Jewish?

SPEAKER_04 (10:28):
Um, I was a bioanthropologist on television.
Um I that was I was on Seinfeld,um but late she wasn't she
wasn't Jewish.
They straightened my hair.

SPEAKER_03 (10:45):
But everybody on Seinfeld wasn't Jewish, but they
all were Jewish.

SPEAKER_04 (10:48):
They sounded Jewish.
Like, like to me, that was aJewish show.
Okay, you know, and I used tolike say, well, you know, Julie
Louis Dref Dreyfus is the youknow that character is Jewish,
and they're like, No, she's not.
She's not Jewish.
I'm like, yes, she is, andthey're like, no, she's not.
And so I, you know.

SPEAKER_03 (11:07):
Did you ever I I once did a commercial for the
Knicks, which spikely to histeam.
It was a commercial, like it wasuh it was, it wasn't like a big
thing, but like it was a seriesof commercials.
They had like whatever thetagline was, it was like, but
it's the Knicks, you know, likeso they had different people in
different like restaurants or onuh on the subway, and then I was

(11:27):
cast as the Jewish husband, andI had a Jewish wife, and this
was an insane moment.
You're sitting there, and SpikeLee was directing it.
That's his team, right?
So now we do the line, and itwas it was so crazy over the top
Jewish.
It was like um, like the how thewife is asking how much were the
tickets, and he tells her howmuch, and she goes, that much?

(11:49):
Like she's this cheap wife, andthen I go, but it's the next,
you know?
And Spike Lee comes in and goes,too Jewish.
Have you ever had a too Jewishmoment?

SPEAKER_04 (12:00):
Um I my very first movie I ever did with Keanu
Reeves, a walk in the A Walk inthe Clouds.
Um I was my very first scene, Iwas doing a kiss with Keanu
Reeves in 5050.
And I came in and I heard, cut!How quickly can we get a plastic

(12:22):
surgeon in here?
Her nose is ruining my film.

SPEAKER_03 (12:26):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 (12:28):
And he sat there like this.
Wow.
And the crew is like, what'sgoing on?
And and he was like, Look ather, look, look at the nose.
Oh my god.
And I was like, You saw my nosewhen you cast me.

(12:49):
And I, you know, I had neverbeen in Hollywood, I'd never
been in a movie, and I was like,I just sat there, you know,
shaking.
And then you he was like, Allright, let's go back to one.
We can't change it now.

SPEAKER_03 (13:04):
Wow, that's so mean.

SPEAKER_04 (13:07):
And after that, I called my agents in New York and
I'm like, I'm not, I'm not builtfor Hollywood.
I'm I'm not pretty enough.
I want to come home and I wantto do theater because everyone
in theater can be beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 (13:23):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (13:24):
Because it's far away.

SPEAKER_03 (13:31):
Um it's live theater, it's real.
There's something there.
You know, when you so I wasgonna ask you the difference
between performing on a camera,you know, when you walk onto a
set, there's about 50 to 100people there with walkie-talkies
and microphones, and and thenthey go, cut silent action, and
you're on.
Yeah, so like what do you whatlike would you prefer that over

(13:55):
a live audience?

SPEAKER_04 (13:57):
Oh no, live, live theater for sure is my is my
number one.
And I also, you know, I havethis theory that TV is a
writer's medium, film is adirector's medium, and theater
is an actor's medium.
It's like once once you uh itopens, it's in the hands of the
actor, they get on the stage,you can't cut, and it's wild and

(14:21):
dangerous, and no one can cantell you, I don't like that
anymore.
And uh, and then you get to havea dialogue, you know, while
you're acting, and every nightthere's a different dialogue,
and it's it's just it's it'sincredible to me.
Being on set for like 17 hoursand only doing a half of a scene

(14:44):
makes me crazy.

SPEAKER_03 (14:46):
And as a comic, you're doing it and you're like,
you're hoping that someonechuckles, you're hoping to hear
a chuckle in the side thatsomeone like thought that was
funny.

SPEAKER_04 (14:54):
But then when they when they do, they're like, uh,
gotta go back with sound, sound,right?

SPEAKER_03 (15:00):
Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (15:01):
It's a nightmare.

SPEAKER_03 (15:02):
Yep, yep.
But it's it's uh it'sstorytelling, but it's money,
they pay so much, they pay somuch.
So good.
Oh my god, the much for thatmuch money for and they keep
sending you the checks, and it'sso good.
It's so good.

SPEAKER_04 (15:19):
I j I just did an off-Broadway play in the fall.
And hey, thank you.
It was called Shit Hit Fan, andit was very funny.
Um, we did the math.
I was paid$69 every performance.

SPEAKER_03 (15:37):
I know, yeah, there's no no money in that.

SPEAKER_04 (15:40):
$69.

SPEAKER_03 (15:41):
No money in that, yeah.
Yes, yeah.
No, no, that's why people go.
We should be on Broadway.
I said, Yeah, you I can't affordto be on Broadway.
Leo likes nice things.
I can't afford.
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 (15:53):
I got a kid I have to put through college.

SPEAKER_03 (15:55):
Yeah.
Um Barbara, yes, you wereamazing on Broadway.
You just did a movie that Iwatched three times.
Alto Knights.
Who saw it?
Nobody because they don'tadvertise anymore, they just
make things with huge actors anduh on on um on Apple TV and

(16:16):
this, and you no one hears aboutit.
There's no ads for it, but AltoKnights, she plays uh uh the
wife of a mafia king.
The king is Robert De Niro.
And she's Jewish, and it's sogood.
I watched it on a flightsomewhere, I watched it on the
flight back, and then when theytold me that you agreed to do

(16:36):
this, I go, I'm I'm gonna watchit one more time so I can talk
about it.
You were so good.
You were what was the age gapbetween you guys?
Is it a real story?

SPEAKER_04 (16:46):
It's a real story.

SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
He he had a Jewish wife.

SPEAKER_04 (16:48):
Uh she was the only Jewish wife of a mobster in all
of history, and that's what madehim particularly special because
he cared about her more than thenorm.
Um what did you ask me?

SPEAKER_03 (17:04):
Uh the well, I mean, you obviously didn't meet the
the woman that you played.
Oh but how did you go into herhead?

SPEAKER_04 (17:11):
Oh, oh, well I you did it so good.

SPEAKER_03 (17:13):
No one represents us better than her on television.

SPEAKER_04 (17:17):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 (17:18):
And film and whatever.
It's like it's easy to look at,it's funny, it moves, we're okay
with it.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 (17:25):
That means a lot.

SPEAKER_03 (17:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (17:26):
I mean, I read seven books on it, you know, and I
just on their relationship, onthe history at that time.
And I actually found her greatnephew on Facebook.

SPEAKER_03 (17:41):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 (17:43):
And um, I was just like, Hi, I'm playing Bobby.
Can anyone anyone give meinformation?
And he was like, I was with heruntil the day she died.
No, and uh, and it was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 (17:56):
Did you see videos and hear her voice?

SPEAKER_04 (17:58):
No, I I saw I saw pictures from newspapers and
magazines.
Okay, and then I found out thathis funeral was two blocks from
my house, my apartment.

SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (18:11):
And when I saw the picture, I'm walking down the
street and I'm like, oh my god,that's so cool.
But um, and then I had a uhdialit coach to help me, you
know, with with the Jewish NewYork.
I didn't I didn't know therethere was a Jewish Harlem.
That was something I learned.

(18:32):
Um I had a ball.

SPEAKER_03 (18:35):
You can't it looked like you were.

SPEAKER_04 (18:36):
Oh, you asked the age, the age difference.
Yes.
He's 25 years older than me, andI was supposed to be his
contemporary.

SPEAKER_03 (18:44):
Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 (18:45):
So they were like, how are we gonna make her look
old?
And they were like, okay, let'sjust this and this, and I'm
like, I'm like, they're they'retrying to make me look old and
ugly.
Like, this is not what I'msaying.

SPEAKER_03 (18:58):
I thought there was like a 20-year difference, and
they just leaned into it.

SPEAKER_04 (19:02):
Well, no, what they said was they're like, we'll say
she's six years younger.
Okay, and I was like, he's 82.
He's 82, and you're saying he's66, and I'm 60?
I'm like, it's Bob De Niro, youcan say whatever you want.

SPEAKER_03 (19:22):
And what is it like being on set with Bob De Niro?

SPEAKER_04 (19:25):
Oh my god, I thought my bowels were going to release.

SPEAKER_03 (19:29):
It was your first time working with him.

SPEAKER_04 (19:31):
Yes.
I I was so nervous I had toaudition with him in his office
in Tribeca with Barry Levinson,who did uh Rain Man.
And you know, we have threescenes and we sit down.
I came with costumes.

SPEAKER_03 (19:53):
You came with a with with a with different looks.

SPEAKER_04 (19:55):
I I came, I came into his office, I had put my
hair up, red lipstick, I wore a1950s dress, I put a lot of
powder on to make it look like Ihad wrinkles, and then you know,
the scene was that the upperwest side, you know, penthouse,
and she's in a dressing gown.

(20:15):
And so I brought a bright reddressing gown in my bag, and
they're like, hi, nice to meetyou, nice to meet.
They're like, Okay, are weready?
I'm like, hold it, please.
And I put it on, they're like,What what are you doing?
And I was like, it says she'swearing a dressing gown, and
they're like, Okay, go ahead.

(20:38):
And he and we start, he says oneline, and then he just starts
improving.

SPEAKER_03 (20:45):
Oh wow.
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (20:48):
I was given scenes, I memorized every single line,
and he did not follow any of it.

SPEAKER_00 (20:56):
So good.

SPEAKER_04 (20:56):
He just starts talking, and I'm just like,
what's happening?
Oh my god, I'm out of my body.
Okay, you know, I gotta sink orswim, and thank God we did
improv in school.

SPEAKER_03 (21:08):
If you come with dressed, it's uh it's a thing.
I would so I I got I had a roleas a rabbi, shocking.
It was very That's a stretch ina movie called um Bayou, um
Louisiana Bayou.
Um, and Cuba Gooding Jr.
was a star and he was directingit and all that.
And the and the person who gotme said, Cuba's gonna be at this

(21:30):
party, he wants to see you forthis role.
I came dressed with the fullrobe, the talus, the hat, the
whole nine yards.
Shaum aleichem.
I walked in, he goes, You gotit, no problem.
I got out of, I got out of drag.
I got out of drag, and that wasit.
And it's and I got twohysterical scenes in the movie.

(21:52):
Um, it was great.
It was, but you yeah, it shows alittle.
You came with a schmatta, it wasnice.

SPEAKER_04 (21:57):
Well, I I didn't tell you that the role had
already been offered to someoneelse.

SPEAKER_03 (22:01):
Oh.

SPEAKER_04 (22:02):
You know who?
Uh the most Jewish actress inHollywood.
Michelle Pfeiffer.

SPEAKER_01 (22:14):
No.

SPEAKER_04 (22:15):
I laughed so hard I fell off the couch.

SPEAKER_03 (22:17):
That's hysterical.

SPEAKER_04 (22:18):
I was like, are you kidding me?
And they're like, nope, theyoffered it to her, and we're
just gonna wait, and thank Godshe turned it down because then
I got it.

SPEAKER_03 (22:25):
Wow, that's see, Michelle Kenaji.
If you see this movie, see themovie, it's the it's the best
thing.
It's such an easy movie.

SPEAKER_04 (22:32):
Streaming, you can find it.

SPEAKER_03 (22:34):
It's so easy.
Alto Knights, it's such a great,and the guy that played with him
was like a Joe Pesci, but itwasn't Joe Pesci.

SPEAKER_04 (22:40):
Can I tell you?
Yes, that most of the mobstersin that movie were real
mobsters.

unknown (22:47):
Wow.

SPEAKER_03 (22:47):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (22:48):
Mobsters that Bob grew up with on the Lower East
side.

SPEAKER_03 (22:51):
Oh, he knew them.

SPEAKER_04 (22:53):
He stayed friends with them, and he puts them in
every movie that he has when hecan.

SPEAKER_01 (22:59):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (23:00):
And so I was sitting with one of them, you know, at a
bar and we're having pizza, andI and he and he I was like, So
what did you do?
And he was like, I was intrucking.

SPEAKER_05 (23:11):
Trucking.

SPEAKER_04 (23:12):
And I was like, oh wow, and then I I said, um, were
you around during that Lufthansathing that happened?
He's like, no comment.
I was like, you were there?
He's like, Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (23:31):
Wow.
I was like, we've got realmobsters.
Don't kill me, please don't killme.

SPEAKER_03 (23:37):
That's it's it's when it's when you when they're
when they're real, you can feelit.

SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (23:41):
Yeah.
I I had I had a scene on theSopranos.
Um it was three three pages, andit was cut, they cut it down to
three lines.
Howard Stern said to me, You'rethe only guy that got they got
whacked in the editing room.
But when we did the the thereading, yeah, I was like, oh,
no one here is acting.

(24:03):
This is this is them.
Before we sat down, where wereyou Sunday?
I ate over here, Joey Maloney,but baloney canoni.
I was like, oh my god.
So I went right into my, I wasan Israeli diamond dealer.
Again, a stretch.
I really had to go intocharacter thoughts and uh I was
Meisner.

(24:23):
I did Meisner for that one.
Got it.
Yes, and so I was like, oh Modi,just do your Israeli accent even
when they're not doing thereading.
I was like, hey, is there anycoffee left for me over there?
And then and that was and thatwas it was it was real, it was
real, it was real.

SPEAKER_01 (24:36):
It's so crazy.

SPEAKER_03 (24:38):
Okay.
Now a little more serious.
When we when you do a when youhave a guest, of course, you do
the research and you GPT andchat GPT and and thank God Leo
knows how to do it really well.
We were reading all your stuff,and what blew us out of the
water is that season six of Willand Grace, you were pregnant.

SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
I was very pregnant.

SPEAKER_03 (25:03):
How did you like we were like looking at her and we
binged the show and then did yougo back to season six?
We we began season one.
No, no, no.
We began we we did episode one,season one a while ago before
the new show came on.

SPEAKER_04 (25:18):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (25:18):
Okay, so we watch all of that.
So we were ready when that wasreleased.

SPEAKER_04 (25:22):
Got it.

SPEAKER_03 (25:22):
Bam, we were right flowed right in there.
Yes, and it's an easy show.
22 minutes, you're good,everybody's happy, no one dies,
there's no fouter, there's nodoor slamming on your surround
sound.
It's just easy.
It's just an easy show.
That's all we need because theXanax needs to to to you can't
you can't have gunfire beforeyou go to bed.

(25:43):
So we loved Will and Grace, andthen the stuck, and then and
then when we we we were like,how is she pregnant?
How do you navigate your health,the baby's health, and your role
staying on the uh in the in thestory?

SPEAKER_04 (25:57):
University of Miami.

SPEAKER_03 (25:58):
University of Miami.

SPEAKER_04 (26:00):
Um, I uh at 11 weeks I ripped my placenta.

SPEAKER_03 (26:06):
Did you think you were gonna hear the word
placenta tonight?
No.

SPEAKER_04 (26:12):
And my doctor said you have to be off your feet.
And I was like, I'm doing willand grace.
What are you talking about?
And he's like, You you can't.
I'm like, I have to.
And they're like, he's like,okay, I will allow you to work
four hours a day, but thatincludes transportation both
ways.

(26:33):
Nobody was very happy to hearthat information because usually
you we only shoot on one day,and now because of this, we had
to shoot every single day.

SPEAKER_05 (26:41):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (26:42):
Um, so that I felt very guilty about that, and that
was very hard.
Um and then seventh month, I getinto a car accident, and I start
bleeding, and I go to thehospital, and I stay there for

(27:02):
three days, and they stop thebleeding, and that and she's
like, You are getting into bed,you are not moving.
And I was like, Done.
And so Will and Grace, they'relike, Okay, we have to rewrite
this entire season.
It was a whole thing with Leo.
I was supposed to be marriedwith Leo, Harry Connick Jr., and
be happy.
And they're like, Okay, we haveto break you up.

(27:22):
And they're like, We need you,so we're gonna come and we're
gonna build the set in yourliving room.

SPEAKER_03 (27:29):
Oh my god.
So that's nowhere online, by theway.
What we didn't we look we triedto look for more information
about that.
Have you spoken about this likebig time or no?
I don't think so.
We knew there had to be morebehind it.

SPEAKER_04 (27:43):
Oh, they came and I was up in bed, and they are like
literally changing, like puttingon all new curtains and and
wallpaper and all new, and I andthey're like, okay, we're ready
for you, Deborah.
And I'm like, I'm literally inmy robe.
They're and they wrote it sothat I was sick and I had to be

(28:06):
in bed.

SPEAKER_03 (28:06):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 (28:07):
And so I slowly come down the stairs, and like all
the cameras are there.
I lived in a tiny little house.
I was like, I don't know how youdid this.
And then I got into bed and Idid the scene with Will.
And then uh and then that thatwas it.
After after uh after the the thecar accident, I never went back

(28:30):
till the for the end of theseason.
I missed the last, I think,three or four episodes.

SPEAKER_03 (28:36):
Wow.
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (28:38):
Drama!

SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
Drama.
Oh my god.
No, we knew when when we wereGoogling and Googling and
researching, and what whatbecause there's nothing worse
than doing a podcast and theperson's asking you the same
questions over and over.
And we didn't hear you talkabout this anywhere else.
No, so we knew there's a lot ofthings.

SPEAKER_04 (28:55):
But if you go back to season six, you will see that
I am constantly holding a bigplant.
Like there's a big plant and I'mholding it here, or it's a
laundry basket, or it's I mean,I am it it's ridiculous.
Like it became a joke.
They're like, up, there's thewhere's the plant?
Just bring the plant in.

SPEAKER_03 (29:17):
Wow.
Well, thanks for sharing thatwith the audience.
That's a that's an amazing storyto hear.

SPEAKER_04 (29:22):
Yeah, I and I just was like, and Julie Louis
Drivers had had several babieswhile she was working, and it
was like smooth sailing.

SPEAKER_03 (29:30):
Is there like advocacy for that in Hollywood
now for for women with no, no,just don't have your baby while
we're shooting?
Do me a favor.

SPEAKER_04 (29:38):
They're like, if you could work it around, you know,
the season break, that would bereally great.

SPEAKER_03 (29:44):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (29:44):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (29:45):
Wow, wow, wow.
Okay.
Continuing on.
Um I found so you you you nowwe're in the advocacy of
Deborah, which you it'sunbelievable.
We're gonna get to Israel in aAll of that, but before then, um
I I very much believe in thepower of intention, which is a

(30:06):
book written by uh Dr.
Wayne Dyer, which I love.
It helps you understand Torahand Talmud and it helps you
understand Kabala.
It's an amazing, easy way tounderstand life.
It simplifies things, and powerof intention, when you intend to
do something, it um it manifestsnever in the right, never the
way you think it's gonna happen.

(30:28):
But when we found out about you,so you're a Brandeis alumni.

SPEAKER_04 (30:33):
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (30:36):
Shocking, shocking at the 92nd Street Y, Brandeis
alumni.
Who would have thought?
But when you were at NYUstudying acting, yeah, you had a
professor.

SPEAKER_04 (30:48):
I did.
I had a teacher, a theater gamesteacher, and he was beloved, and
he basically had the innocenceand wonder of a seven-year-old.
Wow.
And um he had AIDS, and I hadnever met anyone with AIDS
before.
And two months after I graduatedthe third year, he died at 41.

(31:13):
And we were there at thehospital, and it was very
traumatic.
He, you know, he couldn't speak,he had it, you know, and then he
had a tube coming out of hishead that was draining blood.
And you know, we were all comingto say goodbye, and we did, and

(31:34):
then I was like, this shouldnever happen ever again to
anybody.
I need to do something.
And I was a student.
I I literally didn't make enoughmoney to have to pay taxes.
That's how poor I was.

SPEAKER_03 (31:51):
Um again, this is a Jewish audience, no one here
really.
There's many ways to not paytaxes.
But continue.

SPEAKER_04 (32:06):
So I so I just started giving$10 to Amphar and
um God's love, we deliver.
And they in New York theydeliver food to people who are
homebound with AIDS.
And I just did this, you know,for a couple of years.
I didn't talk about it.
And then I got um, I I saw thisin LA, this eldo shoe ad, and it

(32:33):
was see no evil, hear no evil,speak no evil, and it was about
the stigma of AIDS.
And I thought, whoever did thatis a genius.
I want to meet them.
And I I was at a dinner forCartier, and I'm sitting across
from this woman, and she is thevice president of Population
Services International, which isa global health organization.

(32:57):
Um, and she's like, Yeah, I didthat.
That was me.
And I was like, if there'sanything I can do, I would love
to do it.
She's like, Okay, we're gonna goto Zimbabwe.

SPEAKER_03 (33:09):
No, but this is that's after Will and Grace.

SPEAKER_04 (33:12):
Um yes.

SPEAKER_03 (33:14):
No, but before Will and Grace.

SPEAKER_04 (33:16):
I was giving ten dollars.

SPEAKER_03 (33:18):
You were giving ten dollars to help AIDS and the
awareness of you were doing whatyou were doing, and then but
your intention was how can Ihelp you?
How can I help?
Yes.
So God gave you a role as wellas a grace.
You are now a massive gay icon,and then you can go to Zimbabwe
and do whatever you have to doto raise.

(33:39):
That's that's that's that's thefirst of all mashir energy, and
that's also power of intention.
You had the intention, and Godsaid, Okay, she wants to help,
I'm gonna make her grace, andnow you have a platform.

SPEAKER_04 (33:50):
I absolutely absolutely believe that
everything led me to playinggrace, right?
And then it just continued fromthere.

SPEAKER_03 (33:59):
And I will tell you, as a 20 and 30-year-old person
living in New York at that timewhen the show was on, the best
thing your show did was not talkabout AIDS.
Yeah, because people themillennials came all the way,
but I don't know if you rememberback in those days, AIDS and gay
was was synonymous.

(34:20):
You said gay, AIDS, gay, AIDSgay.
It was that was just all it was.

SPEAKER_04 (34:24):
And AIDS was death sentence.

SPEAKER_03 (34:25):
It was a death sentence.
It wasn't like it is today.
And I, you know, of course, as acomic, you try to make fun and
have good, you know.
But I so I say in my generation,when we came out to our parents,
we say, Mom, I have AIDS.

unknown (34:37):
Ah!

SPEAKER_03 (34:38):
I'm just gay.

SPEAKER_04 (34:41):
Wait, you're gay?

SPEAKER_03 (34:44):
Nervous.
But um, but but but the factthat you guys just normalized
being gay.
He's a lawyer, there's anotherguy who's a little more, he's an
actor waiter, okay.
But like, but AIDS didn't haveto be the main focus of the
whole conversation in will andgrace.
And that was a huge, that washuge.
Huge.

SPEAKER_04 (35:04):
I you know what, it never even occurred to me that
we we never said AIDS never inthe 11 years we were on there.
Um, I think I think it it was soscary because we we started just
as Ellen DeGeneris was canceledbecause she came out as gay, and
her TV show was canceled becauseshe was gay.

(35:27):
And we just thought, oh God,we're gonna have two episodes
and then they're gonna cancelus.
And so, you know, our main focuswas how do we just make people
laugh long enough that they fallin love with all four
characters, and then we've gotthem, and then we can really
start having fun and and reallysharing, you know, jokes about

(35:53):
being gay, and you know, and uhit's the greatest privilege of
my life to have been given thatopportunity.

SPEAKER_03 (36:01):
Yeah, and it affected so many people, it just
normalizing being gay.
It was like, you know, today Isay that I tell my my younger
husband that today you haveeverything is is just there's
gay rights and there's gaymarriage and there's gay flags
on everywhere.
And back back then it was justAIDS, it was just AIDS.
That's all that was linked togay.

(36:22):
And you guys just like no, he'sa lawyer, he's an actor, she's
this, she's a friend.
And my mom, you know, when thewhen the show came on, my mom
said to me, Um, even a gay guyneeds a woman to make him a
little crazy.
Yeah, it's just a little giga.
And my friend Dina's in theaudience.
Dina, are you here?
Yeah, there's you that that wasmy grace.
That was my grace.

(36:43):
So I was the will, and she wasmy grace.

SPEAKER_04 (36:45):
Hi, Dina.

SPEAKER_03 (36:46):
Yeah, and so she so she was, we were like when when
I showed her the audition, shegoes, It's us, it's us, but it
wasn't because we were muchJewish and spoken Yiddish once
in a while.
So it wasn't us, but we but shewas my but you met the real
Grace.

SPEAKER_04 (37:02):
I did, yeah, I did several years later.
But but you know what what mademe realize that it was going to
have impact, it was the the endof the first season, and I was
traveling and I was in theChicago airport, and this woman
comes up to me and she's like,Are you Grace?
And I was like, Yeah, and shegoes, My husband hates gates.

(37:27):
And I'm like, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 (37:28):
Same.

SPEAKER_04 (37:29):
Where's this going?
And she's like, and I he refusedto watch, and so I would watch
and laugh, and he would he wouldjust be reading, and slowly he's
his newspaper would come down,and now he's walking around just
Jack.

(37:50):
And I was like, wow, wow, thisis gonna be good.

SPEAKER_03 (37:53):
Wait, hold on.
I had another question I want togo back to.
So you were huge famous beforesocial media was social media.
Yes.
So the people just would see youand done, and then you had like
social media in your face.
Yes.
Like, what's that like?
I I I was never famous withoutsocial media.
I mean, that's like fame, anddefinitely not your kind of
fame, but like what how is thatfrom like people knowing you

(38:15):
from not social media to all ofa sudden they have a way to
access you and tell you how muchthey love or hate you?

SPEAKER_04 (38:21):
I have such social anxiety now because of social
media.
It's because you walk into aroom and everyone knows who you
are and you don't know anybody.
And and then everyone comes up,you know, with the phones like
take a picture, take a picture,take a picture, take a picture.
And it just it's it's veryunnerving.

SPEAKER_05 (38:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (38:43):
I mean, before social media, when I lived in
LA, it was being chased in a carby paparazzi.
It was paparazzi hiding inbushes and popping out with long
lenses and following me atmidnight when I was in the
grocery store trying to likejust have some peace.

(39:04):
Um, and I, you know, and Ithought, oh, that that distance
really was better.

SPEAKER_03 (39:12):
It was better.
It was better.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (39:15):
I can't I can't imagine being young right now
becoming hugely famous withsocial media.
I just, you know, all theopinions, all of you know the
negativity, and it's it's nothealthy.

SPEAKER_03 (39:28):
It affects you.
It doesn't, doesn't uh Leowatches all of our stuff.
I don't, I only look at the goodstuff.
Love you, my son's gay.
This stuff, I love it, yeah.
They was like, no, Jesus didn'tmean that, and he's fighting
with them on that, but but thankokay.
It's it's but you the the fansare fans and I love them.
I love the fans.
Someone just came.
I've I've now we have things wesay when people come up to us.

(39:51):
The worst thing is when theycome up to you and they say, You
know me.
You know me.
Someone from 30 years ago inhigh school who's now bald with
a mustache and a gut.
I should remember him from highschool.
So when someone says, You knowme, I say to them, Do you have
the money you owe me?
Do you have the money?
I haven't seen you in a while.
Do you have the money you oweme?

(40:13):
Son of a bitch.
Uh but okay, and then I want toget into so you were a huge
advocate for, and I I even wrotedown here the the um that's a
youthful move.
The dry, should moisturize myhands.
It it really is insane.

(40:34):
I'm just showing you whatChatGPT for this is this is for
her just credits, this is forall the work she did with AIDS
HIV, and this is for Israel.
And that's that's when we toldChatGPT summarize.
That was a summarize.
Um you just went right into itwith Israel.

(40:57):
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Did you ever think that wasgonna happen?
Did you ever see you being thisJewish champion?
You knew you were a Jewishchampion, but did you know you
were gonna be championing theJewish cause?
No, never.

SPEAKER_04 (41:14):
I mean, I I never advocated for you know against
Jew hatred it's it untilCharlottesville, 2016.
That was when it began.
And I was like, oh my god, wehave Nazis, we have to speak
out, we've gotta, you know, notvery fine people.

(41:36):
Um, and so that's when itstarted.
But you know, when October 7thcame, I you know, it was it was
so traumatizing to know that allof these families in Israel were
were just devastated and peoplestolen into you know tunnels and

(42:01):
and that the world iscelebrating and the world is
screaming genocide.
I mean Israel didn't go in untilfor 19 days.
But they were already and andthat to me I just kept thinking
I cannot imagine what theIsraelis are feeling right now

(42:22):
seeing that on television.
And I just thought I have to go.
I have to go, I have to bearwitness, and I have to that was
your first time in Israel.
Ever.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (42:34):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (42:36):
My parents were very big Zionists, they went all the
time.
Um, and every time I wanted togo, they'd be like, eh it's not,
it's it's not safe right now.
And I'm like, it's never gonnabe safe.
Um and then just life took over,and so I never I never made it
there.
Um, but I was there and I methostage families, and I met the

(42:59):
IDF in the hospitals who wereamputees now.
Um, I went into Gaza, into thetunnel.
Um, it it was a very, veryintense experience.
But talking about social media,when I came back, you know, all
I kept hearing was, you'relying, you're lying.

(43:20):
That didn't happen, that didn'thappen, that didn't happen.
And I started showing videosfrom the kibbutz and the
interviews and the people, andthey anytime anyone said that I
was a liar at that point, I waslike, when you get on a plane
and you go to Israel and you seeand experience everything that's

(43:44):
happening there, then you canhave your own point of view.
But until then, shut up.

SPEAKER_03 (43:56):
I mean, it's it it you you don't know like when
you're gonna be called to to andyou you just just boom, you were
there.

SPEAKER_04 (44:03):
Well, I mean, you know, we were talking about this
before.
I I was raised with if not nowwhen.
And I had that had neverresonated for me the way it did
on October 8th.
I was like, oh, this is thatmoment, and all the Jews
everywhere are going to juststand up and say, we are not

(44:26):
gonna let this happen.
We've seen this before, and thewhole globe is going to say,
We're not gonna let this happen.
And it didn't turn out the waythat I had uh hoped it would be,
in terms of the empathy andcompassion from the people
around the world.
But I felt like, you know, allright, uh I'm only one of a

(44:50):
handful of people who arespeaking out.
I I don't know if I'm just likescreaming into the wind.
I don't know if this is doingany good.
Um, but it it was the way for meto to feel sane, to push back,
and I I regret nothing.

SPEAKER_03 (45:11):
We were in the green room, eight people came in to
thank you.

SPEAKER_05 (45:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (45:17):
So you know that you were it was doing something.
It wasn't I don't know if it wasyou were doing again, it's just
a little bit of intention, andit you it'll happen.
Yeah, and people came into thegreen room.
Thank you so much for what youdo for the Jewish community.
They were thanking you.
The the the the the treasuryperson of the 92nd Street, why
the whoever worked at this one'smom, that one all came in to to

(45:38):
just thank you for all you do.
And and thank you.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 (45:42):
I've never been prouder to be a Jew in my life.

SPEAKER_03 (45:45):
That's it.

SPEAKER_04 (45:49):
And that's that's the beauty of what has come out
of this catastrophe is the thesense of community.
You know, I never felt like Iwas part of a Jewish community.
I grew up one of three kidswith, you know, someone painting
a swastika on my grandfather'scar.
You know, I it it always feltlike I didn't realize it until

(46:14):
after October 7th that I on somelevel I've been hiding in order
to fit in because that's what weour ancestors were always told
to do.
And I was like, I I I have tonot be obviously Jewish in order
to be able to play differentcharacters.

(46:35):
Um and then all of a sudden thishappened, and I and I started
meeting all of these incrediblepeople who were speaking out,
who were, you know, raisingmoney for you know the hostages,
and and I made all of these newfriends that people I'd never
known before.

(46:55):
And I was like, oh, I can say II am part of the Jewish
community of New York now.

SPEAKER_03 (47:02):
100%.
Here they are.

SPEAKER_04 (47:04):
And it feels here they are.
It feels incredible.
I am so I'm so grateful it camelate, but I'm you know, I'm very
grateful.

SPEAKER_03 (47:14):
Yeah, coming late's okay as long as you come.
Coming late's okay, as long asyou come, yes.
I came late to being gay.
I came late to, I mean, I wasgay, but I wasn't gay.
And then all of a sudden you'regay because you're married to a
guy.
A little technicality like that,and you're all of a sudden gay.
That's Modi's gay husband.

(47:36):
Yeah.
Um so um, okay, let's justlighten it up.
The hostages are back, we're ina different era.
We are what's we're we're we areand we're waiting to see what
the next calling is.
For me, it was COVID, and thenOctober 7th, and then making
people happy, bringing somelight and some happy and again

(47:58):
in a community environment.
Every time I get into a theater,boom, it's my community.
You know, it's really amazing.
Um, and uh, so what's like whatwhat's the next thing?

SPEAKER_04 (48:08):
What's I just I feel so hungry to be in a comedy, to
laugh, to make people laugh.
I feel like it is always a giftto me to experience it.
And I I, you know, I feel likethe world needs to laugh more
than ever before now.
And so, you know, I'm reallylooking for something that I can

(48:32):
do.
You know, unlike you, you can,you know, you can stand on a
stage and and you'll have awhole full house and you'll be
able to do what you do.
I have to be given theopportunity to act.
Someone has to give me a job.

SPEAKER_03 (48:46):
I will I will be having this opportunity on April
23rd at Radio City Music Hall.

SPEAKER_01 (48:54):
Wow.
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (48:56):
We will all be commuting.
We'll be one big community inthat beautiful theater.
Um, the tickets will be going onsale soon.
Make sure you sign up for thefor the newsletter so you get
right away.
And this is a podcast.
It's crazy.
Yeah, it's amazing.
You'll be there.
Aspen, Colorado.

(49:16):
I'll be there in February.
Yes.
Are you that rich that youalready know you're gonna be
there?
That's it.
We'll be in the palace too.

SPEAKER_04 (49:29):
You feel love?

SPEAKER_03 (49:30):
We have a love, love.
This is number I'm I'm tellingI'm not like you.
If I see people walking with thearmakas and I walk by and then
recognize them and go, they go,oh my god watches your videos.
Um, so you know, and this is apodcast.

(49:51):
This is a podcast, and we havepeople that are a part of our
podcast.
We have a sponsor, and we I wehave to thank them.
They are family whites inLuxembourg, the law firm, yes,
that not only does well, they dogood, they're super
philanthropic.
Arthur Luxemburg, if you everneed a lawyer, he's this is

(50:12):
number one.
He's like a brother to me.
He's giving me advice.
You want to know what advice hegave me?
Don't get hit by a car.
That was directly.
And his wife, Randy,'s in theaudience, she listens to all the
podcasts to report to him whatwe talk about.
And AH provision.
Do you like Glock kosher food?

(50:33):
Of course I do.
Number one hot dogs in theworld, kosher dogs.net.
Promo code Modi, 30% off yourfirst order.

SPEAKER_04 (50:42):
Oh my god, I'm ordering tonight.

SPEAKER_03 (50:44):
Don't order.
He'll send you everything youwant.
Okay.
And the packages, it's so nicewith t-shirts.
The best hot dogs ever.
Okay.
Ever.
All right.
We're wrapping this up becauseit's been an hour.
Uh okay, my two questions Istole from uh from RuPaul.

SPEAKER_05 (51:01):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (51:01):
Because we love RuPaul drag race.
If anything really helps theXanax kick in, a drag show is
that.
And so, what is your superpower?

SPEAKER_04 (51:12):
Um, I can sleep 17 hours straight without waking
up.

SPEAKER_03 (51:17):
No.
Without pills?

SPEAKER_04 (51:20):
No pills.
You just put your head down.
I mean, this is like at the endof a Broadway run, the end of a
film where I am literally onfumes, and you you like, you're
trying to stay alive, and thenfinally it ends, and you're
like, and but during the show,would you still sleep 15 hours

(51:40):
while you're doing it?
Uh no, because uh I only geteight hours of sleep total.

SPEAKER_03 (51:49):
Only eight hours of sleep.
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 (51:51):
That's not enough.
But on no, it's it's my it's myI can sleep anywhere.
Anywhere.
I mean, uh, you know, airplanes,it could be a one-hour flight.
I can I can take a great littlepower nap.
I yeah, it's good.
What a gift God gave you.

(52:14):
It is a gift.

SPEAKER_03 (52:15):
What a gift God gave you.

SPEAKER_04 (52:18):
But it's not, it's not I mean, usual for me to
sleep 11 hours on a Fridaynight.
Like, and I look forward to it.
I'm like, is it Shabbat yet?
Can I sleep?

SPEAKER_03 (52:33):
That is a superpower, and I enjoy it,
enjoy that power.
Um, okay.
My other question was if youcould tell your younger self
something, what would you tellyour younger self?

SPEAKER_04 (52:46):
Uh nothing unfurls the way that you think it will
or want it.
And you just have to be open tothe ride and know everything
happens for a reason.
And be patient.

SPEAKER_03 (53:01):
Patience, yes.
A little bit of patience goes along way, yes.
Okay, and of course, mashiachenergy.
Like, what's your mashiachenergy?

SPEAKER_04 (53:11):
Uh uh to me, mashiach energy is is Jewish
light.

SPEAKER_03 (53:17):
Jewish light.

SPEAKER_04 (53:18):
Jewish light.

SPEAKER_03 (53:19):
Yeah.
When the hostages came back andyou saw the entire country
unified, it was such a spark ofMashiach energy.

SPEAKER_04 (53:28):
I I mean to see, I mean, to see everybody there
waiting and singing and praying,and then all of a sudden to see
them come out and those reunionvideos, I mean, as a parent, I
can't even fathom what they havebeen going through for the last
two years.
And I mean, the the theblessing, the miracle that they

(53:52):
all came home.

SPEAKER_03 (53:53):
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (53:54):
It's just and it's it is a miracle.

SPEAKER_03 (53:58):
I always say that if the Jews were unified, the whole
world would come together.
And that what we saw that daywas just a spark of it.
It wasn't long-lived, no, butthey got back in the Knesset and
started fighting again.
But but it was that moment youcan see it's tangible.
This is what Mashiach energy is,and okay, we gotta get back to

(54:18):
it.

SPEAKER_04 (54:19):
And this is this is what everybody can focus on and
believe in and fight fortogether.

SPEAKER_03 (54:25):
And I will tell you, no, I saw you, you're you're
you're producing a show calledOthers, and I went to go see
that with you, and then I'm juston the way out, I said goodbye
to you, like just bye, and yougo, Modi, that's my son, like
that.
And to me, I hear MashiachEnergy.
This is my Mashiach energy.

SPEAKER_04 (54:41):
Yeah, he's everything.
Yeah, he really is.

SPEAKER_03 (54:46):
It was not just the two moments, and he's funny, she
said, and he's funny.

SPEAKER_04 (54:49):
He's funny, he was doing stand-up at 12.
He's funny at at the GothamComedy Club, 12 years old.
He was doing stand-up.

SPEAKER_03 (54:56):
Did you want to open for me?
I'm going to Syracuse.

SPEAKER_04 (54:59):
Uh no.

SPEAKER_03 (55:01):
I'm booked in Syracuse.
He got I need him just to be inthe audience.
There's six people, and then theI need he'll be the step.
I need a minion.
I'm looking for a minion inSyracuse.
I can fill up 6,000 people on uhat Rockefeller Center, but in
Syracuse 12, I'll be happy.

SPEAKER_04 (55:18):
That's why I was like, I want you to meet Modi.
He was like, I'm so excited tomeet Modi.

unknown (55:22):
Oh yeah.
Good.

SPEAKER_03 (55:23):
Okay.
We are we are done.
We have lightning roundquestions.
We we're we're exactly at anhour, which is amazing.
You want to do the lightninground questions?
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (55:31):
We can do them fast.

unknown (55:32):
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (55:33):
Lightning.

SPEAKER_03 (55:34):
Lightning round questions.
Coffee order.

SPEAKER_04 (55:38):
Uh straight coffee, uh, almond milk, and two stevia.

SPEAKER_03 (55:45):
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (55:46):
I have never had a latte in my life.
I've never had a cappuccino inmy life.
I don't know what any of thosehalf cap things are.
Just give me straight period.

SPEAKER_03 (55:57):
Yeah.
A nice dose of caffeine.
Celsius is something you shouldlook into.
What's the one thing that uhwhen people find out about you
are super surprised?
And I I think we've already donethat with that 17 hours of
sleep.

SPEAKER_04 (56:11):
Oh, I could juggle.
You can juggle, no, I couldjuggle pins and pass them.
We had a circus class for threeyears in graduate school, and I
was really good on the trapeze.

SPEAKER_03 (56:22):
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 (56:24):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (56:25):
Wow.
Describe your dream green roomwriter.
Like, what's one thing you needin the right in the room?

SPEAKER_04 (56:31):
Grease is peanut butter cups.

SPEAKER_03 (56:32):
Okay, okay, good.
That was an easy one.
Really?

SPEAKER_04 (56:37):
Uh that's all I need.

SPEAKER_03 (56:38):
Really?

SPEAKER_04 (56:39):
That and water.

SPEAKER_03 (56:40):
Meat foam roller.
Okay.
Book or TV show you bingedrecently?

SPEAKER_04 (56:46):
Um, Adolescence.

SPEAKER_03 (56:50):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We haven't seen that yet.
Okay.

SPEAKER_04 (56:52):
And um, I just read an amazing book about uh a
Jewish family in New England.
It's very funny, and it's calledHope, and it's by Andrew Ridker.

unknown (57:02):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (57:03):
And I recommend everyone getting it.
It is fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 (57:08):
Your happy place when you're not working.

SPEAKER_04 (57:11):
Anywhere in Africa.
Um I for 11 years I kept goingback and forth for for um
activism, but other than that,on my couch with a book with my
dog on my lap.

SPEAKER_03 (57:24):
Oh, okay.
If you weren't an actor, whatwould you be?

SPEAKER_04 (57:28):
A litigator.

SPEAKER_03 (57:29):
A litigator, a lawyer.

SPEAKER_04 (57:31):
A justice.
I've been justice obsessed sinceI was so little.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (57:37):
Wow, a litigator is a lawyer.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
We have one here.
My cousin who went to Brandeisis here too.
Where are you?
Gila.
Right there, litigator.
She is the if you're ever in acourt, that is the last thing
you ever want to see on theother side of the room.
She was 24 years at the MiamiDade County.

SPEAKER_01 (57:57):
Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 (57:58):
She's you know badass.
You don't mess with that.
The last thing on earth you everwant to see across a courtroom
is her litigator.
Shkay.
Okay.
What instantly makes you laugh?

SPEAKER_04 (58:10):
My son.

SPEAKER_03 (58:11):
Okay.
Purry, okay.
Uh favorite red carpet lookyou've ever done?

SPEAKER_04 (58:17):
I'd have to say uh the Elisab uh pink dress I was
wearing when I won the Emmy.

SPEAKER_03 (58:24):
Okay.
That's a Google moment.
And that's it.
That's it.
And then your favorite Yiddishword.

SPEAKER_04 (58:31):
Schmuck.

SPEAKER_03 (58:33):
Oh, okay.
That's a that's you think it'seasy, it's a complex.
As a pronoun or a noun?

SPEAKER_04 (58:44):
He's a schmuck.

SPEAKER_03 (58:46):
So a pronoun.

SPEAKER_04 (58:48):
A nun.
A noun.

SPEAKER_03 (58:49):
So a schmuck, schmuck puts is like he, him,
she, her, schmuck puts.

SPEAKER_04 (58:56):
Schmuck puts?

SPEAKER_03 (58:57):
What a schmuck puts.
Uh puts.
What a schmuck.
Schmuck puts is the same thing.
As a pronoun.
As a pronoun.
Now, as a noun, as a noun,schmuck is this.
This guy wants to retire.
He's got no money.
So he tells the wife, you haveto go to work.
So what kind of work could shedo?

(59:18):
Oldest profession in the world.
They open a house of ill repute.
First customer comes in, says,How much?
She has no idea.
Honey, how much are we charging?
See if you can get$100.
Sir, it'll be$100.
Okay,$100.
He says, All I have is$25.
Honey, he just has$25.

(59:39):
Well, for$25, you can give him alook and touch.
So, sir, for$25 we can do a lookand touch.
He says, Fine.
Drops his pants off and pullsout a schmuck the size she never
saw in her life.
She says, Hold on, honey, couldyou lend him$75?
And there's your noun.

(01:00:03):
We you know after October 7th, Iwas ending every show singing a
tikkwah.
And and um and I don't want tostop.
Let's do it.
Let's let's end the show.
I'm gonna ask you all to riseand we'll end this night with a
hat tikvah.
If you don't know the words,you're gonna hum along, it's an
easy one.

(01:00:24):
And say we're we're singing atikvah in that in the please
send them home and thank you forsending them home.
Oh the law of that tikpa tenu.
Hasn't our tikvah alreadyworked?
Say it in a questioned form.
Hasn't it?
Isn't it working?
And just that's that's theintention.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:40):
When you're ready, I elect Happy Healthy New,

(01:01:50):
everybody.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:51):
Thank you very much, Deborah.
Thank you.