Taylor Spreitler's Inspiring Journey From Successful Actor to Animal Advocate.

Episode Transcript
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Brother Love (00:00):
Telling our stories is the connective tissue of the
collective human experience.
The Just Keep Talking podcast delvesinto the lives and stories of artists.
What is the impact ofmental health on creativity?
What does it mean to bea creative individual?
Someone who feels deeply, experiencesjoy and pain, intensely and
navigates the challenges of lifethrough the creative process.

(00:21):
With each story shared, we explorethe authentic experience of our
basic need to be seen, to be heard,
and to belong.
We are really not so differentfrom one another, nor are we alone.
Together we can inspire, encourage, andenlighten each other to find the true joy
and fulfillment that is within ourselves.
When we Just Keep Talking, we createthe space for gratitude, self-acceptance

(00:46):
and grace in everyday life.
In a world filled with divisiveness,
fostering inclusivity and connection isa powerful way to make a positive impact.
The Just Keep Talking podcast with me,Brother Love, because Your Story Matters.

Larry (01:02):
Hello and welcome to the Just Keep Talking podcast with me, your host
Brother Love, because Your Story Matters.
My guest this week isTaylor Spreitler Hello.
PR and Community Engagement Coordinatorfor the Nashville Humane Association.
Welcome.

Taylor Spreitler (01:20):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.

Larry (01:22):
you're so very welcome.
You were a guest on Community Corner,a show that I host on Lightning
100 here in Nashville, Tennessee.
You can hear thatepisode@lightningonehundred.com
slash community corner.
We discussed your work atthe Nashville Humane Society,
something that is so important.
We met because I brought my puppy Jazz.

(01:43):
My wife and I brought Jazz to you to get,I believe it was shots and to have a chip
put in, and I thought, this is so cool.
We'd love to have you allon Community Corner because
what you do is so important.
You.
Oh, you're so welcome.
And I remembered thinkingin the interview.
You're such a very well-spoken person.
, You have such a wonderful voice.
You're poised, you're controlled.

(02:05):
, , You have intention.
And as it turns out, you're an actor.

Yes, I am.

Larry (02:10):
Celebrity.

Yes.

Larry (02:13):
Former celebrity.
Oh my gosh.
, Let me Google all this.
Taylor Spreitler is an American actress.
She's best known for her roles as MiaMcCormick in the soap opera series,
Days of Our Lives, 2009 and 2010.
Correct me if Google is wrongon any of this, by the way
Lennox Scanlon, is that how you

(02:29):
it?
Scanlon,

Larry (02:30):
Lennox Scanlon in the sitcom.
Melissa and Joey, 2010 to 2015.
And Kendra Gable in the sitcom.
Kevin Can Wait 2016 to 2018.
You've also done a bunch of other things.
I'm so happy to have you here.

I'm so happy to be here.

Larry (02:45):
The reason why I find you so fascinating on so many levels is
because your journey is so interesting.
How old are you?
May I ask?

I am about to be 32.

Larry (02:55):
About to be 32.
And you've had success,you've had a career change.
You've had so much where a lotof this change and this sort of
shift in life might happen a lotlater for people or never at all.
So tell me, where do you come from?
What's your background A little bit?

I have lived a lot of different lives.
I'm very fortunate to be able to doall the things that I've done, but I am
from a very, very small town in southMississippi, Wiggins, Mississippi.
Shout out.
I was actually scouted from a beautypageant because, south Mississippi,
we were in beauty pageants as kids.
Wow.
Yeah.
It was not as bad.
It was not like toddlers and tiaras yet.

(03:31):
It kind of grew into that.
After I left, but I was scouted.
I went to New York, Istarted modeling and then.
doing commercials, but I had sucha strong southern accent that they
could not use my voice my first jobwas a Chuck E Cheese commercial, and
I remember thinking in that moment Iwas maybe like seven years old and for
a 7-year-old to have their first joband to get to play at Chuck E Cheese
all day, I was like, ah, best job ever.

(03:52):
I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life.
And then it just kind of grew from there.
, My first big job after that, after doingsome commercials was Law and Order SVU
as any actor in New York kind of does.
Yep.
That's your, it's kind of yourstaple if you've been in New York
that you do law and Order SVU.
And then I moved to Californiaand was on Days of our Lives

(04:14):
and that was a wild journey.
I was.
A pregnant teen and I learned so much.
I mean, A soap opera is reallylike actors bootcamp, you are
filming so many pages in a day.
It is so fast paced.
So then when I went from that tobasically anything else, I felt like I
was just like so prepared to take on,especially like multicam sitcoms, which
are still just my absolute favorite.

(04:35):
I love the genre, I lovethe live audience feedback.
I love all of it.

Larry (04:40):
Oh my gosh.
So were your parents pageant people?
Parents?

My mom was a pageant queen.
My sister was a pageant queen.
It's a South Mississippithing, especially back then.
And it was fun.
I mean, Back then youcould win a lot of money.
I don't know what it's like now.

Larry (04:53):
Any musician who's touring out there, we know pageants exist because we
stay at hotels or motels and we wonderwhat are all these little kids running
around dressed as if they're 55 years old.
The

of hairspray everywhere.

Larry (05:07):
and the smell of hairspray, you have parents that are overbearing.
You seem very well adjusted.

Yeah.
I'm very lucky.
I have the best mom in the world who,even throughout all of the things
that I've done being a child actor,being a pageant queen, like she
definitely was still just my mom.
And I think that's, a huge.
Reason why I am the way I am now.
And I'm very lucky for that.
Go, mom.

Larry (05:30):
That's kind of how I met you.
I thought you have such poise.
You know who you are.
You don't seem like a chaserin any way, shape or form.
We all chase at some point in ourlives and we chase all the time.
It's just a natural partof being a human being.
But the fact that you wereraised in such a comfortable
way that you could be yourself.
'cause then you were whisked to New York.
So what was that like to be whisked?

(05:50):
How old were you when youwere picked outta the,

Oh, I mean I was very, very young.
I was probably six-ish I would say.
I loved it.
Coming from a very small town andbeing able to be in New York, it
was obviously a huge culture shock.
But I loved it.
, The self-expression that I felt like Igot from being in the East Village and
being around drag queens like, a lipscafe, that was my favorite place to go.

(06:14):
I have photos of me being heldby drag queens while they were
performing, which is like notsomething I would've necessarily
been exposed to in my small town.
So it was very cool for me and I thinkall the lives that I have lived in, all
the places I've been have, it's justbeen so cool to be able to be, I don't
know, immersed in so many different
types of cultures and meetso many types of people.

(06:35):
Being in the entertainmentindustry, as you know.
You meet the coolest peoplewith, everybody has a
different background story.
None of us come from like the same place.
It's like this melting potof people that is just so

Larry (06:47):
Yeah, it's funny you say the East Village, that was my landing spot.
I grew up in Queens, New York.
And the minute I could getoutta there, I was like, I gotta
move to what we call the city.
If you live in the boroughs or NewJersey, we're going to the city.
I worked at the bagel store in Queens, NewYork, and it was further out in Queens,
not Astoria, which is closer to the city Iremembered working at the bagel store and
all of a sudden these real freaky peoplewere coming in for a couple of days.

(07:10):
And I'm like, they have tattoos,they're piercings, they're
just different color hair.
And they're just so weird and cool.
I'm like, Where are you guys from?
Because you don't look like anybody that'sfrom Fresh Meadows, Queens at the time.
And they said, we're with the circus.
And I thought, huh, what is this?
And it was the, big Apple circusthat was performing every year at
Cunningham Park, which is rightdown the street from where I'm from.

(07:32):
So after work, I went and hungout with circus people and I
thought, this is what I wanna do.
They're all freaks.
And I love every single one of 'em.
Fast forward a few years later,I moved to the East Village.
They're all there.

Yep.

Larry (07:43):
They're all there.
They're not freaks at all.
These are just the regularpeople in the city.
And it was such an enlightening forcefor me because I learned that I just
belonged in a place that everybodybelonged and everybody existed.
So how long were you in New York and whatwere you working on when you were there?

I was doing mostly commercials and print jobs there.
And then.
After my episode of Law and Order, Ifelt like there was a shift of episodics
and pilots and everything that weremoving, to LA it was bigger market.
I wanted to get more into tv.
I was trying to do Broadway, but I wasalso an extremely shy kid, which is,
people always find shocking when theymeet me now 'cause I will literally

(08:20):
talk to anybody about anything.
But I was extremely shy and it wasone of the reasons why my mom really
wanted to just see what could happen,like the acting classes and all of
that stuff to see if it could bringme outta my shell because I was the
kid that if you tried to talk to me,I was hiding behind my mom's leg.
I was not making eye contact.
Broadway was a little hard for me.
I do come from like a dance backgroundand I wanted to sing and I wanted to
all the things, but that level of.

(08:41):
Projecting was a little difficult for me.
I got close a couple times, but I wantedto move more towards tv, we moved to LA
which again was another culture shock.
Yeah.
LA is so different.
But it was beautiful.
I mean, I, I lived in LA most of my life.

Larry (08:57):
Wow.
So when you were auditioning in New York?
'cause I did the same thing.
So I music and I loved acting and Iwould go and I did a few commercials.
I was on Law and Order, SVUI think, and afriend of mine recently sent me a picture.
She was watching a rerun.
She's like, is this you?
And I was juror number, like seven.
I didn't even, it wasn'teven my clothes or something.

(09:17):
They just put me in this suit.
That was way too big.
And, And I'm just sitting there inthe jury and I'm like, yep, that's me.
I did a few commercials and thenI went into more voiceover stuff.
But I had an agent.
You had an agent.
Where did you live whenyou were in New York?

I lived all over.
At that point we were there forcertain seasons, like episodic
season, And I was still going back andforth from Mississippi to New York.
So it was a lot of subletting apartmentsand honestly, I was very young.
I know that during the blackoutI lived like in Columbus Circle.

Larry (09:44):
blackout in 2003.
Okay.

I was there.
The blackout in 2003 I was in uh,Columbus Circle and I remember that.
And then I was in Brooklyn.
I honestly don't really rememberwhere, but I do have a lot of
childhood photos of me in Brooklyn.
We just bounced around all over.
when I did, Kevin Can wait, Imoved back to New York, but we
filmed on Long Island, so I livedin Brooklyn and made the commute.

Larry (10:03):
So was your mother and father with you on all of this
journey, or just your mother?

Mostly just my mother.

Larry (10:09):
Was she overbearing in any way?
Did she protect you too much?
What was it like?

She's a very sweet southern mom.
She could not be more supportive.
That's a crazy thing for her tojust whisk me away and see, you
know, if this was going to work out.
And when we saw success in it, , shestayed with me throughout all of it.
, She also didn't know what she was doing.
So I think she deserves a lot more creditthan she probably even gives herself
for coming from also a very small townin Mississippi and helping navigate

(10:35):
New York with a toddler basically.
And auditions and keeping everything,organized and keeping me on the
right path and school and everything

Larry (10:44):
Well, she's

The best.
Yeah.

Larry (10:45):
What about all the nefarious stuff, the terrible, the horrible
stuff, the stories you hear, there'sdrugs and there's all kinds of things.
I mean, you're, young, attractivegirl, young woman, and you're in this
business, which is insane and horrible.
Did you come up face to facewith any of the bad stuff?

Oh, for

Larry (11:01):
the

I don't think that there's a way to be in that industry
and not see it in one way or anotherand be faced with it in one way or
another, but I feel like I was very luckyfor the people that I had around me.
And I truthfully shoutout Melissa, Joan Hart.
I will sing her praises foreverbecause she is one of the people
who she went through exactly whatI was going through at the time.

(11:22):
She was a child actor.
She had seen it all.
having her as a mentor andshe played my Aunt Mel, she
truthfully is still like my aunt.
Even I'm in my thirties and I stillhave to text Melissa sometimes and
be like, Hey, like, I need advice.
Yeah.
So I really credit her for kind ofexplaining everything to me in a way
that I felt like when I was exposed toit, I knew how to handle situations.

Larry (11:43):
Good for you.
Because that's really hard.
And then getting into the stage stuffobviously is tough projecting it all.
So what were you auditioning for?
Because it's specific, youknow, you are a certain age or
a certain type, a certain look.
So what were the roles that you wereclose to getting on Broadway and musicals?
I guess, or were you singing to, or No.
Gypsy

I remember Gypsy being one that kind of made sense a lot for
me, especially Pageant kid, but yeah,and I remember getting pretty close
to that, but not getting it obviously.

Larry (12:10):
Did you make friends back then in New York?
was there a community that youkind of like, oh, look at this.
There are people that arejust like me, you know?

(12:17):
we definitely,

I mean, we also lived with a lot of these families too, so it
was kind of like, you make these friends,we're all out there for the same season.
New York is expensive.
So, you know, I got to kind of spend,I don't know, it was almost like I went
to camp every summer , but I was livingwith my friends and their parents too.
And A lot of them I'm stillfriends with to this day.
A lot of us made the shift from New Yorkto LA together, so we were there together

(12:39):
to navigate it and it was beautiful.

Larry (12:41):
So what were the ages that you were in New York

I think I moved to LA when I was like 12 or 13,

Larry (12:47):
so you were young when

Yeah, it was a whirlwind.
So

Larry (12:49):
Were you in school at all?
Like what was that like?

I was homeschooled.
I went to like a program, soit was like an at home program.
It was called?
Abeka.
So it was out of actuallyPensacola, Florida.
it came on DVDs and you wouldactually watch the classrooms and
then you would have homework andeverything that the school did.
I did that for a while.
I was set schooled for most of ittoo, which is, always interesting.
'cause I don't think a lot of peoplerealize that, you know, kids are still,

(13:13):
we're in school even when we're working.
So sometimes we're there before everybodyelse is, because we have to get a certain
amount of time of school in, and then whenwe're on our breaks, we go back to school.
Wow.
It was interesting for sure..
It was a, cool way to grow up, Iremember like we had to do a
science experiment and we had tolike go out and this was while
I was filming Melissa and Joey.
We had to like go out and collect leavesto look at them under a microscope and

(13:36):
I went out and collected leaves and thenI got back and realized that they were
all fake because I was on a studio lot.
That's great.

Larry (13:43):
That's that's so funny.
The land of make believe,you're like, I need leaves.
And there they

Yeah.
I'm just walking around collectingprops from like desperate housewives.
Like, sorry.
Oh, that's hilarious.

Larry (13:54):
Were you ever affected like your performance and they're
like, Taylor, let's go again.
You seem distracted, you'relike, yeah, because I'm trying
to work this math problem out.
If I didn't have to dothis, I'd be just fine.

Definitely.
I think it's also just being ateenager in general, like growing
up, going through so many things.
First loves breakups, all of these things,and literally growing up, but still
having this very different type of job.
Like I've been working my entire life.
. So I think that I'm very glad thatI had the people around me who
could kind of understand what I wasgoing through and be like, okay.
You know, like she's still ateenager at the end of the day.

(14:26):
Yeah.
But then it also is, youhave a responsibility.
There's a lot of people thatgo into making a TV show.
Mm.
It's a lot of money, so youhave to show up and do your job.
Yeah.
But Luckily I loved it.
I mean, Melissa and Joey especiallywas just such a great time in
my life that even as a teenager,I wanted to get to work early.
When I graduated, I would come to workto hang out with my favorite crew members
before we actually started our workday.

(14:46):
These people were at my house on theweekends , We were such a family.
It was amazing.

Larry (14:50):
That's incredible.
So you moved to LA and that'sanother shock, you know?
So, And by the way, are you gettingpaid during this whole time?
I mean, I know you are, butyou're really young in New York.
And then you move to LA,So what's the pay like?
They pay your mom and she just doout a little, puts it away for you.

So we have like Coogan accounts, so before you're 18 there's
a percentage of your money that goesinto a special bank account for you.
Those are in place to protectchildren from their parents
being able to take their money.

Larry (15:17):
Okay, so explain that to me.

It's Cogan bank account and it is, a percentage of every
paycheck you get, it goes into that andyou cannot access it until you're 18.

Larry (15:24):
Okay.
So that's good.

(15:26):
good.
Yeah.

It's to protect child actors.
'cause obviously we've heard the horror

Larry (15:29):
Yeah.
My brother was, a childactor for a very short time.
There was a show called Nine theBroadway Musical, and it had won the
Tony it won all the awards, and thenext season was the touring company, my
brother somehow managed to land a role.
My father knew somebodythat was a casting director.
He came home one day, took a picture ofmy brother, sent it in, my brother went

(15:52):
and there were like 500 kids and he gotthe understudy role to the main kid.
And this was a tour and.
My parents, I think they had my cousin gowith my brother for a little while, but
then somebody else for a little while.
And all I know is that my brotherwas robbed, offered drugs.
I mean, it was completely a 180experience from what you experienced.
I mean, he, my brother has some fondmemories of like, he'll say, yeah,

(16:14):
I remember when I ate sushi for thefirst time and I was, you know, in
this beautiful place, you know, in SanFrancisco overlooking this and that.
I'm like, when the hell were you there?
I'm like.
Oh yeah, you were in a touringmusical, you know, but the experience
was like, it was pretty horrible.
I mean, when we would find out, and I'ma kid at this point, I would just kind of
understand a little bit that my dad andmy mom were like, how could this happen?

(16:34):
What's going on?
you know, he wasn't lost or anythinglike that, we knew where he was.
I think 'cause he hadto be on, you know, on

(16:40):
there was a schedule.
Yeah, there was a schedule.

Larry (16:42):
But I mean, yeah, they were robbed it was a very harrowing experience.
So I'm so happy to hear that you'resuch a well adjusted human being.

Thank you.
Yeah.
I'm also shocked that youstill decided to get into the
entertainment industry after that.
Of course.

Larry (16:54):
Yes.
Why should he get the part, youknow, I could handle this better.
so you moved to LA what aboutthe people that are back home?
What are they?
They must be so proud, right?
At this point, you go toLA you're like, what, 12.
12 years old, 13 yearsold, so what's that like?
New York is so different from LA andit's all so different from Mississippi.

Yeah.
I mean, it was very cool.
The weather, you can't beat it.
It was like, what do you mean?
Like, there's no humidity here.
That's crazy.
you know, and I grew up close toGulfport, so, the beach is a big
thing in my family, but Californiabeaches are obviously a lot different.
My family, they've always been supersupportive and super proud of me
when I decided to kind of changecareer paths, I was honestly scared

(17:33):
to tell people we had gone throughso much, we had moved so many
places, we had done all these things.
My mom had put in a lot of hardwork into my career and then I was
like, I'm gonna go save dogs now.
And she was like, yeah, no,that actually tracks go for it.

Larry (17:45):
Such a support system.
So when you're out in LA for how long now?
This is the majority of your life.

(17:50):
Yeah, the majority of my life.

Larry (17:52):
So what was it like auditioning there?
Because I had a girlfriend in NewYork and she auditioned for things
in New York and she loved Broadwayand commercials and stuff, but her
father was like one of these big timerollers with like a lot of money.
And he produced movies.
and he was like, you gottago to la, it's all in LA.
You know, I'll help make you a star.
Like he's saying this to hisdaughter and it was weird.

(18:12):
She went to LA.
We broke up and she went to LAand we caught up with each other.
And the first audition she wentto in LA, they just took one look
at her and said, lose 20 pounds.
See you soon.
Mm-hmm.
And that crushed her.
Crushed her So she was prettymuch done before she started.
Fast forward, like a lifetime later,she is, on the show Portlandia.

(18:33):
She is, successful in movies of all sorts.
I just see her on Instagramand I go, way to go.
She, went away fromthe business for years.
She retreated completely because itwas devastating what this business
can do to you especially who hasthe kind of self-esteem to really
just say, I'm okay the way I am.
And that's part is just not for me.

(18:53):
Thank you.
I'll see you.
As opposed to, oh my God, I didn'tget this part because I'm terrible.
I'm not talented, I'm not pretty enough.
I'm not handsome enough.
I'm too fat.
I'm too skinny.
The shame of it all.
So how did you weigh the waters of LA?
What was it like for you?
Because it wasn't really great for my,friend Dana, who's wildly successful now.
So it worked out.

Congrats Dana.
'cause that's amazing.
Yes.
I love Portlandia.
it's tough.
Like, I will say that a lot ofthe work that I did, especially
on sitcoms and things like that,there's not that pressure really
in that kind of genre, but it did.
Keep me from other genres, especiallylike, you know, I feel like movies
and stuff, like, there's alwaysthat pressure that's, even if it's

(19:34):
unspoken, like you just know you'rein the entertainment industry.
You see it everywhere, especially when,you know, tabloids and everything.
The bullying has gottena lot better somewhat.
And the public eye.

Larry (19:44):
Not to your face anymore.

Yeah.
But still exists and I'm, so glad thatwhen I was coming up and a lot of this
social media was not what it is now.
Like I cannot imagine, when weused to have to do live tweeting on
Twitter, we had people who were theremonitoring everything to make sure
that nobody was saying anything bad.
But I mean, it's an unspoken pressureand it's hard to grow up as a teenager
and be a young woman and try to continuehaving that confidence and realize like

(20:08):
you're gonna get told no so many timesyou know, that, it's not always your
performance, you know, that you can walkinto a room and they're like, no, we
don't like the way you look for this.
And that hurts when you're a teenager.
That sucks.
It's definitely very hard and Ithink it's, you know, something
that in the back of my head, I'llprobably always kind of struggle with,

(20:29):
but I'm glad that now I work withanimals that absolutely do not care.

Larry (20:33):
Yeah.
Did you have any formal training at all?

For acting.
Yes.
I went to tons of acting classes.
like I said though, I think getting Daysof our Lives was kind of the biggest
bootcamp even though, like the actingof it, I kind of had to figure out,
I had to go to acting classes and Ihad an amazing acting coach that would
help me with a lot of other things.
But I think the technical stuff that youlearn for doing shows like that, there's
nothing better than actually just beingon set at a young age and doing it.

Larry (20:55):
Take us there.
'cause I mean, wow.
You know, a soap opera, it's incredible.
Yeah.
What, and because I know it's a ton ofwork, so please, can you give us a flavor?
Give us the

I
mean, you're doing pages and pagesof dialogue, like sometimes you're
doing, I would say at the time we weretrying to do an episode a day, right?
'cause it airs every day and you haveto have those like the week before.
It's a very grueling schedule.
So you're doing an entire episode.
If you're in every scene of anepisode, you're doing 30 pages a day.
And it's a lot to memorize,especially when you're in school.
And I remember like there would be timesthat we would have our scripts like.

(21:27):
Taped in the inside oflike a kitchen cabinet.
And we would just like open up thekitchen cabinet to grab a mug and then
try to see like what our next line was.
And for me that was wild becauseI was a teen mom and I had to
like, give birth on screen.
And Alison Sweeney had to kind of comeinto my dressing room and sit down.
And her and my mom had to explain tome basically like what I would be doing

(21:47):
during childbirth at like 13 years old.
So that was crazy.
Wow.
Yeah.
Um, That was like covered in gelatinand, you know, had all these cameramen
and everybody just so close to meand was like, what am I doing?
And it was just a whirlwind.
I don't think soap actors getenough credit for how hard that

Larry (22:03):
Yeah.
Can you cry, uh at will?
That's amazing.
And what about the memorization?
See, that's what kept mefrom like pursuing further.
I, I'm not the actor anyway, but I can'tremember lyrics to songs that I wrote.
Okay.
Let's just put it that way.
I have a gig tomorrow night wehad a rehearsal yesterday and I'm
the one messing up the lyrics.
So I'm like, okay, well howdo you memorize all that?

I think just having to do it from such a young age, it became
muscle memory and it's kind of wild.
'cause I do have like the memory of agoldfish unless it is something that
I have to like read and recite, right?
It is just such a musclememory for me now.
And to be able to do it with like, youknow, staying on my mark, making sure I'm
in my light, making sure I'm on camera.
it's funny now even as an adult, I findmyself sometimes in situations where

(22:47):
I'm still trying to find my light.
Like if I'm standing in a room right, Iwill move until I feel light on my face.
'cause it is just like anatural thing to do for me.

Larry (22:55):
It's
funny you say that 'cause you cameand initially sat where I'm sitting
because it's a little bit more,

(23:00):
more lit.
I know

Larry (23:00):
more lit here.
So good on you.
And I put you there

(23:03):
less light, but

Larry (23:04):
is audio only so I figured it's

(23:06):
It's fine.

Larry (23:07):
That's funny.
What is one of the craziest thingsthat you can like say happened on
set that you're like, oh my goodness.
Like whether it's a mishap,or just something just crazy,

My high school graduation was happening while I was
filming Melissa and Joey, and we werefilming an episode where I had to jump
out of a window into a dumpster, becausemy Aunt Mel had taken me, I think it
was the Kings of Leon concert that shehad taken me to, and I was underage.
I was using a fake id.
I was about to get caught, so I hadto jump out and land in a dumpster.
I did that multiple times, and on the lasttake they were like, okay, we're gonna

(23:38):
need you to just hold in the dumpster.
I was getting so annoyed.
I was like, what istaking, this is Multicam.
Like, why am I in thisdumpster for so long?
Right.
They tell me I can come out.
I come out of the dumpster.
I have a podium, a cake.
My entire family is there.
I have a cap and gown.
My cap is signed by myentire cast and crew.
And Melissa Joan Hart gave mycommencement speech and they threw me a
graduation right then and there on set.

Larry (24:00):
Fabulous.

I was, I am so lucky beyond words.
'cause I know a lot ofpeople do not have that

Larry (24:06):
Yeah.
Now have you been in, situations whereyou just like, can't stand the person
you're working with or somebody?
I mean, everybody does work is work.
I don't care what you're doing andit's gotta be hard because you have
to always be on, you're on camera.
What about, life stuff?
Like a heavy day, a hard time.
How do you pull through?

Yeah.
I mean.
it's an escape, I guess.
Like being able to, one of the thingsthat we used to always say before our
live show is like, let's go out thereand give somebody a laugh who needs it?
Because that is kind ofwhat sitcoms are, right?
It's like you can have it onbackground noise and laugh at it while
you're folding laundry, whatever.
Like it's also a great way to talkabout hard topics and make it light.
But when I was, right before I startedKevin Kuwait, my dad passed away, my

(24:46):
dad committed suicide and I had tomove to New York very shortly after
and I was at the time like, this isgoing to help me 'cause I get to like
throw myself into something else.
Now looking back, I'm like, God, I waslike just trying to distract myself.
Like I wish I kind of would've had moretime to, I guess, process things but then

(25:07):
at the same time, I do think it helpedbecause I got to go to work and be around
amazing people and have a support system.
And I had to laugh every day.
Right?
It was a part of my job.

Larry (25:16):
Wow.
So it was a real healing for you.
Mm-hmm.
And did everybody, uh, that you workedwith, were they aware of your situation

Oh yeah.
I mean, Kevin James sent me somany pounds of lasagna to my family
after my dad passed away and allof production sent us so much food.
I mean, that's, that's New Yorkersfor you right there, right.

Larry (25:33):
James sending lasagna.
He's my

person ever.
Ever.
Yeah.
you know, everybody knew and Ithink they handled it in such a
way of like, they were aware of it.
But once I got there and theyknew that I wanted to start my
job, yeah, they let me do that.
They let me just work.

Larry (25:48):
Wow.
My goodness.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And folks out there, if, ever you arein pain or need help, there is help.
You're not alone.
Definitely.
9, 8, 8, the hotline.
just know that you're not alone andthere's always somebody to talk to.
We want you here.
Exactly.
So Kevin James, he's from Queens, right?
Is he originally from Queens

Queen?
I believe so.

Larry (26:09):
he the king of Queens as well?

the king of

Larry (26:11):
He was the king of Queens.
I'm like the Prince of Queens.

be from Long Island though, now that I think

Larry (26:14):
Yeah.

I don't know.

Larry (26:15):
Queens where I'm from.
I call it the Gateway to Long Island.
Were you pigeonholed?
Because this is the kind of thing, wetouched upon it earlier a little bit.
So you're doing, sitcoms mm-hmm.
And the comedy.
Did you wanna do something else?
Did you figure, you know what, Iwanna move on from this eventually.
Or you're like, you knowwhat, I love my job.
I'm in this sitcom.
And then a sitcom will end andthen you'll go on another audition.

(26:37):
What does your life look like in all that?
how long were you onwith, Melissa, Joan Hart?
How long were you
on that?
show?

Five years

Larry (26:42):
And when that ended, how long till the next gig?

I think maybe a year before, like we filmed the pilot,
but I had already known, it wasn'tvery long after I was off Melissa and
Joey that I already knew that Kevincan wait was going to be a thing,
and I was going to be involved in it.
And I had done some stuff in between that.
Like I love sitcoms and Ilove like a b horror movie.
Right?
Like I, love practical effects.

(27:06):
I did Leprechaun Returns, filmed thatin South Africa for a month and almost
everything we did was practical.
We blew up a house, we filmedin the house for the month and
then on the last day of shooting
We blew it up and it was crazy.
And it was so cool.
And it was just such a,such a crazy experience.
Wow.
But being an actor, I mean, it'sanybody who works in any kind of

(27:26):
entertainment, it's so stressfulbecause you don't always know when
your next paycheck is going to come.
Yeah.
You know, you could be at the one week,the top bill on the highest hottest show,
and then something happens that getscanceled and you might not work again.

(27:38):
Yeah.

Larry (27:39):
Yeah.
Did you ever suffer from, uh,depression, sadness with it all?

Oh, for sure.
Especially just the lows ofeverything and not really knowing.
Like after, you know, Kevincan, Waitt ended not really
knowing what I was going to do.
I was living in New York and I didn'tknow, like, was I going to go back to LA
and then COVID happened and that was wild.
And then I moved to Nashville after COVID.
And actually when I moved to Nashville, Iwasn't planning on leaving the industry.

(28:02):
The industry had just changed so much thatpeople were able to live other places.
we weren't having in-personauditions anymore.
So I moved to Nashville, wasplanning to like still be an actor,
do all myself, tapes, do all that.
And then I started volunteeringat Nashville Humane and I just
kind of went there instead.

Larry (28:20):
So what year did you move to Nashville?

I moved here 20.
21.
Okay.

Larry (28:24):
Okay.
And you were in New York at the time.
And that was the end of, Kevin.

I had ended Kevin, I did not end.
Kevin Can Waitt.
Kevin can.
Waitt ended.
I had moved back to LA andwas there for a little bit.
I think I had done like maybeone or two movies in LA was still
trying to audition there, but, Um

Larry (28:42):
Young Sheldon, that's

Yeah, I did Young Sheldon and I actually, I love,
love, love, love young Sheldon.
I was able to do thatwhen I was in Nashville.
That was like the only thing I was doing.
So I was flying back toLA 'cause I was recurring.
So anytime they called me andthey were like, are you available?
I would fly to LA.

Larry (28:57):
What was the catalyst to come to Nashville.
Why nashville?

I wanted to be closer to my mom.
My mom lives in Mississippi now and I hadactually gone back to Mississippi for a
little bit and I had done with a friend.
We did like a cross country road trip.
I knew some other friendsthat had moved to Nashville.
We stayed here for about a weekend andI was like, this to me makes sense.
Like it was betweenNashville and New Orleans.
I chose Nashville.
I threw my dog in a couple like trashbags of clothes in my Jeep and drove

(29:24):
here and stayed with some friends.
And then.
kind of was trying to figure outwhat I was going to do I have
always been a very, very busy person.
So moving here, especially after COVID,when everything was quiet, I was like,
okay, I gotta start doing something again.
Like, I'm going stir crazy.
Um, and yeah, I startedvolunteering and then,
What

Larry (29:40):
made you wanna stay in Nashville?
How did you know this was home for you?

Nashville Humane.
That's what it was.

Larry (29:45):
Yeah.
So what was that like?
Because you're a celebrityand you have a craft and you
have a job that is, thriving.
It's just like anything else.
There's ups and downs, but ashift that big, what was it like?
Did you just think I'll do this, I'llvolunteer and then I'll get back to
what I'm doing because life has toget back to some form of normalcy.
None of us knew what that would look like.

(30:06):
So what did it look and feel like for you?

Yeah, I mean, when I started volunteering there, it was
just something I was doing while I waswaiting to audition for other things.
And then I started part-time onanimal care at Nashville Humane and
at that time I was kind of like, youknow, this still works 'cause I have
days off that I can do auditions andyou know, if something happens, like
they were always very supportive.
Like when I needed to gofilm Young Sheldon, they were
like, yeah, like girl, go.

(30:28):
Right.
and then I just kind ofmoved up and on from there.
I became like the foster coordinator andI have had a lot of different roles there.
I'm now a community engagementcoordinator in public relations, which
is kind of the perfect mesh for me.
I am leaving this entire careerthat I've had my whole life.
To work with animals and pick updog poop every morning at six 30.

(30:52):
Yeah.
Everybody's gonna think I'm crazy, butI think anybody who knew me was like,
no, that actually makes a lot of sense.

Larry (31:00):
Wow.
So that's, part of it.
People will think I am X or Y.
That's a big thing.

Holds a lot of people back from doing a lot of things.
It

Larry (31:07):
It certainly does.
I've been in music and entertainmentmy whole life and my band is not
touring 'cause it's too expensive.
I'm into radio, I'm into podcasting.
This show I'm into communityand building community.
Do I have to let go ofthis whole other life?
That is the only thing I've ever known.
And I get confused part ofit is what will people think?

(31:28):
Mm-hmm.
I'm a human being.
What will people think?
So what was that like you start, you say,well, I'm gonna do this for a while and
I don't have to tell anybody anything.
Or did you care that muchabout what anybody thought?

I think it was disappointing people who had put so
much time and effort into my career.
Right.
And I didn't know what they weregoing to think of me just being like,
you know, thanks for everything.
Bye-bye.
I mean, I've had the same managersince I was a kid and she, when I
told her what happened, she was like,okay, like, you know, if you see any
cute dogs that you think could fitin my house, like, just let me know.
I'll come get it.

(31:59):
I was shocked and it was all in my head,which Yeah, is always, what happens.
I mean, yeah, there werecertain people who definitely
were like, what do you mean?
Like, what do you do now?
People from my industrycould not, understand, right.
But I fell in love with this place.
I fell in love with behavior, workwith animals and their mission and the
Nashville community, and being a partof a different community that cared
so, so deeply about these animals andwhat we do and what our mission is.

(32:23):
So it made it pretty easy.
And my bosses and coworkers and everybodythat has, been at NHA, like them
being so supportive and understanding,and they've just been wonderful.

Larry (32:33):
That's amazing.
So what does a day look like for youat the Nashville Humane Association?

Well, uh, it really, it depends.
Most of my weekendslook like puppy parties.
Yeah.
So that is, kind of one of my main things.
I'm always, in the mediatalking about our animals.
I do weekly segments onTuesdays, on Today In Nashville.
I'm always just trying to, I don't know,bring some puppy love to somebody who
needs it or really get people engagedin new ways with our mission and what

(32:59):
we do, and helping, not just adoptout animals, but get people involved
in other ways, because I know thatnot every single person can adopt.

Larry (33:06):
So when you're on, Today In Nashville.
Yes.
On Tuesdays on NBC.
Mm-hmm.
Correct.
With your experience, do you ever geton set and you're like, I got this.
And you're like, let'sgo to camera one now.
This lighting No, no, no.
Let's try this.
you can direct your own

Oh, no.
I can never beat Carol Sullivan.
She is, it's too good at her job.
She's amazing.
She's amazing.
I've been on that show.
Um, yeah, I haven't been, I guess,relevant on television in a while,
but I do still get the people who arelike, God, you, you look so familiar.
Where'd you go to high school?
Yeah.
Yeah.

Larry (33:33):
does that feel good?

It d it's weird.
Sometimes Like, I'm always gladthat people know who I am and have
enjoyed the work that I've done, butsometimes when I'm there to, talk
about my current mission, I feellike it can be a little distracting.

Larry (33:45):
Yeah.
And people don't realizeI get the same thing.
It's like, oh, you did this, I rememberseeing your band play there, and it
was sort of the height, let's say, oflike my band's career and all that.
That's so great.
So what are you doing now?
And I'm like, well, I'm here at theradio station and I'm still playing.
I have a gig next week.
Like, oh yeah, but you guys were so good.
Like, yeah.

(34:06):
Yeah.
You

know, that's when it comes to the people
who are like, what do you mean

Larry (34:09):
the disappointment in your, I'm like, what?
What?
I don't even know you and Ifeel terrible about myself.
You know?
What does that say about me?
Right.

Luckily, I usually have a puppy in my arm, which is a great
distraction and just kind of, you know,

Larry (34:21):
So, voted Nashville's best place to adopt the Nashville Humane Association
is such an important, part of your work.
Would you ever go back to acting?

Mm, I don't think full time, but I would love to like that
creative piece of me and that creativeoutlet is definitely still there.
And I'm kind of lucky that in myposition at NHA, like I am always
Jordan, who is my work bestie and whoruns all of our socials and is amazing.
I'm always like, let's do a skit.
Like that would be fun, you know?
So I get to kind of get some of that out.

(34:51):
But I definitely think that there's,you know, maybe a time and a place of.
We could just get some sitcomsfilming in Nashville and I
could find a way to do both.
Sure.

Larry (34:59):
Yeah.
Why not?
And so you, get paid residuals andall for the stuff that you've been on.
So that's, that's very helpful,obviously, which is a, wonderful thing.
I get the same thing with music thatI have that are in television shows.
Yeah.
You know, people are always watching,whatever episode of Law and Order that
electric fever from my band is on.
And I know this because quarterly I'mlike, oh my goodness, I can't even
believe I'm still getting paid forsomething that I did so many years ago.

(35:22):
Yeah.
And it really is a miracle.

Yeah, it is.
I mean, there are definitely, youknow, the ones that are worth a penny?
That is, there's actually a bar in la Idon't know if it's still there, but there
was a bar in LA called The Residuals Bar.
And if you brought in your residual checkthat was like a penny, they would put it
up on the wall and give you a free shot.

Larry (35:37):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Oh, that's awesome.
So did you like living in LA?

I did.
I was there for so long, like myfriends and everything was, there
and I, I loved it until I didn't.
You know, and I think thatI just, kind of outgrew it.
I do miss the weather, I'm not gonna lie.
you know, we don't have humidity orthunderstorms there, which is always nice.
Mm-hmm.
But I enjoy going back andgetting like the small spurts
even though it's so different now.
what's so different?

(36:03):
Just the whole, landscape.
I feel like, between the industry changingand COVID VID and everything, a lot
of people aren't able to work there.
A lot of things don't even film thereanymore because it's too expensive
and it's just not the same as itwas, I guess, the rose colored
glasses I took them off eventually.

Larry (36:19):
Well, isn't it something like we're sitting here talking about the
way it was, New York was the greatest.
The East Village where I livedwas the greatest neighborhood,
arguably in the world.
And it was the nineties and theearly two thousands that I was there

(36:31):
a

dream,

Larry (36:32):
But, things will never be the same.
Going to LA for me was justto work and I loved it.
And then I loved to leave becauseI didn't really care for the people

(36:38):
Yeah.

Larry (36:39):
You're in your early thirties and you're like, ah, it's not the way it was.
I mean, that's takes a lot of wisdom.
Would you say, I would saythat you're a wise person.
Would you consider yourselfhaving some wisdom?

I would think so.
I think a lot of the different things thatI've been able to do in my life gives me
a lot of different perspectives on things.
But yeah, I mean, you're right,it is the people in la it
is the culture there it is.
So, it's so different and it's hardand it's hard to be somewhere that
when I'm, I feel like when I'm not ona hit show anymore, I don't really have
anything to offer people there anymore.

(37:10):
And I feel that when I go

Larry (37:11):
Wow.,
that's LA in
a nutshell.
I just remember that too,because I look a certain way.
I mean, people think,oh my God, who are you?
What does this guy have?
And the reason why I cringe to this dayis that I know I'm meeting somebody from
LA in Nashville when it's the same thing.
Like I'll be out somewhere and Somebodywill just beeline to me and is very
interested in me because of nothingother than how I look and carry myself.

(37:33):
when I find out they're fromLA, I go, oh, that tracks.
I have nothing for you.

Yeah.
When I moved here, I did not tellpeople that I was in LA before this.
Like it was for a while itwas just like, no, I'm from
Mississippi, I'm from Mississippi.
That's it.
You don't need to know anymore.
That's where I was born.
That's what we're going with.
So

Larry (37:48):
So can you recall your accent?
Oh man,
Your Mississippi accent.

(37:53):
it

was so thick.
I, I honestly, now that I'm older,kind of wish that I would have
been able to keep more of it.
It comes out sometimes, like ifI've been on the phone with my

Larry (38:02):
would you mind?
Can you,

I don't think I can do it.
Oh my gosh, no.
I don't want anybodybeing like, really girl.
Because you know,

Larry (38:08):
Because, you know, people say, Hey man, talk New York to me.
And I'm like, what the fuck are

(38:12):
you talking?

Larry (38:12):
about?
They're like, yay, man.

(38:13):
Just like

that.

Larry (38:15):
And then I get mad because they're like, man, that's crazy, man.
Y'all crazy up there.
I'm like, why don't you shut the fuck up?
And they're like, man.
And then in my mind I'mlike, I can end this.
I just have to say, go fuck your mother.
And then I choose, to not,because I'm like, you know

(38:27):
for you.

Larry (38:28):
what am I doing?
You know?
I'm like, don't go all the way there.
Just give enough to give the flavor of

(38:33):
York.
Yeah.

Larry (38:34):
That's my Queens coming out and I can turn it on when I want.
And it does come out moreso at times than others.
Were you in a situation where you wereacting as a younger person and you had the
accent and they did not use your voice?
Yes.
Wow.

Yeah, I think it was one of my first commercials.
It was a Motrin commercial.
And I was so excited to see it.
And then when I watched it, itwas like, not my voice at all.
And

Larry (38:56):
What was the line?
Do you remember?

I
do not remember.
I was so young.
But it also was funny becausethe woman who played my mom
was from Sweden, I think.
Right.
So they also had to dub her voiceover.
yeah, that has definitely happened to me.
And it happened a lot more.
I mean, it kind of ended as I got older'cause I just got so used to it and I
spent a lot of time, I worked reallyhard to get rid of my southern accent.
There are certain thingsthough, that I slip up like

(39:18):
saying old instead of like oil.
Like I have to work on that a lot.
Or like theater.
Like there are certain words that I stilllike, I kind of have fallen back into.
I'm like, oh man.
Oil?
really?
Like that's the one I got.
Yeah,

Larry (39:30):
Yeah.
I used to do, voiceover work.
I mean, I still do every now andagain, but like everything in this
industry, it shifts, it dries up.
AI is now involved and all that.
But I always found that interesting'cause as somebody in that realm,
when I see a commercial or somethingand I'm like, that's overdued.
I can tell.

Oh

(39:46):
gosh.

It drives me crazy.
Like I can watch anything.
It's hard for me to get immersedinto television and anything
because I like notice everything.
Like continuity mistakes.
I notice it.
A DR drives me crazy bad.
A DRI can't.
A-D-A-D-R is like when you haveto go in and dub over something.
Right.
So like that.
I can't,

Larry (40:04):
I should know that, right?

I'm the business..

Larry (40:06):
I'm just kidding.
I, I know exactly what a

Yeah, like when you have to go in and do, and I get it.
I've had to do it a lot, especially forany horror movies where you have to just
go into a booth and scream for, you know,30 minutes 'cause somebody's chasing you.
Or like the heavy breathing, whichis always just like super awkward.
Like you click down and thenyou're just like, ha ha ha.
Like, that's always so bad.
But I can definitely, I noticeit in things and it drives

(40:25):
me
crazy.
So,

Larry (40:26):
can you recall anything continuity wise that is, just so off

Well, I mean, I think for everybody it's the
Starbucks Cup and Game of Thrones.
Thank you

Larry (40:34):
very much.
Right.

Yeah.
Seeing that I was like,man, Things are fast paced.
I've been a part of it for so long,but I also feel like I was such a
stickler for it, that I was alwaysthe one who like would try to
keep track of my own continuity.
Yeah.
watching things now that I'm like, oh man.
Like your hair is on the wrong shoulder.
Right.

Larry (40:51):
What's the most fun you've had on set

Oh geez.
I mean, all of Melissa and Joey, tobe honest, it was just so much fun.
We had, you know, Sterling Knight whoplayed my fiance on the show was one of
my best friends growing up in real life.
So like, that was crazy.
Kevin Fontaine too.
I was in a love triangle on the show withtwo of my like best friends in real life.
Right.
Which was so amazing and so funny.
And just everybody who was apart of that crew, like once I.

(41:16):
got older and I was 21 and I, I hadmy, I had my 21st birthday party
actually on the CBS Radford lot.
It was Sex in the City themed and itwas on New York Street on the lot.
And my entire crew helped light it anddecorate it and do everything to throw
me like the best 21st birthday ever.

(41:38):
And I think that's probably themost fun that I've ever had.

Larry (41:41):
So it was a New York Street?

Yes, it was.
We had a block party.
A block party.
It was amazing.
there was probably like 200 people there.
My entire crew, all of myfriends, we had a dance floor.
They did so much to makeit so, so special for me.

Larry (41:53):
That's so cool.

I know.
It was crazy.

Larry (41:55):
Okay.
So when you were going out, let's say,and you're like, I need something to wear.
Were you able to go to wardrobe?
Like, if you're home and you'relike, I need an outfit for tonight.
I'm just going to a party.
You know what, let me,I think I know the code.
Would they let me in?
Would you just go to wardrobe theTV show and grab something to wear

if I was being photographed somewhere?
For sure.
And I mean, you know, I obviously,like I worked with a stylist and I,
you know, was able to borrow clothes,but Lennox dressed so much like me,
like we really kind of became one.
So, yes, I did definitely steal somethings from the wardrobe department.

Larry (42:26):
Absolutely.
I mean, I've done videos and stuff in themusic industry where they're just like,
they spent more money on the clothesthan they did, than I even got paid.
But I was so fortunate enoughthat they were like, yeah,
you could keep the clothes.
what was it like kissingyour best friends?
You know, on set you have this lovetriangle with your best friends.
What's it like?
you're a star.
What's it like kissing these people?

it's a weird thing.
It's also to make it even weirder.
I was dating my CoStar's youngerbrother in real life, right?
So that was really weird because Iwould have to go to work and not only
kiss one of my best friends, but myboyfriend's brother, And yeah, I mean
luckily we were so close that like, itwas just a joke, you know what I mean?
And also like on sitcoms, it's notlike we're heavy making out, It's

(43:04):
a light peck here or there, handholding, like it's PG basically.

Larry (43:08):
there's no tongues on tv,

right?
Not really, no.
Okay.
No, it's, it's frowned upon for sure.

Larry (43:14):
Does it ever happen?
You go, oops.
Yes.

When you're a teenager, like none of us knew what
we were doing and how awkward that,like, we didn't know what we were
doing, but we were being filmed forit to be broadcast to so many people.
so cringey.

Larry (43:25):
Especially if the guy in the corner that's like, sweeping up, he's like,
oh, I could show you how to do this.
Like,

(43:30):
We let

Larry (43:30):
guy in here get outta

(43:31):
here,

show us how.
Yeah.
Having to get like notes fromproducers of like, you're kissing
when you're like a teenager.
So weird.

Larry (43:37):
that's a great, great thing you're bringing up.
What is it like to get notes?
Because it's hard to not take these things

(43:43):
Mm-hmm.

Larry (43:43):
Where you're like, this is insane, or Yep, this was helpful.
What was it like for you?

I mean, it's always kind of a toss, you know?
Like collaboration and stuff.
I obviously didn't have a lot of thatwhen I was a teenager, but as I got
older and I kind of found my voice andwas able to talk about things more.
I mean, they're always appreciated becausewe also can be doing something that
just like doesn't look right on camera.
There's nothing that you're doing wrong.
It just looks weird on camera.
There's weird angles.
you gotta try to figure out, like,you're sometimes in the weirdest
positions doing the weirdest thingsso that it looks natural on camera.

(44:10):
And then for sitcoms we have,punch up during live tapings.
Right?
So

Larry (44:15):
what is that for the,

They are, when say we have like a joke
that, we've been doing all week.
So sitcoms get those,scripts get rewritten a lot.
Not the foundation of the script,but a lot of the lines and stuff.
You have a table read at the beginningof the week, you see what works and then.
It changes.
And then you have, a director's runthrough, a producer's run through, and
then you have a studio run through sothat the studio, especially, you know,
we were ABC Family at the time make surethat we were kind of staying in our lane.

(44:39):
And then you get in front of the audienceand sometimes things that we have all
found hilarious all week, Crickets.
Yeah.
we have to go in and change it and,figure out what works and just kind
of punch it up a bit until we canget that big laugh that we wanted.

Larry (44:53):
Have you ever, had the experience where you get the note, it's like,
Taylor, we need it like this andlike this, and you just go, mm-hmm.
Okay.
And you do it the exact same wayand they go, that was wonderful
because that's happened with me.
In music all the time, or avoiceover work or jingle singing.
We needed more like this.
At first I like melt into myself andjust wanna run home and think you suck.
And then I go, Hmm.

(45:15):
Okay.
And I smile.
Yep.
And I do the exact thing because in mymind, I think I know what I'm doing.

(45:21):
Right.
Yeah.

Larry (45:21):
Yeah.
It's kind of silly, right?
You, you hired me.
I

(45:24):
didn't,

Larry (45:25):
I didn't hire me.
Okay.
Which is maybe why I'm notworking in that business anymore.
But I remember doing this a few timeswhere I literally just smiled, say Uhhuh.
'cause as I was probably justscared to try something else, but
I, leaned into what I was doing andthey're like, that was phenomenal.
Did that ever happen?

not that I can think of.
I think I was probably too scaredand was just like, yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna do whatever you say.
Sure.
Yeah.

Larry (45:45):
Yeah.
I remember doing a jingle and it wasfor Reese's Peanut Butter cereal, and
they were like, it's gotta be more.
And so I gave them more andthey're like, Hey, hey, hey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is a kid's cereal.
You know?
This is Saturday morning.
And it was like, it was partof this nutritious breakfast,
and that's all I had to say.
Right?
I'd already sung, by the way, whatan industry, you'll appreciate this.

(46:07):
I had sung my part and in between takes,I like spoke The other part thinking if
they hear this, maybe they'll like it.
And if they like it, they'llhire me for the speaking, which
is two paychecks, not just one.
And it worked.
Yep.
Wow.
I was like, in between takes, I waslike, part of this nutritious breakfast.
They're like, Hey, can you stay?
I was like, sure.
Oh Yeah.

(46:27):
So I'd already sung my

That's like the dream.

Larry (46:30):
totally.
So there I was and it was like partof this nutritious breakfast and
they were like, no, give us more.
You know, I'm like, part ofthis nutritious breakfast like

(46:37):
go,

Larry (46:38):
you know?
So I just stood there asquietly as I could and I
thought, how am I gonna do this?
I said, okay.
I said, Part of thisnutritious breakfast bitch!
And I said, you could edit the bitch.
And they go, that's it.
Because my intention whereI landed was so powerful.
There was another one, it waslike something, something,
something motherfucker.
And that's, what they used.
And they just cut off the curse

(46:59):
Those

are like tricks of the trade though.
sometimes you just haveto do something crazy.
Especially in voiceovers.
Yes.
Like people don't realize, we are not justsitting behind a microphone completely
still, you are still acting out everythingbecause you need the intention behind it.
Yes.
Yeah.

Larry (47:12):
So what was it like seeing your face on the screen?
You've been on the small screen you'vebeen on phones, flat screens, big screens.
What's it like?

Wild.
the first time, like it wasobviously very, very cool.
And then I actually used to havefriends over, we would have pizza
nights and watch Melissa and Joey.
I think we came on Wednesdays.
Yeah.
And all my friends would come over andwe would watch it and then just hang out.
and then I think As I got older, I gotmore self-conscious, so I kind of stopped.
Mm.
And now it's funny, like when I watchmyself when I was younger, like just

(47:44):
hearing my voice and how high it wasand how like, you know, just like
sweet and cute I was, and it's, youknow, I was a not embarrassed by
it by any means, but I definitelyfound it a little cringing here.
But now I'm just like,yeah, I think it's fun.
Yeah.
To be able to like, have sucha record of kind of my life and
my growth, you know what I mean?
It's like this crazy scrapbook that I

Larry (48:05):
Yeah.
I mean, you're Wikipedia, you'reIMDB so much and you're the Nashville
Humane Association all rolled into one.
If there was a role that wouldbring you back, I mean, what
type of part would it be?
I mean, it could just be anythingyou make up in, or maybe it's
something you have in your pocket.
What would it be?

I just think anything on a sitcom, like a
true Multicam film in front of alive audience, get that feedback.
Like I just, I loved it.
I hope that genre never goes away.
'cause I feel like, especially now, Ifeel like that lightness is so, so needed.

Larry (48:38):
Yeah.
What's your favorite sitcom of all time?

Oh my goodness.
I mean, golden Girlsis definitely up there.
Reba.
Oh, I love Reba.
I worked with a lot of peoplewho were also on Reba, and that
was always very cool for me.

Larry (48:48):
And you're in Nashville, you're in the country music, you
know, capital of the universe.
Have you ever met Reba?
Oh, we have to make that happen, please.
I'll do my best.
Absolutely.
Oh, this is so fantastic.
All right.
I have a few questions.
A speed round

(49:00):
Oh goodness.
Okay.
This

Larry (49:01):
great.
What fascinates you?

People.
yeah.
Alright.

Larry (49:05):
What angers you

People?

Larry (49:07):
Nice.
What brings you joy?

Uh, animals.
Yeah.

Larry (49:11):
I'll bet.
If you had a magic wand and you couldfix something or change something,
to your liking, what would it be?

Animal welfare laws.

Larry (49:20):
Please
explain.

I would make them better and add more protection
for our furry friends and expandresources to where they are needed
so that people can keep their pets.
And then if they can't, thenthey have somewhere safe to
go, like Nashville Humane.

Larry (49:35):
That's fantastic.
Oh my goodness.
Now the big difficultquestion, Taylor toilet paper.
Over or under?

Over.

Larry (49:43):
Right
on.
you are a sane human being,but you work with animals.
So you might say under,because of the cats.
That's what I've been told.
Give us the commercialNashville Humane Association.
What do we need to know?
Because it's a very serioussituation that we have.
I have tons of cats in my neighborhoodand there's just more every day I
see dogs that are not, cared for.

(50:04):
I see people that are doing the best theycan, and I see people that don't care
and doing the worst that humanity can do.
So please, this is your life.
This is your job, your livelihood.
Tell us a little bit about what it iswe need to know about your work with
the Nashville Humane Association.

I mean, Community involvement is such a big thing.
Animal welfare takes a village andit takes a lot of us keeping your
eyes and ears open and speakingup for the voiceless and helping
with resources that people need.
You know, I want to be able tokeep pets in homes and we can't do
that without our community sport.
And we're so grateful for Nashville andthe way that they always step up for us.

(50:41):
But the need is always there.
We have so many ways to get involvedno matter what you wanna do.
And it is so rewarding and so worth it.
I left a very cool entertainmentindustry job because I love it so much.
So get involved.

Larry (50:54):
You are smiling like a Christmas tree.
Are you?
happy?

I am, Yeah.

Larry (50:57):
That's wonderful.
Well, how do we find you ifyou want to be found or how do
we find what you do your work?

Nashville humane.org
or on Instagram at Nashville Humane.
Mine is at Taylor Spreitler.
Um, it's pretty much just repost and,you know, maybe a little bit more
behind the scenes of Nashville Humane.
So if you're into cute animals,either follow me or NHA.

Larry (51:18):
Absolutely.
Well, my sweet dog Jazz is having hislittle testicles cut off tomorrow removed.
And it's all because of you.
Taylor Spreitzer.
Thank you.
You've educated.
Thank you so much for,

(51:29):
jazz.

Larry (51:29):
Thank you for the services and thank you for what you do.
And thank you for yourtime and your energy.
And thank you for your bravery.
You know, you've lived a complete lifeand you decided that it was okay to
follow a path, uncertain and unknown.
And for that, I really appreciate

(51:45):
you.
Thank you

Larry (51:46):
Absolutely.
Taylor Spreitler, superstar actor,and superstar Nashvillian at the
Nashville Humane Association.
Thank you so much for being onthe Just Keep Talking podcast.
You're welcome with me, BrotherLove, because Your Story Matters.
Until next time, bye-bye.

Speaker (52:02):
You can personally support this show simply by clicking
the tip link in the show notes.
The Just Keep Talking podcast is nowavailable on all podcast platforms.
Please like, share, and subscribe.
Visit our website@justkeeptalking.com,
our YouTube channel@justkeeptalkingpodcast and
Instagram @thejustkeeptalkingpodcast.

(52:23):
We all just want to be seen,to be heard and to belong.
Thank you so much for supportingmy mission and the Just Keep
Talking podcast with me, BrotherLove, because Your Story Matters.

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