Nazneen Contractor (aka "Kayla Hassan") - "You Can Do It, But Make Sure You Love It."

It was a joy to speak with our guest Nazneen Contractor about a great many things, including the recent renewal of her CTV show, Children Ruin Everything and its family connection!

We also cover how she simultaneously was cast on 24 and learned to drive, Hallmarkies, being married to Yakavetta, advice from Mark Hamill and then the Star Wars universe and, of course, the Canadian Conspiracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mPsnV0TDt8

#ChildrenRuinEverything

Don't miss the bonus segment at the end for fans and future fans of Letterkenny!

Children Ruin Everything (CTV Canada) https://youtu.be/jOfN_eDuPkM
Children Ruin Everything (ROKU Channel) https://youtu.be/LStzUSr-3NM

Episode Transcript

(00:33):
Well, hello everyone, welcome backto twenty years of twenty four podcasts.
We're on with Nazmine Contractor from twentyfour she played Kyla Hassan and season eight
in twenty ten. I can't believeit's been more than a decade time,
fly, So we welcome you tothe podcast to talk about twenty four and
other and other topics and shows andfilms you want to talk about. So

(00:56):
thank you for joining us. Myfirst question, it's kind of a two
parter, is how did you getinvolved with the show in twenty ten?
Like where you approached by one ofthe producers, So how did you get
involved? And why do you thinktwenty four continues to be a popular shows?

(01:21):
You know, eleven years later?I guess you know I've always said
this, with the with the stuffgoing on in the world these days,
I guess twenty four actually continues tobe very relevant, and I think you
can make the argument of it comingback for revival hopefully soon. But what
are your thoughts on both of thosequestions? Okay, so, hi,
rist Well, thank you so muchfor having me. You're very welcome.

(01:45):
It's lovely to be here. Sohow did I get involved in twenty four.
So I it's actually a great questionthat I don't think I've been able
to really fully express the answer toin previous interviews. So I'm Canadian.
I'm one of those those Canucks fromup north. And I moved to LA
at the end of two thousand andeight. And I got here and my

(02:08):
husband, who was then my boyfriendis Carlo Rota who played more So Brian,
and I got here and we wereliving together and I was auditioning.
I had an agent, I hada manager, and I was there for
about I was in LA for aboutfive months, feeling a little exhausted from
the process, a little lonely,a little homesick, and I was actually

(02:30):
going to go home that summer,go back to Toronto. And I was
like, oh, maybe I'll goback and just give this a break.
When Mylon Chalof, who was oneof the directors and executive Bruiser twenty four,
who I actually did my very firstrecurring job with in Canada on a
show called Street Time Calls, andhe was a friend of Carlos, and

(02:53):
he was like, come and joinus all for dinner. He had a
big group of people at dinner atted Oni, which is also Indian restaurant
that we have down here. SoI went to that dinner and I saw
Mylon. It was great to seehim again. I hadn't seen him since
I hadn't seen him in you know, almost a decade. He looked the
same. And then after I sawMylin at that dinner, I get a

(03:16):
phone call from my manager being like, you got an audition for twenty four
And I was like, oh,amazing. Great. He's like, you
know what, it's so interesting becauseI've been trying to get you seen for
this role and because I was newand no one know who I was,
you know. He was like,I was having a really hard time.
But all of a sudden, thedoor opened. I'm like, oh,
well, I think it's because Ihad lunch with Mylin. So I go

(03:37):
to the audition and I auditioned forthe show three times. It was very,
very So I go to the auditionand I do the audition and the
casting director is like, wait,are you the girl Mylon talked about?
And I said, yeah, Ido know Mylin. We worked together.
She's like, oh my god,Okay, wait, I need to get
you back in with all the producers. Can you come back in with all

(03:58):
the producers and I was like,yes, absolutely, So she like got
on the phone while I was there, saying when the producers are going to
be at the studio and and comeback. And then I was supposed to
come back, and there was anincident in New York or something like that,
and at my callback got canceled,and then it got pushed to,
like the day I was supposed tobe leaving for Canada to go back to

(04:20):
the summer. At pushed to thatday. So I went in and in
the room was Mylin and Brad andboth casting directors, and and I did
it, and Brad was like,I think you're perfect for this. I
think you're so perfect for this.And I was like, okay, great.
He was like, it's like you'reabsolutely wonderful. And I had no

(04:42):
idea who's going to be playing mymother? I had no ideas. Oh,
it was only supposed to be twoepisodes. The role, yeah,
the role itself. So then Igot on a plane, I went to
Canada, and then next week Iwas like, you're gone for network approval,
and then like you know, acouple of days later, I booked
it. It was going to bejust two episodes, and I even remember
that, like it was such alike last minute putting our family together of

(05:03):
the milk a poor and the carsout again and me that like I actually
wore Jim's gonna kill me the costumesare, but actually wore like an outfit
that Alisha like xed to like AliciaCuthbert X like Alicia doesn't like this,
So you're gonna wear this now forthe first up, like you know,
for like the majority of the show, because it's twenty four, it was
such a like and then it justgrew, It just grew. It was

(05:24):
like two episodes that were gonna putyou in the next one. And then
after episode ten, I think Igot an email from casting them like they
want you in for the rest ofthe season because they actually really developed that
show, like I'm sure you know, like they really have the first episodes
planned and then all of a suddenthey see how the dynamic is going on
set and they start to plan therest of it. So like Akbar the

(05:47):
guy who played my uncle a Coorta, like his death was not planned but
like came about. A Mill's deathwas like something that they had a big
meeting about, like it was avery in the car. Taking over that
character is something they decided in likeepisode twelve, like really halfway through the
season, and that's a I've neverbeen a part of a show that organically

(06:09):
unravels like that, right or organicallyis developed like that. So that was
amazing. So that's how I gotthe role. Basically, Mylin remembered me
from when I was seventeen on StreetTime, where I did four episodes for
him and he was and he sawme again. He was like, oh,
it should be great for the daughter, and then it just grew into
this part, which was amazing.And secondly, do I think twenty four
is relevant? Why is it sucha hit? Well, I'll tell you

(06:30):
this. I didn't even watch twentyfour for the longest time everyone was watching
it, and then I think,like literally a year before I moved to
LA, I'd been watched it onVHS, Like I went to the video
store and I as soon as Istarted watching it, I could not stop
watching it. I was like goinglike like, you know, finishing it,

(06:51):
going to the video store, gettingmore waiting you know, someone had
already taken it out, getting ona wait list to get the next box
set. It was the first forme, like before Lost or any of
those shows. It was like thefirst binge worthy show. And I think
that was very much in tune tothe writing of it, right, like

(07:11):
the cliffhangers of it and the serializedeffect of it. Also, we didn't
have a lot of serialized dramas onnetwork television at that time. I can't
think of any, right, mostof them are procedurals, So I think
the serialized nature of it. Ithink the fact that it came out shortly
after nine to eleven the first seasonmade it so relevant. I felt like
it was just and it was Also, it was so spontaneous in the way

(07:36):
it was created that I think thatthat really grabbed all the viewers as well,
like they felt that spontaneity and youdidn't know what Like Season five,
episode one is one of the greatestepisodes of television I have ever seen in
my Like the fact that they killedoff all those characters, like it was
unheard of. Like everyone made abig deal on Game of Thrones when they

(07:57):
did it right, it's like no, twenty four did it way before that,
way before that. Yeah, Andit's interesting too, like when you
say binge watching, like I'm rewatchingtwenty four down with my mom, Like
we're on season three, halfway throughseason three and like I've seen it all,
but I'm rewatching again. And eventhough I'm seeing I'm rewatching it,

(08:20):
it's like I've never seen it before, like because like, yeah, that's
that feeling like I'm I'm I'm seeingit for the first time. So it
does have that, It does havethat rewatch rewatchable addition to it. And
I had I had completely forgotten thatyou drove the e MP back into CTU.
Yes, yeah, and then blewit. Oh my gosh, that's

(08:41):
a major plot point. How didI forget that? And I was like,
I watched it this morning and Iwent, you drove that thing in?
Oh my god? Like the greatthe story of of you getting away
and it's like you are a healthcaptin, but you got away and you
took off and then as they're pulling, as you're pulling in, they're realizing,
oh no, they let her getaway. It's like this show,

(09:01):
eight seasons in is still blowing mymind. I didn't even know. I
didn't even know. And I rememberwhen I got tortured, so I always
so I was hearing when people weregetting killed off that you got a phone
call, like a courtesy phone callbeforehand. So I got I can't remember
what episode I got tortured in,but it was the one episode. So
basically like Mylon did ten, BradTurner did ten, Michael Click did too,

(09:22):
and then there was another director andI feel so bad. I can't
remember his name. He just camein and did two. But it happened
to be the episodes where I getkidnapped and tortured in and they put a
plastic bag over my face and theyactually put a plastic bag over my face,
so Mylon. Yeah, So Myloncalls me and I see him calling
my phone. I had like aflip phone. Then I'm like, oh
my god, I'm getting killed offthe show. And he's like, yeah,

(09:43):
it's the call. And I waslike, oh fuck, oh I
don't know if I'm le serving,like oh fu well that this this job,
this job is over, this likeamazing job is over. And Mons
was like, hey, you know, how are you. I'm like I'm
good. I'm good. He's like, so you know, we have the
scene coming up where we're gonna puta plastic bag over your head and we
just wanted to make sure that you'rea hundred comfortable with it, and the
stunt coordinator is going to be thereand blah blah blah. I'm like yeah,

(10:05):
He's like, okay, great,I just wanted to make the call
because I know you best and thisnew director didn't feel comfortable doing it,
and then in case you had anyconcerns you might not feel comfortable. And
I'm like, so, I'm not, I'm not dying and he's like,
no, I'm not. I'm not. I felt like i'd been given a
second chance over somebody's head. They'redead like this. You survive, right,

(10:28):
you survive, and we're gonna videotapeit and show it to your parents
and it's gonna be the ransom.And I'm like, oh my god,
thank you so much. I'm like, please please put a bag over my
head. Just don't kill me,Please put it, please strangle me,
please supplicate me, do anything.At the end of the day, you're
still alive. That's that's that's somethingto be saying. And that was such
and you know that was the otherthing about that role, Like you know,

(10:48):
it was written to be this audition, the initial audition was so simple,
like this dautiful daughter, and thenlike they just they let it go
so far, like they give hera secret, they gave her a lover.
You know, they got I hadtorture, I got to blow up
seat to you, like they gaveme so much more than like it was
such an amazing job. And thenon top of that, I was such

(11:09):
a big fan of the show,so every day going to work, I
was like, I can't believe thatmy first job in la is on this
show and it's and it's so good. And I got to say, you're
the third Canadian that said that,like literally, they they've got Christia and
Toplas said that. Alicia said that, they said they had their they had
their ticket booked. They're like,if I don't get this one, I'm

(11:31):
done. Like if I don't gettwenty four, I'm out of this.
I may have to go do somethingelse. And then twenty four came through.
I loved to say that hearing thosestories. Yeah, well, you
know, as an actor, likerejection and unemployment is such a real part
of life, right, and especiallybecause I had just moved here and I
was so lucky because I had Carloand I had so much support and love

(11:54):
and everything like that, but itwas still hard, like I was a
non stop working actor in Canada.It was. It was a big transition
for me. But it was theperfect first job because I was in a
crew that I was in season eight. They were like a well oiled machine.
By then, everyone knew Carlos,so everyone was like everyone was super
nice anyways, but then everyone tooklike extra care of me. I felt

(12:16):
like, you know, because ofbecause of like it's a family and they're
like, oh my god, thisis Carlo's girlfriend. I mean we got
married right after that show ended,right after my season and we got married,
and then the next year we hadour first kid. I mean,
Brad was at our wedding. Wow. Wow, yeah, yeah, it
was. It was. It wasa really amazing experience for me. It

(12:39):
really was the best introduction to networktelevision in the US that I could have
asked for. That's pretty amazing.Plus it was already up and running.
It was, I know, thatwas that was the most amazing thing.
Like literally like we would rarely shootover time, rarely, Like it was
a well old machine like that crewthey had all they were like family.
Sure, yeah, that's certainly theword that that's certainly what we felt on

(13:03):
at the convention. Yeah, thatreally we've been hearing about the family,
you know, Keifer had told usabout it, and family had come up
several times in our conversations, butwhat we saw on full display for like
nine hours was the family getting backtogether and it was like nothing could have
warmed my heart more than seeing peoplejust gush over each other. And ah,
I'm curious. And then what didyou think of that you joined the

(13:24):
convention? We're so glad that youdid, Thank you very much. What
were your impressions kind of coming inas a cast member to that convention?
You know, it was so funnybecause I, first of all, I
thought that convention was very well executed, So my hat off to both of
you. It was wonderful and itwas so great everyone seeing I know,
right, I can imagine, butit was so funny because I kind of

(13:45):
felt like I did on the show, where I'm like, I'm a part
of this, but I'm also ahuge fan and I can't have like I'm
a nerd guys like I geek outon everything and I'm everything I'm doing like
you might have, I'm an appointmentor the show I want to get like
obsessed with. I'm like, thisis the new best thing, and I
get so into it, and sofor me being I remember like I was
at the craft truck and one ofthe writers came up to me and he
was like, hey, blah blahblah, I'm a writer on the show.

(14:07):
And I'm like, i am sucha big fan of the show.
And he was like, you're onthe show and as to say, what
a good job ding, I'm like, honestly, this is some of the
best writing. And then what itwas. It was so good and we
would rehearse that show. It wastelevision, but they would give us so
much time to rehearse, like itwas unlike any other network TV I've ever
done, Like it was not spedup. There would be private rehearsals.

(14:30):
They would really work out all thekinks in the scene. Everyone had a
voice before the crew came in tolike mark and show the blocking and everything
like that to go light. Itwas a very very collaborative process. And
yeah, it was just it's notto be repeated, Like, I don't

(14:50):
think I can think of another jobI had where a I've had that much
range and a role in one seasonright and B and B. It's I've
had that experience on set, andit was because I came in season eight.
Absolutely, I want to bring upa phottle real quick and see what
you think. Oh my god,looking that the trip all of us together,

(15:16):
I was like super fanning, that'samazing. This is a this is
a zoom pick of like everyone fromthe family panel. Yeah, yeah,
the family issues panel. Absolutely.I just this this picture among I have
a bunch of these pictures of justthere. I'll send them to you.

(15:37):
Okay, I'm taking a screenshot ofit. Absolutely. Yeah, what's going
What's in your mind? What's goingon with you in that moment? I'm
kind of like I feel like Iwas kind of having like an out of
body experience because I kind of likehave to remind myself that I am a
part of that world, right becauseyou're because I'm because I'm such a fan,
I always feel like i'm I'm Iwas like outside looking in. But

(16:02):
it was so great, Like youknow, Annie and the Car We still
keep in touch, so it waslike lovely to be with them again.
So it was seeing old friends,seeing new friends, seeing people I'd never
worked with. And hearing their storiesand experiences of how they got on the
show, how they enjoyed it,what they felt. I mean, it
was just it was it was likeI was a voyeur and a participant,

(16:26):
but I felt more like a voyeur, I gotta say, because the story
is like trying to get a wordand edgewise on that panel. Yeah,
right, right right. Everybody everybodyin the show loves to talk, that's
for sure. Yeah, yeah,yeah. Our day was just full of
moments like that where it was like, oh my goodness, they're they're having
so much fun. Like I'm gladwe couldn't make this happen because I literally
thought I was I was operating onlike zero sleep, and I really thought

(16:48):
it was going to lose my mind. I thought it was going to go
extremely well or extremely terribly, andno, it went extremely well. And
then we have to do one inperson. Now we do have to do
on a person. We have todo it in person because I think that,
and you know, it's so funnybecause that show resonates with so many
people I remember, just to letyou know how how globally it resonates.

(17:11):
So we were in so I wasn'ton I was on the show. No,
I wasn't even on the show yet. It was two thousand and seven,
and Carlo took me to Italy tomeet his parents and we did a
little tour of Italy, but hewas on the show already. And we
were in the Vatican, having likea tour of the Vatican, and like
all of a sudden, a womangoes senti quatro plentiquatro, sentiquatro and she

(17:34):
starts looking at Cadlo and they're likeMaris's and like this group of people because
it's so it's such I mean,everywhere we've traveled in the world, everyone
has seen that show. Like,even though it's such an American story in
so many ways, it obviously resonatesglobally, and I think that it's not
so much the stories. I thinkit's the writing and the performances the show

(18:00):
itself that makes it so gripping thatit has a universal appeal. Absolutely absolutely,
you mentioned Mylin. Yes, Ibelieve it is a Windsor guy.
Originally I know he's definitely Ontario.Oh yeah, yes, you know,
yesser. And then Brad Brad isalso a Canadian, yeh, from Bayfield.
But the idea of you know,I guess the question I have.

(18:22):
You've worked with those people on twentyfour in other projects as well, and
many other people as well. What'sthe value of those relationships in this business?
You know, I think that youknow what you're going to get,
right, Like you know exactly whatyou're going to get when it comes to
that. So, you know,we were in Brad called Carlo and I
to do his movie in Bayfield lastyear trigger point, Yeah, and he

(18:45):
was like, it was a phonecall. It was a phone call from
him, it was an offer throughour representation. And then it was like
we had a phone call together andit was wonderful. And then when we
got to set, it was justlike Brad's actually a really good direct First
of all, he's very talented,he's very trustworthy, he he has lots

(19:07):
of good ideas, uh and andso it was like it's like, you
know, it's it's not just workingwith a friend, Like it's working with
a colleague and someone you respect andsomeone you know, you know their temperament,
you know they're going to show up. You know they're going to be
professional on both ends, right onboth ends. So I think that it's
like you just have trust. Youhave trust and and and reliability and and

(19:32):
that's the great thing about this industryis like you can work with the people
you like. Yeah, and inthe industry, what's it like? It's
so like on twenty four you workedwith the producers, directors, other cast
members. But how about working withlike like like Brian Grazer, Like what
was that like? Or working withthe Fox executives or studio executives at the

(19:56):
time on twenty four? What's thatexperience like? So I actually didn't have
like Brian was. I don't eventhink he came to set when I was
on set. I don't even knowhow hands and hands on Hee was in
my season. Joel wasn't around atall. Uh and John wasn't in that

(20:17):
season either. So I had somost so the so they would tell us
how the network was feeling. Obviouslylike the network really liked the dynamic of
an Car and I because they optedto keep us on. But also I
think at that point, like twentyfour was such a well like established show
and such a money making show thatthe network really didn't get involved that much.

(20:40):
Like the really the buck really stoppedat like the executive producers and keeper
and and that's and they and thenetwork allowed them to make a lot of
creative decisions. They gave them alot of money to make a show because
it was a hit. So soit was actually so it was actually a
wonderful experience in the sense that like, we weren't beholding too someone over our
heads because because it was already anestablished hit, they were like, yeah,

(21:04):
do what you want, We getit. You want to kill off
a main character you wanted, youwant to put so and so on call,
you want to do this? Amazingright, we trust you. Yes,
it was exactly that, Thank you. It was. It was one
of trust. And so they wouldtell us they were happy, and you
know, it led to me doinga Fox pilot right after that. But

(21:25):
but but other than that, no, they were very hands off because they
knew that they had they knew thattheir creative team was making hit decisions.
Well, there was when I wasa kid, there was a show called
it was a spoof called Canadian Conspiracy, and it was like Eugene Levy and
Lauren Michaels and all the Canadians thathad moved to la and moved to New

(21:48):
York and how basically they were takingover the US. It's it's still on
YouTube. You can watch it.Oh my god, I gotta, I
gotta, I gotta. That's sofunny they are. They did this whole
thing about saying we had infiltrated theUS. But now when I look at
it, especially in the last twoyears, it seems is it me or
there have them in more productions thathave been moved to Canada, you know
the last Well, I think thatthere's always been productions in Canada just because

(22:12):
it's less expensive to shoot there,right, and also they have such great
crews and local talent that like,it's a very easy, a very easy
cross border thing. And they alsohave great tax incentives. Yes, you
know, And that was the otherthing about shooting twenty four, by the

(22:33):
way, like to get your firstjob in America have it shot in LA
Like, it was incredible for me. And also tidbit about the driving.
I didn't even drive before I cameto LA and then there I was on
twenty four driving a car and someof that was Forman's but some of that
I actually had to drive at nightin Toronto. You didn't have in Toronto,
you didn't have to drive at all. Right. In Toronto you never

(22:53):
have to drive, and when youget a job, they have a driver
for you, right, they giveyou transport. In La everyone drives.
Else it's always self drug. Soyes, it was a big lesson for
that. But uh, I thinkthat I heard a statistic that I think
is still true that there are moreCanadians in Los Angeles or I guess now
like the greater LA area than thereare anywhere else in the world, right,

(23:15):
in terms of the density of Canadians. Yeah, it's it's uh,
it's warmer, and then we oftenwork and then we we we often come
here and then we work back home. Because so much American stuff shoots in
Canada. What's you what's your frequency? Like? I know, the Hallmark
movies mainly shoot over Here, right, the Hallmark movie Shoot over Here,
Children Ruin, Everything shoots in Toronto. Covert Affairs. I did the fifth

(23:40):
season of that that was all Toronto. Heroes Reborn, that was all Toronto
and Hamilton. You know, Ihaven't you know, to be honest,
I actually haven't worked in LA.I think the last thing I did in
LA was like a that Denzel Washingtonmovie. I think it's the last job

(24:03):
I actually yeah, yeah, RomaJay Israel, Yeah, yeah, I
think with Daniel Or I think that'sthe last thing I actually shot in town.
I mean, you are IMDb.I realized that as I was kind
of getting ready over the last coupleof weeks. I went, you're like
Denzel Washington. I mean just there'sjust there's so many names and people that

(24:26):
you've interacted with. I said,you are, You're like the six degrees
in so many rights. It happens. It happens when you've been doing it
for a long time. Absolutely,I guess. So yeah, congratulations and
congratulations. I understand that Children RuinEverything is coming back. It is,
it is, and thank you somuch for coming back. We got double
the episode order, so we're doingsixteen episodes this season. We'll start eight

(24:49):
wasn't enough. Well, eight wasstraight to series and it was really rushed.
That's those eight episodes because we hadto pull up the production date because
Megan was pregnant and they were tryingto hide her pregnancy. So like we
literally lost two weeks of pre production. I was on another show and was
like doing back and forth. Buthere's an interesting tidbit about Children ru and

(25:10):
Everything, and not everyone knows thisbecause I don't have the same last name
as my children. But the boywho plays my son on the show is
my son, really yeah, directit was his first acting gig ever.
And and Kurt Smeaton, the creatorof the show, you know that the
show is about this half Indian,this blended family. Megan is half Indian,

(25:32):
I'm fully Indian, and he waslike, we need half Indian kids.
And he actually approached me for bothof my children, because I have
a daughter and a son. Iwas like no, no, no,
no, no no. And thenCarlo I was like, well, Ablucia,
my daughter had just turned three.I'm like, I don't know what
you expect her to do. Shecan't do anything unless you wanted to just
run around being a three year old, you can't. Like, yeah,

(25:55):
I know that's her strength. Andthen and then with Doriah's he said no.
And then Carlo was the one whoconvinced be like you, you know,
we should let him. And heauditioned and he got a callback and
he tested like he did it allon his own. He went through the
whole process. He went through thewhole process and uh, and then he
got it. So he's thrilled tohave a summer job. The looks he

(26:18):
gets, there's so many looks thathe gives, and you're like, he's
just like these are my parents,and it's like he just kind of lives
in that from what I know.And they didn't, they didn't know what
he could do, and then theyvery cruely realized you can handle the materials.
So they've already like bumped him upthe season. They've already told him
that, like they're going to givehim more to do. Yeah, I
did, Yeah, Yeah, it'shim. Yeah, I'm very I'm very

(26:44):
proud, very proud. Mom.How are you enjoying doing that show that
shows so much fun? I meanit is like you we have some serious
comedic, heavy hitters, and Ilove doing comedy and actually most of like
you know, it's been it's beena minute, Like I kind of started
in this industry in comedy, andand I've done a lot of multi cams.

(27:06):
I haven't done as many single canssingle camera comedies, so this was
like my first in a while,and it was like it it took me
a moment to find that muscle Ifound in the process. Yeah, to
get back there and and it's alsoso much more work. Like I don't
know if all actors say this,but for me, like comedy is like

(27:30):
one hundred times more work for methan drama because if you're not one hundred
percent truthful and present in what you'resaying, it will not be funny.
Okay, yeah, you know youcannot call it in Yeah. Yeah,
what I find is interesting, LikeI remember the first time I saw Megan
was on Secrets and Lines that shehad a couple of years ago, which
is a dress. I'm a thrillertype thing totally. And I can't remember

(27:52):
if I've seen her do comedy beforethis show she did. She did a
show called like Cooper Versus the Worldor something like that. It was it
was a Fox show. It wasa Falk show, and it's where she
met her husband. Okay, Jack, So, and she's so good.
She makes it look like like it'swater off her back, Like she's like

(28:15):
she can like look at something immediatelyknow how to make it funny and make
it her own, make it originallike she And she's actually wonderful to work
with for that reason, because didyou know her before? No? I
never knew her. I mean Idid an episode of Hawaii Fi Bo and
I think we had like one daytogether on that, but I had never
met her before other than like thatone time. And when I got to

(28:36):
set the first day, she waslike, I told them to cast you,
and I was like, you did. She was like yeah, but
then they found you on their own. I was like, oh, thank
you, but but yeah, it'sgreat. It's great to work with her.
Aaron Abrams is probably one of thefunniest people I've ever met on screen,
Like he is such so physical andso but it's the combination. It's

(29:00):
it's not really anyone. I alwaysHappy Endings was a great example of the
combination of the people on that showwith Alisha, because Alicia Yah hadn't done
comedy before that either, but shewas funny in that, like she like
Happy Ending It was that it waslike when you have the right combination of
people, and that's what I know. Children Ruin Everything. It's a great
title, by the way, ChildrenRuin Everything just tells you exactly what you're

(29:22):
in for exactly. But the chemistrythat you have together as sisters in the
extended family and everything else is great. It's just it's just fun to watch.
Oh, thank you, thank you, because it we didn't have a
lot of time leading up to it, and also with COVID, like we
did all our read throughs on Zoomlike no, like the first time I
met people was the first day Iwalked on set. Got it. Yeah,

(29:44):
including the producers, like everyone everyone, So so it was so I'm
very excited to go into season twobecause I feel like we built it and
now we can like just play init. It's so nice to see blended,
blended families and it's it's just,you know, it's nice to see
the representation. Well, that wasthe one thing. I thank you so

(30:04):
much for saying that, and Ireally that was something that you know,
It's so funny because this pilot,Children and Everything was a pilot originally pre
pandemic. Twenty nineteen November, Igot the script for that show, okay
and yeah, months before everything changed. And I looked at it and they
wanted me to read the lead astro. And I looked at it and I'm

(30:26):
like, this is not me right, Like this is funny, but I
don't actually relate to this person.And I even said to Carlo, I'm
like, and there's no way they'regoing to cast an Indian person in this
role anyway, Like, let's faceit, like I literally said those words,
and then yeah, and then andthen a year like two years later,

(30:48):
almost or a year later, Ifind out that they cast Carlo tells
me. Carlo's agent calls and it'slike, did nus mean just book the
lead of children and everything? Becausewe just heard it went to Indian person
because I was like, no,she didn't, and I'm like and then
and then I remembered from reading itin twenty nineteen that the role of the
sister, who is like this ridiculouscharacter who I love playing, like,

(31:11):
you know, she's like flawless,fires people for a living, you know,
woke, She's like this this caricaturebeyond character was so funny. Yeah,
perfect house, perfect perfect life,you know, totally weird and wonderful.
And I was like, oh,the role of the sister. So

(31:32):
I reached out to my agent andI'm like, hey, is the role
of down still available? And theywere like honestly, they were like,
are you sure you want to doit? Because they have no money for
their first season. They're like,do you And I was like no,
I think it's a really I waslike, if they cast someone like this,
I didn't even know it was Megan. I was like, I totally
want to be a part of thisbecause I remember the script being very good
and I think it's going to bea game changer. And it's and this

(31:53):
that is Toronto. Toronto is fullof blended families, and I think people
and ethnicity is incidental. She wasto the comedy right, like, it's
not about I'm not putting on anaccent. No one's put I sound just
like this. You know, it'sjust incidental to the the fact that we're
cast in the show. And thenI did it, and Kurt was so

(32:15):
kind because I did. I senta tape in and then he like immediately
like I think I was like thethird person cast because like Megan Andis and
then me and they before they'd evencast Aaron. And he was like,
oh my god, I was watchingall these tapes of Dawn and she is
like she says ridiculous things, andyou know, she's very funny. But

(32:36):
he was like, and you werethe first tape I watched, being like,
Okay, that's a real person,Like I can actually see that's a
real person. And and I waslike oh, thank you. And so
I was very very happy to betrusted with that role. And I love
her and I love the and theresponse I've been getting about her has been
wonderful. So that's the way we'reintroduced to her is really funny because it's

(33:00):
it's it's in the grocery store atthe high end grows in the butcher shop.
Yeah, yeah, butchers three threebutchers. I can't remember what the
title was, but the idea is, boy, the foods here is really
expensive. Yeah, this Mustard's ninedollars, and then you put it in
your bag and I'm like, that'sand the and the first question before that
was what are you doing here?You? Why are you even here?

(33:22):
A character in less than like sixtyseconds? Right? Yeah? Are how
do you define the sister relationship andwho this woman is in sixties? I
know? And and then writing isvery, very very good on that show.
I have to say, like theykeep it tight. They they really
they really are very interested in thefamily dynamic. They're very open to input

(33:45):
and collaboration. It's good, Likeit's really good. It's smart. Well,
I'm going to draw a line.Tell me what you think about this?
But Alicia did happy endings after twentyfour. Yeah, Jeans Smart has
done a hacks of all attacks.That's amazing, which is amazing. Yeah,
and you amazing, And you've gonefrom twenty four well, I mean
you've had a lot in between obviously, but about a decade, but children

(34:07):
doing everything. Here's here's what Iobserved about the three of you, just
to draw a parallel, because Ialways want to know, doing, as
you said, comedy can be harderthan doing drama. My question or my
thought on that was each of you, in each of those three roles you
played people saying funny things straight.Yes, everything that is dry so dry.

(34:30):
Everything that Don says is just straightas if you know, this is
the way it is, and everybodyelse is kind of You can see kind
of people mugging and saying funny thingsand realizing they're saying funny things down never
has that moment where she's like,wasn't what I said funny? Like now
you're saying hilarious sense of humor,Yes, you're saying hilarious lines without without

(34:50):
giving in to the fact that you'rethat you're doing humorous a saying funny things,
which I think is amazing it's great. Oh good, thank you.
Yeah. Well that's who she is. I mean, she has her own
world, but she lives in yeahand and everyone, and that's just the
way it is for her. Yeah. That was part of making it,
making it real for me, wasthat like, these are these are her
expectations for him. Yeah, Iknow, a nervous breakdown. He's been

(35:14):
doing so well. Yeah, butyou know it was so interesting. It's
like I I it was a greatand talking about just making it real.
It was so good because before Idid that scene, Renuka, our director,
she called me and she was like, you know, I know it's
going to be like a really fastshoot, and I just wanted to introduce
myself and I wanted to tell youlike our thoughts about Dawn and we love
the way you're doing it. Andshe goes, but you know, I
want you to realize that like Donand Bo the guy who plays my husband,

(35:37):
have worked really hard to get tothis point in their marriage and they
actually have gone through adversity and hedid actually have a breakdown and left his
like million dollar CEO job, andnow they've found this place that they existed
and it's taken therapy and time andthat's why they're so excepted. She's so
accepting of it. And it wasas soon as she said that, I
was like, I understand my marriagebecause because otherwise you're like, why is

(36:00):
this person with this person? Sure? Yes, right, like you we
have to make it real, rightyeah? And uh and and Demitri plays
Boe you know who did so muchwith so little right right, really that
was given he has. He putsso much thought and effort into everything he
does. So it's such a joyto work with him because you know,

(36:20):
we'll have a little scene. Hehas all these ideas and like you bounce
from off each other and we playwith them. And yeah, well it
really really hint that there's second seasonis going to go into that a lot
more. You know, how yougot because there's there's always hints of how
you got there and as you said, how we got to this point and
we're together. But it hasn't beeneasy, even though on the surface it
all looks perfect and clean and everythingin the house is the house is totally

(36:44):
perfect as opposed to uh aster itshouse that's yeah, looks like a tornado.
Looks like a tornado. Tornado wentthrough it five times, but there's
I can get a sense that thewriters are going to go into that relationship
in more detail. Now you've gottwice as manypisodes next season, which is
great exactly, and they really wantto explore that. And even with the
niche with Venusuit, who plays ourmom, they really want to explore that

(37:07):
dynamic, and I really want them. I had this like Carl, I'll
put it out there. I haven'ttold Kurt yet, but I was like,
we need a dad, and Ithink our dad should have like divorced
our mom and now is like areally young hot wife. And and and
even though we all want to likevilify our dad, he's so charming and
lovely that everyone likes him and ourhusband's like him so much, and it
should be Carlo. Oh wow,why would that be so yod like?

(37:30):
And he has like like you know, he's like girls because you know,
you know who I met Carlo thefun dad. Yeah, but you know
how I met Carlo. I metCarlo on a show called Relic Hunter where
he was playing my dad. Ohwow, yeah, like many many many
many years ago. Wow. Andof course nothing happened. I was still

(37:51):
a teenager. And then I sawhim again I saw him against six years
later. Here's a bit of twentyfour lore so I saw him against six
years later. He walks into theDrake, which is this very popular bar
in Toronto that I was working inand I was with, and I hadn't
watched twenty four yet. It's twothousand and six September. It's the end
of TIF and I had just donea pilot for the CBC. I had

(38:12):
no intention of moving to la Iwas working as a waitress. I was
going to school at ut and inwalks Carlow with mary Lynn Rice Cumba,
and they had been there because theywere doing some charity event for Nikita got
It or something like that, andthen they yeah, no, it was
for Nikita. But then they askedhow Joel asked mary Lynn to come and

(38:34):
do it too because twenty four wereso popular. I don't know, some
fan charity event. I don't knowwhat it was. But they were together
and they walk in to the barand my best friend is working with me,
and she goes we were working therooftop and she's like, oh my
god, no matter, she was, Oh my god, that's Chloe from
twenty four. I hadn't watched theshow, and she goes, no matter
where they sit, I want totake care of them. I'm like,

(38:55):
yeah, sure whatever. She goes, oh my god. Oh and she's
with that really hot guy that yousee to come in here. And I
look over and I'm like, Ithink that guy played my dad on Rock.
It's like, what, Yeah,you have to go hit on him.
You have to give him your phoneon burn I was like, I'm
gonna go do that. It's soweird, like you have to do it,
you have to do it. You'llgive this an excuse to go talk

(39:17):
to Chloe. And I'm like,I don't even know who clothes. So
that's what I did. I wenton and I give him my phone number.
That's an amazing story, I know, right, But I thought,
but I think, but I thinkthat'd be really funny if we had like
a really fun charismatic dad that likewe're supposed to not like because because you
know, he left a mom andwhatever and he has like a young wife
now, but really, like everyonereally likes him secretly. Right my votes

(39:39):
on Carlo, my votes on right. He would be perfect. Ya.
My mind was blown just talking aboutBoondock Saints with him I was like,
can we go there? And he'slike yes, like that that that and
that asked crazy lord too. I'msure he told you like how he got
the part and everything like so wildand also that was so much like talk

(40:00):
about something that doesn't die, likethat movie has so much cult relevance and
and and it's like it's so butit's also really well executed. And Troy,
we see Troy. Troy's our friend, you know. Yeah, Troy
Duffy is the guy who wrote itand directed it. We haven't seen him
since the pandemic. But but yeah, it's it's, uh, these experiences

(40:21):
of these shows, whether they're wellold machines or blacklisted scripts or whatever,
they inevitably bring you closer to people. Sure, right, absolutely, And
if you're lucky enough, you continuea friendship and relationship that's for the end.
That the importance of relationships in thebusiness and you know, and kind
of maintaining and in being you know, it's staying in touch with each other.

(40:42):
Yeah, in the last couple ofyears, oh my god, so
with with children having Sorry just haveto tell you this. I didn't.
I just found this out because itwas such a rushed first season so I
didn't realize this. So Kurt Smeaton, the writer and creator of the show,
Aaron the guy who plays James themale, and Ennis, the guy
who plays James's best friend, theyall went to school together. Oh wow,

(41:04):
yeah, and then and then andas well as Matt Jarro who created
blind Spot. Okay, I thinkthat's his name. They all went to
school and that's why, and that'swhy they called the grocery store that he
works at, Jarro Grocery because therewas all four schoolmates. Yeah, I'm
like, am I the only outsideron the show. They're like you and
Jerias? Yeah, well no,everybody needs to go find children. And

(41:29):
the only legit HighRes it is thatis the most straight title that they could
have given it. Children Ruined Everything. You don't have to guess as to
what it's going to be about.It just it just it just kind of
throws you right into the mix.And I'm glad you got a second season
because that first season was great.And I think the best response I've gotten
from that show is that from myCanadian ansense, because being Roku for the

(41:51):
for the US and April is thatpeople my age, my friends who are
parents be like, this is theshow for our generation. She goes,
do you know, like the ModernFamily, we were a bit too young
when it came out, you know, like all those other shows we couldn't
relate to. But this is theshow for like late thirties, early forties
generation of parenting that we need.Yeah, that exists. Yeah. I

(42:13):
mean my last question about the show, what does it mean to have your
son on the show with you?He ruins everything he ruins, I'm joking.
I'm joking everything everythingle No, youknow what. I was so nervous
because he had never done this before, and I was like I for the
first couple of days or first coupleof episodes, I was like constantly like

(42:35):
you know, the director wud belike, Okay, you come in on
this line, and then like i'dgo to him before I should be like
do you know what line you're comingin on? You know, like still
being his mother, and I veryvery quickly realized that he actually has more
God given talent than I do,and he's actually a natural at this and
I don't know how he's a natural, Like he he sees he's one of
those kids. He's like, he'svery sensitive he's very perceptive, he's very

(42:59):
he has amazing abnervation skills. Heknows how to read people. And and
it was so funny because like theall the other actors, the adult actors
in the show are like, we'vehad conversations that have changed our lives with
Derives because he's such an old soul, like he's nine at the time,
but he really is. He's likehe's like a little he's like a nine
year old and you know, witha thirty nine year old inside of him.

(43:22):
He's a very old soul. Soit's actually been it's actually been amazing.
I love it. I love itthat this is something we could share
together. You've got two parents whoare working actors, you know, kind
of how much for osmosis and hereditarea. Yeah, and also he's been
watching us do it for so long, right, Yeah, awesome. We
appreciate all the all the stories you'vegiven us about all your your all your

(43:45):
shows and movies you've been on andexperienced. And I just want to ask,
what advice would you give to someonewho wants to get into the industry,
like coming to the school sort ofthing, what would you what would
you buy? Speaking? I thinkthat my advice would be to and I
even tell this to my son.I'm like, you know, you have

(44:07):
to really, really really really loveit because it's not easy and it's not
for the faint of heart, andit's totally possible if you work hard at
your craft. But I think thatthe only thing that gets us out of
bed sometimes or gets us as excitedfor an audition when you've done like seven

(44:29):
in one week, or gets youup at four thirty in the morning to
go to work until eleven thirty atnight, and not being with your family
and being away is little love forwhat you're doing. So if you love
it that much, and if you'rewilling to sacrifice any resemblance of like a
normal life for it or like carnefolksessentially, then do it. Do it.

(44:51):
Jump with both feet in, removethe safety net because it'll put a
fire under your ass, and doit. And it was so funny because
during the pandemic, Color and Ilooked at each other and we're like,
our industry has to recover because weare not skilled to do anything else other
than work in a restaurant and thoseare shut too, Like, you know,
we have no other we have noother skills, we have to make

(45:12):
it work right. So, yeah, necessity is the mother of all invention.
And but we both but we bothreally really love it. We both
love the work, We love beingon set. We we sometimes don't even
watch what we do at the endof the day because we just love the
process so much. So I thinkthat, uh, I think that that

(45:34):
would be the biggest advice to sayyou could, that you can do it,
but make sure you love it,okay, which leads me to my
next We were talking about nerding outearlier. You can see behind me in
the classic nineteen seventy seven Star Warspost Star Wars poster. How did you
get to voiceovers? What is whatis it that you enjoy about it?
And how did you get there?So? I have two Star Wars voiceover
stories. So basically I am goingto so I was. I moved to

(45:59):
la and Carlo had a business managerwho represented a whole bunch of actors who
they were very friendly and he wouldas a courtesy, would like do my
taxes and stuff like that as partof like Carlo's deal. Uh. And
he represented a producer who was makinga show about an animated show for Fox,

(46:20):
A pilot about an Indian family inRancho Cucamonga called Rancho Cucamonga Uh.
And Andrew his name was Andrew Crow, the business manager. And he called
me up in the in the evening, which never called me, and I
was like, oh, hey,Andrew's like, hey, I'm sitting with
my client, who's a producer,is making this Indian comedy. And I
would always do these impressions of mymom, who was an Indian accent,

(46:40):
like all the time, right,and he was like, you just such
a I mean you do voiceovers,right, like you do voiceovers. And
I'm like, yeah, I've neverever ever done a voice I'm like yeah,
of course. He said, Okay, you know, I'm gonna make
sure you get an audition for thisbecause like you got to audition for it
because at the time, it waslike two thousand and ten and they thought
that everyone everyone on the Simpsons contractwas up for renewal and they were asking

(47:02):
like absorbent amounts of money, sothey had to like put an animated backup
family pilot in its place. Soso I auditioned. So I So then
my manager had a client who hadrepresentation at an agency for voice and he
approached her agent and was like,look, let Nazni audition for this and
if she books it, you'll getthe commission on it, you know.

(47:24):
So so I got to go toa studio I recorded for the mother and
the daughter of this role. Iended up booking the mother. Russell's Peters
played my husband. Okay, MarkHamill played my dad IMDb Yeah, Mark
Hamill played my dad. Wow andand uh and we had this amazing time

(47:44):
and it was like my first timedoing animation and I just had the best
time. And of course I andthe show didn't get picked up unfortunately.
It was so funny and uh,but then I had you did a show
with the King of Voiceovers. Idid the show with the King of Voiceovers.
Yeah, and like Russell Peters andthey were like, these are the
most famous Indian Canadians right now introducedus at the table read. We had

(48:06):
to just get to find the mostfars group, you know. I got
to it. Yeah, Mark wasand Mark was so nice, like he
was like all the guys who playedour kids there were like these three they
weren't kids, they were adults,right, And they were all geeking out
with Mark and he was like,bring all your Star Wars stuff in and
I'm gonna sign it and take picturesand he was like so nice about it.
And when I told Mark that thiswas my first voice over job,

(48:27):
he was like, well, TheJoker was my first voice over job.
And he was like, let megive you a piece of advice. Stop
telling people they're gonna hate you.They're gonna hate you. So so we
did that. And then and thenI had a voiceover agent, actually had
the head of Innovative was my voiceoveragent. And when she had this assistant,
Zach, who when I met withher, he asked for my autograph

(48:49):
because he was a huge twenty fourfan. And then Marcia retired like a
year into me being in the UHwith that agency, and Zach took over
and he's now my agent. Butbecause he's such a hard core fan of
mine, he submits me for likethe most incredible stuff and he's like and
he'll like pull stuff that I've doneon television to like submit to people of
all the accents I can work in. He's a wonderful agent. So then

(49:13):
Star Wars came along. I didn'tknow it was Star Wars. I auditioned
for it under another name, andI remember, like I was pregnant when
I got it with my second child. And then so I did the audition
and then I got a callback forSnara, and then I realized it was
Star Wars and they were so impressedbecause I prepared the role in three different
accents for the callback. So Idid it as like this generic Middle Eastern,

(49:37):
which I thought was the most appropriate. I said, because she's a
pirate, which kind of comes fromanywhere, and I think that that's the
right way to go for her.And then I did it in a like
RP like British accent, and thenI did it in I can't even remember
what the other and then I didan American accent, and I gave them
like three reads in the booth,and like the next day they were like,

(50:00):
come and record. And I didthat job in La in Budapeste.
I did it anywhere that they wouldanywhere I was working. They would make
Disney would make it work and haveus come and do it. And I
didn't realize the scope of the showuntil way after it came out and I
watched it because I would go andI would be like literally I'd be recording

(50:21):
always by myself. I think liketwice I recorded with everyone, or maybe
three times I recorded it with everyone, but otherwise I was always by myself,
remote on location, and you know, the director would just kind of
take me through what's going on,and I would give them a whole bunch
of tracks. And that's I thinkpart of the the skill of doing the
voiceover is that you can work ina very timely fashion. Like I'd go

(50:42):
into the booths, do eight episodesin six hours or like five hours,
and be done. You know,they'd have eight episodes of material, so
tons to work with, tons towork with, and then of course we
do some ADR and whatever. Butthat was like such I didn't realize.
And then when I started doing thelooping the ADR and I saw the animation,

(51:04):
I'm like, this is beautiful,Like this is it was so beautifully
conceived and drawn. And then whenI was in the room with everyone else,
I'm like, I felt like twentyfour, Like what am I even
doing here? These people are supremelytalented. Why am I here? But
like I feel like I cheated toget in the door or something like that.

(51:25):
I'm just doing these recordings in mydaughter's bedroom, you know, like
I was I'm telling you that that. Yeah, it was so and I
didn't even realize how big it was. Like I'd be around the talent and
I feel like, you know,so honored, really like actually humbled and
honored. But then I watched itand I was like, and I only

(51:45):
started watching it when we got DisneyPlus, Like I just started watching it
a year ago. I didn't evensee the show properly, and I'm like,
holy, but you know, Ihave the toys and everything. My
son has the toys, like allthe figurines. I have all that stuff.
But it amazing. No, Imean, I feel like my kid's
pretty cool. So I think hethinks Carlo's really cool. He thinks Carlos

(52:07):
the BEA's knees because, as hefamously tells everyone, Barack Obama follows Carlo
on Twitter. But he's like,he's like Barack Obama follows my dad.
I'm like, you know what youcan peddle that that has that that has
currency, that has a lot ofcurrency. Yeah, exactly, And he

(52:28):
actually doesn't want He hasn't watched thatshow. He watched Stretch Armstrong, another
show I did. He liked that, but he hasn't he's not as big
into Star Wars as he is intolike the Nolan Batman's car genre. Like,
he's not huge into sci fi.Okay, okay, yeah, maybe
he will one day. Maybe mydaughter will like it. When I like
the fact he said he's into theNolan Batman's because I'm not. You can't

(52:50):
say I'm really excited about the newand everybody's raving. I'm sure it's going
to be great. I'm not goingto rush to see it. No,
he's only into the Nolan once Ishowed. Yeah, he loves like he
rewatches them with Carlo all the time. That's good parenting. That is good
parenting. Is he's an excellent parent. I mean named one of our chickens
bane. Oh love it. That'sawesome. But guys, thank you so

(53:13):
much. Thank you. We appreciateyou taking the time to talk to us.
It has been a blast. Thishas been just a wealth of stories
from so many different areas. Ididn't even get into Hallmark and the fact
that my my wife has a Hallmarkparty every Christmas and last year she showed
the Christmas Ring at her Hallmark partylast year. Yes, and we have

(53:35):
the Bingo cards. You do youknow what Hallmark fans are so like I
thought the Star Wars fans and StarTrek, you know, I thought those
people were like, you know,really like highight, like very thorough fans.
No, No, the hallmarkies are. I mean they have like billion

(53:55):
like they have like morning shows,podcasts of the was Zoo's Facebook lives.
Like when I do a movie thelead up to one of these TV movies,
the amount of press I have todo and the amount of press that
just gets generated like that I don'teven have to do that, the internet
just picks up on is nuts.And one thing I'll say about it,
it's like there's like thirty at Christmastime to come out thirty five. I

(54:17):
know, it's insane, it's Imean, it's all it's a it's a
full year of business. And mymom is always like they're playing your movie.
They're playing your movie because they playthem like a thousand times, like
they're playing a movie at three sevennine, you know, like they play
it multiple times a day. ButI have to say, the one thing
I have to say about Hamemark isthat I didn't realize how many people watch
those movies until I did one.Sure, yeah, and they all and

(54:37):
they're like secret, so I cansecretly confess like I love those movies.
I watched them all the time.I love those movies I watch all the
time. And again, now you'refor me. You were combining twenty four
and you know the Hallmark movies islike, oh my yeah, that's just
like bells off. That's amazing.Should we do a twenty four Hallmark?
Absolutely? Oh yeah, like takesmy in twenty four hours. Yeah,

(55:00):
as long as Carlo is the dad, Yeah, it's all that matters.
Oh my god, Gouds. Thankyou so much, thank you, thank
you. Justin have a beautiful restof your day. Have a great weekend,
guys, Thank you so much,have a great day and weekend.
Thanks for talking. Hey, yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for taking

(55:20):
me down memory lane. I'm goingto have a huge smile on my face.
Everyone can't see that, but I'vehad a smile on my face for
the whole hour, So thank you. Happy International Women's Day, gents.

(55:43):
We recorded a segment a couple ofweeks ago, and what I did not
realize because it aired I think merelydays after we talked, was the special
of season ten of Letter Kenny airedand much to my surprise, you showed
up there. I did. Igot to visit Letter Kenny. I mean,

(56:06):
that's such a huge it's becoming sucha huge universe, you know,
rivaling a lot of the other universesthat are out there. How did that
come together that you were okay onTV? There's like Vera from Cheers,
and you know, Wilson from HomeImprovement and people that you don't expect you're
ever going to meet. Uh,Professor Tricia on Letter Kenny is one of
those people we just assume you alwayskind of hear about her but never actually

(56:29):
meet her. But there you were. You are Professor Tricia. I am
Professor Tricia. I know someone afan actually sent me an enamel pin that's
of a book and it says ProfessorTricia Women's Studies, which is like crazy
to me. So I actually amnew to the world of Letter Kenny.

(56:52):
I've never seen an episode of theshow. And before I started Children Ruin
Everything, it's the same production company, New Metro Media that produces Letter Kenny.
And before I even started Children andEverything, they offered me this role
of Professor Tricia and I was like, I don't know what that is,
and I don't know what this showis, so I watched before I read

(57:15):
the script. I watched an episodeand I watched the Valentine's Day special and
I was like, how on earthdo I fit into this show. It's
a very specific show for those ofyou who haven't seen it. It's about
this fictional town in Canada, inOntario called Letter Kenny. And it's a

(57:37):
small town and you know, it'slike it's I guess it's like this generation's
version of Trailer Park Boys, oryou know, it's all about these very
eccentric individuals in this small town.And the writing is crazy and amazing,
yeah, very fast. I meansome people have equated it to like Shakespeare,
the Shakespeare of Canada, the smutty, smutty Shakespeare of Canada. To

(58:01):
contrast it with Trailer Park Boys.Trailer Park Boys are usually pretty low and
laid back, as opposed to LetterKenny. That it's all about what they're
saying. It's all about what they'resaying, and they say it really quickly.
Yeah. Oh yeah, so youdid not No, I did an
audition. It was it was allfor the part. And then I read
the script and I was like,oh my god, this is such a
great episode. It was their holidayspecial, which was International Women's Day.

(58:25):
Yeah and uh and I thought itwas really fun. And I was like,
yeah, sure, why not.And also the guy who plays Dan
k treubber Wilson, I went tohigh school with him. Oh, come
on, I went to high schoolwith Trevor. And he told me that
Professor Trisha was just an improvised rantthat he went on in season two that

(58:49):
they just kept including in the show. And he and he had no idea
that I was playing Professor Tricia untilyou know, I was cast. And
then he was like, oh mygod, I went to high school with
her. So it was a wonderfulreunion in that way. And and they
couldn't have been nicer. They werelovely, lovely, you know, I
called them like they was like performingin front of a group of odd princes

(59:13):
or something like that. Like theywere so gentleman and so sweet. But
they're all so they're so weird.You know, I've seen the live show.
I saw it here in Windsor,and and Dan's amazing, like and
Dan's amazing. Dan's amazing. Andhe went to high school with them,
and we went to the performing theTOUTU of the arts together in Toronto.

(59:35):
Dan's always been amazing. I wentto the live show in Los Angeles on
April first of this year. Ohdid you? Oh my god, Carlo
and I both went. By theway, Brad Pitt and Ed Norton were
also sitting in a row. Theyare a massive Letter Yeah, they're massive
Letter Kenny fans, and we thoughtwe were in a cult, like literally
the audience. First of all,they sold out the Ace Theater downtown right

(59:58):
the lineup for the Murk, theover priced merchandise they were selling was longer
than the lineup for the bar,and it was like it was like the
audience, yeah, it does well. I think it really resonates in America,
where there are communities like that allover like basically all of America,
right in between LA and New York. There's like a Letter Kenny. There's

(01:00:20):
like five Letter Kennys in every state, I'm sure. And the audience was
saying all the lines. It waslike they knew the show inside and out.
We were shot. Yes, SoI didn't realize I didn't even know
the legend that was Professor Trisher fornine seasons. I didn't. I mean,

(01:00:42):
I mean, Trevor told me whenI got there and when I got
to Sudbury, which is where wefilmed the show, that the whole thing
about like this is a character we'venever seen before. And I was like,
oh great, But I had noidea the show was so incredibly wildly
popular and had such a huge followingit and I didn't know until I really
was in LA and went to thelive show because my producer invited me to

(01:01:04):
come and because he was in town, and I was like, yeah,
sure, it was home for theweekend, and it was. It was
It was an education. I mean, I don't know what to say,
like it was. And it wasalso a really good show. I have
to say. They put together areally tight live show. And all those
guys are actually really really great,Like they actually really deserve all the success

(01:01:28):
that they have because they work reallyhard, they really care about the material
that they're making, and they wantto they want to make it as good
as they can. And and yeah, I was just so happy to be
a very small part of such abig, big, big world. And
did people recognize you as Professor Trishaat that event in l A No,

(01:01:49):
No, because a lot of peoplehadn't even seen as that episode yet.
Yeah, no, I think Ithink it aired. I think it aired
on Women's International Women's Day, whichis in mar Arch, but it aired
at the end of like their season, right, so not everyone watches every
episode as it drops on Hulu.But apparently like they did two nights in
LA and the previous night they dida Q and A afterwards, and Trevor

(01:02:14):
told the audience who I was andthat we went to high school together because
the producer, my producer, MarkMontfiore, came up to me and he
was like, I don't know youwent to high school with trouble. I
was like, yeah, how doyou know. He's like, oh,
he was doing a Q and Afor like the VIP audience numbers, and
he told us that He's like that'swild. It's like, yeah, wow,
crazy. Yeah, they didn't.No one recognized Brad Pitt. No

(01:02:35):
one recognized Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, so it so to be really weird
if they recognized me. Wait aminute, you had the two stars of
Fight Club together and nobody, Yeah, well it's LA he was. There
were all work lasts and like youknow right, yeah, no, it's
it's really interesting because a friend ofmine told me on the weekend, he
said, oh, you saw thespecial, and I went, I forgot
that I missed the special. SoI went back found it and watched it,

(01:02:59):
and as soon as the shoes hitthe floor, I went, they
got a heavy hitter. They like, this is They're they're revealing who Professor
Trisha is. They got a hitter, And I was glad to see that
they did get a heavy hitter.They got you. That's so nice.
It was. It was so cool. Oh my gosh, I got it.
I'm literally like, messag can wetalk to swim works? Because that

(01:03:21):
was that was such as It's likea nine season reveal of No, it
was a big deal. It wasa big deal. I don't I don't
even fully compute what a big dealit is. And I'm glad I didn't
know going into it, because Iwould have been really intimidated. I'm glad
I didn't and I'm glad I didn'tknow how like crazy wild and popular the
show was. I mean I knewit was popular. I knew, and

(01:03:43):
people who do watch the show,they're like, oh, that's so cool.
And even my American representation that myguy at Gershoes from the South.
As soon as the offer came infor that role, he was like,
oh my god, that shows andI was like, oh wow, like,
you know, that's great, that'sgreat. So I'm very happy to
have been You're a Lion teamer onthat episode. It was very fun.

(01:04:05):
It was great because I got towork with everyone. I mean, I
didn't get to work with any ofthe girls, unfortunately, but I got
to work with all the boys,which was great. Congratulations. That was
that was cool. Would you returnif if it calls for it? Absolutely
absolutely. I had a great time. They were lovely. They were so
lovely. Yeah, I know,the funny the really funny moment there.

(01:04:29):
I said. There were a lotof earned moments in that episode. Certainly
McMurray's confession that was pretty amazing,given me, given who he's been for
all these years. But to Waynewith his eyes open telling Katie how much
he appreciates her, I know,I know, I know, and like,

(01:04:49):
and you know, it's amazing,like look at you. You watch
the show and you care so muchabout these people, Like it's such a
that's such a wonderful show to bea part of, where you have an
audience that is so invested in thecare and these like they're silly characters,
like, let's face it, likethey're not like you know, it's not
like this is US or twenty fourright there. They are these super broad

(01:05:11):
characters that managed to capture, youknow, the humanity in each and every
one of their souls. It's reallywell done. I have to really take
my hats off to the writers andto Jared of course as well, who
is very hands on, very incontrol, you know, very collaborative,
and in their own way, theyrepresented International Women's Day really well, in

(01:05:33):
their own littercary kind of way.I think they really did. I think
it was a really smart episode.Awesome. Well, thank you, Nazanine.
Thanks for coming back on and talkingabout that that very cool part that
you're probably gonna be run into asthat people are going to refer to as
Professor Trisha a whole lot night.Well I will I will take that moniker
and wear it with pride. Youdid. You did an amazing job.

(01:05:57):
You came into a moving train andyou tamed the lions. That was pretty
amazing. Thank you so much.Thank you. Well, everyone should go
see it if you haven't seen it. It's a very good episode. Go
find it. Of woman that Iadmire is Celine Dion Control, Christine Sinklmurray,
National Women's Day, Baye back oneof you for the crowns Miss Universe

(01:06:21):
Star. We're going with Miss MollGeniality. It is true, though,
that everybody loves sleep yond near ourwhere aver you are? How could this
not be fun? Technical barrister