Melissa Rauch: Amy Farrah Fowler & Bernadette Rostenkowski Reunite!

a lot of my memories of big bang was like me and Melissa learning together like oh there's this thing called Spanx oh okay we're gonna wear those now or like false eyelashes what like that's crazy I didn't know that you're supposed to go to a stylist but I bought this like it was literally I went to the Beverly Center and bought a dress of Forever 21 for a big photo shoot like a a studio Hood photo shoot with professional photographers and I bought like a dress for 19.99 and then on top of it this is where it gets even crazier it needed to be altered and rather than taking it to a professional I duct taped the bottom of it myself which I often remember this I was like well that's what I've been doing like for years that's what I do our dressing rooms were next door to each other so there was a lot of just knocking on each other's doors and we hear even shared our they were adjoining for a while wasn't it we share so we shared a bathroom that's right for the first I think the first year and then there was some renovation that happened and all of a sudden we each had our own bathroom and I thought oh she doesn't like to share a piss room with me okay look who got too big for her britches I that was I did not initiate that I did not turn it down but it was no I think right dude you saw the beginning of this and when I turned down sharing a bathroom with blossom stay out of my head it's mine's breakdown she's gonna break it down for you because you know she knows [Music] hi I'm ambialek and I'm Jonathan Cohen Welcome to our breakdown the place where we break things down so you don't have to it's a special one today Big Bang reunion it's a Big Bang reunion it is Melissa Roush who played Bernadette rostenkowski for so many years on The Big Bang Theory she and I were both made regulars in the fourth season and this is a woman who doesn't need much of an introduction she is currently uh starring in an executive producing Night Court which is a follow-up to the classic comedy series from the 80s I guess it would be yeah um and Melissa is an amazing person and I just I would love for you to get to meet her and we're going to talk about all things big bang and how she's a huge Blossom fan she will talk about the awkwardness that ensued when she tried to decide how to let me know upon meeting me at Big Bang that she was an enormous Blossom fan it's a problem we all have it's really a pleasure to welcome my friend Melissa Roush to the breakdown break it down thank you I'm so happy to be here we've um we've wanted to have you on for a very long time and very glad that we get to hang out this way um you're a you're a busy lady we were collectively busy for nine years of our lives together and um I I went on to do a show you've been working a Night Court um it's been a very busy time and a very exciting time but we're very very happy to have you here um Jonathan loves when people were fans of me before I got to hang out oh so I think we should go ahead and start because he we should start there because Jonathan always wants like people to talk about like what was it like when you met Maya when I met you I knew that you had been on Big Bang Theory before me like you had started guesting we started both guesting in the third season of the show but you I saw you as like oh she's the one who like knows the roads like this is gonna be the person who helps me yeah I totally I never knew I know you only did one episode but I don't know that's so interesting I never knew that didn't I treat you with great respect and reverence there was yeah there was a bit of a like okay that's the the Big Man on Campus when when we sat next to each other um I sat next to you it was your you had you had already been on it though right because didn't we first because we weren't always on the same right we weren't always on the same episode yeah I think you had done like didn't you End season three am I right about that I did the season finale of season three and then we were both brought on you know again we were continuing to guest in season four and then we were both offered contracts to be official in season so it must have been season four that we met yes yes and I remember because I remember watching you on that and being very excited that you were on it as a fan Jonathan get ready it was a fan all right let's want to know Jonathan if you were a fan before you met Miami I want to know that have you spoken about that story I no we haven't actually like I knew that her show existed I had watched Blossom but it wasn't like you know a go-to show of mine growing up like okay you also you have an older sister older brother Jonathan's younger than me um but yeah you were busy doing other teams better than watching me Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and then turning it off when I came home on the screen um okay yes so I I sitting next to Maya Maya and I the entire time what point do I tell her that I grew up being such a huge fan of Blossom like I'm talking like pretty hardcore Blossom fan dressed up as her like had a blossom hat reenacted the opening of Blossom with my child and best friend like pretty pretty hardcore so every episode loved her in beaches beaches was also one of my favorite movies so like it was a big deal that we were sitting next to each other so I was like do I bring it up immediately or do I wait so that she doesn't think I'm too thirsty and then we become friends and then I sneak it in casual like what's worse what's worse if like after like is it a bait and switch that I'm like ah cool and then all of a sudden like I gotta tell you I'm a big fan so I opted for early so we left the table read and we like had a little bit of small attack at the table where I think we said like good job and then our dressing rooms were both upstairs so um because I have no chill on the I didn't wait a second on the walk I did the dressing rooms like sort of like did a quick step to like be next to her and I was like so excited to be working with you with you this week and then just launched in to what a big fan I was and she was so kind and so nice and for what could have been a really awkward exchange because I was basically like accosting her behind the stage um she was very kind and very gracious and um didn't make it weirder than I was already making it so you have the same recollection of that I I have a I have a vague recollection of that um but I also know that at least probably half a dozen times in the years since then you've inadvertently apologized for how you interacted with me then I'm like I don't remember there being anything that you needed to apologize for so okay hold on from Melissa's perspective you keep your cool you get through the table read you accoster which is phenomenal uh she can't get away you you gotta get and you have to like divulge this information otherwise you can't really be true friends because you will have hit it so I think that was the right move yeah because then it's like a 90s rom-com like at what point do I reveal this seek this version of it she like finds your memorabilia that's in your dressing room I I I think there was photos that I eventually saw of you in a blossom hat I think like there was some indication that this was and also there's another funny Blossom connection so the thing that I most remember about like starting work on Big Bang Theory is that I had an you know a nursing child and a toddler and I was balancing this what felt really impossible I was I mean I continued to pump like I was literally you know I was a pumping mom for at least a year for me like I felt like this this real Oddball you know I was the first one on the cast to like you know Venture into like adult married kid life and so I really felt like oh my gosh I'm this like person who used to be on television and then like I left and like that's supposed to be cool but I don't know if it is and here I am like pumping and like feeling like do I belong here you know like really that was that was a thing because also in Melissa you can vouch for this as someone who you know eventually went on to have children like if you don't see a model for that like sitcom actors with infants who are nursing and toddler like you don't have an idea and also like I didn't have a nanny like it wasn't the kind people were like just bring your Nanny it's a set and like that was not gonna be what my life was like so I just remembered feeling really happy that we had some like connection that was beyond like that every time I opened that lady's dressing room like I'm looking at her nipples well you did you had you had a sign on the door letting people know that I did it said Mom at work and it was a cartoon of a woman but yeah several people saw my breasts Melissa might have been one of them it just sometimes would happen which is why it was good I told you I was a fan up front because how weird would have been if I saw your breasts and then told you and you would have been like this is what you were angling for the whole time that's exactly why I did it I made the right choice even though I I regretted it and didn't know if it was the right move so what was the regret after what was the regret after so you leave that scene then what happens for you then it was like me going to my dressing with and that I made weird I made it weird I made it weird and then I Revisited a bunch of times thinking that's going to make it better it doesn't but that's sort of I think my brain sort of works that way like I will think about interactions we've had 20 years ago like I I will think about interactions I had in high school that was I was wrong I wonder if they're I wonder if they're thinking about that now but it's not that you were it's not that you were poorly behaved it's just that this is what your brain does yes like I guess that's a bit of what it is right because generally speaking I find you very polite very professional very appropriate you do have you have a vulgar potty mouth streak but you usually keep it pretty well protected I do I honestly like I feel like uh because obviously I have kids now I'm not gonna you know go around dropping f-bombs night and day but yeah I would say I I do like to throw around a an F-bomb here and there before kids when when would that come out the most um I would say I mean really just like everyday conversation I had a bad habit of like if I would call friends of mine with kids and I would just let me know if I'm on speaker because without fail I would always be calling a friend of mine on speaker and be like you'll never [ __ ] believe what happened the kids in the car my my high school friends that I start when I start to speak to them it divulges into much more foul language like you did when you were in high school yeah and my son who when he was about two he would like drop a toy and say oh fut and I was like okay I gotta clean this up did you say the f word is but no I said it normally but he couldn't pronounce it properly oh God and you had the cutest child on the planet it's like a foot or me like the Jersey like like back in Jersey or around because I'm from there originally or around you know people with Detroit then it sort of like is in the jersey that just is a part of it's almost a part of the accent I think can you can you talk a little bit about kind of where you're from in Jersey and I think people probably have already noticed that you don't have the Bernadette voice um that you know obviously you were specifically known for and that you know our writers would also highlight you know the specificity of the voice that you would do um talk a little bit about sort of like where you're from and you know what like are you an industry kid did you come to it later okay yeah so I grew up in in Jersey in central New Jersey um and when you're from yours you have to specify where in Jersey is from because accent varies based on the the location um but yeah it didn't didn't grow up in the industry but always was um fascinated by it and um my brother and I would put shows on in our basement all growing up and just really really wanted to put on shows for everyone and I was really obsessed with comedy specifically um I remember like watching Star Search and like what is this like The Impressions just blew my mind um and that's really like where uh like my fascination with comedy sort of uh sparked um and then I started like begging my parents to um let me do stand up which was like I'm using quotes it was stand up because it was really maybe like my next impersonation is um and uh and yeah then I would try and do it at like local talent shows and things like that but it was never like on really like a professional level by any means um but I think my parents would have been surprised if I didn't go into the entertainment industry because I just um was always trying to like stage in in any way I could um and then the growing up in Jersey there was the proximity to New York City so like going to see Broadway shows and stuff was always a a major staple of my childhood who were the comedians that you most liked um you know you're you have a very strong obviously you have a very strong you know comic streak which you know to me is reminiscent of a lot of great female comedians did you resonate more with a certain type of comic or did you like men and women equally when you kind of thought about comedians that that influenced you um it was a mixture of both I think you know I loved um I Carol Burnett was someone like who I am meeting when I what I saw episodes of The Carol Burnett Show that blew my mind um and I was I had Carol Burnett uh show on VHS that I was watching over and over again um and then like I remember stand-up wise I loved Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg again um comic relief was a a huge one for me um and you know working with um Marshall Warfield recently I remember her comic relief set and and loving her on that um and um yeah I think it was I think it was sort of a mixture of just like who was who was making me laugh at the time but there was a definite like whenever you saw a woman on stage doing stand-up there was you know uh who did you impersonate in the early years oh goodness it was um Pee-wee Herman was a big one of all romance um Don Knotts from Three's Company oh yeah Tracy Ullman who else Shirley Temple another one yeah those are my those are my impressions [Music] might be able to breakdown is supported by better help we've all had times in our life where we're not sure about where we're going myself included sometimes we've got tough choices and we don't know how to move forward we don't know which path to take maybe you're dealing with a decision around career relationships or really anything I'm here to tell you therapy will help you stay connected to what you really want so that you can move forward with confidence and excitement also therapy has been one of the main components 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display posts from your social profiles on your website and automatically push website content to your favorite social media channels so that your followers can share it too go to squarespace.com breakdown for a free trial and when you're ready to launch use the offer code breakdown you'll save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain [Music] did you have a thick Jersey accent growing up like did you have to get rid of that and modify it like when did that transition the Jersey accent lasted for many years um it wasn't until I went to college I went to acting school in New York City and I remember my first day of Shakespeare class and I was I mean it was very thick it was like well it's walking coffee Romeo Romeo we offer at that like and I remember the teachers I uh have you thought about losing that X and I was like what accent there's no accent and then they took me to uh a boy they're like you are going to the voice and speech department for the remainder of your time in this Conservatory program and I went like hardcore voices speech classes to get rid of the the accent it took a while it still comes out when I'm tired wait hold on this is a this is a world I hadn't really thought of so they they make it go away it can't come back I mean it can't like it comes back if I'm around my parent immediately what are you talking about it's it comes out big time but um but yeah I completely sort of relearned exactly I had no idea like I I honestly thought everyone was speaking correctly when I heard people say the word mule without an awl I thought they were insane well I'm always fascinated by people who who can do accents like you hear people you know from the UK or from Australia and all of a sudden they're playing an American role or vice versa but for you who like had a natural way of speaking your entire life and then consistently now does don't you don't have that I wonder like when you fall back so obviously when around your people your parents and people you grew up with but like do you ever find that you fall back to it like if you're annoyed when I'm upset but also if I'm just in and I wasn't even raised in New York but I was raised to speak by my parents and corrected to speak what they considered correct but if I'm just in New York like it it's just it becomes more natural but if I'm here and like someone annoys me or angers me and I'm the neuroscientist I should probably know why this is like that is the language of anger and frustration something base that comes up that's so interesting because right because your family's all from York right my parents are from the Bronx yeah yeah it definitely I mean forget it there and there's also like a volume level of the East Coast that I remember like the first time my husband came to my family's house and he was like why is is there an why is everyone shouting there's just a shout I'm like no that's how you just scream from room to room for everything like Ma everything is but also that's partly you know in in I mean this is not uncommon for ethnic families in particular and your family is Eastern European you know at some point like the way that you get heard is use volume and you'll often hear you know I mean there's a lot of you know gender stereotype jokes about you know Jewish men and such but like if you do not raise your voice you often will not be heard you say I sound more Canadian around my Canadian very Canadian around your Canadian people I was at so I lived in La for years and I've been in the US for many years I and I was probably here for like five or five plus years and I was at Trader Joe's and like just at the checkout counter so like this wasn't a long interaction and the cashier said where are you from and I was so upset um so when people think about the Bernadette voice all right um do you was there ever a point that you thought of having the character speak in your normal register which you are speaking in now or how did that specific you know uh pitch of Bernadette's Voice come about um at the audition um I hadn't planned on doing it and then um you know it was just for a guest star initially um and I was just very nervous in that waiting room and there was so many people there and I was like I just I wanted to try something different and I just been on the phone with my mother whose register is very close to Bernadette's um and there was something a little bit Bernadette a little bit um like my mother in Burton not they're not by any means uh very similar but there was just in the the sides that I was auditioning with that day in that material there it just it was a little bit reminiscent of like there's some characteristics that just reminded me of my mom so um so I sort of did a little bit of an imitation to my mom without the Jersey accent like Bernadette very much uh in those um in that initial Edition I felt like I was imitating my mom a bit um but funnily enough and this uh speaking of Jonathan's accent I think in trying not to to do the pitch but not do my mother's accent I was over correcting and I actually said a boot and after no this this is my callback actually and uh Chuck said to me are you from Canada and like I I'm not I'm so sorry I don't know why that word came out that way um and he's like yeah that's funny he's like nah this is great just let's just do it again for fun did it again but I think it was really just the over correcting of I had always imitated my mother but I never imitated her without the the East Coast accent in it um and then I went for some reason went Canadian and fortunately they didn't hold it against me this is a question that I sort of know the answer to but I think it's something that people wonder was it hard like physically hard to keep your voice in that register because we were on for a very long time and it's not your normal speaking register what was that like sort of did it take a toll physically and you know what's so interesting about that restaurant I I tend to like my voice can can fry out from time to time or you know get laryngitis and um the amazing thing about Bernadette's voice is because it was that higher placement even like if I was sick or if like my voice was starting to go I was always able to to get into that register and it wasn't really an issue um whereas like some other jobs like they would like give me like a steroid shot or something if my if my voice was going out but um like Bernadette I was able to sometimes like skate by with um with just the placement which was nice um when I came on to uh Big Bang Theory what I knew about you was that you at that time had um a recurring role on True Blood is that right yeah oh that's right I think that was the timing how many episodes did you do of that that's a good question I think there was like maybe I can't remember exact four a handful I think yeah um it was so fun um and it was sort of in that time um because really before I got the guest star for Big Bang I was really struggling big time I'm sort of you know doing some like highlights I wasn't picked weren't picked up or I did a show that um I shot like half a season of and they never ended up airing it or just like in the grind of auditioning and not getting cast um and then truly like right before I got the guest around big bang I had been at the unemployment office like so scared about like where um that next paycheck was gonna come from and how I was gonna pay my rent um and then I did a a couple episodes of Big Bang and then there was sort of like a break from that and then I did a couple um of True Blood which was so awesome um but it was very much like waiting by the phone like waiting for an audition to see what was gonna come next and I was so so grateful when when I got True Blood in that time and it was just a really really fun experience and what did you do did you have a day job while you were kind of auditioning you know a lot of actors are waiters and you obviously moved out after you finished Conservatory as it were you moved out to LA what what were your days like besides auditioning um a lot of crying in my car um a lot of like just major fear that um it wasn't gonna work out um I waited tables for years I waited tables um through high school and college and then after college um I started when I was in New York I was I worked at a sports bar I was waiting tables there and like my because of my height you can barely see my head above the bar you just see like a baseball hat like bopping up and down um and I would go from like waiting tables to go doing like open mics and stand up at night and trying to like get paid to do stand up but I was really um and eventually that happened but for years it was like okay I'll go and host a show and and get like a sad meal that they would like give you if you hosted they would get give you like the The Leftovers in the kitchen in order for to host the show um I was doing that I was doing like really anything too I was like dog walking house sitting babysitting um I worked in a law office as a legal secretary like legal secretary receptionist Royale with no qualifications um but um it was my uh my cousin's law firm and I was told that I couldn't file for [ __ ] um I was really really bad at it because I was also like working on stand-up at the time so I would like hide in the file closet and like work on stand up um and eat snacks and then they would like find like the all the files because this was obviously like before everything was like filed digitally and it was like a actual physical um file room and there would just be like like Cheeto dust on the files and like my stand-up notes and like just chocolate stains on everything they're like you can't do this for paying you um I was terrible at that um and what else like I did um like a touring um political satire comedy troupe one point and I toured doing stand-up but um it was really like waiting tables mostly that that got me through for years and I talking about like beating myself up I will still wake up at a cold sweat being like I didn't bring a Diet Coke to table 10 in 2004. that guy's still waiting for it um you also in addition to you know the the acting work obviously that you're known for um you also write and you're now um an executive producer of Night Court um but you um you co-wrote an executive produced the bronze that you also starred in um which if people have not seen the bronze I highly recommend it um it's very dark it's very um it's very funny there's an insane awesome sex scene which got a lot of attention um when it came out I'm just gonna say that body double it's a full body double I'm saying that it's a body double sorry I should say that um but I wonder if you can talk a little bit about um what it was like to kind of write for yourself and was that something you always kind of wanted to do how did that come about um so writing really was always my way um as I mean even like as a kid it was just like a way to um get my feelings out and express myself but then like as a act and out of work actor for many years I realized writing was like the way that I felt that I had some semblance of control um in a time like you know same with stand up like in a time when when you're when you're an artist who's not given the opportunity to do what you love it's it hurts and it feels bad it and um you sort of can forget why you're doing it in the first place and it's just so much rejection and you're constantly feeling like you're being personally rejected from something so um so when I first started writing stand up it was like my way of like I get to perform every night even if no one wants me for their their show or their commercial or anything I was auditioning for um and then when I graduated um College I my now husband I wrote a one woman show for myself which was also sort of a way to to get in front of an audience um without having to beg someone to to put me in their thing um and then the bronze was a similar um uh path to that when uh we started writing it when I was on Big Bang and um I knew I wanted to to try um something that was um different from anything I was ever given the opportunity to play before um and we we just started thinking about um just celebrity and how it's looked at in our society and I had just started to have like you know a little bit of momentum with big bang in the sense that at that point I had become a regular on this show and it was the first time I wasn't um looking for that next job and I noticed when I was going back to my hometown in New Jersey um before that when I would go to like the local mall it would be you know a lot like like oh we saw you on that thing yeah you haven't worked in a while huh yeah toddy gonna give up you're gonna move back and it was like there was just like a major element of oh we're just looking down on you um and then all of a sudden I would get another job and I'd come back and the same person would give me like a free wetzel's pretzel and I'd be so excited like oh just because I did something I did a thing um and then again I'd be out of work and it'd be like you know everyone's giving me the side eye Claire's Boutique so I was like what is this that uh this this notion that like okay we're um we treat people differently when there's um even a modicum of celebrity so then the idea for the bronze was out of that and the idea of a a former Olympic gymnast who peaked at a very young age and then um was sort of the the um the star of her small town and then after um her gymnastics career ended due to an injury what that did to her psyche and what that can do um to the um the mental state of a young a young girl and then so it follows her um in this journey years after she won the bronze medal um and it was yeah it was a great experience um you were so amazingly supportive when that came out and I'm so grateful to you for that she actually reenacted the opening of Blossom with me to promote the movie it was so nice I remember she came to the premiere and then after she's like what what can I do to help um and I gotta say and I'll confess I selfishly just always wanted to do the opening of Blossom with you and I was like well she's asked me if there's anything she could do I'd love to do that and we'll promote the bronze while we're doing it where is the footage of that it's somewhere where we um I very highly recommend um people check out the Browns also because um you know what what I think is so incredible is you know both you and I lived in people's you know kind of Consciousness as did all of us on Big Bang Theory you know we lived in people's Consciousness as like that character you know and we were in your house and then when syndication happened we were like in your house and your bathroom and your car and the yard like we were you know kind of really ubiquitous to people and I think what was really amazing about the bronze is like it really was it was you kind of stepping out of like what a lot of people thought of you as and um I happen to find it very very you know in particular very moving not just because I had that experience you know as a young person of having a lot of success and then kind of everybody wondering what's next but um I also think that you know you're you're writing is really really beautiful and you captured so much of that that tension um you know of the expectations we have for ourselves and the expectations other have for us um I wonder also if you can speak a little bit to you know we obviously um we existed at a time you know on The Big Bang Theory kind of before social media became the thing that it is now and you know we kind of lived sort of through that like I remember when we would go to Awards things like when we first started being nominated for things and we would all get to go as a cast like I don't even think we had like individual social media that you were like posting like now it's kind of like everything you do you're posting and I wonder if you have any sort of thoughts like when we started on Big Bang that wasn't a thing and then by the time we finished like people like we constantly had like phones on us remember there was a time when we didn't even have like cell phones on set and it was so crazy I wonder if you remember anything about sort of what it was like to be a public person that literally kind of came of age in front of the public as the internet and social media was coming of age that's so you're so right that's so interesting I think I remember I I can't remember exactly when it was but I think it was like after I officially joined the cast like I didn't even have a Facebook page I had nothing and I remember like Representatives that I was working with that's kind of like you need to do something and like they helped me set up a page but I didn't even like have a login for it and I'm still like pretty much a lot when it comes to social media um but that's that's very true and I you know it's interesting because I I think about that even as it pertains to um when I started in stand-up and there was like nothing there was no social media the only thing that we would have would be um you would bring a VHS tape to the like Club Booker and if you wanted to like watch your setback to like give yourself feedback you would give your VHS um and maybe even or like pay a fee for them to record your stuff um but I often think about that like what that and you know if I bombed I bombed the only person who had the VHS with me which is now I'm sure in a box at my parents house somewhere but um but I I often think how much more difficult that must be in a world in which at any point someone can take that video of you just trying things for the first time and and learning um so yeah that's that's interesting yeah well and I think what I was also thinking about is you know when I was on Blossom when I was a teenager there we weren't ever nominated for anything like we did it wasn't that that didn't happen I never like was on a carpet like that like like I went to the Emmys once like with donrio I think he might have been nominated for something I don't know but the world was so different and I just a lot of my memories of big bang was like me and Melissa learning together like oh there's this thing called Spanx oh okay we're gonna wear those now or like false eyelashes what like that's crazy yeah or even like you know hair extensions like I had been out of the industry for so long and like here I was coming back into the industry and I just remember like feeling really like both tutored by Melissa and also we'd like learned things together like I remember it would be like how do you keep your dress from creasing on the way to the awards show I think there was one where you like I think Winston like held your whole dress the whole ride and then I laid down considering I'm barely five feet like I would just lay across the back because I kept on coming towards him like how is this done and I just be like a wrinkled Bluff by the end that's so interesting because then I don't think it ever occurred to me that you were learning as well because I again like in thinking like I'm getting to do this with Blossom I don't like it didn't that didn't register for me I I'm thinking about like our first satellite media tour do you remember that they had us there are things where you have to get up at like four in the morning and they it was you and I together doing that and I had never done anything like that before um and then we you and I had like a whole press day and they were doing you know a bunch of stuff around the the two new cast members that joined um and I didn't like I didn't know anything about just wardrobe I can't remember do you remember exactly I remember you were like why do my breasts look so weird in every picture and I'm like why does my nose look like that like the lighting was we didn't even know what that God I will send you the pic I can't what publication was this I didn't know that you're supposed to go to a stylist I don't know but I bought this like it was literally I went to the Beverly Center and bought a dresser forever for a big photo shoot like a a studio head photo shoot with professional photographers and I bought like a dress for 19.99 and then on top of it this is where it gets even crazier it needed to be altered and rather than taking it to a professional I duct taped the bottom of it myself which I often remember this I was like well that's what I've been doing like for years that's what I do because I couldn't afford to like go to a tailor and get like my pants altered so I was I would just duct tape all my belongings and that's like that photo shoot my dress is duct taped on the bottom I believe we also we also went this sounds insane we went to the south of France how yes we did and this was also like we came on to the show I had never seen the show I was busy giving birth and crying and breastfeeding but we came on to the show when like they the main the main cast not like the cast members that had been on the show they had done a lot of publicity so it was like oh well Melissa and Maya they haven't had the opportunity to do this so like we went on an airplane two planes and we were at like this like super fancy like Warner Brothers press junket like Jennifer Love Hew it was it was yeah it was like a TV that Awards Festival in France it was something and we and we had to bring and I remember like planning with you because it was like bring three black tie outfits I'm like I don't have one like what I think I even like like should just send me my wedding dress like should I just wear that and dye it like this is the dress still fit me I don't know what to wear and and again like I think of it so fondly now because things that now we know to do like I know to say to a stylist I have a thing where I'm going to I need three different outfits I need jewelry for each I need shoes but this I had like literally like jewelry in like a Ziploc bag like I did I had this expensive jewelry that they sent us with but we ended up literally you like you hit the ground running like you landed you had to like get into wardrobe to go to your first thing and they had hair and makeup and it was it was bananas it was very exciting I mean I remember our first Comic-Con like we went on a jet it was crazy this was a life also that like this was new to us because I had been out of the industry for 12 years and this was like I mean kind of like our first big thing at this point in our life and I mean I felt I must have been so green it's I don't think it's even fully registered in my brain what what that time was but I I agree it was I it's it's interesting like I know we were prepared for a lot of I didn't I I don't know why it didn't occur to me that this was I had just in my room like well of course Blossom has has gone and dined with the prince of of Monaco I've been tons of times I feel like no I feel like at that Festival did they not introduce you as Blossom am I wrong about that I feel like I have a memory of that happening and you've been like that was not supposed to happen that is true I can't remember which event it was I had blocked that out but thank you for bringing it back to memory because they were fans or because they were confused I think it was just like oh look who's here it's Blossom like you know and they introduced me as that at one because you were like you know we had to like go on stage and there was press and it was like all this Insanity it was very very fancy just the other weekend someone screamed hey there's Blossom yes it's all I can do throughout this interview not to shout it um I want to ask one more Big Bang Theory question before we um Circle back to her obsession with Blossom no um you know we've we've had Kunal um on the breakdown and his episode was was really really special it was um it's a beloved Episode by a lot of our listeners did you know that he was a spiritual Guru I do and I love that about him so much he's incredible um he is incredible we also had Simon on and Simon came on another incredible human yes he came on to talk about uh the movie that I made um that Simon was in which I gotta say I I'm sure all the listeners have has seen this movie but it's so beautiful it's so beautifully done you did such an amazing job you had a crying response I did you're one of the people who called them you were like I couldn't stop crying I stopped I sobbed through at it it's just it's so wonderful you did such an amazing job and Simon is as always so phenomenal in it um thank you and um you know when I sort of you know you and I are both we're asked a lot we're all asked a lot in kind of every interview we do like what do you remembering like what was amazing and um I guess I'm curious like I'll go first you know in terms of like sort of if you were to ask me like what do I remember what was it like I think what I remember and then I'd love to hear your take um you know people always ask me like what was your favorite episode and it's like I don't think in episodes you know like I remember certain things that were particularly fun like I always liked doing you know like Penny Bernadette Amy stuff like I liked you know when we would go out drinking and like those were fun but I'm more think about and I hate to give people a downer of a response but I'm more think about that we were together you know for a decade of Our Lives you know give or take and I'm more think about like all the other things that went on in our lives that is nobody's business you know and that's usually what I say it's like you know I know for me like I got divorced my dad died AI you know like life happened for all of us and while everybody thinks of us as these characters and these relationships and it was so funny and I loved it and that's super important and it's so valuable and we were a very specific thing you know in in television history what I more think about is like that was that was like almost a decade of my life that I spend you know with these people who I saw more than I saw my own family really um I I absolutely remember you know Simon making us laugh so much like you know he would do impressions for us and he just he always had you know he and Jim always had like a very funny you know interaction on camera or off camera you know so I remember things like that but I'm more think about like the people that we worked with are writers and you know like the staff and all the people that nobody ever gets to know about who put it together I'm curious like what do you sort of remember as an overarching like this was what my life was like for those you know nine years you know this is I'm honestly shocked by what you said because I fully believed we were those characters and I'm now devastated to learn that that's not the case so I need a minute um no I I totally hear you on that and I think that's um a really um beautiful way to to sort of think about that time um you know I think for me like also it's um I I definitely think about the relationships it's it was very much a family for that decade and it was my first job where I knew I was going every day and there really wasn't a minute where I drove on that lot where I didn't feel like this immense sense of gratitude for this thing that I was going to um and yeah I think it's very much about the people I think the fun of those tape nights and that that electricity and it really is what sort of made me fall in love with that medium and why I wanted to do it again um but there was um it was just a very special moment in time that um I I really think about the um like you know like you were saying the the relationships but the um like that if I had to like just Zone in a one memory I would say like just all of us sitting around eating you know the Chinese food um and and then getting to like and doing a rehearsal vet scene where we're all together um and then getting the the ability to then go and talk to like all the writers who would watch her run through and um and it just felt like um I guess I would liken it to like if if you I and I don't come from a big family but if you had a big family and you get to gather with them at a holiday and then sort of like go to room to room and see everyone that you miss and um that's sort of what it was whether it's like the crew members or the writers or that cast there's um there's just this Nostalgia of like that family that I will forever hold so dear to me and and Miss that's beautiful that is beautiful uh I know a little bit about calling me cat but does Night Court shoot in front of an audience or no it does yeah I was really um excited about the the chance to do that again um and the it's similar to big bang that like electricity of tape night is just so special and I had never done it before big bang and I remember my first tape night just falling in love with that medium and it was it just felt like the theater world I had come from mixed with what I had fallen in love with about TV um and we didn't know when we were originally developing night court if um because we were developing it during the pandemic and didn't know what would be if they would ever be a chance to do a live audience show but um fortunately by the time we we shot the pilot we're sort of coming out of things and um we were able to shoot in front of a limited audience um but then the first season we were finally getting back to a live show every um every week and it's it's great there's um just a a really special Dynamic and relationship I feel like between the the actors and the writers and the audience on a on a multicam to come which is really cool for for people who who may not um kind of know what night court is I remember Nightcore because it was the show I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch because I was too young and it was kind of it was kind of naughty I watched a lot of Nightcore well I eventually I eventually watched um More Night Court um but also and this is just like a fun Melissa Maya connection so after donrio created Blossom and we had been going for a couple of years he created the John Larroquette show which was a show that John Larroquette who had been on Night Court um starred in I actually played John larakeet's Grateful Dead loving daughter in an episode of the John Larroquette show which I did literally during Blossom um and I have very very fond memories of of working with John and have a lot of respect for for him as an actor um so Night Court finished its first season you were picked up for a second season and um it's an NBC show but that means you can also watch it on peacock correct yes yes it's uh it's okay it's on NBC and then goes to Peacock the next day yeah um isn't that that is amazing when I when you share that with me that you work with John it just made me so happy yeah amazing yeah he really he's he is and um it's it's really it's incredible um and I think such a such a wonderful vehicle and I'm very very happy for your success as a producer and as a star of this show and it really really was a beloved beloved and really highly regarded um sitcom that that is having you know this beautiful is I mean this beautiful kind of second experience you know um so very happy for you about that thank you Melissa it has really been such a pleasure to get to hold space with you like this um some of my favorite times are the things that people don't get to know that we got to be sisters in and interact with um for all those years you're a really an enormous part of my life I do not believe I would have gotten through those nine years with everything that I was dealing with and with learning to be a parent and working without you I'm really really forever indebted to you and um just so thrilled for you thank you I love you so much I love you thank you so much so much for having me I have to say it isn't having our dressing rooms were next door to each other so there was a lot of just knocking on each other's doors and we share even shared our they were adjoining for a while wasn't it we share so we shared a bathroom that's right for the first I think the first year and then there was some renovation that happened and all of a sudden we each had our own bathroom and I thought oh she doesn't like to share a piss room with me okay look who got too big for her britches I not initiate that I did not turn it down but it was no I thought right look Jen you saw the beginning of this and when I turned down sharing a bathroom with blossom way out of my head how did your love for blossom continue like oh you kept it at Bay oh no we would we would talk about it I didn't hide it out I really I probably should have at some point like make it less uncomfortable for her but I really went hardcore on it I mean do you think like once a week is it possible I brought it up once a week yeah she has a tattoo of my face on her left ass cheek it's weird Alyssa thank you so much so wonderful talk this was truly truly truly so much fun and I'm so glad that I got to do this with you guys so I'll be on again next week oh yeah same time next week all right from our breakdown to the one we hope you never have we'll see you next time the Alex break down she's gonna break it down for you she's got a neuroscience PhD or two one and now she's gonna break down it's a breakdown she's gonna break it down

Channel: Mayim Bialik

Views: 306,706

Keywords: mayim bialik, big bang theory, amy farrah fowler, mayim, celebrity news

Id: TZJQg2VtoNY

Length: 53min 57sec (3237 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 18 2023