Claire Danes

30:11But of when Jordan comes over to Angela and says, can we go somewhere? And you say, sure. And you walk off with him and he takes your hand in front of everybody. And that feeling of being chosen publicly is a big. Major. Major deal for a young girl. woman and young man. But why the show I think separates itself from others is also editorially, we know what all the other characters are feeling in that moment. Like we cut to everyone else's feeling about not being chosen or the wrong person being chosen. Like everyone's having a feeling like we're feeling everybody's pain, psychic pain or joy in that moment.

30:58It's so good. That's a very well-stated, yeah, well-analyzed scene. I've watched it way too many times. No, and yes, it was, I feel wildly fortunate that that was my entry point.

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33:30and you've worked with what I imagine only imagine are really some very interesting complicated and maybe at times difficult people at a young age I project on you that you have to like figure out how to be self-possessed and be your own artist and your own you know like protect yourself and also be among these like really complicated adults do you feel like there was some inner Claire thing that helped you navigate all that early stuff? I feel like kids are doing that all the time anyway. Not every kid. Okay. You know, I think this is... I don't know. Also, I remember people, I never felt like a kid.

34:10And now that I am a parent and I have actual children, I'm like, yeah, no, I for sure was a kid. There's no way. Do you think you're going to... I sometimes think I never felt like a kid either. No. When I was about eight or nine, I was like, I'm in charge here. I did. I was like, these people... Like, I just remember being like, no, I'm in charge. My first memory, I don't know if it's real or not. Obviously, no idea. But was pre-verbal. I was an infant. I remember where I was. It was by the windows in our loft on Crosby Street, overlooking Lafayette Street. And I had been handed to some other adult that I didn't know very well.

34:51And they didn't know how to hold a baby. And I remember having I was like, OK, this is one of those grownups who don't know how to do this. They're uncomfortable. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm just going to have to wait it out. Yeah. Yeah. And then I remember my second. Yeah. And then my second memory was being on the kitchen island. And I was just about I just was starting to have some language, but not quite enough. and I was kind of playing charades with my mom and I wanted to get to the counter, like the other side of the kitchen. And she was really frustrated and I felt such empathy for both of us.

35:30And I was like, this cannot continue. Like I really, really need to crack this language thing because I mean, poor us. This is too hard. Amazing. So yeah, it was like that always. And people would say like how, you know, So, you know, it's so remarkable that you can deliver performances at such a young age. I was like, what are you talking about? I feel like I've been here for—this has been an eternity. Like, 11 years is so many years. And it felt very rich. I was like, I've got enough material for four lifetimes. It makes total sense to me because when you're in Little Women and you're dying, I was like, she's been here before.

36:16We had to reshoot that scene. I can't even. Just my side. Because apparently I got too excited about the death rattle. Because of course I read like five stages of dying. I like and really studied whatever illness Beth had. Sure. And I got a little carried away. You rattled a little too much. I told this story to Matthew Reese and he calls me death rattle Danes. But Jillian Anderson, the director, lied to me. I only learned this like last year. Oh, bless. Literally said that Coke had spilled on the negatives of the film and that we needed to reshoot. Well, that's a nice thing to do. Really, because she needed to like, like calm the death rattle down a little bit.

36:59I got. Yes. So that's a factoid. By the time you were 20, you were already in 13 movies. So that's a few. That's a lot. And you went. I did not know that. Okay. Went to school, went to Yale. What did you study there? I thought I was going to be a psychology major, and then there ended up being like a lot of lab work involved with that. That's not what I meant. Eventually, I think I would have been—I didn't complete my time, and I never had to declare a major. But if I had, I think I would have been an English major, which is what I meant. You know, I didn't. Yeah. I didn't want it to be. The science part was less interesting to me than the character studies.

37:50Do you have a bit of like a sliding doors fantasy that you would be a therapist in another life? Well, my best friend in the whole wide world from the age of nine on is a therapist. Congrats. Thank you. I did pretty well. Best friend of the therapist. I chose well at nine. And actually, it's really fun. we do kind of play Barbies together with my characters. Like if I'm starting a project, we'll think about it in those kind of formal terms and she'll diagnose her. And it is, it's actually very handy. And occasionally at lunch, like I'll see her kind of, it'll be, I see her shift from Ariel, you know, into there and she'll ask, she'll say, is it okay if I you know go into actual formal therapy mode with you now like a dream yes please um so so yeah I I mean that so okay so I'd wanted to be an actor from the age of five onwards and then people would tell me you know most actors actually don't make that much money It's a fairly insecure career choice.

39:02And continues to be. And I had a practical side. And I thought, okay, all right, fine. I'm going to be a therapist and I'm going to live in the suburbs. I was going to live next door to Ariel. We were going to share a pool and we would have two slides in our respective yards that would go into the same pool. I would be a therapist and do acting workshops, yes, to like nourish the soul. And that was my plan for a good year. And I made an actual announcement one night at the dinner table. And I said, look, guys, who am I kidding? There is no plan B. I am an actor. Money or no money. This is my calling.

39:42And my parents are like, uh-huh, sure.

39:47I was so serious. It's ridiculous. But I love that person because that person's making a declaration. And I really meant it. And I went to, you know, I took Saturday acting classes at Lee Strasburg, which is in my neighborhood. And I pass almost every day and it's a total trip. But yeah. Anyway. So, yes. But actually, my favorite class was a graphic design class. Ooh. My very favorite class. And then I thought, oh, maybe if I were an actor, I would be that kind of person. I can see that. A graphic designer. I can see all of these things. Like what, what I like love about your work is that it feels, and again, it just feels like when you're watching you work, that there's just real life that exists in your life.

40:37Like you have a real life. You're a real person, a sane real person. I'm trying. And then, so then when we're watching you play people, when you're, they feel like real people, there's just a little bit, you just kind of can't explain it. people have it or they don't, or they feel like they've actually existed on the earth and had a real life. And people that are kind of in a, just a different sphere of, I don't know. And there's something that feels like you have taken care of other parts of your life. It was, it was good for me to do that. I really needed a timeout. I needed to not have so much responsibility.

41:23And I needed to like fuck around a little bit and like get stoned and play Mario Kart. That doesn't need to go away. That was as important as, you know, the work I was doing in class, which was also really, really wonderful. And I also felt like validated as a thinking person. I feel like you've spoken about like the kind of wonderful things about perspective and getting older. What's the best thing about being the age you are? That it's perfectly okay to have the same breakfast every morning. To exercise for 45 minutes to an hour. How's your bone density? I don't know and I should know and I don't lift enough weights.

42:10Nobody ever does. We have to lift so many weights. I like lifting my own body weight. I really like yoga these days, but it's not enough. Apparently, you have to lift actual iron. And you run. You're a big runner. I used to run more. The third pregnancy really kind of put a dent in the running. So for people who don't know, you had a pregnancy a few years ago. Yeah. Kind of a surprise. Ooh. Whoa. Out of the blue. That, whoa. Did you burst into tears like, oh, no, I have to be pregnant again? Yes, totally. Yeah. I called my OBGYN in convulsive tears. Yeah. Yes. No, it was a pure, like it was all meltdown.

42:52Oh, no. Because you had what, like a 12-year-old or like a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old or something? Yes. I mean, he must have been around 11, 12. Yeah. They're five years apart, each kid. None of this was by design. But yeah, I didn't know it was physically possible. I was 44. And actually, Rowan was very hard-earned. I had to do two rounds of IVF. Like, it just was so unlikely. So this is a funny story that I'm going to share about my best friend. Okay. So, yeah. And this is Arielle? This is Arielle. Okay, Arielle. She gets name-checked a lot in these things. Well, she is your therapist. And she's other people's therapist, too.

43:34And I would like her to be mine. I've just ruined her career. I'd like her to be mine. But, yeah, so we had this, like, spa day scheduled, and I admitted to her, and I wasn't coping very well with the heat. I was like, I'm sorry, I'm such a pussy. I've got to get out of here. Anyway, and so I wasn't going to say anything, and finally I admitted. I was like, you know, I totally lost my mind last night and just decided that I was pregnant. I went down this crazy rabbit hole and finally, like, looked up, what are the odds of naturally conceiving at 44? And they're, like, less than 1%. And I was like, so that obviously is ridiculous.

44:15And she said, whoa, that's really weird. Because I had this dream last week. She said it was really vivid. And I told people about it. I mean, I didn't say it was you. But I had this dream where I was pregnant and I looked down and I saw my distended belly and I said, oh, I'm – wait, but this is a really – this isn't my torso. This is a long torso. This is Claire's torso. You have a great torso. Thank you. But, yeah. She was in – She had this dream where she looked down and saw that she was pregnant, but she wasn't pregnant. She was in my pregnant body. And then, you know, I had two strong cocktails when we had dinner.

45:00And then first thing in the morning, hit the CVS, and it was just like bold cap locks, you know. Yeah. Pregnant! And I burst into tears. Because for me, the thing would just be like, you know what you know now. You know what you're in for. Well, that was deeply humbling. Yeah. Because I realized, oh, I am not authoring this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This is really, this is the illusion that I am, like, driving this thing. Yes. So you had to surrender to it. I really did. Yeah. And then this beautiful girl emerged, and she's the best, and none of it was up to me, and I'm just delighted.

45:45Yeah. But she was disruptive. We had to move. It was a thing. It was a lot of work. Well, it's interesting. Like her origin story will be, I bet, will just like naturally be like, you really wanted to be here. She did. And she's psyched. Like she is all about it. She's having a great time. Yeah. Unequivocally like into this living business. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is. That's the thing about, I think about the best and worst thing about late 40s for me, mid 50s is you kind of know the deal. So it's like, okay, that's going to be this. And okay, this one's going to hurt. Yeah. Or, you know, there's still stuff to discover, certainly, but there is a sense of...

46:35It's amazing to have so much of your life, like, established. And, you know, yeah.

46:47Realized, like, and set. Well, you've experienced, it's basically you've come through things and you've made it, made it through something. Yeah. And there's a lot of, I don't know, power in that and joy in that. And it's also sad because I'm really, really aware of time now. Me too. It's really like the thing I crave. I crave time is my, time is a thief. Yeah. And it's actually, and I'm sure you're this way too, more and more with work or with any project, it's the thing I care about the most. How much, you know, it makes me think about your work on Homeland, which was a 10-year commitment. Yeah, yeah.

47:36A lot of time. A lot of time. And hard work. Yeah, it was. Hard work. And we were all over the planet. Like, we were in so many different countries. And I had two kids. Yes. And I was like fighting terrorists while deeply pregnant. I know. It was weird. Did you have a thing like you liked to do on that show when you saw on the call, she was like, oh, today I get to do this. You know, because like, it was like today. And, you know, maybe it was like today I get to. It was cool that after a while, like, you know, a few seasons in, people knew Carrie Matheson and every, it was almost like an anthology series.

48:13Like we would reimagine ourselves every year. But, you know, so a new set of actors, you know, I'd walk into a room and they would like get quiet and be chastened. And I like had this power that, you know, I had earned over seasons, you know. And that was pretty fun. In fact, in fact. You know, and never have I ever had that experience in my life, nor will I ever again, even in a fictional realm, you know. but that was like amazing to have that kind of swagger yes um yeah and and what was that what was hard to shoot like was it like i mean just like balancing life i'm sure and traveling all over because it shot everywhere it shot yeah especially when brody died oh god that's spoiler alert Claire I remember so we it was also like really rough just really graphic like they really went there over like come on intense it was so intense but like he dies on a crane I know but then the crane when we were filming broke oh no so like we were really hung up by that

49:29But I don't know. It was like landing in a new—because that was in—where did we shoot that? That was in Morocco. But, yeah, so the first three seasons we were mostly in Charlotte, North Carolina, which was standing in for D.C. And then we would make these jags. Like we would shoot a month in Israel or Morocco or something. But then when we had to really redefine the show in a more macro way, we then became this traveling enterprise. So we were shooting in Cape Town for half a year, which was standing in for Palestine and Afghanistan. The next year we were, where were we? There was a year in Berlin, then a year in New York, which, yeah, that was kind of, that was actually very strange to be home and weirdly stressful because, like, people expected me to go to dinner.

50:21Like, my friends were like, you're here. Let's hang out. And I was like, I am working so hard. I have to get tied up and beat up tomorrow. And then I have to tie someone else up. I actually can't do this and live my life. There was something nice about being on location and just being allowed to, like, give myself entirely to it because I didn't have any energy to spare. Yeah. That was actually weird. That was the weird—almost the hardest season because I kept, like, you know, there was this illusion that I was living my life and I couldn't. Yes, yes. And then—where were we? Then we were—I don't even—then it was a full year in Morocco.

50:58Wow. What's Morocco like? Never been. Pretty great. I was nervous about spending so much time there, and I grew to really love it. Cyrus went to school in all these places, too. So he still can't eat couscous because he ate it at every meal every day for six months at this school. That must be very cool for him to have his memories of traveling around. Yeah, I wonder what he, you know, what he can consciously recall. I think that he was like five or six. So maybe quite a bit. So six that, he could. Yeah. He also, his first school that he went to was in Berlin, and he was around three. And he started to have temper tantrums, like, half in German.

51:43And he would scream, nein! Nein! And he'd be like, whoa. Suddenly, this is a lot scarier in this language. And he would, around that time, like, when we would come home and we'd be at the playground at Washington Square Park, You know, he would toddle over to other tiny people and say, hi, my name is Silas. I speak English because it was like not a given that another person would do. Does he speak another language? Nine. If I could, you know, put a chip in my brain and be able to speak in a different language. Oh, same. That and fly. Yeah, fly. I mean. Yeah. Yeah. But the language almost feels like it has the same thrill level to speak a different language.

52:28When speaking other languages is you have to do like a version, like a funny, you almost, you have to move your body and your face in a version that feels insulting. It feels stereotypical, but you have to, to get the language right. Well, there is that kind of, and you, or if you're Italian, you have to gesticulate or like, there's all these different things. Like there's a reason why people move the way they do getting back to movement. Yes. I love learning dialects for this reason. Look, I think humans are humans and, you know, it is mostly a universally shared experience, whatever that is.

53:06But it's also true that there are real differences and we do like see the world through these slightly different filters and it does shape us and inform us and that is also kind of amazing. I'm really into that, those kinds of differences, again, without appropriating them or getting them wrong. But because we are in a monoculture now, everything is the same now. So now it's like, I'm like, whoa, the way you express this thing or the way you like language still feels sometimes like a way of getting into some new little world. Yes. And it's so like it's I'm I delight in the ways that we're not the same anymore because everything is the same.

53:47Every fucking store is in the same city. And it's also kind of sad that we're not, I mean, that is what we do, you and I do. And I think a lot of different. No, I don't. I don't do. Well, you do. You totally do. You imagine yourself in a, you know, as being a different person. True. But dialects are their own real. I mean, that's a real. That's real acting. No, look. Claire. Look, I can't just, I can't just riff though. Like I'm this ooh-ooh-ooh-y person. If I have a good coach, I'm all about it. Do you like to improvise when you act? I haven't had that many opportunities to. Oh, interesting. I don't.

54:27I guess in more dramatic stuff, it's hard to do, right? They don't let you. They don't let you. They're very strict about it. Because they're on the crane. They're like, he's up on the crane. You can't. And you're like, just give me. I just want to riff.

54:40Yeah. Crane work is pretty strict. But no, I don't know. I would be really intimidated by that, actually. I feel like you'd be so good. That seems scary. I mean— I did one episode of Portlandia, and they did give me pages, and then they disappeared. They were like, don't look at those. Yeah, and I was like, but wait, I learned them. And they were like, oh, sorry. You should have known better. And they were like, you know what? We're just going to do it as we want to do it in the moment. And I wanted to vomit. I have no, I worked at SNL and it's where I realized like, oh, preparation is this, this thing that people do.

55:23No, it's this thing. It's this thing that when people bring it to the process and someone says like, and also let's try this. It's hard to not feel like, wait, wait, what, what are we doing? Like it's, it's, it is a learned skill to just assume that things aren't wrong. If we are not doing what we prepare. Yes. I mean, I am. I mean, I'm ridiculous. I mean, I'll go to the writer and say, is it OK if I like put the comma here rather than there? And they're like, don't come to me with this bullshit. Like, I'm sorry. But I think actually because I started at such a young age, my socks are still up to my knees a little bit.

56:04You know, like there's still that like little girl who's just wanting to do a good job. I don't know if that's because I was actually a little, like a literal, literal, little girl, say that five times fast, when I began. Or maybe that's just in me and would have been if I started at 30. But I don't know. Yeah. You do such a good job. Thank you. You're so good at your job. You are so good at your job. You are so good at your job. And I love listening to your show. I listen to it a lot. Thanks. I heard that you love podcasts. I love podcasts. Me too. But you have one of the very best ones. Oh, my God.

56:38Thanks. And it's really wonderful. Thanks, Claire. Really. Speaking of wonderful, we do a thing on this podcast where we talk to someone who knows our guest. Okay. We talk to Mandy Patinkin. Mandy. Mandy, who I saw the other night. I hadn't seen him for a long time. He said. You guys were celebrating Mom Donnie together. Yes, we were celebrating Mom Donnie. I mean, you could tell in the show, but I also loved knowing that outside of the show, the relationship you two had. Yeah. It felt very paternal, very respectful. There was a lot of love there. I love him madly, truly, deeply. And also, he's just an amazing person to act with.

57:20How come? Okay. He's very musical. But this was a weird thing. In the first read-through, we barely met each other. And it just, like, the music worked. You know, my cadence and his cadence were in really good harmony with each other. And that was like, can't, can't, nobody can take credit for that. That was just really good fortune. And, you know, I played this manic person. I'm almost like getting into it now that you're saying, I'm thinking about it. So she's like a stone skipping, you know, on the water. And he's, you know, has a much, you know, he has this like low pulse rate. Yeah. as Saul and is so steady and is her ballast and, you know, this counterpoint.

58:08Yeah. Well, he adores you. He calls you a thoroughbred. Oh, well, thanks. He's just a really, really, really good performer. I don't quite know how he does what he does, but it was also always fun to see him at the gym, the hotel gym or whatever weird apartment complex we were living in, like singing his Yiddish songs, prepping for his tour, like on a Stairmaster. Right. It's just, it's, yeah. Also, I just love a big man. Yes. I do. Yes. I love a big man. Sometimes I love feeling small. Like in relationship, do you know the idea of like big and small? No. Which is basically like some days you want to feel big and some days you want to feel small.

58:47Okay. So some days you want to be like, I'm going to take us, get us to the airport. I'm in charge of whatever. I'm big today. And other times you're like, I want to be small today. And it's like being taken care of, but also can just kind of feel physical. Like sometimes when you're like at, you know, I don't know, you're bossing it up all day at work. You want to come home and feel small and vice versa. And being able to have someone kind of do that with you. It's like CEOs who go to the doms. Exactly. It's a sub-dom thing. So those are all Mandy's questions. No, I'm just kidding. So Mandy wants to know, are you?

59:18No. Okay, so we had 10 questions for us. That's a lot. We're not going to. We can't get to the book. That's a lot of questions. This is Mandy had 10 questions? Yeah, he really over-prepared, which is very nice. but also he couldn't get on the Zoom and he was eating when he was on the Zoom too. So it was like mixed messages, but he was so - He was eating the latkes that he had made. He was eating a delicious - The mayor - Cinnamon raisin bagel, I believe, with other stuff on it. Okay. And it looked delicious. Okay. He likes peanut butter on an apple too. Oh, that's a great snack. That's a great set snack.

59:49Okay. So you had a couple of questions. Who is better at setting boundaries for the kids, you or Hugh? Oh. goes back and forth. Okay, that's good. So Cyrus wants to wear shorts. He's like a gaffer. All the time. There's a whole thing. You're not on TikTok, I'm sure. No. Oh, congratulations. But there's a whole thing about middle school kids always wearing shorts. It makes me so upset. Let it go. I'm here to tell you, my boys are older. Let them freeze their buneroonies off. Don't say one thing. Don't mention a coat. Okay. Okay, so I've said 50 or below, you have to wear shorts. Hugh is more team size than a pair.

1:00:3750 or below, you have to wear pants. Yeah, sorry, pants. Sorry, yes, thank you. And now Hugh is like kind of being more permissive, and that number went down to 40. Yeah, there's literally a whole scientific thing about middle school kids waiting for the bus. By scientific, I mean it's on TikTok. about kids waiting for the bus with shorts. Boys love shorts in middle school. It's a whole thing. Okay, whatever. And they run hot, and they're not going to get a cold from the cold. You know that. And just let them do it. Okay, fine. And they will grow out of it, I promise. Then they'll become obsessed with, like, sweats and sleeping and being warm, and they'll always be freezing.

1:01:18Yeah, okay. All right. It's just a warm period. I got that. My family thanks you. Okay. But I actually think that Hugh and I are pretty – we're very lucky. Like, we're well-matched humans. And I think our parenting styles are pretty level and equal as well. Love that. It's good. You guys are a really, really special couple. Thank you. He's a very – he's a swell dude. Yeah, you can tell. He's a good guy. And you can tell you have a lot, like, a lot of love and a lot of like for each other. Both those things are important. We do. And so many children now. Yeah. So many. You're outnumbered. Yeah.

1:01:57You're outnumbered. Anyway. Okay. Mandy's next question. And this now, now Mandy's referring to himself in the third person. Sure. What is Mandy's father's favorite chewing gum? Oh, it's the black licorice. Oh, I embroidered something for him. That's what he was asking. How did you commemorate? Because he, he used, he would chew it as saw. because and I think he mentioned at one point that but I'm forgetting the name of the brand did it come like in a tin blackjack blackjack blackjack was the gum was the kind of gum and and you may and you embroidered something I went I went hard on the embroidery for a while let's talk about this embroidery you embroider do you I don't really there was a point when I embroidered everything around me I embroidered an umbrella that was weird um so my mom taught me and you No, it started because in my 30s, I was away from my friends and we were at the—everybody was having babies and I was really missing them.

1:02:59And so I embroidered onesies from my friends' babies that—I embroidered their name and then an image that related to the name somehow. But it was really more about just communing with them. Embroidery by hand. Yes. Okay. And we started with the onesies and then it just—then it went haywire. It's a great onset activity. Yes. And I did it a lot more before I had children. And I also found the contrast amusing and enjoyable, like that I would be fighting terrorists as Carrie. And then I would go back to my seat and embroider. Knitting or crocheting? Do you do that? I went on a knitting jag, too. Then that didn't take.

1:03:41So I embroider onesies for, of course, all of my kids. And I have one for Shay, this third child. she doesn't wear onesies anymore. I've missed that chance. It's okay. I'm confessing. I'm actually confessing to you. You know, I mean, it's by my bed. What are we supposed to do? Half done. You know. Anyway. You've done it all. Okay. I mean, no more. You got to start giving us. I don't know. That's what I tell every woman. And then I want to talk about The Beast in Me. Okay. Because I love the fact that you are producing on this And I want to know what that experience has been like producing. I loved it.

1:04:20It was just really fun to, like, you know, hire people who I admired and trusted. And you have a, I mean, like you said, you've been producing probably, you've been producing without credit for a long time. And you've been producing and seeing, you've been on sets for a long time. Yeah. And you're realizing, like, oh, I want to bring my system here. Yeah. And that first week, I was just, I just had a blast. I was really like, I like everybody here. And I realized, oh, right. Because, you know, I asked them to the dinner party, right? Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it was so nice to, like, I don't know, not be surprised by the home that suddenly I was discovering on the first day of filming.

1:05:04Like, I got to have a say on what that house would actually be. Yeah. I really enjoyed it. And it was just like a lot of Zoom calls. That's okay. But they were conversations I wanted to have and be a part of. So on this next gig, I'm more of an actor for hire. So you're playing a neurosurgeon, and can we talk about The Pit? Sure. Because you love it. I do love it. What do you love about it? Well, Noah Wiley. I mean, Noah Wiley. Okay, did you watch ER when it was on? No, but I would think it was a little too little. It was on maybe while I was shooting My Soul Called Life. Is that right? I don't know.

1:05:42Maybe I'm getting that timing wrong. But, yeah, I was aware of it, but I didn't watch it. But, no, he feels so credible. And I really think all those hours he put in as a TV doctor have accrued. Totally. And he has a kind of gravitational, you know, gravity now. Yeah, he does this. It feels like he's doing his blocking without thinking. I am so convinced. No, and I just think it's also, like, feels a little throwback-y. Like it's so nice to watch excellent TV. Love. Love. You've made excellent TV. Thank you. But I enjoy watching excellent TV. It's my favorite thing to watch. TV are better than movies.

1:06:23Sorry. TV is better than movies. I love movies too. Movies are very special. I'm a little worried about movies. I really am a little bit worried about movies. Well, they got to get their shit together. No, I'm just kidding. I love movies. I love movies. I love it all. Is there anything that you watch? I know you are a big listen to podcasts. Is there anything you watch like just for like kind of brain checkout fun? Okay. I know you ask this sometimes. So I had a prepared answer. There is. You're the only person that's ever prepared. I want you to know this. Of course, Claire. But is it. Okay. Tim Robinson.

1:06:57Yes. So he has this. There's this one sketch from the show. Which one? Focus group. Incredible. Focus group. You just got an O. You just got an O. from go. Let's watch it. We watch this all the time in our family. Do your kids watch it? Well, so all the kids are allowed to watch this. So Cyrus is, so we tuck the little guys in and then we have like special mature viewing hour and it started with like The Simpsons and then it was Oh, The Simpsons is always the gateway. Only murderers in the building. Omib, which is basically Scooby-Doo for grown-ups. And, And it's great. And then Hugh, English husband, introduced him to Monty Python stuff.

1:07:43He got really into that. Yes. But now we've been watching, mostly because of this focus group, his latest show, which is The Chair Company. Yeah, which there was a not safe for work moment in that show. I mean, the whole genius of the show is that it takes you in very quickly to places that you are not prepared for. So we're all like cuddling in bed. And then there is this giant erect penis. And he says, close your eyes. Everybody close your eyes.

1:08:23Close your eyes. Everybody close your eyes. we all yeah it was intense we're still recovering it was intense yeah but it was great so we do love that show i think that like what claire what i understand why you would like this because number one i think you are like i've known you to be a very fun funny and like comedy you love comedy. I do. Yeah. And you have good taste. Thanks. And there's a tiny bit of a disruptor in you that I imagine is fun to watch. Yes. I think you're right. And the other thing that we've been watching is the latest South Park. Oh, yeah. We should talk about. What? They're just saying the thing.

1:09:11Just a chicken in a henhouse. No, it's a fox in a henhouse. I didn't get that right. Chicken in a henhouse. Thank you for that. Well, thank you. This was amazing. This was really nice. This is so fun. Birthday present to me. No one's ever brought me a balloon. Thank you for bringing a balloon. And again, for people that are sick of me talking about the Enneagram, I don't know what to say. But let me just read you this as we wrap up and see if any of these land. These are things that annoy an Enneagram 8. Are you ready? Sure. People who talk just to talk. That's very annoying. That is deeply annoying.

1:09:49And I have a podcast. But yes, people who talk just to talk. Fake people. Beyond. I mean, I'm like, I literally, if someone's like, I'm a piece of shit or whatever, I'm like, okay, great. But fake? No way, babe. People who aren't on time. I have to have some tolerance for that because I am not the— Same. I was late today. Jenna's always on time. Most punctual person. And then this one really scratches an itch for me. Others asserting power in a situation where they have none. So I went through a period in junior high where I became like a vigilante. And I would like rough, I would like confront the bullies.

1:10:37Aids hate bullies. Yeah, really. And I went to the principal's office one time because I like, like I hit a bully.

1:10:49I love the bully. And yeah. That's exciting. And we've talked through it, the bully and I. And actually we made some progress. And then he was so deferential to me and so, and he would open doors. Like he was really, you know. But I had to stop that because it was like going on my record. But yes. I mean, so I think. Like, yes, that makes sense. That there would be an eight impulse. I have fantasies that I stand up to bullies and that everybody sees it. Like, that's my, like, embarrassing fantasy, that I stick up for people in public. So there was a bully in elementary school, and I admitted to my mother at one point that, like, my self-soothing fantasy, there'd be a circle of people.

1:11:45and this boy and I were at the center of it and I was just beating the shit out of him. And I was like, is that okay to have that bandage? He was like, your thoughts are your own. Enjoy them. I want a great answer. Which was a nice bit of mothering there. What a nice bit of mothering there. Yeah, really. And we've come full circle back to New York, back to the apartment. It did help. It was nice. Yeah. I could talk to you forever, Claire. I could too. Thank you. Thank you so much. It was so fun. Thank you so much, Claire Danes. That was so fun. I could have talked to you forever. And you're so interesting and smart and funny.

1:12:27So thanks so much for that time. And for the Polar Plunge today, I guess I just want to remind everybody how good Law & Order is, especially the first 10 seasons. Okay? Just go back and watch, find Claire as the young, you know, child maniac. and just go back. And here's a little tip. Whoever you recognize, they did it. So it's a young actor just starting out. They're the murderer. So take that tip with you and go check out a little show called Law & Order. I can't get enough of it. And you know, it's these kind of new things that I'm going to fill you in on when you take the time to listen to The Polar Plunge.

1:13:11So thanks so much for listening and see you soon. Bye.

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