Julia Louis-Dreyfus

0:00I'm like ready to convert to Catholicism. Literally. Not really. No offense, Pope Leo, but keep going. Yeah. Do your thing. Well, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, welcome to One Night Stand. Thank you. I'm thrilled to have you here. I'm very happy to be here. I love the concept for this show. And I also love the title of the show. Well, I've been having a lot of One Night Stands lately. What can I say? Have you always been a big reader? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I go in and out of it because if I'm working and I'm trying to memorize lines, I don't always, I don't have the brain space. Yeah. But recently I've been doing a lot of reading actually.

0:37And you're in a book club, right? I am. Tell me about that. It's actually really lovely. I do it with my husband. It's a couple's book club. Oh, fun. Do you get drunk or do you drink wine or whatever while you're doing it? Or is it more like? Yeah, we have dinner. Oh, nice. Yeah. And so who's ever chosen the book, we go to their house. yeah and then we have dinner and and talk about the book oh that's fun yeah it's been it's been really nice it's a great way to um obviously have conversation as you know yeah yeah and I think it's also funny when other people make recommendations for you what I like about this is I read stuff I would never personally choose to read uh-huh when someone like chooses yeah but then isn't that an agony if you don't like the book yeah I mean that's what that can be yeah that's a slog but it's also like i don't know i try to i think there's something good about the like flexing the muscle of trying to articulate why you don't like something rather than just having a greed reaction oh totally and like powering through i'd always try to power through yeah i get that you know what my mom does that she my mother's a big reader yeah and she's has i don't do this but she always goes to the end of the book and reads the last sentence At the start?

1:49Yeah. What? I know. Isn't that quirky of her? That is quirky. Yeah. And she's very intellectual and she's really well read. What's her reason for that? I don't know. I'm going to ask her. I actually need to ask her that question. I wish I had asked her that question. It's unusual. Does she get anxiety? I sometimes get anxiety about how things are going to end. But the last sentence doesn't always tell you that. No, it doesn't. Fascinating. Yeah. Okay. Well, maybe we need your mom to be our next guest. Oh, my mother would be amazing on this show. Yeah. She would be. Yeah. Well, we'll have to set it up.

2:24Yeah. Well, we have three great books to talk about. Maybe we start with Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Tell me what you love about this book. Well, I love everything Elizabeth Strout writes. Yeah. And I'm not going to lie, I've read every one of her books. Great. Every one. And I think all of these books are works of fiction that I've chosen. I'm a big fiction reader. And I think Elizabeth Strout, what appeals to me so much is that she is so kind and so sympathetic to her characters, even the ones who aren't necessarily likable, shall we say. That appeals to me tremendously. I agree. So that's what I'm drawn to.

3:16And it's sort of a study. Her work for me, particularly as an actor, is very much a study in character. And it's sort of I feel like kind of how I work as an actor. And so because, you know, even if you're playing somebody who's an asshole or misbehaved externally, Internally, internally, if you're playing that role, you can't come at it that way. No, totally. You have to come at it from a sympathetic place to understand the inner workings of why a person is misbehaved. Yeah, totally. You're not judging. No. There is no judgment. There's not. And there's a lot of humor as well. Oh, it's hilarious.

4:02It's so funny. Yeah, it's deeply funny. Yeah. Deeply. I just love her reactions to all the small children in it where she's like, please fuck her. She doesn't try and hide it. No, she's really out there with it. But the thing that's such fun about Elizabeth Stroud is that she takes these characters into her other books and weaves them. And then a character who might have a very small role in Olive Kittredge will have a much larger role in, you know, the Burgess Boys or Olive Again or whatever. And that's really fun because it's sort of like a story that never ends. Totally. In the way that life, well, obviously life does end, but life is ongoing and characters weave in and out of your life in the same kind of way.

4:50So I find that to be really compelling. Yeah. It's like its own mini Marvel Cinematic Universe type vibe. Totally. And the exploration of these relationships between characters is also particularly. And also, by the way, sorry, I'm bouncing all around. But in Olive Kittredge, Olive's husband was Henry, right? Mm-hmm. And he is the goodest person ever. Yeah. And it's just heartbreaking. I know. A doll as Christopher's first wife calls him. And then that episode part, that chapter where she puts the black marker on his wife's jumper. And she fucks up all her stuff to get in her head. Yeah. She's completely out of control.

5:37It's so good there. And reading it, like you say, you're somehow rooting for her. It really is a feat of engineering. It is a feat of engineering. Yeah. It's a feat of compassion. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of the book is about her relationship with her son and like the sort of push and pull and tension of that. Like I know that you're a mother to two boys. Do you ever feel any of that? That sort of like the push and pull of, you know, wanting to set them off, but also like feeling that connection still. Oh, totally. Yeah. Also because the relationship, I was thinking about this just the other day, the relationship between a mother and a son is incredibly unique, needless to say.

6:16but you know I come from all girls and there's a physical closeness that I can still have with my mom and my dad or my stepdad that I think to a certain extent is is not available in the same way with them with a boy and it doesn't mean we're not close I'm very close to both of my kids. I mean, it's been the joy of my life and it's been, um, uh, the biggest adventure of my life because I came from all these girls. So all of a sudden these boys who had a whole different way of, in my experience, uh, a different way of playing and a different way of sort of going into the world that was completely unfamiliar to me.

7:02And now it's very familiar and, um, very, um, well it's everything totally I mean one of the anxieties for Olive in the book or not anxieties but I think like pressure points is Christopher's like relationships and like with and the relationship she has with his like wives and girlfriend and like the way that that changes the relationship between her and her son as well and the sort of boundaries there and I mean yes the boundaries the boundaries are interesting I mean I'm single but I have two sisters and they both have husbands And I see it with my parents where like I can tell that there's some stuff they would say to my sister if they were on their own that they wouldn't say when their husbands are there.

7:41Just because they're trying to sort of respect that there's a difference, I guess. Yeah, there is a difference. Yeah. And it has to be respected. Yes. Yeah. And that's the thing about being a parent. It never ends. Yeah. In a good way? Yes. Yeah. In a good way. But in a way that I wasn't really understood by me until now. What's the biggest challenge you think of being a parent to adult children versus like children, children? Letting go, I guess. I mean, of course you've let go, but you're just enjoying their ride. You have nothing to say about it. Oh, do you really have nothing to say? Well, I have plenty to say.

8:26But it's not for you. Exactly. you have to relinquish control yeah no for sure I mean but you're on the sidelines should they you know need any kind of coaching or anything yeah you stand at the ready that's that's exactly but I think that's the best parenting I've always like I always know my parents are there and I think that's such a that's such a gift oh no kidding yeah because your parents live in the UK yeah and they hate coming to America so they don't come here but I go to see them a lot which is nice at least but it is that security of knowing that even though I make a lot of decisions I'm sure they don't agree with they sort of like do they hate coming here because our government is so horrible I think honestly my mom was like a carer for people with learning difficulties as her job and like she and my dad was a teacher for kids and they found the like homelessness stuff in New York really difficult and especially how many people were homeless who clearly had like either learning difficulties or like were disadvantaged and they were like I don't understand how are these people on the street and I think that really like walked there or shaped their view of the of what America was like and I was like well I'll take you to a nice restaurant but like you know it's sort of like it's dark isn't it yeah the sort of dissonance between those two things the haves and the have exactly exactly it's brutal but I'm curious like in the book she talks about these like um Olive talks about these big bursts and little bursts and life having these like big moments which are your sort of like marriage and kids or whatever and these little joys where she talks about um having like a really friendly like assistant a store or like a nice waitress who like smiles at you or something and like those small pleasures I'm curious what for you might be or some of your like little bursts of joy oh gosh it's a hard one isn't that like well but they abound yeah you just have to uh keep your eyes open for them right yeah but the idea of a little burst is uh first of all the phrase is so exquisite so well chosen and it makes me think of some you know some yummy taste in your mouth that bursts forth and you didn't expect it and and all of a sudden your palette is greatly amused you know mine is often like when I'm reading and you get to a line that so perfectly describes something that you've thought but not been able to articulate yourself and then you're like that that it's such a feeling oh yeah it's like getting a puzzle piece in a puzzle exactly that's a good little burst I love it yeah that's a good burst it is isn't it yeah yeah maybe that's why I like to play Wordle so much oh you're a Wordle person oh yes but I mean And I think it's a tiny, you know, once you get the word, it's a kick.

11:09It's a kick. It's a little burst. It is. Yeah. My dad sent me a screenshot of his this morning and I was like, well, guess I'm not doing it today. Oh, shame. He didn't send you just the results. Oh, no, no, no. He sent me, he was like, this was a good guess, wasn't it? I was like, yeah, it's good for you. Well done, Clive. Did he get it? And how many? I think he got it in four, but it is quite an unusual word today. Have you done it? I have done it. Yeah. I was greatly flummoxed by it. I got it in five. Okay. Yeah. So his was four and he was clearly feeling smug about it. So there you go. But one of the ideas, so in your movie, The Sheep Detectives, which I watched this morning, I was, the idea of this memory thing and like the sheep is being able to choose like what they remember and don't remember.

11:52I thought it's such an interesting concept, like especially in the treatment of a book like Olive Kitteridge, where, you know, there's, for example, that one chapter where the guy is considering suicide and olive gets in the car with him and like talks about her father and i don't know it's a kind of and by the way that olive does that yes that olive does that and she sort of sees that like she recognizes his pain yeah oh it makes me almost cry thinking about it it is so character who's so unlikable and then she just it does make me cry i'm crying thinking about and she also like in helping him doesn't try to be more likable she's like i'm sitting here in the car and I'm just like being myself I'm moving the seat back I'm like yeah totally oh yeah it's all it's warts and all man yeah yeah anyway what but where do you stand on the sort of like are you good with sitting with uncomfortable memories or would you like hit that button of being able to get rid of them if you could like the sheep oh yes oh I'd love to get rid of them would you yeah yeah I would unfortunately it doesn't work like no I know unfortunately but But yeah, I think uncomfortable memories are exactly that.

13:00And I think the human brain is sort of set up to go back to them a lot. You know, it's hard to, you know, there's a reason that negative memories stay longer than positive ones. Yeah. You know, I'm sitting here trying to think of little bursts. But I can tell you when I screwed up something really bad. Exactly. I can remember exact feedback I got when I was 21 about something. Exactly. Yeah. Isn't that interesting in the brain? however understanding um uh where you've been including the negative and really peeling back the layers on uh is the only way forward yeah and i feel like that's kind of what the the sheep sort of get to in the end as well they like oh for sure they don't need to evaporate to clouds in the sky and that's okay yeah it's all good but it's a very fun movie i did enjoy it it's dear it's really i think the end is particularly sweet it's so sweet yeah i thought um the nicholas boras the policeman was very funny as well the sort of hapless hapless figure yeah he was great well next i thought we could talk about small things like these by claire keegan which is another incredible book tell me what you love about this one well it's so restrained um it's such a it's a tiny little book yeah the book is a small thing like this it's first of all what a great cover Yeah.

14:17It's like, I mean, isn't that it's that block print that I adore. I love this book because it's so restrained. It's so her choice of words is so spot on. again it explores agony and kindness and pushes back against the man as it were yeah yeah it's menacing I mean the way they she writes the mother at the um at the institution yeah the Magdalene laundry yeah the way she writes has when she's talking about to him about his daughters when and he's basically threatening him being like oh yeah hopefully they'll be here but you know there's not much like oh it's so well done yes it's terrifying it's terrifying and it he exercises such bravery yeah um stoic um he barely speaks yeah in the in the book it's his it's his actions that are so remarkable including the very end oh i know i know it's really i mean it's so moving and so like and i feel like it it captures so well the way that sometimes action can overtake thinking without you like he just he just knows he wants to do this thing and yeah he knows the right thing to do exactly he exercises moral courage yes um and um so it's a nice book to read right now where it feels as if uh it's like a death or a dearth yeah yes there is a dearth of morality right now and moral courage um and he it's nice to read a story about somebody who really does the right thing against um and in an institution that is so baked into the culture that it feels as if you are underwater and can't get out totally that you really can't get out from under which i think is um the way a lot of people feel yeah it's interesting yeah i had i have i I didn't really grow up with any religion.

16:23Religion, yeah. No, did you? Well, yeah, my parents actually met at church. Like, but they both, my dad isn't. Catholic? No, like Methodist, weirdly. But it wasn't really like, I didn't notice any denominational differences. But I think it was more cultural in like the 70s in Britain. And like, that's just where they went to socialize. Nice. But I don't know. Yeah, but I did grow up going to church. And then I remember saying to my dad, I just don't think I believe in this. It's like, neither do I, but I think it can bring out the good in people. And I was like, oh, that's kind of sweet. Yeah.

16:51It is a way of being together. That's for sure. And it's kind of interesting seeing this new pope talking of Catholicism and how he's sort of taking that office and using it in a different way. No kidding. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, some of the tweets this week were blowing my mind. Speaking truth to power. Let's do it. I know. Quiet. It's radical. I'm like ready to convert to Catholicism. Literally. Not really. No offense, Pope Leo, but keep going. Yeah. Do your thing. But was in that scene in the sheep detectives where they get to the church and they're talking about like, they were like, what's God?

17:28And they were like, oh, well, it's the thing that you eat on a Sunday or whatever. I thought that was very funny. Yeah. It's like when I was little, my grandmother had a neighbor who was Catholic. And I loved, I was a very girly girl. And she would wear a lace thing on her head to go to church. And I was like, I got to go to that church. I want to wear one of those laces. So I went with her and she let me wear a lacing on my head that I think it went over my face and down the back. And I felt like a million bucks. That got me to church. Wow. Yeah. Good fail. I love that. Loved it. Oh, that's so fun.

18:06Yeah, that's amazing. That book also, I think he's so good at the sort of how claustrophobic but also lovely a small community can feel. Like the scene at the end where he's going around dealing out the coal at Christmas. and people are like being like, can I hire you next time? And then those who can are also trying to give him a bit more money. But do you, I mean, you live in LA, right? I actually don't. I live in Santa Barbara, California. Okay, so yeah. And do you like being part of a smaller community or do you like being in a sort of bigger space? I like both. Yeah. I mean, if I live in a, if I'm, when I'm here in New York City, you know, you have your community of friends and so on.

18:46But I think small, small town living is probably not something that I could do for super long. Could you? No. No? No. I don't think so. I think I'd find it too like everyone. I like the anonymity of a city. Yeah, there's a lot to be said for that. But having said that, his connection to the people and the sort of generosity that he exhibits and they exhibit is very desirable. Yeah, totally. It's definitely a balance for sure. Yeah. Does working in like entertainment feel like a community ever or does it feel? Totally. It does, yeah. Yeah, it does. I mean, and sometimes it's a good community and sometimes it's not a good community.

19:31But when you're working on a film or a show or whatever, even a play, you do create a pretty tight knit community because, well, it's sort of like being on a team. Yes. a sports team because you're all sort of working towards a common goal and i would imagine you feel like it here during this show yeah yeah is everybody reading these books with you when you're no just just your one man band well i have my colleague sophie who helps me research them but yeah i tend to read them on my own oh i see yeah but the but the um working with a bunch of people like i say towards a common goal is a very bonding experience needless to say and also as an actor when you're working with other actors.

20:15And, you know, it's like being inside an Elizabeth Strout book. You're pulling back layers on character and having a discussion about that and exploring different ways of being authentically your character or in a scene or, you know. And that is a very bonding experience. Is that also, like, for a show like Veep where you are sort of, like, leading it and really at the helm, does that feel like a pressure to, like, shape the culture of that community? It does. It does feel like a pressure. But it's one that I happily take on because I like the people I work with so much and I like the thing we were doing so much.

20:54I mean, it was so enjoyable. Yeah, you can feel that I think when you watch it that it feels like everyone was having a good time. Yeah, we were having a good time. It was a lot of hard work and it was a lot of hours, but it was well worth it. Yeah. I mean, it's iconic. Thank you. Your third book is The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. Tell me what you love about this one. I've actually now read that book twice because I read it when it first came out. And then it was my book choice for our book club, my very first choice for a book club. And I think it's a masterpiece. It is. And it explores life in a sort of Jim Crow era, Florida, a boy's, what do you call it?

21:47Like they call it an academy, but. That's based on a real one. Yeah. That was called Dozier. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. In Florida back in the 60s and 70s. Actually, it'd been around for even longer. I think it was ultimately shut down in the late 70s or something. Maybe later. Yeah. I mean. But it's where they sent, you know, kids who are misbehaved, boys who are misbehaved, and black boys who are misbehaved, misbehaved. Yeah. And it's a crushing story. But what I think he does so deftly is he allows the reader to have hope, like your main character has hope in this story, Elwood Curtis. Yeah.

22:37Yeah. That was his name. And this young boy has is naive and is optimistic and is good hearted. And and he's very he's a big believer in the goodness of people. Yeah. And so you are rooting for him and you want to believe along with him. And our wonderful writer, Colson Whitehead, does an extraordinary trick that I won't say for those who haven't read it, you need to read the book. But there's an incredible trick he does at the end of this book that is, I mean, I don't think I've ever read anything quite as, it's a sleight of hand that is, you do not see coming. Completely agree. Yeah. And it's so deft and so sort of like knocks you sideways.

23:34It does. It's a way of understanding the racism in a way that is, it's a blow. Yeah. It's a blow. But it's a very important book to read, I think. I agree. In fact, I had the great honor of running, I saw Colson Whitehead a couple of times. and the first time I met him I just finished reading this book and I was just it knocked my socks off and I went up to him to say I have to tell you I've read this book and of course I I start to say I have to say and then I started to cry uncontrollably I could barely get the words out because that's how moved I was by his writing and it must have been amazing reading it a second time knowing what happens at the end as well like it's quite a different experience yeah but it's sort of like you know Romeo and Juliet I mean you keep hoping yes he's gonna get the letter so true yeah so true I know are you a big book rereader no are you no not really but I like keeping them and it just reminded me because someone once sent me because I like having more my books in my part that that scene from Seinfeld where I think it talks about what is this obsession people have with books they put them in their houses like their trophies what do you need it for after you've read it and I was like I do quite like going back into them but as well I was just curious yeah oh well I feel very I feel a person when a book really moves me I feel a personal connection to it yeah so I have to have it on my show yeah it is a little trophy in a way of like well I went what you sort of yeah well it's a it's you've given a lot of your time and your brain to it yeah and it's moved you yeah and so you need to have it close totally yeah yeah so I I mean, I would read this a third time.

25:22I would read all these books again. Oh, definitely. Yeah. And it's kind of, especially with Olive Kittredge, you really can go in and just read some of the short stories in that kind of way. Oh, completely. It's so special. Yes. It's really striking. Have you watched the Nickel Boys adaptation or any of that? I mean, all of these have been adapted, actually. Oh, yeah, they have. Yeah. God, I hadn't even thought of that. um well i started to and in fact a good friend of mine hamish linklader played the bad guy in nickel boys and uh and i watched it and the only way i could get through it was knowing that hamish is not a bad person in real life yeah and i had to sort of keep looking away and thinking oh yeah hamish is a good guy he's a good guy oh it's really it was rough but it is hard isn't it when I mean, I can't imagine when you actually know the people in real life, but there's some, yeah, you do occasionally just get hit sidewise by it.

26:16Yeah. Killian Murphy did a great job, I thought. He did. I mean, I've only seen part of that. I haven't seen the whole thing, but he always does such a great job. Yeah, well, but you can see his character playing that character. I mean, without even seeing the movie. No, totally. And he does so well with so few words as well. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Well, I think we're at time, but thank you so much. This was such a pleasure. It was such a pleasure to talk to you. And there's so many other books that we could have discussed. It was hard to come up with a group. I know. We'll have to do round two sometime next time you're out and about.

26:48But no, it's been such a joy. And I loved all of these books. And The Sheep Detectors was so fun. And I really enjoyed, like, had such a giggle watching it. Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. And thanks for the opportunity to come. It's such a nice way to have a conversation and talk about things that aren't stupid. Aren't stupid. Exactly. that's what we love no stupid no stupid here well thank you so much thank you pleasure