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Hello, everyone, and welcome to our show, which is called Welcome to Our Show. Now, today we're interviewing writer, director, showrunner, lover, father, amazing surfer. Sometimes I feel like he's high, but I don't think he actually is. He's just always cool and calm. He's responsible for some of your favorite New Girl episodes, Bad in Bed, The Landlord Secrets Models, A Father's Love. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Josh Melmoth.
Josh, how you doing, man? Hey, Josh. Good. How are you guys? Zoe? Good. Welcome to our show. Welcome to our show. Which is called Welcome to Our Show. We made it easy for everyone.
We just say that over and over again. We're so happy to see you and hear you. Yeah. Before we get started, I do have a question. We were talking about something beforehand, and this is completely off topic. If you could, would you nurse a cat? Would you? No. No. Okay. Well, even if it were. Even if it had really long teeth?
I mean, maybe if it were like a kind of like a Grapes of Wrath situation and it seemed like that was the only... Seemed like that was the only... You know, that was like...
Dave Finkel story. You guys know that story, right? No. No. For those who aren't familiar, Dave Finkel, one of our show creators, writers, producers. One of our executive producers. Yeah. I think he was sleeping somewhere and a cat tried to suckle off him. Whoa. Did he allow it?
I think I think he stopped it. I don't know how quickly he stopped it, but I'm positive that he stopped. This will now come up in the Finkel interview. We will lead with this story. We're going to have a chat about this. Because that's a situation that one could start by being very philanthropic for the cat, but at the same time could then become illegal if you let it go on for too long. I think also like guys.
He didn't have cat milk in those nipples. I know. That's what I mean. That's why it gets illegal. It's like, what you doing, man? Yeah. I remember him saying the tongue felt very rough and we all kind of like cut him off at that point. No more details needed. Okay. Well, we're going to bring that one up. Hi, Josh. So Josh was one of our awesome writers there from day one to day four.
one million and one and wrote so many fantastic and funny episodes and we're just so excited to have him yeah i'm so excited to talk to you guys it's been a it's been a minute oh yeah so josh let's start at the beginning how did you start your new girl journey when did you first you know hear of the show and how'd you get involved with it and is this the dave king story
Well, yeah. So that's sort of the chapter two. The first thing was I actually read about it, a little website called Deadline Hollywood. Heard of it. Heard of it. When the pilot was announced. All our favorite website. Yes. Big website, guys. Big website. In the industry. And I saw that...
It just sounded like a really cool project. I had just watched Jake Hasden's movie and I was a fan of Zoe and Liz. And I was like, wow, that sounds awesome. And I've never done this before. And I was thinking about this this morning before we started recording. I've never emailed my agent to be like, I really want to be on this thing. And I had just come off my first job.
um a show that got canceled um but I emailed my agent and said I think I could be good on this show and he was kind of like yeah whatever everybody wants to be on this show it's like the biggest new show yeah right but yeah fortunately I was able to to get a meeting and I I met with with uh uh
Liz and Brett and Dave and I saw the pilot and sometimes when you go and watch a pilot before a staffing meeting it's like this horribly awkward thing because you see like a really a really terrible pilot and then you have to go meet with the creators and be like this is great I really want to work on this show but in this case I was the pilot was amazing and um I was just I was like wow and then then I got really nervous because I'm like well I really want this job so
um yeah then you know they they declined to offer me a position on the show until dave king passed on it on a on a job and uh then then i was hired wait who's dave king is that he's a great yeah he's a great writer and he passed on new girl i he i i
That is what I was told by my my reps. Liz and Brett and Dave will never cop to it. But right. Yeah. I think he took a job on Parks. So that worked out for everybody. That's a good everybody. Everybody. Yeah. Well, was that a successful show? Was it interesting? Right. Because their staffing meeting happens before the show is picked up.
That's actually that. Yes. In some cases, that's that's in this case, it was I think I met with them like a week before the show got picked up, but it was pretty clear that the show was going to get picked up on this show. Everybody. Yeah. Right. I think I remember meeting you, Josh. I mean, I guess I like probably met like all the writers when I first came in. Like I came into the writers room just to say hi.
bring some treats, whatever, you know, as one does. And, uh, but I remember spending time with you first on, we had a promo we had to do and I think it was just me and they had written all this stuff, but they didn't talk to the new girl writers and the stuff was, it was like the marketing department or the, like, like somebody had written it and it was like not quite tonally off.
brand for New Girl. So they brought you in and you were just so quickly rewriting everything to make it like right for Jess. And I was like, who is this wunderkind? Like you were so young and so like talented and smart. It's funny that you remember it that way because I remember being so nervous that I was like sweating through my clothes. I mean, I had never really been on a set before. Well, they like sent you. You were the one they sent to set for that.
Yeah, we we we Zoe and I, we wrote it on the fly. And it was this weird thing because it wasn't our crew really either. You know, it was all these. It was different. Kind of the promo department. Yeah. And yeah, we and we wrote it on the fly. And yeah, I remember just being like, like after I left, it was the biggest adrenaline rush because I never really. And these were just promos, but I never been on it because the show worked on before was a multi cam that got shot.
you know it's a block and shoot so it wasn't really like a lot of set time so that was my first time being on a professional set and it was it was really intense well you did such a great job and i will say like i will say like our marketing department was like absolutely amazing at fox and um we had joe early in charge he was just such a great so great and um um
But, you know, sometimes it was a brand new show and they had all this stuff written and it just wasn't quite, we were like, oh, that's not quite what we're doing.
And of course, it was so wonderful to have you there representing and rewriting all the stuff with me. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing about a new show and not just for the for the marketing department, for the writers room, too. You know, you have a pilot, but you don't really know what it is yet, you know, and. No, exactly. Yeah.
I think we've watched, what, nine episodes now? And I think it took me until episode six or seven, I think, in my opinion, to figure out my performance. I think I kind of had it on the pilot. Season three, I was like, oh, I get it. Oh, I see what you guys are trying to do with this show. Let's rock out. Let's rock it out with some bird shirts. From a writer's perspective, Josh, because you were there from the beginning all the way to the end.
How was that process for you figuring out the characters, the show, where they were going? Yeah, I mean, I think that like there's definitely some I mean, first of all, you know, there was a lot of vision from Liz. You know, she had a very clear sense of sort of what she wanted the feel of the show to be because it was very personal for her. And then I think as we got into series, there was just a lot of guess and check, you know, and like we try something and
maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. I think like, you know, Berkeley Johnson pitched the thing about Winston not being able to do pranks, like it's too small or it's too big. And that really like helped unlock that character for us. You know, we sort of, and then also, I mean, it really is about spending time with you guys too, you know, I mean, getting to know you guys and, and letting sort of what's, you know,
what's funny about you kind of come out through the character and in a natural way and like
And, you know, that's just a process, you know, it just takes time. And I think sometimes you, you know, you find it really fast and other times it takes a minute. But, and also, you know, characters change and the relationships change between the characters. I mean, it's all, you're, you know, you're definitely on kind of a ride, like in a way you're kind of watching it with the audience, you know, and experiencing it in the same way. Yeah. And you guys, you know, walk us through that process of being in,
the room. Now, for us as actors, you know, there are a few of us, so we come to work and we banter off of each other, we hang out, we have fun, you know, we go home, we text, we kick it, this little group. In the writer's room, there are a lot more of you. Tell us about that process, about partnering off with different writers, how you come up with a story.
Yeah. Do you rather be by yourself doing it? Do you rather be with the group doing it? You know, it was, it was a uniquely close group, you know, I mean, I'm still close with a lot of the writers. I think, you know, Liz Brandt and Dave did a really good job of hiring people who,
They kind of wanted to hire a young staff because they wanted people who were at the same life phase as the characters in the show, you know? And they wanted people to be bringing stories from their life into the writer's room. But yeah, I mean, we hung out all the time. I mean, we would work until nine or 10 and then we'd go out to dinner together, you know? And we'd do that a few times a week. I mean, I was 26, 27. And it really, it was like...
I don't know, like a summer camp slash grad school feeling for me, you know, like this incredible, you know, closeness and camaraderie with these people, but also you're producing this wonderful thing. So.
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Full details on example policies at selectquote.com slash commercials. I've got to say, every time you're on set, and for folks out there in listener towns,
When you're shooting a show, writers are on set, especially the ones who wrote that particular episode, to kind of, I guess, guide the ship. You know what I mean? We have a different director every week sometimes, and it ends up becoming that the writers are more like the directors.
And whenever you are on set, I gotta say, 'cause things happen on set sometimes too. Disagreements or whether it may be something goes wrong with a prop or whatever the case may be. And people can get a little chaotic sometimes on set. Sets can be very stressful. You were always very, very chilled out. And that's the one thing I do remember about you is that it never felt like there was an issue. There could have been issues that I would have never known if I looked at your face.
Is that where you hide? That's because he had a jazz theme. That's because he had a jazz theme, Bermuda's Five. Is that why? Is that why? It all started with jazz theme? Yeah. The jazz, the surfing. Yeah. It's a lot of jazz. I was very drunk. Listen to a little John Coltrane. You're like, I'm so, man.
Yeah, I don't know. I think I just, you know, it's a single cam set. It's surfing. It's surfing, right? The surfing could have played a role for sure too. I think that it was just, it's a single cam set, you know, like there's no audience there. You know, we have time to just take a breath and,
find it and figure out kind of what we want to do. And, and yeah, it's funny. You mentioned the like prop. I, my, one of my, one of the experiences I had of being on set was that a prop person would come over and had several great ones throughout the years. And they would show me two props and like, do you want Zoe like holding this thing or this thing? And I would pick one and they'd look at me like wrong choice. This was a test.
You're not cut out for this job. We had the best props department. They were so incredible, I have to say. Like, case in point that I think was like one of the first episodes where I had a talking stick and then they made the tiny talking stick. And I was like, I can't even believe how amazing. So, Josh, I have to tell you. So, it was like early, maybe not early on. It was actually several seasons in. And I was talking to Liz and I was like, well,
you know, she was like, yeah, you know, every writer, you know, is, you know, good at different things. So it's kind of like figuring out who writes, you know, who best and everything. And then I was like, so who writes Jess best? And I was going to,
guess it was going to be like one of the female writers and she's like josh melmoth josh melmoth is the best jess writer so i want to know how did you how did you connect with the character of jess so well that you became the master of writing for those out there this is jess josh melmoth is is jessica day
Yeah, I don't know. Gosh, that's a very kind thing of Liz to say, and I'm sure she's very upset that I know that now. But yeah, I don't know. Like, I think that, yeah, I'm not sure. I think I really, I think I...
I think that any writer, like especially any comedy writer, probably on some level feels like they were, you know, an outsider of some kind growing up, you know, and that's why we sort of turn to comedy, you know, as a way to like, like not, you know, like have people hang out with us and not, you know, want to exclude us from things. And so, yeah, I think that I always tried to look at Jess from that perspective, almost like,
a scientist trying to figure out like these guys and what, you know, you know, what made them tick and how to sort of survive in their ecosystem. I don't know though. I think it's just, the thing about writing a sitcom is, is like,
you know, every character exists in relation to the other characters, you know, and it's those dynamics and those relationships that are really important, you know, so. Yeah. It also might have been that I just really enjoyed, you know, writing Jess and how she interacted with Cece and, you know, Winston. And I think I always really, I loved
It was always when I sat down to write like a scene with two people, especially that I was like, oh, this is really fun. Like now I really get to get into what this, what their dynamic is. The two person scenes were always my favorite ones to play too. Cause when we had like a million people in the room, I was always just like,
- Chaotic. - Even the way you shoot it, you can cross shoot it, you can improvise. - Yeah. - Well, and the style, I felt like the style of "New Girl" and one of the reasons it was so good was like, Liz wasn't afraid to go there with two characters, like let them really start to get into it. And not just like, you know, yelling at each other, insulting each other, but like digging out what's weird about each other, you know? And really like picking at it in a way that always made for really surprising, interesting scenes.
Yeah, I was, somebody linked me to the models episode. And there were two great scenes, you know, one with you and Hannah, where you guys really get into it with the models. And then you're up on the, I did want to ask you, because I've never asked you about being on that spinning platform. You're so funny on it.
Yeah, well, so the dangerous, I was on it, and then there were some dangerous parts where Monica, my stunt double, I have to give credit to her. She's absolutely awesome. And I've worked with her for a long time, and she was such a great study of character. Like, she's like, you know, she's very special. So she, she, she,
she held me out in the parts where it was going to be unsafe for me to be up there but oh my god it was one of the most fun things ever to play that scene like the physical comedy of that scene was so much fun I loved doing that and the fact that we had like a
We actually had a car sponsor. Like, didn't we have like, cause they were like Ford further, go further. I remember. Yes. Yes. Further, go further. Yeah. We had to like slip a commercial into it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've done that a couple of times. That was our first one though. Right. It was our first one. And I think a couple of people were confused at the time, but I was like, no, no, no, this is fantastic. We actually are. It's like a car show, like within a car show. Yeah.
But another episode, we just watched Bad in Bed, which is so good. Like, oh my God, that was such a fun episode. That was your first one, right? That's the one you submitted for the Emmys? Oh no, actually, it wasn't that one. It was actually, I made a mistake. It was actually models. I knew it was a Josh Melman episode that I submitted for Emmys, but it was models that I submitted because I think because somebody was like,
Like, oh, it's nice to have an episode with a lot of physical comedy in addition to like the, you know. Yeah. Bad in Bed was that was a really I mean, that was the crazy experience of shooting. That was when you and Justin were doing those scenes. Oh, I was like.
Are we going to be able to air this? Like, this is the craziest thing I've ever seen. And it was so funny and weird. And it really like,
You embraced it with a gusto that I really respect. The voices, the character voices. Josh, you ever make weird voices? That based on truth? That ever happen to you? I wish I could take credit for that, but that's all Liz. It's all Liz, the Jimmy Stewart voice stuff. So what did you, because that was your first ever episode you wrote, so I'm sure that felt like a
a lot of pressure to perform and produce a great episode, season one of a show, nine episodes in. So what were you given? Um, and then you walk away and then what did you bring back that then landed in the show? You know, I, it's, I'm trying to remember what that process was like. I mean, I think it was actually pretty, pretty typical in that we, we came up with the story in the room, you know, in the writer's room. And, uh, we spent a few weeks breaking it out. Um,
And I feel like for that episode, we really had a clear sense of what we wanted to do, right? Like Paul Genslinger, I believe was Justin Long's character's name. Justin Long's still on my phone as Paul Genslinger. By the way, yes.
Or no, I might have just changed it back to Justin Long because I was like, this is ridiculous. It's been a decade of Genslinger. I wonder how often he gets Genslinger. People yelling Genslinger. Maybe more now. We'll find out. We'll find out. Yeah. After the pandemic, whenever like so many people were like binge watching the show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We knew we wanted, you know, her to.
you know, kind of take the next step with Paul. So we had a clear sense of what we wanted to do in that episode. And then...
And then, yeah, we came up with a story. And I think I wrote, you know, there's all these steps, you know, we write a story area, which is sort of a condensed outline, which we send to the network. And then we get notes on that. Then we write an outline and we get notes on that. And throughout that process, we're getting notes from a lot of people and we're making revisions. And, you know, at New Girl, the outlines were really long. In some cases, they were like 14 or 15 pages long.
It's super detailed. I mean, you guys, if you guys get a hands on one, it'd be interesting. I think you'd be surprised at how much is in there. I wouldn't be surprised. I've seen some of those alt packages. Oh yeah. We would get alt packages that were like 200 pages long. Yeah. And who do you think was generating all that material? I mean, I would sit in rooms and just pitch jokes for hours and hours and hours. And joke factory. Yeah.
And, you know, I mean, it was a great training, you know, I mean, besides just, you know, generating good content for the show, it was a great way to learn how to, how to write jokes. But, but yeah. And then, yeah. And then I wrote the draft and, you know, and then we all kind of worked on it together. I don't know. You know, I think that like,
Liz had the idea. It was funny that I was writing it because she had the very funny idea that Jess buys this extremely complicated piece of lingerie and doesn't really know how to wear it.
And I remember asking just a lot of detailed questions about like, well, what are we talking about here? Because I don't have a lot of experience with this. And she's like, it's like a, it's like a, it's like a spider web.
I'm like, okay, okay. That doesn't help me a lot, but I'll do my best. But yeah, you know, did you do a Google search or go out in the field to do research? I may have done some, some Googling. Did it change your algorithm in your computer? Oh yeah. Some disturbing stuff for a while. I'm like, don't,
I don't want to mess up my, my algorithm. I'll just walk down Hollywood Boulevard for a few blocks and we'll see. Still to this day, I get leather strappy lingerie ads. But yeah, I, I, you know, and the experience of producing the episode was, yeah, I mean, this was surreal, you know, I mean, we were, we shot a lot on location. I remember on that show we were, you know, with Max, we were out like in the Valley and,
Don't say the valley like that. You said, the way you said the valley and the look. Do you feel like it was a heartbeat? Yeah, the valley. I live in the valley. There was a tone. There's a bird outside of my window. I didn't hear the tone. I think some people might be sensitive, but I'm not going to say who. The valley is a beautiful place. Okay. I mean, I love the valley. I love the valley. I'd love to live in the valley. I haven't seen grass in a while, but that is okay. Yeah.
Wait, there's grass in the valley. Okay. You might not have seen the ocean in a while. I have not. I have not. But I have a pool.
And you've seen that ocean. That's what you get in the valley. It's probably as big as an ocean. But the water has dried out. It is very hot in the valley. When you write an episode and then you bring it to all of us to do a table read in front of the studio and the network before you shoot, how is your first table read, hearing the cast read your first script with your name on it? Do you ever feel like, oh, they ruined it. Right. Did we screw it up? I remember thinking that with a play I wrote in high school and then the actors who were my friends read it and I was like, they ruined it.
They'll never make it. They've hit every joke wrong. They didn't even try. Rarely, rarely. I mean, you guys were so good. And, you know, I mean, my sort of overall philosophy about making TV shows is that it's 99% you guys, you know? I mean, you're the thing. You're what makes it all work. And our job as writers is really just to try to, you know,
platform you and put you in position to do your best work and kind of get out of the way, you know? So I think more often than not, it's not so much like if something didn't land, it wasn't, oh, Lamorne completely messed that up. It was, which may have been the case, but our thinking was never, never, never, never, not you. Maybe season one, season two, but I think it was more like, what did we not do right to like,
you know, put, you know, what, it was a more, it was always more reflective. It was like, what didn't we do right to like make that joke work? You know, what can we, you know, fix? So yeah, the weird thing about a table read is that you like, you know, on like, everybody tells you, especially when you're a new writer, everyone's like, don't worry. The network knows that we work on all of these. This isn't a reflection on you.
And then you're up there and the network's looking at you and you're like, of course this is reflection on me. People get fired all the time from table reads. For people who don't know how a table read works, I'm just going to give a little background. You basically, every week on a TV show, most comedies, some dramas don't have them just because it's not as necessary. But to kind of test out your jokes and stuff, you have a table read where all the actors come together with
with the new brand new script and you know, everyone's there, all the writers and the director and the network and the studio. And it's a whole lot of people and everyone watches it. Like it's a little play reading and, um, and then actors leave, go back to set. And then the writers and the director have to go through a bunch of, uh, notes. Yeah.
It's often a cold read, too. Yeah. Usually we've never seen the script before. And they're not really set up for success. That can be great. I think sometimes for me, if it's written for me, it's sometimes better if it's cold read because it's like it's super fresh. But if it if it somehow misses the mark, it can be very bad.
I heard a rumor that my character was called No Notes Winston.
Is that true? Was that after every time you guys had no notes? It's not true. I'm going to just say it right now. First take, Winston. Yeah. And of course, the Winston story where he can't put together a puzzle is perfect. Yes. Let's not change anything. That is, you know, send that straight to the Smithsonian. I mean,
We've never read anything better. There's so few people on the show, though, that were there from day one all the way to the finale. What was the evolution of the show like for you? And I'm sure in the writer's room, you became kind of like the OG. Well, in fact, I wasn't there until the very end. You did 111 episodes. I did. I was there all through season five. And then I...
I, you know, parted ways with the show.
Oh, I don't know why I thought you were there till the end. I remember you there till the end. Me too. Because when he left, the show really died. I mean, we did seven seasons. So you didn't come back. I was there for six because seven was kind of a little mini. And I wasn't there for six either, which was really sad. I mean, not being there was really hard. I think I just felt like.
It was time. You know, it was a lot of episodes, you know, it's a lot of episodes. Sure. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know the evolution of the show. It, it,
you know somebody told me once maybe Dave Hemmingson or another writer said that you know you start out doing comedy and you know you end up you end up doing soap opera on long running shows you know and I think that like you know there is some truth to that in any in any sitcom where there's you know romantic relationships those start to take up more and more of the story um but I
I felt like that was really good for us. I felt like that gave the show a lot of momentum. And when we really got locked into Nick and Jess and Schmidt and Cece. Sorry, Lamorne. It's okay. I think the combo of the serialized element and the episodic that is kind of paramount to the modern day sitcom. I think that combination was a really...
nice one for this was and I felt like the we had we struck a good balance on the show like we still had a lot of space to do really really silly stuff yeah um but there you know you still kind of had that momentum yeah I was thinking the other day about that episode where and I completely forgotten about it until um
I was thinking about the show to do the podcast. The episode where Jess makes out with Schmidt's dad
- Oh my God. - The great Peter Gallagher on the show. - That was so-- - She wouldn't stop talking about that for months. She was so excited. - That's untrue. That is untrue. But I was like so excited to work with Peter Gallagher. He is absolutely amazing. But I'm pretty sure I was pregnant.
I was pregnant a lot of this show. So I'm pretty sure I was pregnant or had a baby like with me. So last four years were like a blur of baby children for me. But yeah, I love Peter Gallagher. And that was a super hilarious episode. Was I wearing a GoPro or something? Yeah.
yeah i'm wearing a gopro and smith's dad tries to kiss me and i'm like i have a car i don't know what i don't remember the episode like because i have to go back and watch it on your head for the fans out there i have no memory of it i have to we have to go back and watch it five seasons pick something out i think it was wedding planning
He didn't trust you. He didn't trust you. Ah, that's right. So he made you wear a camera on your head. Oh, that's right. Schmidt didn't trust me. Joelle remembers more than any of us because she's watched the show. More than any of us. Well, you end up making out with his dad, then that seems like a good basis. I didn't end up making out with him. He tries to make out with me. That's always on him. He makes a move on me. Yeah. Right, right, right. I just remember trying to like
I was trying, I love the OC and I was trying to have like that Sandy Cohen moment with Peter Gallagher. And he's just looking at me like, son, I'm an actor. You understand that I'm not.
That man. Maybe you could just give me some fatherly advice just for a second. Just as Peter Gallagher. It's like the time we had Rob Reiner on the show. And from all in the family, he used to always get called Meathead. And I don't know why I decided to improvise that and call him Meathead. And when I say...
I don't know why I didn't think. He's not okay with it? It's not that he wasn't okay with it because that reaction would have made me feel at least a little bit better if he were just upset about it. He looked at me, he looked at me as if to say, what is this, amateur hour? Yeah. He felt sorry for you. He's like, did you really pull that one out? It was pity. He's like, so it was 40 years ago. You don't think I've heard that before? Been a few things since then. Well, you guys were so,
You guys were so good on your feet. I mean, we would throw lines at you guys and you would have to figure out how to turn them into jokes. How did you, how did you do that? Like, was that, was that difficult? I mean, I love it, honestly. Like it was really fun because there were so many ways that,
I think that the process of making the show, which it was, was at times chaotic. Um, but there were so many ways that it kind of kept everything fresh. And like, if you're just seeing lines that are written, um,
And only those lines, it's hard to sometimes keep things fresh and funny. And so those, you know, times when you guys would just throw stuff at us, it allowed us to have like this really spontaneous processing and then just a really like quick kind of improvisational energy. And then we also had a lot of improvisation on this show. So it was like all that combined, um,
Made for many ways to get to a fresh fun result. And so I loved it. I was like, I was like in heaven that we could we had all these different ways of keeping it really fun. For me, it was it was based especially because our actors on the show are all improvisers.
We goof off in between takes. We riff in between takes. We do bits, characters in between takes. So when you throw a joke out there, a lot of times we're trying to see how we could say it in the most obscure way as well. You know, even when you think about the Schmidt character, you throw a joke at him. 99% of the time, he doesn't understand what you're saying. So he's like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to try it in a Schmidt way. Mispronouncing words, things like that, that make it
the character unique, but also it makes the process of, of it's like someone throwing, it's like a, it's like a, it's like baseball. You know what I mean? Yeah. Let's see what, let's see which pitch you're going to throw and let's see if I can hit it. Yeah. And it's just your instincts. Yeah. It's, it was so fun. It's, I mean, and just to give, you know, give people a little background, like in some cases I would be standing next to the camera and, you know, saying, you know,
Hannah, now say, you know, what if that guitar was a banana? And you just look at me like, what? We think that could work. I do remember getting to a point on this show where you kind of had so much trust with the writers and the show and the show is such a success and people are resonating with it that it's true. You might not understand that.
why someone is pitching you something, but you're also like, let's just get through our day so we can all go home, say the words and just try like Lamorne saying to just like catch the ball. And you know what I mean? I know a lot of really like talented filmmakers do that. Like I know David O. Russell does that. He just yells stuff and for people to say and that they don't necessarily understand. And I think it's like part of a way to keep,
kind of on their toes. It's that thing, stay in it, just stay in it. Yeah. Stay in it and make it work. Yeah.
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Josh, why do you think so many people have resonated with this show? I feel like this show is like network sitcoms, especially single camera ones, don't run for this long. Yeah. And there's something that kind of kept it special with so many people and it's having like a revival, is that the right word, to use where people are rediscovering it. And for someone that was on the show for so long, why do you think it connected so well?
Well, it's going to sound corny because I'm talking to you guys, but it's you guys, really. I mean, it's... And you guys. You're all such wonderful performers and you had really incredible chemistry. I mean, I...
you know, when I'm thinking about what show I want to go work on next or whatever, the first thing I'm looking at is who's in it, you know, because that's really good. That's your engine. That's what people connect with. You know, they connect with the characters and by extension, they're really connecting with the actors.
And then, yeah, on top of that, so yeah, it was just like a murderer's row, you know, batting lineup of great comic actors. And then there are some other things like that aren't even about the writing. I think that the, you know, Jake established a really wonderful way that the show is shot. It feels really good to watch it. You know, the sets are great. You know, the loft is a great place.
set you know it's just such a such a lived in place that you just want to spend time in you know there's all this interesting stuff all over the walls i mean i remember walking around the set and just looking around to get story ideas you know like those glass grapes or i was about to say the blue balls oh my god you guys yeah damon called the blue balls yeah my grandparents had those glass grapes but like in a different color and when i whenever i'd look at those i'd be like grandma i'm
So it was very nostalgic. You would just kind of think about, well, what could we do with that? Like that thing that we've been seeing for the last 50 episodes. What if we did a story about that? So I think those are, that, that was huge. You know, I think when you think about long running shows, you know, the friend's apartment or the cheers bar or the new girl loft, you know, it's such a, it's just a place you want to spend time, you know? And then, you know, and then I think from a writing perspective, um,
You know, I think everyone can relate to a time in their life where they just felt a little out of control and felt like they were trying to like, you know,
get something going you know whether that was romantic or professional or whatever um and that their friends were the people that they really relied on during that time and so I think that's a very and you know in a in a great way um a generation of people experiencing that is is minted every year you know like yeah that that is experience that people will keep having you know you know
You know, our kids will have it in whatever, 15 or 20 years and they'll discover the show, hopefully, and it'll feel, you know, it'll feel honest to them, you know, so I think I think that, you know, those are just sort of flip phone. The flip phone won't feel honest. I was I was saying, I feel like our phone situation has aged pretty well, like they were mostly online.
I mostly iPhones. Yeah. Except for Nick and Nick always has a flip phone because he was supposed to have like an outdated phone. But now it's just like even the people that would have had flip phones then would still at least have some kind of a non. Here's something I discovered, though, because we saw the flip phone in the pilot. Right. And we're like, oh, that was a Nick character choice. Makes sense. Except for in episode 109, the 23rd.
pulls out a flip phone. Wow. It's a Chicago thing. Wow. Chi-town. And then I went, oh, is this the one thing that will date our show? Is this flip phone? Because I thought it was a Nick Miller thing and I thought, that makes sense. I pass. I figured out what it was. Friends holds up, guys, and they have giant, like the giant brick phones. Zoot suits. Yeah.
No, I realize it's because Winston was jobless. So he couldn't afford one of those fancy iPhones. Put some story on it. Put some story on it. He could not afford an iPhone. So he had a flip phone. That episode, the 23rd, I remember seeing a cut of that episode in the writer's room. And that was the first moment, because the show hadn't even aired yet. And that was the first moment where I was like, oh, wow.
This is this this is like a serious thing right now. Like this was really good, you know, and it wasn't anything we had done. It was just that, you know, your guys chemistry was so amazing. You know, it was just the show hadn't aired yet when we shot the Christmas episode. Is that wrong? That could be wrong. Maybe one or two episodes were out. Maybe one or nine. Yeah, I feel like it was it had. We know it had because we were shooting Christmas.
The Thanksgiving with the dead body. Yes. When the show premiered. Right, right, right. Right, right. So we are only a couple in. Yeah, like a couple later. You know, I do want to ask. There is a little game that Hannah likes to play on the show. And I want to know. Oh, what is it? On this show, we try to find the bear. Where's the bear?
We heard a rumor. There's a rumor that there's a bear in every single mention of a bear, the word, a picture or something. That's something the writer's room was intentionally making sure they kind of got in. There are some things that Liz enjoys. Liz Merriweather, creator, genius behind New Girl. We're going to talk to her later this season, everybody. She enjoys mustard. Mustard.
And these are the, I'm not saying these are things, the word, she likes these words, mustard bear. She likes hats mentions of hats or actual hats. So these are kind of like motifs in the show. I think just because it, Liz found them to be funny, but yes, there were at well. And then at one point we actually had, and I still have it around somewhere, a eight foot cardboard standup, like cut out bear.
What we would do with it in the writer's office is outside someone's closed office door so that when they open the door, there would be a big bear staring at them. And it's surprisingly scary when you get bared. Especially when you slept in your office all night and you're waking up, right? That's a terrifying time to get bared.
a bear so it's allegedly true there could be a mention of a bear in every episode or an image there's a lot of there's a lot of bear stuff there's a lot of dog stuff I was partial to lizard jokes so you might find some lizard stuff in there I don't know we all have we all have our things you know everybody's got their things
So you're on New Girl. You have the best experience of your life. Really? Not joking. So you go on to be a showrunner yourself.
Mm hmm. What is what what what was that transition for you like? Was it did you feel like you were taking a big leap or did you feel like you were taking you were having a natural transition into what comes next? Oh, it feels like a crazy leap. It feels like a crazy leap because you you know, when you're on a staff, when you go home at the end of the day, you're done. You get in your car and you go home, you know, and when you're running a show, you're
you know you're never done you just decide to stop working so you can eat and go to sleep you know there's always something to do the amount of work is just is huge and there's a lot of responsibilities that as a writer on a show you just don't have you know you know you have to talk to the network several times a day you're talking to all the different departments you're working with the actors you know in my day which i loved but it would start with me going on stage
and talking to the actors and we talk about the scenes and, you know, the script. But I do think that New Girl prepared me in that I spent a lot of time on set at New Girl. You know, I would sometimes come down with newer writers and just kind of be around if, you know, anything came up. And I think it was, you know, all that time that, you know,
It made it easier, the transition, because, you know, that's a big part of your job as a showrunner. It's different from being a writer as you're working with the, you know, with the crew and with the cast. But nothing really prepares you for running a show. It's, you know, an amount of work. It's a staggering amount of work.
Yeah. I can imagine. Will you tell everybody at home what you're working on now? Yeah. Because everybody wants to tune in. Yeah. I work on a show called Ghosts that actually just premiered. Trent O'Donnell. Trent O'Donnell.
Trent O'Donnell, one of our amazing directors who then became our directing producer. He is just such an amazing guy. Oh my God, he's the best. And he's so handsome and he has such a great accent. He's just, it's triple three. He's so easygoing. Which is very funny because he is a very talented, incredible, handsome man. And then we had an actor called Trent.
Trent that was on for about a season and he had Trent Garrett that Jake Johnson said well how are we going to tell the difference and then called actor Trent handsome Trent to differentiate the two Trents and that was but they're both handsome correct they're both very handsome so and also can I just also mention Trent O'Donnell has a very talented wife as well very extremely
She did one of my favorite shows called So Let Down. Yeah. I'm working on that with Trent. It's weird though because we shoot the show in Montreal. Oh, wow. Do you have to go up there for...
I haven't gone. So it's actually, it's a little sad because I haven't gotten to have that really hands-on experience of, you know. Why are you shooting in Montreal? Just for like locations or Canadian tax credits? Yeah, I think it's tax credits. I think it's just, you know. Because it's Canada. I could tell you, you're not missing anything. You're not missing, being on set on that show, you're not missing anything. It's two dog shit actors in Utkarsh and Rose. Yeah.
Utkarsh and Budkar and Rose MacGyver are not good people. I hear they're really nasty, too. I've worked with both of them. They are very nasty people. I don't know what's going on here, but there's some kind of inside joke. So Rose MacGyver from iZombie, she was also on season one of Woke on my show. We play a couple on that show. And then Utkarsh, like everybody loves Utkarsh. Utkarsh was...
I do a show with Utkarsh now. We do Mira. Mira. That's right. That's right. So I actually love those two. They're two of my favorite people. Yeah. But I give them a hard time. All the good people. I said that to Utkarsh when he went to shoot the pilot for Ghosts. I'm like, this is like so many new girl people are on Ghosts. I'm like, you're surrounded by the best. Well, in a way, though.
It's kind of like New Girl. I mean, it's just a roommate show. You know, there goes, but it's essentially a roommate show. Everybody dead. I'm always pitching the same kind of things that I pitched in New Girl, which is like,
somebody didn't say goodbye to somebody and they get really upset about it. And by the end of the episode, they're both crying about it. Which to me is like the prototypical new girl story. Oh yeah. I think there was even a line that my character had. I think I said, I said, good night. I say good night to you every night, Nick. What's the matter? You don't want me to have a good night?
um josh we'd be like remiss to ask you because you were on the show for so long and it's like a big relationship and then it kind of ends you move on do you have any regrets when you look back of things you wish you'd done differently or there's moments that stand out for you that were particularly challenging that you revisit yes one i revisit often is um
When I, and this was, there's, it was nobody's fault, but my own, I thought it would be funny to do a camping episode where most of the episode is outside at night. I, I,
I really didn't care for being outside in Franklin Canyon all night for five days straight. That's funny because we didn't either. I do want to take this opportunity to apologize. It was a really good episode though. It was a good episode. It was a really good episode. I will say it's funny because I always say it's at Writer Friends. I'm like, if you find yourself writing exterior night, just,
Stop right there. If it's followed by another exterior night, just think about it. Yeah. Like definitely like if I'm getting at this point in my career, if I'm getting a script that's like a movie and I see like exterior night, exterior night, exterior night. I'm like, no pass. Sorry. I don't care how good this is. Yeah.
Sorry, Christopher Nolan, not doing it. Because you have to flip everything. You have to be fully nocturnal. Yeah, we make exceptions for certain people. But I just will say that I once worked on a movie that was four months of nights in Miami in the summer. And it was like... I love that though, Miami. In the middle of the night, it was 95 degrees.
And I never slept. I was woken up every morning at the hotel I was staying at by the housekeeping staff who were so mad at me for sleeping in. And I'd be like, I'm so sorry. I'm so tired. Can I just sleep a little bit longer, please? Yeah. Anyway. That was punishing, though. I mean, it was so cold. It was freezing. Yeah.
Yeah. I remember, I remember that week. And I think like when we wrapped that episode, I just went home and got in bed and it was like, I, you know, it was, it was like I've been to war or something like
Like I just got in bed and like didn't get out for days. It was a really tremendous. That was the episode. Cause also everybody's kind of a little mad at you too. That was the episode. Oh yeah. You guys looked at me differently for a little while after that. Why? Also, why can't we just do this on the stage? Yeah. I thought, I thought Josh was our friend. Yeah. I guess he's not, I guess that's not true. Damn suit. That was the day you realized that you were on your way. You weren't one of us. Yeah.
Yeah. It was rare, though, that we got to pick out like coats that had to be actually practical and functional. Yeah. Not like a cute Kate Spade coat for me. That's right. And I remember I picked the wrong coat. Oh, no. And it was chilly. Yeah. Chilly up there. I remember Jake had to like.
like, wade out into the, like, lake. It's not even a lake. It's just like a pond that just sits there. And he had to, like, dunk his head for a scene.
And he was a trooper about it, but I didn't feel bad. And that is shocking. He always was the one who got sent. I mean, well, I did a couple of times, but they usually sent Jake in the water. The ocean where he was dying? Yeah, yeah. Naked in an ocean in the middle of the night. Wet and dark. That was Johnson's realm. That's my nickname.
so i we don't want to take up too much your time on your beautiful daughter's birthday um but we want to thank you so much for coming on our show we hope you'll come back another time yes i would love to like us let's let's go do some more episodes too guys like we
We don't even have to air them. We don't have to air them. Let's just, you guys come over to my house and we'll just set it up. Oh my God, I'm in. During the day? Just throw some alts at us. It's all going to be on stage interior. Perfect, perfect. Josh, you are amazing. We celebrate you and love you. 100%. Thanks guys, love you too. Please thank your wife for coming.
for lending you to us for this. Well, good to see you guys. Bye, Josh. Good to see you. Bye, Josh. You've been listening to Welcome to Our Show, a New Girl Recap podcast. Welcome to Our Show is a production of iHeartRadio, hosted by Zooey Deschanel, Lamorne Morris, and Hannah Simone. Our executive producer is Joelle Monique.
Our engineer and editor is Daniel Goodman. The Welcome to Our Show theme song was written by Zooey Deschanel, performed and produced by Zooey Deschanel and Pierre Derrida. Follow us on Instagram at WelcomeToOurShowPod. If you have a question you'd like us to answer, you can email us at WelcomeToOurShowPodcast at gmail.com. Don't forget to rate, subscribe, and share far and wide. Thanks for listening. We'll hear you next week. Welcome to our show.
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