This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to the Break a Bat Podcast, where baseball meets Broadway, an attempt to show that my two favorite mediums don't have to live in such separate worlds and maybe even break some stigmas.

[0:19] Al Malafronte: We're happy to have you with us.

[0:21] Al Malafronte: Now let's play ball.

[0:26] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to another edition of Break a Bat, where baseball meets Broadway and sports meets show business.

[0:32] Al Malafronte: This is Al Malafronte coming at you today with a very, very special installment of the Break a Bat holiday block party.

[0:39] Al Malafronte: I'll say off the bat that if there's a talk show host that says that they don't have a favorite guest or two, they're absolutely lying to you.

[0:45] Al Malafronte: And today's guest is certainly one of mine, as she knows full well.

[0:50] Al Malafronte: I want to take you back. Holiday season 2019, pre-COVID, the old studio in Midtown.

[0:58] Al Malafronte: Those are the days.

[1:00] Al Malafronte: The days when you came to visit the Batter’s Box.

[1:03] Al Malafronte: And to this day, it's the most fun I've ever had as a host.

[1:06] Al Malafronte: I'm beyond ecstatic to welcome her back into the Batter’s Box today for another chat that isn't just a gift to me, but to our audience as well that's been with us since the early days.

[1:15] Al Malafronte: And if you're anything like me, you love her work going all the way back to How I Met Your Mother, the Jim Gaffigan Show, and of course her annual Christmas films that have become such a staple of our holiday season.

[1:25] Al Malafronte: There's just so much reason to love her work as an actress, director, producer, and the light that she is as a person and the laughs we're about to have, I'm sure.

[1:33] Al Malafronte: Her latest project is a very, very special one that's set to debut on our beloved Hallmark Channel.

[1:37] Al Malafronte: It's a two-parter titled Sister Swap, where she'll be starring on screen alongside her real-life awesome sister and also our friend of the show, Kimberly Williams-Paisley.

[1:47] Al Malafronte: Part one is titled Sister Swap: Hometown Holiday and premieres this Sunday, December 5th at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

[1:52] Al Malafronte: And part two, Christmas in the City, airs the following Sunday, December 12th at the same time.

[1:58] Al Malafronte: And I can't think of any better kickoff to Christmas than four hours of the Williams sisters on screen together.

[2:04] Al Malafronte: And of course, this special chat that we're about to have with one of those sisters today.

[2:09] Al Malafronte: So with that being said, I ask you all to please turn your attention to home plate.

[2:13] Al Malafronte: Just be on the marquee.

[2:15] Al Malafronte: Now batting again, Ashley Williams.

[2:17] Ashley Williams: Holy cow, Al, that was a mouthful. I just want to first off apologize to the audience for, you know, for like I think as I said before, when I first came on your show, I didn't understand how baseball and Broadway meet up. That's something that didn't quite compute for me. But you know, you were so kind. I was like, I'll come and do your show. But I have to tell you, like deep down, I was like, is there a future for this topic? Who is the audience? But let me tell you, Al, congratulations. You found your audience. You have a very successful podcast. Apparently, you know, you were right.

[3:02] Al Malafronte: Well, thank you, thank you.

[3:06] Ashley Williams: And also, we should apologize to the—I should apologize to the audience because you were just making me laugh during that whole intro. But yeah, we've come a long way since we last saw each other. So this is—proud of you. Good job.

[3:17] Al Malafronte: Well, thank you. You're like my godmother, I feel like. Who are these fascinating people that listen to this show? Because I, for one, am not a baseball human. So that was the first thing I said to you was, will there be any baseball questions? And you said, no, I swear, we won't make you look stupid. And I said, okay, thank God. I can talk Broadway, I can talk movies.

[3:42] Ashley Williams: Like the movies that you're in, for example, that we've got to be.

[3:45] Al Malafronte: Particularly those.

[3:46] Ashley Williams: Yeah, it's particularly those. But you had my sister on your show, too.

[3:50] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[3:50] Ashley Williams: Kim came on last year when she did the Christmas Chronicles and Nashville Christmas.

[3:57] Al Malafronte: Oh, yeah.

[3:58] Ashley Williams: And finally, you two are appearing on screen together. It's amazing. I just wonder what the hell took so long.

[4:05] Al Malafronte: Right. Good question.

[4:07] Ashley Williams: I can actually speak to that. I mean, first of all, there is a little known—and I can tell just because you have such a specific enthusiastic niche of an audience—there is a little known short film that I wrote, and then I arm wrestled my sister into coming in and starring with me. It's called Stud Boob. And it's the only other time we've been on camera together, but I don't talk about it very often because it was like slightly controversial. I won't even get into it. But it was a really good short film. We did a bunch of festivals, but yeah, it was called Stud Boob, and I was a little just a tiny bit naked in it. And you know, crying, it both very highly entertaining. So if anyone's interested in seeing Stud Boob, I will send you a link.

But that was different fare than this upcoming Christmas extravaganza. So I probably won't, you know, we're gonna be doing a big press tour, like we're doing Seth Meyers and the Today Show and all this stuff to talk about these movies, and I probably won't mention the Stud Boob nakedness and crying of our debut together. But you guys, that's just a special tidbit just for you.

[5:24] Al Malafronte: Yeah, then you saved that for our audience. I appreciate you doing that.

[5:27] Ashley Williams: Well, they're a special group, you know.

[5:29] Ashley Williams: Yeah, I feel like they get me.

[5:31] Al Malafronte: Yeah, that's well, you've really been like I always say that when the day you came in was like the day the show found its voice. So I feel like a lot of people really like that episode and the show really kind of developed from there.

[5:43] Ashley Williams: Oh my gosh, that makes me so happy. What was it? I really like that little studio.

[5:50] Ashley Williams: So gone.

[5:50] Al Malafronte: Yo needs studios I'm in my living room right now and we're nailing it.

[5:56] Ashley Williams: Yeah, and you are in your studio in a place that you said that you were going to go the last time we chatted. You left New York City and went all Hollywood on us. So you're happy to be back in LA now, Ash?

[6:08] Ashley Williams: Honestly, like every morning I wake up and I just go, oh phew. Listen, I love New York. I'm from New York. I was born in New York but the weather was really fun and a very fun adventure when I was in my early 20s. But when I had my two children, two tiny little babies in New York City, you know, and it's freezing cold and I'm carrying that stroller up and down the subway stairs, I do not miss that time in my life. But actually, oh my gosh, so get this, Al. You don't even know, you have no idea how messed—how traumatized I am. So February of 2020, I left for Vancouver to direct my a movie, a feature in Vancouver. And my two children and my husband came out to visit me for the weekend on March 12th.

It was like March 18th. They came out to visit me for the weekend and my—before they got on the airplane, I was like, is this coronavirus thing like a thing? Or is it like the flu? Like, and he was like, I feel like we should talk about it in person. Like maybe we should, you know. And I said, okay, well, just don't let the kids go to the bathroom on the airplane. So we literally gave them Benadryl on the airplane. They didn't move the whole flight. But this was back when they were saying like masks aren't safe. Do you remember that like four-day period? Happened to be the four-day period that we took the entire family on an airplane. And anyway, so the kids, they all flew out, and then March 16th, we shot half of a day and we got our force majeure, which meant that the entire production shut down.

And the boys literally said goodbye to their school in New York City. The nanny, there was a water glass next to my son's bed, which we would check on periodically on the Nascam to just check on our apartment. But like there was he had a dinosaur toy on his bed that he left, and we would just check and the dinosaur toy and everything six months untouched. Because we were in Vancouver and we basically didn't want to get back on an airplane, so we drove to California and we did our quarantine there. And then we ended up going back to Canada because we had to finish that movie that we'd started, and then we spent a year in Canada. So we were able to go get like our babysitters to go in and move our stuff out.

So we got subletters into the place, but I have not been in New York City since February of 2020. And we are going this Sunday. I think I'm just gonna cry. I'm really excited to put on a turtleneck sweater and wander the streets until I need a Manhattan and then sit in a window seat and just look out at my New York that I left without saying goodbye a year and a half, almost, you know, almost two years ago. It's like an un—it was an unceremonious goodbye.

[9:00] Al Malafronte: I had a very similar thing happen with my old roommate because we were living together for about two and a half years. My best friend from high school, and you know, shit hit the fan, whatever it was like Friday the 13th of March last year. And after we graduated high school, his sister went to college in LA. And we were Long Island kids originally. His parents moved out to California though, because they used to love going to visit her. They fell in love with Cali. He so he went out to California on March 14th.

[9:30] Ashley Williams: Oh my gosh.

[9:31] Al Malafronte: And did not come back. Our lease was coming up at the end of May, and he's just like, hey, you know what? I'm just gonna stay out here. And he has, he's been back to New York maybe once since, but that was not like the send-off that our apartment deserved and like this whole thing. I hope that you get yourself a nice slice of pizza or something though when you come back.

[9:51] Ashley Williams: Okay, there's gonna be a lot of pizza. I'm not kidding about the turtleneck sweater. I was actually just packing, and it's just a row of turtleneck sweaters. I'm really excited about that. I really want a Manhattan up with a maraschino cherry in a window seat, and I want to watch people go by in my turtleneck sweater. But sure, I'll definitely hit some pizza. Maybe like even a stale New York pretzel, I'll do one of those, like even a cold one, and I'll just wipe this, you know, salt off. They're so nasty. But just crunch into that soft pretzel and it's crunchy because it's so stale, and you just feel like you're at home, you know. And then a Sprite with a straw on the straw keeps poking you in the nose. This is the world I miss. That's my home.

[10:36] Al Malafronte: Yeah, of course. No, I mean, you're a New Yorker through and through, and but it does seem like you fit into LA nicely. I saw you were partying with Los Angeles royalty last week. It seems like you and Clayton Kershaw are all buddy-buddy now.

[10:50] Ashley Williams: You know what's really upsetting about that? That was in Tennessee.

[10:55] Al Malafronte: I know he—but he's a Dodgers pitcher. So he and I did hang out with him and his pregnant wife. They're so nice. But we flew in for the day to Nashville. So Clayton and I hung out in Tennessee together, even though we both live in LA.

[11:12] Ashley Williams: I love Nashville. Let me ask you when you go down there, do you get into like the whole Grand Ole Opry thing and the scene down there? Because I know you're a New Yorker. Like I've when I went there for a bachelor party, that was like one of the first things I did. And I found like, you know, going on the tour while all of my friends golfed because I don't golf, but I found myself like loving that whole like tour. Did you do?

[11:32] Ashley Williams: Did you do like a bachelor tour? Like, uh, on a paddle boat that's actually just on the street. Do you know what I'm talking about?

[11:42] Al Malafronte: Yeah, I do know what you're talking about. And we did a bus tour, but no, they do like tours of the Grand Ole Opry. I think I saw pictures of your brother-in-law and stuff there, but yeah, it was like they kind of just show you the facility, and there's like a really like there's a chill, there's like a video that gives you the chills like welcome to the Opry, welcome to the circle, or whatever they said, you know, like that song that they do.

[12:02] Ashley Williams: Right. Do you get into that?

[12:05] Al Malafronte: Um, uh, the answer is a big fat no. Uh, I am not a country girl at all. I can't really. I mean, we I think it's fun and kitschy, but I wouldn't say that I mean, I do have this very famous brother-in-law, Brad Paisley, um, who is apparently the greatest living guitar player. Um, he's also just more than anything else, a really, really nice guy. But I can't say I sit and jam to his music like while I'm taking a shower or something. Like country music isn't really my thing. I appreciate Brad's music, especially like there's a couple of songs on his albums that I really just like genuinely respect from an integrity standpoint. Um, he's a really cool guy. Uh, but it's not, I go into the Opry and I'm like, oh, this is so fun.

Can what where are the snacks? Like, where can we get some, you know, I'm really not I'm it's for me, it's about it's you know what? I gotta say the same thing about a Dodger game. It's all about the Dodger dogs. And if you can get into the VIP area, they have free sushi. So if I get invited to a Dodger game, I'm all about the dugout club and um I like it when someone brings me a hot dog to my seat. Um, and I like free sushi. And that's those are my favorite things about the Dodgers.

[13:28] Al Malafronte: So wait, their ballpark sushi is good because Yankee Stadium, I can't touch it. It's like it's all especially when you go on a hot summer night. I don't want to snowfish. With warm sushi, no.

[13:39] Ashley Williams: Yeah, they don't serve it, they don't serve it well at Stadium. That's why I was hoping. Is Dodger Stadium's actually good?

[13:44] Al Malafronte: Listen, it's Los Angeles food. It's the greatest food in the world.

[13:48] Ashley Williams: So yeah, we're right next to Japan in LA. Where are they getting their raw fish from in New York City?

[13:55] Al Malafronte: The Bronx, apparently.

[13:58] Ashley Williams: Yeah, Chinatown. Exactly. So, uh, no. So yeah, come to LA and come for the sushi. You know, stay for the Dodgers. You'll get me into the dugout club, obviously. Because now that you and Clayton are. Actually, well, Brad, that's funny, my husband got a call from Brad like during the height of Dodger season and was like, do you want to come? And um, Neil, my husband is um speaking of like Broadway and baseball, like he knows every lyric to every Broadway musical, which I find so hot. Um, but he's we're not really sports people. Like, I would rather read a Chekhov play aloud, and I love Chekhov. Like, that's not, you know, um, like I'm very, very into plays, not baseball plays. There's not that many.

So anyway, he uh so he was like, yeah, totally. And he ended up in some box, like there was some sort of fancy, like it was they had their own private box because Brad was friends with somebody who was very fancy. You probably know who they are, but I don't. And Clayton was Clayton's wife was hanging out there, and um, she by the way, is giving birth in like three weeks, and she looks dynamite. Apparently, she has like four kids.

[15:17] Al Malafronte: Does Clayton have like four kids?

[15:18] Ashley Williams: I think he's got a few. I don't know how many, but he's got a few. Bless her. She was she was such a powerhouse. She was like, it's fine. So the two of you were out on the dance floor dancing uh to all those 80s jams together.

[15:31] Al Malafronte: You know what? Clayton never came out to the dance floor. Probably because he oh, I started the dance. I was first on the dance floor. Kim and I were like doing pirouettes. We were like, get out here, get out here. We so we do this for those of you that don't know, we do this big dance party to end Alzheimer's. Every year we raised almost $300,000 this year. I could talk more about the Alzheimer's Association. I think they're incredible. Um, but we do my mother was an 80s mom, right? Like the perm and the hot pink blazer with the shoulder pads, like hardcore, awesome 80s mom. She was a working mom back when that was controversial. And uh, so we threw this 80, we throw these 80s dance parties, and we get all these incredible bands like Ario Speedwagon came one year, and Darius Rucker came.

I mean, hardcore. Um, and you know, they play like Journey and you know, Dolly Parton, and we dance our faces off and sweat. Like at the end of the night, Kim and I had to go back to the red to the like red carpet step and repeat and take more pictures. And she goes, Do I look okay? And I was like, You look terrible. You're literally dripping with sweat. She was like, Well, screw it. And we just took a bunch of pictures all sweaty. Because I feel like people need to see how much fun it is. Anyway, it was great. And Clayton was like there off to the side. He took some pictures with some fans and some donors and stuff, but he didn't come out and jam with us. But he did come in costume. He was wearing like a hot pink um, he was wearing like a onesie.

[17:11] Al Malafronte: You had those like uh, you had like the 80s, were those like aviator glasses kind of that you were rocking?

[17:18] Ashley Williams: Well, I think uh it depends on which part of the night you caught me in that photo. I'm not sure. I was wearing like these, they were like hot pink stars, star sunglasses. I couldn't see in them, so I yeah, exactly. With a twist, but I had to take them off because it kept falling. It was so dark, you know. Anyway, you guys have to come next year. It's the most fun. Um, such a good show. And with COVID, we had to really limit general admission, you know. But I don't have to worry about that. Because obviously you're gonna get me the VIP access and I get to hang out with you and don't have to worry about it.

[17:54] Al Malafronte: Well, yeah, well, you might well, yeah. I think it's only like twenty-five hundred dollars or something. So you just pay that and then you can I don't need to pay rent. That's fine. You skip rent that month and uh it's tax deductible. You know.

[18:09] Ashley Williams: It's one of the many great things that you do for the Alzheimer's Association, by the way. And I know that's a clock cause that's super close to your heart. And I just love that about you. It's awesome.

[18:20] Al Malafronte: Oh, thanks. Well, yeah, the Alzheimer's Association is amazing because you know, they're like people are like, well, a cure, like, are we gonna find a cure? They are at the very forefront of all of the most up-to-date research. And it's not just about a cure, it's about managing the disease and supporting the caregivers because um, you know, the statistics on caregivers being at a higher risk of death or illness is are it's staggering. It's more dangerous to care for a person with Alzheimer's than it is to have Alzheimer's. It's um so supporting the caregivers and giving them a network of resources is a lot of what the Alzheimer's Association does. Um so they've got local chapters all over the country, and anybody listening to this that has any situation of Alzheimer's in your life, you can go no matter where you are, you can go to the Alzheimer's Association website and find out what the local chapter is nearest you and be um, you know, immediately connected with somebody who's within a five mile radius of you that can provide you with counselors, doctors, you know, resources, support groups, um, so that you, you know, Alzheimer's is becoming more and more prevalent in our society, and people are living longer, and um, so it's gonna become more and more common.

And I would encourage anybody to go to the Alzheimer's Association website to get local resources. They were so helpful with us and my mom and figuring out end-of-life paperwork and palliative care and all that stuff.

[19:46] Ashley Williams: So anyway, we're not talking about baseball right now.

[19:50] Al Malafronte: Not at all.

[19:50] Ashley Williams: No, no, listen. I the objective of the show is to celebrate our favorite performers from the stage, screen, and stadium. And if we break some stigmas in the process, at least, you know, the baseball fans know that you like Dodger dogs and ballpark sushi.

[20:05] Al Malafronte: So, you know, we got big time, very into that. Oh my goodness. Now, uh, you know, you would talk about your family. You and uh Kim gonna spend uh Christmas in Nashville together again. By the way, what did my sister talk about on your show?

[20:20] Ashley Williams: Because she doesn't know anything about baseball, except her husband isn't is obsessed with the Dodgers. She is so funny. She was uh talking about. Well, I asked her, like, are you team Derek Jeter or Team Alex Rodriguez? And I was gonna make I had this whole joke plan how I compared you to Derek Jeter's like, he's Mr. November, you're Miss December, because you do a lot of great Christmas movies. But she ended up saying she's team Arod because she liked his beer, El Presidente. And he's like, it's just about the alcohol with the Williams girls. We love our alcohol.

[20:50] Ashley Williams: Oh, the Kim and I did these like the Manhattans, and Kim and I did these um every Friday afternoon during the pandemic, like the really height of the pandemic. Kim and I did these Instagram lives where we would talk, and so much of it was about like what we were gonna drink after the Instagram live, whether or not we're drinking, are we good, are we drinking right now? We were just sipping wine, and you know, it was it was all about survival at that point so yeah of course she you know by the way Kim hates beer.

[21:11] Al Malafronte: Really?

[21:11] Ashley Williams: Yeah, what a favor she hates beer she and I used to have a we would have a corona with a lime as a warm up to our we are Chardonnay people oh interesting through and through yeah um anyway so okay Kim and I for Christmas well we also have a brother uh he is a he's a beekeeper he's incredible um so we're gonna go to Tennessee uh to their farm and we're gonna can you guys hear my dryer a little bit actually I think we should keep it in the episode but it's okay so that's my dryer.

[21:56] Al Malafronte: Well this is just slice of life stuff here guys is where the magic happens my dryer's like in the spin cycle right now and it's really excited.

[22:05] Ashley Williams: It's like my dryer is like rounding third right now about to get a home run. So it's just it's gonna ramp up and the crowd's gonna go wild and the baseball metaphors abound. Anyway so Kim and I are gonna we're gonna go to Tennessee we're gonna um Brad's gonna be there Brad's got his you know whiskey bar um Jay um my brother Jay who's a beekeeper you can follow him at Williams Honey Farm on Instagram he's the best he has such great videos about all about anybody interested in beekeeping um he's so cool so he's gonna be there we're gonna you know eat honey and Brad um can uh pour a Guinness um from on tap from his bar and um we're gonna do our cookie decorating which happens Christmas Eve morning and then we do our Santa run right afterwards which is that we all get in costume and we run as fast as we can on the farm until we can't run anymore.

[23:03] Ashley Williams: Um, usually at someone at some point during Christmas someone starts crying because they're stressed so I'll look forward to that. Last year, it was Kim with this picture of Kim; she started crying in the bathroom to Brad and he took a picture of it and she posted it on Instagram. Oh nice, she's in a red sweater and she's just crying like this in the bathroom, her eyes are closed. I really don't think that she knew he was taking a picture, but it's like the greatest picture. And I was saying that it should go in the invitation to Christmas every year. That should just be like the front of the invitation, like Merry Christmas, let's do it again, and it's kids. Happy New Year, Williams family Christmas.

Seriously, we have to find that; I'll send you that picture at some point. Yeah, so at some point, someone will cry. Um, and you know, we're gonna wear masks probably sometimes even though we're all boosted. I don't know, everyone's traveling in, so it's tricky, but we were thinking of maybe doing like a crap test and then we don't have to worry about it. Anyway.

[24:14] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[24:15] Ashley Williams: And I see that you've... Yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry.

[24:17] Al Malafronte: No, I don't have anything to say.

[24:20] Ashley Williams: Can they see, can people see me right now?

[24:22] Al Malafronte: Well, um, Mikey might snap a picture if you want to show us something.

[24:26] Ashley Williams: Look at the—no, this is my—yeah, Mikey, snap a pic of my headphones right now because this is just everybody understands what I'm dealing with. They say that how do you tie a perfect knot? You take your headphones and put them in your pocket for five minutes.

[24:43] Al Malafronte: Yeah, that's usually how it works.

[24:48] Ashley Williams: Perfect sailor's knot. Like this is all tethered to my computer forever now. Anyway, um, yeah, what are we talking about?

[24:56] Al Malafronte: Do we just put extra stuff?

[24:58] Ashley Williams: Yes, we were talking about Christmas and if there was gonna be a big premiere party for Sister Swap, what does everyone have to look forward to? Here's what we're doing. This is exciting.

[25:06] Ashley Williams: This is exciting. Um, so we are gonna be doing these surprise—oh, guess what? The dryer's done. Oh, rounding third. She had to home run. Thank you, Maria. Tie game. Um, so we're gonna be doing um these, uh, we're gonna drop in and surprise people during their watch parties. Kim and I. So if you have a—if you want to have a watch party, there's a place where you can um give us the link to your watch party. And I think we're doing three for the premiere of Kim's movie, which is December 5th. So if you want to have a watch party with your friends, um, we're gonna drop in on people's watch parties. And I'm gonna try to do as many as I can. Kim has less time than I do. I think I'm in a hotel room by myself that night. So I think I might just swing into a whole bunch of people's watch parties and just say hi during the movie, not to distract.

[26:04] Al Malafronte: Yeah, because you never do that.

[26:06] Ashley Williams: Yeah, I'm really all about focus.

[26:09] Al Malafronte: Yeah, like with my introduction, just making me laugh the whole time.

[26:12] Ashley Williams: Totally, totally. So we're gonna do that. Um, and then so that's December 5th, and then December 12th. Both movies air. Um, so it's gonna be a replay of Kim's movie and then my, uh, the premiere of my movie that night. And I'm again gonna be in a different hotel room that night. And I think I'm just gonna try to drop into as many people's watch parties as possible, but you're not gonna know ahead of time. So you gotta just be there on Zoom watching, and then suddenly I'm gonna come in and be like, facial expression, the audience. I will actually—they just saw it, so maybe I don't even need to do it, but it's gonna be something like that. I'm gonna try to scare you. Um, and just say hi to everybody who's watching.

But we're encouraging people to um, to post on Instagram about their watch parties with the hashtag Sister Swap, and um, we'll swing by and um, listen, these movies were my idea. Um, I wanted to work with my sister, but I felt like one movie wasn't enough. I'm not kidding. Um, so, and I also wanted, you know, my sister's an amazing actress, and I wanted her to have her own storyline, and I wanted there to be romance, you know.

[27:26] Ashley Williams: So the initial, uh, movie that Kim does, um, is uh, it's the first one that's airing on December 5th called Sister Swap, and it's all about, uh, a high-powered businesswoman, the way all Hallmark movies are, um, who's not interested in love. Um, and she ends up inheriting a movie theater. Um, we have a special guest star, Kevin Nealon, who is an old friend of mine. I've known Kevin for 20—more than 20 years. Um, and he plays Uncle Dave, and he um gives Kim's character this movie theater, and she's trying to decide if she should take it, you know, keep the movie theater or not. Um, and that's the basic storyline of her movie. But what is really exciting is that she's got a sister whose name is Meg, and I play that sister.

[28:15] Ashley Williams: And so she's gonna, you know, Kim's character has to leave her business um to go and get to know this movie theater she's just inherited. But in order to leave her business, she needs someone to come in and run the business while she's out of town. So I come in and I take over um her business, basically. And I realize that I am in love with this big city where, you know, my sister lives, and um, so we switch places, we swap, if you will. Um, so she goes to the small town and I go to the big city, and the two storylines take place at the same time. So you'll watch Kim's movie, and then you'll watch my movie, and you'll see that at the same time that all this stuff was going on with the movie theater, all this other stuff that Kim didn't even know about was going on in her business.

[29:05] Ashley Williams: And um, you know, there's also a ton of really cute boys that we end up kissing. Um, well, there's two. I kiss a boy and she kisses a boy.

[29:14] Al Malafronte: Yeah, I mean it's Hallmark, there can't be too many.

[29:17] Ashley Williams: That would be Lifetime, would probably be more than one boy per person. But um, yeah, so, uh, so it's a really—the both movies are really sweet and they do stand alone. So you don't—if you miss the first one, you don't have to watch that one in order to watch the second one. But I encourage people to watch the first movie, watch the second movie, and go back and watch the first movie again because you're gonna see all kinds of things you missed the first time around. Um, there's scenes where I'm in the background of a scene and you don't know it until the second movie.

[29:46] Ashley Williams: So there's scenes that um, that appear in both movies but from different perspectives, so it's really cool and really innovative idea. And uh, I'm so so so excited that Hallmark went for it because it's kind of outside the box for them.

[29:59] Al Malafronte: Yeah, well, I give you a lot of credit because I know that you and your husband and Kim were heavily involved as producers. So I give you props for pushing the boundaries a bit.

[30:07] Ashley Williams: I'm so excited to watch both parts, by the way.

[30:07] Al Malafronte: All props go to Hallmark for being on board with it. It was complicated. And at first they were like, oh, why don't we just do a cute movie with the two of you? And I was like, no, it's like I kept saying, it's like Back to the Future part two, where you go back and you realize all these cool things. And they were like, oh, can we just make it one movie? And I was like, no. So they finally got it and um, have been so supportive and really honestly, like really got behind the idea and have been helping us out. We're gonna be releasing a blooper reel um with a whole bunch of hilarious stuff that went on while we were shooting because it was a six-week shoot. Usually these movies are just a three-week shoot, but it was a six-week shoot, so we all got really close.

[30:52] Ashley Williams: And um, and the other exciting thing—can I just keep talking?

[30:56] Al Malafronte: I mean, what are we doing?

[30:57] Ashley Williams: Please, you've got free reign.

[30:59] Ashley Williams: I don't say that to everyone, but the other exciting thing is that so my mom died of Alzheimer's disease five years ago, and her best friend for 30 years before that is an actress named Anna Holbrook, who was on a soap opera. She's the entire reason that my sister and I are actors. And uh, and so when we were trying to figure out how to cast the mother role, well, I called Anna and I said, will you please put yourself on tape for this part to play my mother? And she booked it. So Anna Holbrook, my mother's best friend of more than 30 years, is playing my mother and Kim's mother in these movies. And she's such a dynamite actress. She was on Another World. She has a daytime Emmy for her performance as Charlene on Another World, who was crazy. She had like multiple personality disorder or something. Um, but she doesn't have that in these Hallmark movies. She's just an amazing mom.

[31:54] Ashley Williams: Um, so I'm really, really excited about that. And we got Kevin Nealon. We were able to cast a bunch of our friends because we were producing. And the movies are really sweet, kind, like lovely, just lovely Christmas movies, but you know, more than anything else, it's about women supporting each other because my sister's my best friend and biggest supporter. And um, so I'm—it was exciting to be able to do a Hallmark movie about that, you know.

[32:22] Al Malafronte: Yeah, oh, I honestly, it was—it's—I feel like it took long enough to finally happen. I'm so glad it did.

[32:29] Al Malafronte: I do have to know though, as you close as you and your sister are, and I love you both.

[32:32] Ashley Williams: But yeah, and even though you're consummate pros, if one of you flubbed a line on set, was there like a big sibling rivalry where you'd call each other out and make a big thing of it? Would that happen a lot?

[32:41] Ashley Williams: Well, I think Kim and I are so self-deprecating that we're the first ones. And you'll see, like those of you that see the blooper reel, which will be like up on my Instagram, and Hallmark is gonna release it. There's just—we messed up basically constantly. And I did a lot of like, wow, that was bad, and looking at the camera and being like, we need to take that again. And sometimes it was about her lines and sometimes it was about mine. Um, I'm a little bit more flowy when it comes to memorization. Kim always really knew her lines.

[33:11] Ashley Williams: Um, I am a little bit more like, uh, sometimes I would be like, oh, I have an idea for a joke there. Okay, I'm basically gonna say that, you know, and I'm just a little bit more relaxed about it. And Kim was very on point, which was so interesting. I didn't know that about her, you know, because we'd never really done anything like this before. Um, so she always came to set knowing all of her lines, and um, and I always came to set with a million ideas about how to change the scene on the fly. It's just not really—it wasn't the perfect combo, but we laughed so hard during the making of these movies, and I'm so, so, so proud um of how they turned out.

[33:52] Al Malafronte: Oh, I cannot wait to watch them, Ash. And uh again, folks, that's gonna be uh Sunday, December 5th and Sunday, December 12th at 8 p.m. Eastern time. And you can also—and this is not a paid plug, but what I what you can do also is download the Friendly TV app and you can DVR them if you have, you know, a commitment at eight o'clock and are still, you know, and midnight comes around and you're dying to see it. So um, yeah, a lot of people don't know how to get the Hallmark channel anymore because nobody has cable. So it's just Friendly.

[34:19] Al Malafronte: Yeah, it's just friendly, you know, is the name of the thing. And I think it's like five bucks or something. Yeah, it's well worth it. And um big time, yeah. Ash, I want to pay a little homage to our last chat that we had in 2019 with uh a way that we wrap the show. I let a very small group of people in on the fact that you were coming back on. And I'm not sure if you remember uh a little something called fastball derby that we played uh two years ago. But this is a different game today, and it has a very original title. It's uh called Fastball Derby 2.0.

[34:54] Ashley Williams: Is it go because it's the second iteration?

[34:57] Al Malafronte: Yeah, yeah, it's the second, yeah, yeah. So it makes sense, I guess.

[35:00] Ashley Williams: Yeah, I'm into it.

[35:02] Al Malafronte: All right, so I'm gonna throw a few different fastballs at you, not just from my Rolodex, but from some of our loyal listeners, even a few friends of mine who were excited that you were getting a second at bat, ninth inning games on the line, high pressure, Aroldis Chapman is on the mound throwing 105 miles an hour. You gotta think quick to bring home that winning run. I'll ask you a question. You tell me the first thing that comes to mind, stories where you find them fitting, and uh hopefully you hit it out of the park just like you did in 2019. You think you can handle it?

[35:27] Ashley Williams: I'm terrified. I feel like it's probably just gonna hit me in the face. In the real world, I have no ability to throw 105 miles an hour, and I'm far less intimidating than Chapman. But uh, let's see how you do.

[35:42] Al Malafronte: Okay, I'm ready. Favorite bar on the upper west side.

[35:49] Ashley Williams: Oh god, oh god, oh god. Guys, there's no good bar on the upper west side.

[35:55] Al Malafronte: None, huh?

[35:56] Ashley Williams: I mean, I would not go to a bar on the upper west side. I mean, I would go to a restaurant and drink and maybe not eat. Does that count?

[36:08] Al Malafronte: That's really sad.

[36:08] Ashley Williams: Is I haven't been there in like 18 months, so I don't even know what's still there. I just moved here in October.

[36:14] Al Malafronte: Are you on the upper west side?

[36:18] Ashley Williams: Yeah, I went from Murray Hill to the Upper West Side.

[36:21] Al Malafronte: Who's asking?

[36:24] Ashley Williams: Why were you there?

[36:25] Al Malafronte: I'm still not there anymore.

[36:27] Ashley Williams: Oh, it turned out. It turned into the hood, but no one meet pre-pandemic. It was it was fun. We had a good time. We weren't like those frat bros, but it was me and my old buddy Matt, and we just we had a nice place with a balcony. I mean, you can't get balconies in that many places when you're 27 years old, um, at least with what rents were back then pre-COVID.

[36:47] Al Malafronte: So young.

[36:48] Ashley Williams: Okay.

[36:49] Al Malafronte: Um 31 now, not young anymore.

[36:52] Ashley Williams: Oh my gosh, that's hilarious.

[36:54] Al Malafronte: That's what I'm in a hat, Ash.

[36:55] Ashley Williams: I don't have as much hair.

[36:57] Al Malafronte: I know, I know the Dublin, the Dubliner, the Dublin. It's like on 73rd, 74th, and Broadway, right in there.

[37:06] Ashley Williams: It's an old Irish pub. And I really hope it's still there. Is it still there?

[37:11] Al Malafronte: You know what? I haven't been up there in a bit because the Rite Aid that was up by the subway around there just closed.

[37:17] Ashley Williams: Which kind of sucks.

[37:18] Al Malafronte: Yeah, I love that place. Best prices. And not it, not a paid ad for Rite Aid's remaining locations. But yeah, that kind of sucks. I don't go up there as much into the 70s anymore.

[37:27] Ashley Williams: That's so uptown now, isn't it?

[37:30] Al Malafronte: Yeah, well, wait.

[37:32] Ashley Williams: Oh yeah, now now I'm uptown.

[37:34] Al Malafronte: Right.

[37:34] Ashley Williams: That's what I'm saying.

[37:36] Al Malafronte: Yeah. Well, the Dubliner though. The Dubliner is like 72nd in Broadway, somewhere around there.

[37:41] Ashley Williams: Yeah. Neighborhood's changed a little bit, but you still got your gems here.

[37:45] Al Malafronte: Yeah, go check that place out.

[37:47] Ashley Williams: Oh.

[37:48] Al Malafronte: Okay, give me the next one. This is terrible.

[37:51] Ashley Williams: All right, you're a big Broadway fan. Soundtrack from a Broadway flop that you enjoy the most.

[37:53] Al Malafronte: Oh, Broadway flop.

[37:53] Ashley Williams: From a Broadway flop.

[38:03] Al Malafronte: Oh, uh dick-a-dicka-dick.

[38:05] Ashley Williams: Oh, that never went to Broadway. Um But if it has a soundtrack, I don't know if that counts, but Oh my God, I'm just the worst at this. Why do we do this? Two years, Al.

[38:20] Al Malafronte: I mean, all I know are the are the I mean, nope, that's all of them are hits. All of the ones that I love are hits. So um, so right now I'm obsessed with the Hadestown soundtrack, and I'm gearing up because I've seen Hadestown, but I'm gonna go again.

[38:40] Ashley Williams: Um and uh so that right now, that's the only thing that's in my head.

[38:46] Al Malafronte: Um which is not a flop.

[38:49] Ashley Williams: That's yeah, just won a Tony Award or like 10, you know? I'm the worst guest you've ever had. I don't even know what to say. I'm mortified.

[38:57] Al Malafronte: It's just an O2 count. It doesn't make you a bad hitter. You just you're just behind in the count.

[39:03] Ashley Williams: Oh two. I said the Dubliner.

[39:06] Al Malafronte: Oh, that's well, that's that's well, that's well, you're still well, me made contact on that because you didn't fully commit to it.

[39:14] Ashley Williams: Yeah, yeah, your metaphor's falling apart. All right. Give me the third one.

[39:16] Al Malafronte: Okay, the uh third one here. Uh from my buddy Coleman, who remembered the last time you were here, you mentioned that your father was a poet. Coleman would like to know if you've ever written a poem or a song for a specific person.

[39:33] Ashley Williams: If I have ever written a, yes, I have. Of course, obviously. I'm I can't I can't stop writing stupid poems.

[39:43] Al Malafronte: Yeah, of course.

[39:45] Ashley Williams: My dad um was a poet. He was also a songwriter. Well, yeah, he's still alive.

[39:53] Al Malafronte: Yeah, he's he's still alive.

[39:54] Ashley Williams: Um he he for a little while he had a uh a singing group with Alan Arkin.

[40:01] Al Malafronte: Um, and they wrote a bunch of children's songs.

[40:04] Ashley Williams: Uh, and one of them was called I Hate Broccoli. I hate broccoli, I hate going to bed. There was they're not great songs, but Alan Arkin, you'd think he'd be like kind of a genius, but um not great songs. There was one he called Cradle Rock that's all about um when my sister was born premature, and uh he would try to sing to her really loudly to keep her awake while he was feeding her.

[40:31] Al Malafronte: This cradle rock, this cradle roll, this cradle way up in the treetop rock me, head to soul.

[40:41] Ashley Williams: Oh that's so sweet.

[40:43] Al Malafronte: I'm touched.

[40:45] Ashley Williams: Yeah, that's a good one.

[40:46] Al Malafronte: Yeah. So I'll I'll tell Coleman though that you've uh you've written quite a bit yourself too.

[40:51] Ashley Williams: Okay.

[40:52] Al Malafronte: I write, but I didn't say I write well. I'm prolific, but not talented.

[40:56] Ashley Williams: Okay.

[40:57] Al Malafronte: Well, I I would beg to differ, but if it's I'm not a talented poet either, nor am I, but you know, you have me beaten pretty much, you know, anything arts related, you uh you have talented in it.

[41:06] Ashley Williams: You know what it's all about balance, because you balance me out with your baseball genius.

[41:10] Al Malafronte: I'm yeah, real thank you. But you know, there's certain guests that make it easy. And actually, there's a reason why I asked you to come back on the show, and it's because you said the worst guess I ever had. I was trying not to like turn this into a compliment show. You know you're my favorite guest, so come on!

[41:26] Ashley Williams: You need to raise your stakes here. Raise the bar, man.

[41:31] Al Malafronte: You're so funny. We've uh okay, we've got a couple more. This one's from Julie in Utah. If you could go back in time and see any musician or band in their prime perform in concert, who would you choose?

[41:44] Ashley Williams: Um right away. No question. In lieu of Miles Davis.

[41:48] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[41:54] Ashley Williams: That would be a good one.

[41:55] Al Malafronte: Oh my god, that would be life-changing.

[41:58] Ashley Williams: Um, yeah, hands down.

[42:02] Al Malafronte: Um, this is just a quick fun one before we get to the final fastball. Favorite claymation Christmas special.

[42:09] Ashley Williams: Uh, the Rudolph one.

[42:11] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[42:11] Ashley Williams: That's it.

[42:12] Al Malafronte: That is a good one.

[42:13] Ashley Williams: That's okay. What other one is there?

[42:14] Al Malafronte: There are way too many. Not to say that I don't enjoy more than just Rudolph, but yeah, there's like uh they all play on like uh AMC and like now what is it now?

[42:24] Ashley Williams: Um oh my god, what's the channel that used to be ABC fan?

[42:27] Al Malafronte: Freeform.

[42:27] Ashley Williams: They're all they're all on those.

[42:29] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[42:30] Ashley Williams: Yeah, highly recommend a few of them. Show your kids Year Without a Santa Claus. That's my favorite.

[42:34] Al Malafronte: Ooh, okay.

[42:35] Ashley Williams: Yeah, it's got Mickey Rooney of Santa Claus's classic.

[42:38] Al Malafronte: Ooh, okay, love it. Now uh this is the one that we've been using to wrap a lot of recent fastball derbies. Fact about Ashley Williams, that would surprise people the most.

[42:52] Ashley Williams: Let me think. Let me think. That would surprise people the most. Well, people know I'm kind of a mess. See this I have to think about what people think of me. The self-deprecating thing is on full display right now that you were talking about. I mean, that's what I am. Uh yeah.

[43:09] Al Malafronte: Uh um, see, everything's getting a little like uh I don't want to talk about my underwear. Uh can't find a bra that fits.

[43:19] Ashley Williams: Um that's not we're not going there.

[43:22] Al Malafronte: Uh I have an enormous water bottle named Walter.

[43:27] Ashley Williams: You named your water bottle. Really? Why?

[43:30] Al Malafronte: Because he's my he's he's somebody in my life I can rely on. He's um he's huge. And it was it's always really helpful when I'm shooting because I wrote Walter on the water bottle, and then I always lose them when on when I'm on set.

[43:49] Ashley Williams: So I'll I'll like all the whole AD team knows who Walter is. So I'll be like, Does anybody know where Walter is? And someone will hold him up. So that's probably people don't know that about me.

[44:00] Al Malafronte: It's special.

[44:01] Ashley Williams: It does surprise me.

[44:02] Al Malafronte: It does surprise me.

[44:04] Ashley Williams: I I have a water bottle too. It came with a name, though. It's just called Yeti.

[44:07] Al Malafronte: Oh, yeah, I have that too.

[44:10] Ashley Williams: I have that same water bottle. Except I put coffee in it.

[44:13] Al Malafronte: But not as good.

[44:14] Ashley Williams: It's not as good as Walter.

[44:15] Al Malafronte: I hear that.

[44:17] Ashley Williams: No. Walter is special.

[44:19] Al Malafronte: Walter's faithful.

[44:21] Ashley Williams: Yeah. Well, that's like you, Ashley. Special and faithful.

[44:25] Al Malafronte: Special guests and very loyal, I should say, to uh come back on to Break A Bat. I'm just so glad we could do this.

[44:32] Ashley Williams: Me too. My pleasure. I'm always happy to come back.

[44:35] Al Malafronte: You're the best, Ashley. Thank you so much again. And uh for all the folks at home, again, remember to watch Sister Swap on Sunday, December 5th and Sunday, December 12th at 8 p.m. Eastern time. You could catch Ashley and Kimberly uh on screen together. It is really the perfect kickoff to the holiday season. And I am so grateful that you could all join us in the batter's box today. So with that being said, this is Al Malafronte signing off from the Break A Bat holiday block party. We'll see you next time. Woohoo.

[45:06] Al Malafronte: Thanks for listening to Break A Bat. This is produced by the fine folks at the Broadway Podcast Network. Visit and subscribe at BPN.fm slash breakabat. You can find me online at break underscore A underscore bat underscore podcasts. And you can also find the Broadway Podcast Network on Instagram at Broadway Podcast Network. It's been so great having you here with us today, and we'll see you next time.