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[0:12] Robert Bannon: Well, holy moly, it's another edition of the Round Table Ward Show edition. And we are excited to talk about the SAG Awards. And I have Adrienne back with us. We are on the Broadway Podcast Network. So I appreciate you being here and listening to us. We have new episodes every single day here on the Broadway Podcast Network of the Roundtable, where artists talk about art. And we have such great guests coming up in the future. All SAG members like Charo and Janet Hubert and Rupert Holmes and so many people. And I'll tell you about my opinion about the SAG Awards and the winners and the losers and what I did instead of watching the show. All with Adrienne who's here for award show season. So welcome to the extravaganza of the SAG Award.

[1:03] Adrienne: Hello, everyone. In one word, how do you describe the SAG Awards?

[1:10] Robert Bannon: One word.

[1:20] Adrienne: Uh, predictable.

[1:23] Robert Bannon: Okay. Except for one.

[1:24] Adrienne: Yes, we'll get we're gonna talk about it. I uh I I teased in the beginning of this about being a SAG member. I am a SAG. I'm a proud SAG member.

[1:33] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[1:34] Adrienne: I got my card on Saturday Night Live, and many people um work very hard.

[1:40] Robert Bannon: What year was it? What year did you become SAG?

[1:43] Adrienne: Uh, good question. 2017.

[1:47] Robert Bannon: Okay. That's that's exciting.

[1:49] Adrienne: Yeah, so I think we're like, you know, ooh, a good couple of years now. And you know, I um uh people work very hard to get their card. It's not easy to get your card.

[1:57] Robert Bannon: It is very hard to get your card. You have to be hired three times as a SAG background worker or one time as a principal worker, or you can get a waiver. If you have questions about being a SAG, it's very confusing. And I think the people who have helped me understand what it took to become a part of the union because it is not very easily described. And then you can join sister unions after years, such as Afra, and which is equity, or or of the the other unions, music unions, etc. But um, the union provides us with such great, I'm such a proud member of three unions, equity, screen actors guild, and then the AFT American Federation of Teachers. But um, I think the country is built on the back of unions, and oh yes, here we go, getting political, but you know, they've tried to dismantle unions very much so in collective bargaining in this country because they're afraid of the vote and they're afraid of paying fair wages. So I'm all pro the SAG awards, even though Fran Dresher's speech was a little over the top for me personally.

[2:55] Adrienne: Um, I came out like Evita in the red in the red, which she looked beautiful, absolutely stunning. But she came out and I was like, Oh, it's Ava Perone. He had her red ruby earrings and her red ruby ring and her red ruby everything. And she is a very she fought a very hard fight against AI and the contract. And and you know, you the you sometimes as she said, and and the other gentleman who's her partner in this, and and he was there as well. Um, you know, they really wanted to, and it they weren't, and I think this is kind of what society does who isn't a part of this kind of groupling. It what they weren't fighting for Tom Cruise and George Clooney and Kate Winslet and and Margot Robbie. They weren't fighting for them.

They were fighting for the craft service people. They were fighting for uh, you know, some of of your friends who are working their way up and who had one job here or one job there, and you know, they're still auditioning and doing that's who they were fighting for. They were fighting for for those actors who deserve to be paid properly for what they're doing.

[4:00] Robert Bannon: 99% of screen actors guilt, 93% of the union actually, does not qualify for healthcare. That that was such a staggering statistic when they talked about that. And I think AI is a big issue and it it is the biggest issue that's gonna take us for the next generation. Her language was a little dystopian. I think she even used the word like it was a little like I felt like I was watching a uh a action thriller like the Matrix or something. I think she used the word matrix as well. But she did. But I give her credit she is not just the nanny name Fran. She is out there fighting the fight but wow I mean I think she took her yeah it was a moment.

[4:33] Adrienne: It was a moment and and then I think the if we can talk about the other big moment of the evening and it was very interesting to watch the audience's reaction to the speech which was Barbara Streisand. I she looked a little older up there. I I was a little surprised to see you know uh she was Barbara though you know I mean it talk about iconic but to see some of the women in the audience and even some of the men get a little emotional hearing her speak.

[5:10] Robert Bannon: And I think it was a beautiful speech.

[5:14] Adrienne: Yes, absolutely. Uh uh Joey King, who's who's a younger actress, you know, her eyes were welling up. Anne Hathaway, you know, was welling up. And, you know, she really didn't care what people thought about her. She may have, and I I haven't started her book yet. It is on my list to start. Um, but she fought. She had to fight and claw her way to get to where she was, and people made fun of the way that she looked. She was Jewish, you know, all of these other little little small things, but it adds up to a lot, but she paved the way for many people today. Well, you know, not just not just women, but people today.

[5:52] Robert Bannon: Well, I have my pro and my con of the Barbara Streisand moment.

[5:55] Adrienne: Oh, okay, go ahead.

[5:57] Robert Bannon: No, I'm obsessed with Miss Streisand. I I I adore her. I love her, love her, love her. I was that 12-year-old kid who discovered Funny Girl and was obsessed with everything that is Barbara. And I have seen Barbara in concert multiple times and spent oogobs of money, and she deserves every accolade. I think this is her farewell. I think she even describes in the book like this is her goodbye. She wants to get in an RV and drive with her husband up the coast and eat coffee ice cream and live her best life. I don't think she's gonna act anymore. I don't think she's going to sing anymore. I think she's done. I think the book was kind of like this is it. She was, you know, all these interviews and she doesn't really do interviews. It's not her favorite thing to do. And I think she's done.

[6:37] Adrienne: But um, I was reading something where someone said, What a um uh moment because Fran Dresher as the nanny loved Barbara Streisand.

[6:47] Robert Bannon: Yes, that's cute. You know, and and that moment because and Barbara acknowledged Fran. I I believe that's who she pointed to when she said SAG after, because I think Fran was in that in that area, and I just was kind of like, wow, what a really cool moment. But yeah, that was kind of like this was kind of like, I'm done. The only thing that I didn't understand um when giving this particular award was that it was given by Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper. Could they not get Jeff Bridges who was in with it with the Mirror has the has two faces, which is a I love that movie.

[7:17] Adrienne: Um or other or Greta Gerwig. You know what I'm saying? I just was like, why these two people? That was just my my surprise. I didn't know I don't know any I have no that was one of my cons. I have no idea why we needed Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper. There I don't have any relation to her at all other than Bradley Cooper did a Star Is Born and Barbara Streisand did a Star Is Born, but they're two totally different movies.

[7:40] Robert Bannon: Right, but they didn't act together. She didn't direct you know them and I mean maybe she's friends with them.

[7:46] Adrienne: Okay. But again that's just a weird you couldn't get Mandy Patinkin like you know like somebody something her son was there. Like let her son give the award I don't care her husband.

[7:58] Robert Bannon: Right. I don't understand Donna Karan, her friends like anyone that is like like legendarily her ask freaking Hillary Clinton to come. I don't understand why.

[8:06] Adrienne: I would have understood Oprah giving her the award but it just was it just struck me as weird.

[8:13] Robert Bannon: I didn't I loved her speech. I I understood her speech especially after the book she gives a lot of credit to Billy Wilder and the director of Funny Girl and she gives a lot of credit to the cor the the cinematographers throughout her career. You know the cinematographer she mentions in Funny Girl really let her see how directing works and then she used that cinematographer again and she learned about cinematography when she owned became her own director for for um for uh Yentl and for Mira has two faces like you mentioned etc. But what I think was I was mi and she gave her a little political nod to the speech about you know discrimination and her being her Jewish background and and facing that kind of see I really appreciated that that was something where she could have totally and you know she can, she's very political, where she could have went a certain way, and she just said she wanted peace, and I really appreciated that because she could have said something else and she didn't.

[9:04] Adrienne: No, I agree. She didn't she didn't go into it in depth. She didn't pick a side, she just said she.

[9:10] Robert Bannon: I had some issues, and I'm not trying to be too woke about Miss Streisand because she's pretty woke herself. But like bringing up the studio heads, we've learned in time that's gone on, they were not great people, all of those studio heads. They took advantage of young actors and actresses.

[9:25] Adrienne: Well, I think it was more the Jewish tone. I think that's what she was going for, explaining they came, meaning they migrated here.

[9:31] Robert Bannon: Yes, due to they also used their power to sleep with young actors and force young actresses to sleep with them. Well, Marlon Brando, who is one of the greatest actors of all time, she's very close to him in the book. She she he tried to sleep with her if you read the book.

[9:47] Adrienne: That was so weird. I didn't understand that.

[9:49] Robert Bannon: I have, like I said, I haven't read the book. That was, I was like Marlon Brando. I was like, oh.

[9:52] Adrienne: Oh, they're they were very good friends, they were very good friends and they spent a lot of time together, but he also doesn't age well great with the times.

[9:59] Robert Bannon: But Barbara Streisand is not really of this time.

[10:02] Adrienne: No, she's not, she's not. And who knows? I mean, may I don't know if she if she does talk about in the book. We don't really even know what she may have gone through as well as an actress, in that she may never talk about something like that. If anything did happen to her, maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't, you don't know.

[10:18] Robert Bannon: But she's she's she's of a different era as well. She does admit to being having very uh romantic relationships with a lot of co-stars and falling in love with co-stars and having building an intimate relationship with because she felt if she was attracted to her co-stars, that would translate on stage.

[10:37] Adrienne: And the only person that gave her a real pushback was Robert Redford, which is a very interesting part of the book. But I just felt it was interesting that out of all of the people in the world that she could mention, she mentions the studio heads, which are the people that SAG after has to fight against to get contracts.

[10:53] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[10:53] Adrienne: Not Louis B. Mayer, he's dead, but what I'm or the Warner Brothers, or etc. But I'm just like, that's very interesting. You know, her speech was not very long, and it was not very detailed as long as I thought it was gonna be. And for her to make mention, but I understand they migrated and they had to fight and come overcome. I think that's kind of where she was going with that. Because she she used their Jewish names.

[11:14] Robert Bannon: Interesting choice.

[11:15] Adrienne: I felt it was an interesting choice. And she does talk very much so about Marlon Brando. Listen to the book, everybody. It's long, it's 80,000 hours, and it's 900 pages, but it is a very fast read in the sense that she gives a lot of tea. She tells she tells you how she feels, and um, I think she gets a bad reputation as a woman who was demanding, but she was not bitchy for lack of a better word. She was someone who wanted things done in the way she wanted done, and people don't like it. She was a perfectionist, people don't like it, and she regrets being as a perfectionist, and she regrets spending so much time on projects because she didn't she passed up so many projects because she says she's lazy and she's not a very active actor, you know, she doesn't do a lot of work, and she wishes she did more work because a she would have made a lot more money, and also that she would have made had a more of a body of work, but she would spend years researching these movies, so when they shot them, she wanted them to be done uh a very particular way.

[12:09] Robert Bannon: My issue with the SAG Awards as a whole, you gave the word uh, or and then you tried to come up with another word. My issue is I thought they were they were on Netflix, fascinating choice as well because the biggest controversy about the SAG contract was with Netflix.

[12:21] Adrienne: Well, I I didn't like that it was on Netflix. I I understand they wanted it in 90 countries, and people could have access to watching it and all this nonsense. They could have put it on Hulu or another streaming after it was on network television, right? Like other awards.

[12:33] Robert Bannon: I felt people were like, well, there we go. Put it on YouTube.

[12:40] Adrienne: Agreed. I'm sure Netflix paid them, and that's why they did it. I thought the show was boring.

[12:47] Robert Bannon: There was nothing very interesting that happened. Even the in Memoriam, there was no performances, there was no comedy, there was no video packets, there was no nothing other than like the little montages of who has won ensemble in the past, and then okay, bringing out modern family or bringing out West Wing or whatever. Kind of like the Emmys.

[13:03] Adrienne: They kind of stole that shtick from the Emmys.

[13:06] Robert Bannon: Right. They did it already. I just felt, and then, you know, as Adrienne is the person who's with me at most red carpets. Uh Tan France.

[13:17] Adrienne: What's his name?

[13:18] Robert Bannon: Tan France.

[13:19] Adrienne: France.

[13:20] Robert Bannon: Who is from Queer Eye, who is from Queer Eye, the new version of Queer Eye. He is there, he is their stylist. I happen to like Tan. I I do follow him on Instagram. And and I was just because I didn't watch it live. I I came in uh later uh yesterday, and for the first hour, I'm like on Netflix. I'm like, oh, we have the red carpet, which is fine, okay.

[13:44] Adrienne: You love that.

[13:45] Robert Bannon: I do. I do enjoy. I do enjoy red, uh I do enjoy watching like of the the fashion and and and whatnot. I don't know who the other woman was.

[13:55] Adrienne: Uh huh.

[13:55] Robert Bannon: I don't even remember her name, unfortunately. She was very pretty. She just had a baby like two months ago, so she looked phenomenal. And you know, and and I I I did like her banter, I felt with the with the um uh you know people she was interviewing. Tan knows a lot of celebrities because he's dressed a lot of celebrities, so I I I get I I kind of got that from what he was saying. But during the show, when Idris Elba, who I felt was a highlight for me, I adore Idris, and I thought he was he was funny.

[14:22] Robert Bannon: I wish there was more of Idris throughout the show.

[14:26] Adrienne: Why are we interviewing people during the show?

[14:28] Robert Bannon: So you did have commercial breaks, you didn't go straight through.

[14:32] Adrienne: Right.

[14:33] Robert Bannon: Like that was I don't know. I and and I like watching the after shows because they do have them like E has an after show, but it's after the show for a reason.

[14:45] Adrienne: I I don't know Tan France, France, France.

[14:49] Robert Bannon: What is he?

[14:50] Adrienne: Tan Fran, hold on, I have to look it up now.

[14:53] Robert Bannon: So he he was not my favorite. That's all I'll say. But I give him credit. I'm happy he got the job, and I'm happy that he's you know, queer representation. Go team go. But I but he's not very good at it.

[15:06] Robert Bannon: It's hard. It really is tan France is his last name. I like the gray hair. His question was. Oh, yes, he's his his his he was great in that. His question is not great. His questions are very not very deep. And his demeanor and his um, oh god, I'm gonna get in trouble. His pleasant, he's not he wasn't very pleasant to watch for me. He made me nervous, and he was a little grating for me personally.

[15:32] Adrienne: Um there were certain things that for me were a little cringy, and I don't think it was I think right. And I was like, oh, there's a line, you know, like you have to be professional. When the camera's off, you can then say what you want to say. And I I that's that's fine. That's normal. People do that in the moment, like right after the win, and I'm just like, oh, that's inappropriate. Like well, go ahead, tell the people.

[15:56] Robert Bannon: The biggest of everything is the right down the line. I mean, it's succession, it's Cillian Murphy. It's the um what's her name from the the flowers and the moon and the oh see. Well, no, that's so hold on. Let's do TV first. Can we do TV first?

[16:11] Adrienne: Sure.

[16:12] Robert Bannon: Bear and beef.

[16:14] Adrienne: Yeah, that's it. Allie Wong was funny. And and and bear and beef and and the guy, the Jeremy White Bear man, he in his white outfit, woo, and the and Io woo. And um and But there was a surprise. I felt it was a surprise.

[16:30] Robert Bannon: Oh, I thought everyone thought it was gonna go to I mean, Kieran Colkin. I mean, it is the SAG award, so the actors voted. And it's Adrian's got her Pedro Pascal blanket. Pedro Pascal won and the and and what was and he came up looking like a pirate and he Oh no, wait a second, hold on. No, wait, wait, wait. I think he looked dashing. I liked that it was very because usually he's he's very avant garde with his fashion choices.

[16:55] Adrienne: I don’t know who his stylist is, and I like that he takes risks. I think the men this award season have killed it, which we will talk about. I think they looked, they were wearing different colors, they were wearing different tiles and textures and everything. And I really loved all of the men. I think kudos to them. They really have done an amazing job. And Pedro is a little fashion forward, and I loved that. First of all, his hair looked amazing because sometimes his hair looks a little disheveled, and he's got curly hair. And I was just like, oh, he looks like oh, like he was very, very dapper.

[17:28] Robert Bannon: I think he was shocked. I thought his speech was very funny. Yes. And he he does talk about like um he he has anxiety, and sometimes when he takes pictures, he puts his hand like kind of on his chest and stomach, and that's something that he learned to calm him down when he has anxiety. So when he was like, I'm gonna go have a panic attack, but I leave, like he was, I think, really being honest. Like, I think he was really shocked because and then in in a in one of the um exit interviews, I think with Entertainment Tonight, he was like, I voted for Kieran, and I'm like, you didn't even vote for yourself. And I was like, that's so honest. I loved that he said that.

[18:04] Adrienne: And I mean, I listen, Kieran was amazing and won everything. These awards are voted on by their peers, by their fellow actors, and I just was happy to see that he got a little recognition in that regard. I I think he was shocked. I don't, I don't think he thought he was going to win both. I think his personality is very fun. I've never seen him in one movie or television show, but I think he is very, very fun. And he I was happy he won. And Kieran is fun and crazy and kooky as well. But Kieran, I think has been around. Uh, not that Pedro has not been around, but Kieran. Kieran is well known, he's been more known, he's had more parts. Pedro is just on this wing now.

[18:41] Robert Bannon: So, yes, I agree with you. And and comedy, the comedy uh awards, like we said, it was very bear-heavy. And if the bear is even really a comedy, but that's a whole other conversation. It was it was expected, it was kind of expected everything except Pedro. The same thing kind of happened with with movies. I I think I mean, I guess you could say Paul Giamatti and and Celia Murphy are in this battle for the Oscar, and and Celia won this. I was hoping for the sag they would give it to Paul as an actor, as an actor, because and Killian is great. I I I've been for a long time, and he's he's very diverse actor, picks very interesting roles. He kind of reminds me of Daniel Day Lewis in in that capacity where he picks these very specific roles, and he also doesn't have a huge body of work either. You know, he's very specific with what he chooses.

[19:34] Adrienne: Um but sometimes Paul Giamatti, you know, sometimes it's it's due, and this was such a great movie, you know. Like we said, it was that feel good movie that you could watch this every year during the holidays. Like it's just that warm, fuzzy kind of movie. Uh not that it's warm and fuzzy because it's very deep and emotional. Um, I think Divine Joy Randolph I love her. And let me tell you, sometimes it's weird. And my mom kind of says this when she watches they're actors, why don't they know what to say? And I'm like, exactly, mom. They read from the script, they don't know what like sometimes they can't improv. It's it's it's not a lot of people can do that. She speaks so beautifully, so eloquently, and is so grateful. And I think this is the best she's looked. This was one of her best looks. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

[20:20] Robert Bannon: Um, and I just appreciated that. And even in the interview with Tan afterwards, she spoke so lovely again. Um Pedro got might have gotten himself in a little bit of trouble. Um but Tan started that because he was flirting with him, but they were flirting with each other, but whatever, it's all good. Um but yeah, and Lily Gladstone, I I was surprised. I thought it was gonna go to uh Emma. Oh, yes, you know, Emma, and that'll be will be interesting about the Oscars and we and we will do a pre-Oscar show. Um we will not do the post-Oscar show. We will do a pre-Oscar show. It's so hard. We've been very lucky here at the round table to have so many interviews and so many events coming up to fit the schedule.

I got an email today that was like, Do you have any time in the next two weeks to have somebody on? And I'm like, no, I don't have any time to have somebody on. But um, for the Oscars and for the Tony Awards, we will make sure that we uh being on the Broadway Podcast Network, we will make sure we do a pre-show event with that.

[21:15] Adrienne: But um Lily won, and I thought Emma was gonna take the Oscar and the SAG award and run. But I I know that they appreciated her acting for sure. It's a very different movie than Emma Stone's movie is. And then um Ensemble, you know, you know that it's it's a movie that that is an ensemble movie. I mean, it it is that so they I understand and I I did not imagine it going any other way. And I'm pretty sure we could lock that in for winning best picture come Oscar time as well. I did I think it's it's different. I I I kind of was like, because you mean again the SAGs and the Oscars are kind of voted on some of the same people. So, you know, but then I was like, do people think differently? Because you know, you and and you, Robert, you voted, you know, as well. Do you think of it as a as a fan?

[22:02] Robert Bannon: Like, I really liked this performance. I like this actor, I would love to see them get it, even though someone may have done a better performance, but they've been honored before. You know what I'm saying? Like, I really wonder how that's why I thought I was like, maybe they'd give it to um to Barbie, you know, like that that was an ensemble cast as well. Um, you know, and it was just interesting, or even the color purple, the ladies were there, they looked beautiful. You know, that was a really ensemble cast. You know, it it's it's a tough category, I think, when you when you're looking when you're focusing on just the cast.

[22:31] Adrienne: It's really funny. It's like voting, you know, back when I was a kid, my dad used to say, I know when you vote for president, you don't vote for who you think is gonna win, you vote for who you think should win. And you know, like that we all voted for people who we know were not gonna win, but we voted for them because we thought they were the better candidate. When I when I voted, I voted with who I thought was the best performance, and I did not pick a lot of people who won because I don't because some of the movies and some of the TV shows that the people have won, A, I haven't seen, so I can't vote on beef if I have not seen beef and that's my bad but i in terms of the movies i did see all of the movies i tried to get through um killers uh no i i tried to get through killers and i i couldn't even get through uh openheimer because it's it because it's just not my bag but i get that but i will say is that i voted for the people who I thought really were my favorite i didn't vote for the extenuating circumstances like some people say oh this person's due or this person has never won or I like this person's acceptance speech or blah blah blah I did vote for the movies and the people that I watched and moved me and Paul Giamatti moves me the color purple moved me um you know I I liked I you know I liked some of those performances a lot I I so I didn't I do not pick the people who I think are going to win I did vote for the people who I liked personally knowing they had no I think that's I that's how I but and I think like Pedro said like I voted for Kieran like Kieran he goes phenomenal and it's like you could have voted for yourself you know what I'm saying and that's when I was like that's a that's a genuine person right there and just as a as a side note because he also said in in I think it was the entertainment um et um interview with um Michelle Turner where he said like SAG saved my life he said you know and he said it he was he started in 1999 and you know then he was like thank you HBO for giving me a job like I have no skills and you know this is what I want to do and you know and that was an honest answer like he's an actor and sometimes this is what actors do and and you know this too.

[24:32] Robert Bannon: They they wait tables, you know, they they sell books door to door or whatever that may be. I'm dating myself. But like they do those things. And he said, like, you know, there were times when I couldn't pay my rent, and that that check came in from when I did Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then I could pay my rent. He goes, those residuals came in and saved me. You know, he was like, I was able to have health insurance. I was able, you know, to do those things because of SAG. And he was walking the picket lines a few times. I think he kind of took more photos because everyone loves him. But I think he's very relatable. And and I I hope he stays the way that he is because I I do enjoy him as an actor. I I do like his his things, and yes, he's very easy on the eyes.

[25:14] Adrienne: And another person who I I loved his speech, he always gives an interesting one was Robert Downey Jr. And we knew he would win, and he gives an amazing performance in in Oppenheimer. Um, and then when he started reading the names, I'm like, okay, he went through I I want to say I think every movie and named like the the top people that helped him in those films. And I was like, wow, like that was really cool. I mean, he's a huge movie star, huge, huge, huge, huge, besides the Marvel stuff. And people forget, like, go back to the 80s. He was huge in the 80s, like all those brat pack movies and stuff.

[25:54] Robert Bannon: Yes. You know, and then and then I I was like, did he say Mel Gibson? But then I was like, Mel Gibson, and I was like, oh, Air America, like, you know, those movies you don't um you don't see anymore. Oh, my TV went on. Hold on a second. Television is on because we oh no, hold on. Where's the remote? Oh, we're live, people. We're live.

[26:15] Adrienne: She may be watching the awards right now.

[26:17] Robert Bannon: I did not watch the award. I want to briefly bring this. I almost was gonna do a um a uh a whole no, please. I I didn't watch this, I watched the SAG Awards last late last night for about four and a half seconds. I fast forwarded through them because I'm tired of all of these awards. I know Adrian loves them, but at some point I'm like, I it's the same thing over and over and over and over again.

[26:39] Adrienne: Um I I will say, is there a little fatigue? I do feel a little fatigued, and I think because they weren't exciting, I I felt fat, I was just like, are we done? Are we done? And I liked that everyone could say their speeches, no one got I I I do like that they do that. I I know when it's live, it's it's hard to do that, but we can try to do that. These these people, and I know everyone's like, oh, you know, you're honoring these people, and it's like being an actor isn't necessarily always easy. You're away from your family, you know, you're you're you're in a character, especially for a movie. I I don't want to say so much for television because you're there for you know a an extended period of time, so you know, it's not as as rough, but like, you know, sometimes you have to shave your head, you have to lose weight, you have to gain weight, you have to like there is a process, as you know, to being an actor, like you know, Killian Murphy, uh, I think he spoke of it and said, like with Christopher Nolan, there were no chairs, they could not sit down in between their scenes. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of. But that's how he works, Christopher Nolan as a director.

[27:42] Adrienne: I find that interesting. Not everybody has to find it interesting, but it is work. These people are working. And we are enjoying, and then we as a society enjoy their work when it's on the screen.

[27:54] Robert Bannon: Well, I just think that people um are very short-sighted in general about what the job of an actor is. Yes. Because I think that what we think of when we if you said to someone on the street, name an actor, they're gonna pick, you know, the one percent of the most famous people in in the world, but there are millions, thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of actors who you don't know, who are performing at a theme park, who are performing in a community theater, who are performing uh as background on a movie, who are performing as you know, somebody who you see on a cruise ship that you will that will never win an award, that will never make a million dollars, that need to be protected by a union, and they're doing it all because they love the art and they're maybe getting paid some little pitally amount and to with the dream of making art to be to give to the masses.

[28:44] Robert Bannon: I don't think most people who are genuinely trained actors who go to acting school, who get a bachelor's or master's degree and MFA or a BFA in art, that they do it because they want to be rich. Because the odds of you being rich are very, very slim. I think you do it because you are called to this craft, and it is a talent and an art form, just like painting or dancing or singing, and they're doing it because it's their passion and their love. And so I think we get so hung up on the Robert Downey Jr.'s and the Tom Cruises of the world and the Jennifer Anistons and the Reese Witherspoons, etc. But you know, think about the person who is performing, you know, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof above a police precinct on 44th Street in New York City in front of eight people and getting paid 20, and they memorize the three-hour play.

That's an actor. You know, I have acting friends who I went to acting school with and I've gone to see their bad plays that were two and a half hours long inside of a theater that fit 10 people, and they learned two hours of dialogue. And I was like, I would never permit learning two hours of this play to do it for six people for no money. But that's an actor. Yeah, it's an actor. Right. So I do love that. And I also think that, you know, it's I do like a lot of different television shows and things like that. And it's like, you know, it's the dead body on Law and Order that the whole episode is about that one person who has no lines and is just laying there with the makeup on or whatever, and they zip them up in the bag.

You may only see them for a few seconds, but they're in that, or they're the perp, you know, who may be a no-name actor, you know. But it's funny because Law and Order, as they say, it's been on for so long, who hasn't been on Law and Order? But that's like a rite of passage. Even Pedro Pascal at one point was on Law and Order, you know, Bradley Cooper was on Law and Order, and now he's directing films. So I think it's important, and that's why I say, like with the strike, it wasn't about those top-top people that everyone was like, oh, well, what about these people? No, that's not what it was. And if you didn't realize that, then you're not really reading the right thing, you know, you're not educated in that capacity.

The strike was to protect the person playing the dead body because otherwise it's going to become AI and they're gonna use people's images and they're not gonna pay them for it. And those bigger actors like Tom Cruise and things like that, they fight for the little people. They have their platform, and I do feel I know Tom Cruise is controversial, but he fights for those people because he wants them to be safe on the movie sets, he wants them to be able to make movies, you know. Even Tyler Perry, you know, someone who is a head exec himself was like, with that's who we have, we are able to fight for those little people. That's what we have to do. And I'm just glad that it worked out and hopefully it won't be this bad again, and like they can figure things out. But I think the past couple of years, we've had some really great television, has made a huge comeback, I feel. And the stories are important to tell.

[31:44] Adrienne: I was very important to tell. I was trying to keep my Tyler Perry comment to myself. I was ready to have a Wendy Williams moment.

[31:52] Robert Bannon: But I oh, I didn't watch it yet. We can't talk about it. I didn't watch it yet. Well, I'm gonna say something because I but I won't give spoilers to people who didn't watch it. But Tyler Perry gave a very interesting conversation of an interview with the Hollywood Reporter about AI, and he's not building his eight back lot studios because he doesn't want to spend the money because he says that he wants to see how AI is going. I think it's more like he doesn't want to spend the money before the news about his life comes out and he wants to keep his money in his bank account because Mr. Perry has a lot of, you know, it was a very interesting world. We live in a very interesting world, and I had a conversation coming up, spoiler of people, stay tuned to the Roundtable with Miss Janet Hubert, who is the original Aunt Viv in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and oh, I love her.

And I said to Janet, Miss Hubert, I said to Miss Hubert, how did you not stay bitter and angry? When I went down, and she said I was bitter and angry. And she's like, well, the problem is these situations, the Monique situation has been going on for a long time, but no one, everyone is too afraid to speak about it. And when you speak about it, then you're labeled a bitch and difficult and you get blacklisted from this community. Now, do I think Janet Hubert and Monique have probably handled the situations they were in properly? Probably not, but I also feel like they were probably in a dead end where the powers that be ran them over. Like, you know, and that's a complicated issue. Because I love Tyler.

It is a complicated issue. I like Oprah. And I agree because I know. I do like, and I like Tyler Perry too. And I think he gives a lot of no-name actors work. And I do like that about him. I think he needs to hire some better writers. He doesn't hire always good actors because he's a little cheap about it all. Right. But he is, but he's giving people jobs, so I get that. I get that. But I also think he likes to be the star.

[34:01] Adrienne: Yeah, agreed. You brought up, well, I brought up Wendy. I didn't watch Wendy. I watched Wendy instead of watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I um, I'll be looking forward to watching Wendy. All I will say about Wendy. We met, well, I met Wendy at least once or twice, and she was lovely and kind, and you know, it's very sad. It's very sad to hear this. I um, all I will say about Wendy is I have a very long history with Miss Williams. I used to see her all the time. I used to be on the show, send my comments about the show, and I've gone to her first talk show taping, I've gone to her opening night party, I have gone to a lot of events with her and her then husband, and they aim me and my ex-wife went to her comedy shows.

Like, I rooted for Wendy. I always root for Wendy, and I always knew that she was a very special talent. What's sad about the documentary is I think a lot of people, I was gonna do a whole podcast on it because it's a very hot topic, a la Wendy, but I don't really want to because it's not really what my show is about. Like, I don't want to sit here and dissect the gossip of the show, even though I have a lot of knowledge, but it's a very interesting story that I could go on for a very long time because I think it is it's a story about show business, about you know, when someone is not well, they push you anyway. I think it's a story about the court system because that's a very hot topic too, right now for many, many actresses, many women.

When you watch this, what I think when people say, why did her son and her niece who's been on every talk show, like The View and stuff, and why did her sister and her father and everyone do this documentary and let her be seen in this light, which is not a good look. It is very hard to watch. It is not a way that I think she would ever want to be seen without a wig with her shirt, you know, like without makeup and pass out in a bed and whatever. It's very jarring to see. But what I think the family feels desperate for, it's not money because she has plenty of money, she does not have access to the money because there's a conservator that is on Wells Fargo. And I'm gonna beat my dog. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, PETA people.

He keeps knocking my computer over. Um, he's very, very he's very good, good boy, Claire. Don't knock it out. He's a needy, needy, spoiled brat. Um, he hates that I'm giving you attention. You know, the court case is sealed, so it alludes to the fact that someone in her family was using her money without her use, but it alludes to her son because her son took her to Florida to get her away from her manager and her publicist, who her publicist Sean has been with her from the WBLS days, but they like to be in the pictures with her, and they put her out in front of the paparazzi and they kind of try to get her to go back to work. And her son instituted a no-drinking policy because Wendy has had a lot of issues with alcohol abuse, and she's honest about that.

And she, well, I don't think she's not really honest about anything anymore. She's not there, it's very hard to watch. But you know, so she um, she's not honest about it in the documentary anymore. Like, not anymore. Like, she'll tell you, I don't have a relationship with my son because he doesn't like alcohol. She chooses alcohol over her family. And the courts, when he did take her to Florida, she was clean and sober and doing well, and then she had to go to Florida because he was paying everything on her Amex card, including private flights and the house they were renting and his rent and all of these things. And then all of a sudden the conservator said that he was mismanaging her funds, even though he was taking care of his mother, and then she had to go to New York because she had to have a conservatorship, and her decline in New York around these people is very drastic on the show in the documentary, and now she has no real contact with her son and her family and her nephews and her niece.

[37:42] Robert Bannon: Oh, wow. When you see it, it really adds a lot of light to how broken the conservatorship is. And all I said on Instagram and social media was like that woman has worked her whole entire life to be able to provide for her one son. So the fact that he can't take care of his mother with this diagnosis and manage her and to give her the life that she's worked so hard for, is very sad. And be there for her. I mean, she loves her son. No, she was, yeah, that so um I think it's the only outlet they had was to show the truth. You know, DJ Boop, who was very close to her, and people were saying that they were dating and stuff. He was the only one that was allowed to go over her house during COVID. He found her unresponsive, eyes rolled in the back of her head, you know.

Unresponsive, the son had to was medical proxy, gets an ambulance to take her to the hospital. She never really recovered from that. Like she never really recovered from the abuse that she put her body through, and that's years of working and neglect and what happened with her ex-husband and the way that this business eats you up. So I think it was really fascinating. So I encourage everyone to watch it. If you have the guts to watch it, hey, you will be floored. You will cry. You will feel like it's very hard to watch. Because you literally are seeing someone go through aphasia, dementia, alcoholism, you know, the language, the middle fingers, the belittling, the yelling, the arguing, the confusion.

You know what though? But this reminds me, unfortunately, eerily a little bit, because we didn't really know because they didn't do something like this. Was about our Whitney. And I think the same, you know, Whitney was also not surrounded by people that had her best interests and health, you know, in hand. And, you know, it was she had her demons. We all know that, and was not, you know, well, I she was perfect. I loved her dearly, and I will be a Whitney fan forever, ever and ever. But it just it was just it's heartbreaking to when you hear those things and when you see those things because you don't want to believe them because you do they're they have produced wonderful music and movies and things like that, and it's just it's very upsetting when you see the decline.

And that's what I even in the commercials, I was like, ooh, like she does not. I think it needs it's very upsetting to see like there are people we don't you don't personally know. So like, but there's it's it's upsetting to see the person down the block and families who are fighting for their parents and etc. It's it's a lesson for all of us for paperwork, for proper documentation, for a will, for having your money set up in a way that makes you protected because we never think we're gonna be in a situation where we're gonna be 59 years old and have dementia, but we have to protect ourselves and put ourselves in the proper paperwork. It's it's a lesson in a lot of things, it's definitely something worth seeing, but only watch it if you're if you have thick skin because it's not pretty.

I appreciate that because we love Wendy and it's just yeah, yeah, just for there was and there will never be another Wendy. Never. I talked to her niece last night actually after watching it. I had sent her niece a message because I really wanted to be a part of it all. So I wanted to just sit more and support to all of that. And I am looking forward to tonight and we'll have more. I'm sorry, I got a text message from David Hernandez. So I was very cute, David of American Idol, we love David, yes. I saw him in Las Vegas and we were he anyway. Long story short, God bless America, God bless the actors and thank you for watching us on the Broadway Podcast Network. It's Sunday, and we're filming this on Sunday.

I have to go sing for my New Jersey people in a few moments in like five minutes, and we'll have some fun and then we have a big old week. We'll have coverage this week of the Vineyard Theater Gala, which is with me and Adrienne will be at Monday night. We have Charo coming up on the Broadway Podcast Network this week. We have Jacquel Spivey, who is one of the stars, he's Damian in Mean Girls. He was nominated for a Tony in Strange Loop this week. And the Mark Summers opening night is up as well. So if you are looking for a daily dose of entertainment and fun, you know where to find us right here on the Broadway Podcast Network. You can follow me at Robert Bannon on Instagram, or you can go to RobertBannon.com. Adrienne gives her opinion at AMC Disney on Instagram, and we look forward to being with you every single day.

The next awards is the big monster, it's the Oscars. We'll be doing a pre-show, we'll be doing a post-show, and we'll be together to give our comments during the award show, actually in real life, A and I. So stay tuned for that. Hey, thanks for being here.

[42:17] Adrienne: Thank you for having me. As always, it's a pleasure. And we'll be back and we'll see you all weekend and stay up to date and stay up on your pop culture news because you can come back and be a part of it. Give us your comments, tell us what you disagree with. Come for us. We don't care. We're not scared. The best is yet to come. Until next time, thank you everybody for being here and enjoy your day. Go support some art. Go to a movie, watch a TV show. See you again. Bye, everybody.