This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:13] Nikki DeLoach: Thank you so much. It's so good to see you again.

[0:16] Robert Bannon: So, so good to see you again. So, you are coming to Detroit with this new Hallmark Stars Live, July 31st with, I mean, of course, I would say you're your number one TV guy, Andrew Walker. Like, tell us about this. Tell us about what to expect. The fans are very excited. By the way, Lucky America, Andrew is going to be on all 10 shows. And so everybody's going to get to have moments with Andrew. And I know, you know, I know how important that is to our lady audience.

[0:54] Nikki DeLoach: We're really excited. We're very excited because obviously, you know, we've gotten to do a lot of things for the first time that I know I've never done, like hosting a cruise. And so this is like a new first time that we're doing where we're going on tour. And I just think it's such a great idea to do this because we, for the last handful of years, we've been doing these experiences where people have come to us. And what is more Hallmark than us going to their hometowns and us getting to meet people where they are and bringing the show to them? And I think we're just, I'm excited about the actual show, what we're going to get to do, how we're going to entertain everyone for those couple of hours.

And to be perfectly honest, just, you know, meeting our audience, there's nothing quite like it. And you don't really experience it at any other network quite the way that we do, which is we have such an authentic, intimate relationship with everybody who watches Hallmark movies. We get to know our audience by name. There's such a safe group of people. They're so loving. They're all like, as Ashley Williams always says, they're all like our aunts, you know. And it's just like the big warm hugs that you get to get. It's such a reflection of the brand that started in Kansas City with, you know, the Halls and what the Hallmark brand puts out in the world. I think our audience is a complete reflection of that.

[2:33] Robert Bannon: Oh, my gosh. I love that so much. And I will say I've been especially because I'm from New Jersey. We go every year. And, you know, now I get to go and I interview you guys on the red carpet and things like that. But when I see you there in action, you are definitely the female MVP because your line is always one of the longest ones. But you just take the time. And it is true because we have met people just waiting in line or just, you know, looking at the vendors or going to the panels, which are some of the greatest panels ever. Like literally, I think on a Saturday, we literally like not that we don't want to meet you, but it's like we love going to hear what you all have to say and all the different experiences.

It's so much fun to do that. But you really take the time. And I watch, you know, I watch people and I like, you know, people watch her. And it's just I love seeing that. And even talking to people, you know, who say, oh, my gosh, she's the nicest person ever. I will say after meeting you and everyone that comes in contact with you has said that. And it's just it's true. It's just it talks a lot about your character. It really, really does.

[3:39] Nikki DeLoach: Honestly, there's nothing you could have said to me that would have meant more than that. I really, really appreciate that. It does mean a lot. I love people. I think I've been that way since I was a kid. I just I love humanity and I love people and feel like people deserve to be seen. And they deserve for you to take the time to get to know their name, to know them by name and to know their stories. And, you know, our audience is so special because they don't just show up and watch our movies. They show up to the experiences. They support causes that we care about. That is really special. And I think it is something that is lost that we have in this little pocket of the universe called Hallmark where people really care.

And so it's never lost on me that that is such a gift. It's always been more than a job from day one. It is a community that we are building. And I believe in it so much because I think that what we've lost a little bit in this country or a lot actually is the idea that we are all in this thing together. In our world, in the world of Hallmark, what our audience understands and what our talent understands is that there is this beautiful symbiotic relationship between the talent and the audience. And I think these experiences really have helped to like bring it to life and have that relationship be in full bloom because we have built this network together. Right. And so there is, you know, there is an ownership in our audience with that and rightly so.

And so it's just a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing to be able to build community at a time when people need community so much. And we get to live in that little pocket every day. What a gift. What a gift.

[5:50] Robert Bannon: It's true. And I think with what Hallmark does and even now where, you know, my mom is staying with us, my brother-in-law is going through a little health challenge at the moment. And it's tough. It's hard. And I think that's what's so important with Hallmark because, like you said, they're, you know, community is missing. You know, it's where we are all in it together. And I think that's why, you know, we make friends when we go there and it's just like, oh, yeah, you made that T-shirt. That's so cool. You know, and the craftiness of everyone coming like, you know, and it's just what you bring. We watch, you know, a and I'll say fictitious movie, right? A beautiful, beautiful. And it's always happy.

Yes, there's some sad parts to it, but it's always happy in the end, you know, and I think we need that. You know, we want to feel that happiness when people are going through difficult times, no matter what it may be. It's hope then. Right. You know, and it's it is it's therapy for some people, you know, where they're like, let me just put this on. And you know what? I had a not so great day, but I feel better now, you know, like it's OK, you know, like I can I can have my moment. I can grieve, you know, feel sorry for myself for a little bit, but I can put at any time of the day, whether it be Hallmark Plus or Hallmark to put something on and just have a sigh of relief and be like, OK, I feel better now.

And I think that's I know some people are like, oh, you know, you like Hallmark. I'm like, I love Hallmark. Like, what are you crazy? And it's so weird because I love other movies and things like that. But there's something special about Hallmark, this community. And it's it's so funny because now going year after year, you remember people are like, hey, how you do? Hey, how are you? And I've gone to other cons. It's not like that Hallmark. You know, it's not special.

[7:32] Nikki DeLoach: No, it is not. I have been to other ones, too. And it is definitely a different vibe. It's it's it's more transactional. I'll say that where I feel like what we bring to life is a community. And, you know, I think the thing that we forget and I'm so aware of it because I work at Children's Hospital of Angeles. I help run a caregiving organization, do a caregiving podcast, work in the space of dementia and Alzheimer's, raising money and awareness for research to find a cure one day. And so I talk to so many families every single week that are going through the hardest of their heart in the jobs that I have at Children's Hospital and at our caregiving organization, whether that call is and most of them are strangers.

I've never met them in real life and whose child is going through cancer treatment or is on the precipice of a lung transplant or heart surgery or whose mom just got diagnosed with Alzheimer's or whose uncle just got diagnosed with dementia. I mean, I probably talk to anywhere between five and ten families a week. And so I am so acutely aware. And having been a caregiver myself, you know, going through that with my son and with my father, I lost to a rare and aggressive form of dementia. I lost my grandfather to vascular dementia. Having gone through those valleys myself and been in that hospital, I am our author. I know what it's like to spend night after night after night in a hospital. I know what it's like to be on your knees in prayer and praying for mercy for a loved one or praying for survival for a loved one.

I know what that feels like. And I also know what it feels like when the balm of okayness washes over you, you know, which is what Mark Movie offers. You know, I wear it as such a badge of honor when I can walk into any hospital or nursing home and care facility across the country and those workers know exactly who I am. And that is such a badge of honor because I know what that means. And I have seen them, what they do every single day and the heart that they are in saving the lives of people or caregiving for people, how hard that is. And they just want to come home and for 90 minutes, just let everything be okay and touch upon that feeling because you know what that feeling gives you. It gives you hope and it allows you to wake up the next day and go back to that CT ICU and continue to fight to save the lives of children.

That's what that hope offers you. So people can say what they want, you know, of like, oh, you know, you watch Hallmark or whatever. We are doing so much more than just making romantic comedy. And I think when you, when you really are in the universe and when you are in the world and you get to experience that, we know, you know, it is so much more than just a movie. It is, it is the light that somebody needs to make it through that next.

[10:58] Robert Bannon: Yes, so true. So well put. And it's true. And it's, I wanted to talk about, you know, the different things that you do and, and you recently received the Gracie Award at the Grand Ole Opry. It was so exciting. How did that feel?

[11:09] Nikki DeLoach: So exciting. Oh man, that, that was such a highlight and such an incredible moment. I, an unexpected.

[11:21] Nikki DeLoach: Believe me, because the category was really, really tough and very unexpected. You know, you make these movies and I think of all the movies I've done for Hallmark, A Grand Ole Opry Christmas meant the most to me because of my personal connection to the Opry and the story that I got to tell in that movie, having lost my own dad and what that place meant to me and my dad and what it has meant to millions of people, right? It's musical church when you're sitting in that place and it's pews. Like when you're in that audience, you're sitting in a pew. It is a church, you know, for me. It is church for so many people where you can feel just decades of people sitting in those pews and bringing their tears and their celebrations and everything into that place in order to, they're looking for healing, they're looking for joy, they're looking for togetherness, they're looking for belonging, and you can feel it.

It's such a beautiful place and I just can't believe I got to be a part of the movie and I got to tell that story and what a godwink in my life. And then to be acknowledged, you know, our team of people and because it takes so many to make a movie, it is such a team sport. For our entire team to be acknowledged, you know, from our executives and writers and directors to our crew to the actors to editors, our music supervisors, everybody that got to be a part of it, I think that was the coolest part because, you know, as an actor and number one on the call sheet, you know, sometimes you get accolades but when you win it as a team, everybody gets to be a part of that victory and everybody gets to share a piece of it and I think that's what made that so special for all of us.

[13:25] Robert Bannon: I love that so much and, you know, now that you're, you know, besides being an actress and so many things and writing, what is your favorite part about being, because you encompass it all, you are an entertainer, you're not just an actress, you have, you do so many things. Is there anything else like that you want to do? Like, have you directed or is that on the table?

[13:39] Nikki DeLoach: That is, oh yeah, I went through, I'm going to give a shout out to Ashley Williams and the Make Her Mark program that she created with Randy Pope and Danny Howell. It's a hallmark and Make Her Mark is a program to give women an opportunity to get behind the camera. It was something that when I was on the TV show Awkward, I was on that for many years and I really wanted to step behind the camera and so I followed many directors, I directed a short and then if Awkward was going to go a sixth season, I was going to get my first chance to step behind the camera. We did not go a sixth season. With the Make Her Mark program, I was given that opportunity to do it again. And now I'm next in line to direct my first movie for the network and, you know, I come at it with so much humility.

It doesn't matter how many years I've been in this industry and everything that I do know, which is a wealth, it's a treasure trove of information when you've been in it over 35 years. You know, since I was a little kid, you still, man, that is the biggest, hardest job on any given set is the job of director. You are holding so much and so much is on your shoulders. So I come with a lot of humility and a lot of excitement. But yeah, so that'll be the next thing that I get to do and in the meantime, I am so happy and excited to be hosting this tour. The hosting thing is something that I really years ago stepped into. I started moderating panels for Children's Hospital and for, you know, caregivers and Alzheimer's and dementia and, you know, stepping into that world years ago in that capacity.

But then to do that in our universe with our actors, who I know so well, we're family, we know so much about each other. That has also been such a surprising gift and thrill because you're getting to, the way I see it, when you're in that host position, you are getting to set the tone and create a space for not just the audience, but for the talent, for the people that are coming on stage. And you are that person that is holding that safe space for everybody. And with the goal of making sure that nobody leaves that room without feeling totally full inside, hearts full, smiles on their faces.

[16:28] Robert Bannon: Right, I do too. I'm very much like that.

[16:31] Nikki DeLoach: Yeah, so hosting people on a stage, in a theater and making sure that they're leaving better than they came into it. That means a lot to me. So yeah, that has been a new role that I've stepped into that I'm just loving every second of. I'd love to host my own show.

[16:48] Robert Bannon: Oh, you would be fantastic. Hello.

[16:50] Nikki DeLoach: Thank you. I would love it. Come on, come on. Let's make that happen. But also, the directing thing is something I'm really excited for. I'm very excited about it and also super nervous.

[17:04] Robert Bannon: Oh yeah, no, I can imagine. So is there anything else with some new movies that you can share? I know sometimes you can't, you know, a little tease or something for all the Hallmark people out there.

[17:13] Nikki DeLoach: Well, I will tease that I am going to do my Christmas movie after the tour. And the only thing I will tease about it is that what we're talking about in the movie is something that every single parent can relate to. And I think it'll be kind of fun to explore that world for the first time in Hallmark.

[17:38] Robert Bannon: Yeah. Oh, that's a lot of tea. I love that. Okay. And, you know, I did also want to ask because it's so popular and it's one thing we haven't done. Now, my sister, she is the Dean of Students down in Florida. She teaches, she's now the Dean. Hallmark is like her life, like literally. Please tell her thank you.

[18:01] Nikki DeLoach: Oh, she adores you. She does. My cousin, now I will share, my cousin Louis, he is a basketball player. He's a dad. He's wonderful. He is faithful. He adores you.

[18:17] Nikki DeLoach: Oh, Louis, thank you. Oh, that's so nice. Please give Louis a very big hug for me.

[18:22] Robert Bannon: I will. I will do that. And it's so funny because he came, I think once or twice to Hallmark, but he was like, I don't want to be in the pictures. I'm like, why? I don't want my guy friends to know that I'm here. And then when he came a second year, he's like, there's a lot of guys here. I'm like, there are. I was like, it's okay. I was just on a flight, by the way, and it doesn't, every time I get on a plane, I get to interact with so many Hallmark fans and it's so fun. And I was recently, because I just got in last night, I was flying to Georgia to visit my family and back, and there was a couple. And the husband was like, I don't know if there's as many men who love Hallmark the way I get, you know, my male friends always make fun of me, but let me tell you, there is nothing that I love more than a Hallmark movie. And I said, by the way, you would be so surprised to know that there are a lot of you out there. So Louis, you are not alone. Not alone, not alone.

[19:21] Robert Bannon: Nikki, I just, and I have been, I have, I feel like I've known you forever. As you can see, my little bride, that's my, my wonderful friends gave us that for my husband for our wedding. I mean, I've seen you since the Mickey Mouse Club. I mean, it's so, you'll love this. So Adrian, I just, I went home and one of the things I brought back with me is my Mickey Mouse Club jacket that I wore on the show, pristine condition. My mother kept it in such pristine condition, but it is in my possession now, and I tried it on. The funniest part is I have not grown a single inch, like not a single inch. It fits me exactly the way it did when I was 12 years old. What a dream that show was to be a part of.

And also, you know, not only did I get to do the thing that I love to do, and I made best friends for life. They were so great at letting us be kids. Letting us also be kids. It was just such an amazing experience that I will be grateful for that entry into this business. I think it's what has often kept my heart so light, you know, because it can be a heavy and really hard industry. And not that I haven't navigated some very dark valleys inside of it, but when you are stepping into that as a kid, and that is your first experience. Wow. It was truly a blessing.

[20:59] Robert Bannon: Oh, I love to hear that. That makes me happy because it's true that especially for younger children, and I hope for children that do want to start in the entertainment industry, that now there will be a safer place for them to expand and grow. And I just think that's so wonderful. Thank you so much for doing this. Everyone, go get your tickets. They're not sold out already, but Nikki is coming to your town, so you have to go look it up. You have to go see the Hallmark Stars Live. I mean, it is just going to be, you've got Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell, Ashley Williams, Kimberly, and the fabulous host, Nikki DeLoach. I mean, Nikki, you are just a wonderful human being, and we just appreciate what you do. And like you said, besides the amazing Hallmark things that you give out, your love for your fans is just, and for humans in general, is just phenomenal. I just, you're the best.

[21:53] Nikki DeLoach: You are the best. Thank you. It means the world to me. Man, what a way to start a day. Thank you. Thank you for that. That means the world to me. Thank you. I'm sending you a big hug, big virtual hug.

[22:02] Robert Bannon: Big hug. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, listen, enjoy, rest up, and listen, July 31st. See you on tour?

[22:10] Nikki DeLoach: Yes. See you on tour. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, my goodness. Thank you, honey.

[22:14] Robert Bannon: Thank you.

[22:15] Nikki DeLoach: See you soon.

[22:16] Robert Bannon: Yes, definitely. And give Louis a big hug for me.

[22:20] Nikki DeLoach: I will. I will. I'll see you in December, in Jersey. I will be there.

[22:23] Robert Bannon: Yay. Okay. Bye.

[22:25] Nikki DeLoach: Bye.