0:01

With Mario a little bit, Debora, Mario

0:03

Lopez, join me out on Zoom. Emmy

0:05

winning actress Deborah Messing. Welcome

0:07

to the show, Devora. It was nice to see you. Thank

0:10

you. Great to see you. You've got this

0:12

nice glow uh

0:14

right now and this visually I'm always at you know, doing

0:16

these zooms. It's fun because you get to kind of see, UM,

0:19

people's either office or their home where you speaking to

0:22

us from. UM, I am speaking

0:24

from my living room in New York City.

0:26

Okay, looks very nice, very clean.

0:29

I remember those days. I got three kids running

0:31

around with a zoo, Remember

0:33

the clean days. That's why

0:35

you're only seeing the corner. Got

0:38

it fair enough? Fair enough? So

0:40

you've got this new podcast, The Dissenters.

0:42

What made you want to get into podcasting?

0:46

UM? You know, my

0:48

friend and partner Madonna

0:51

Danny and I are both UM,

0:54

very active, and we

0:56

have been sort of making it a

1:00

habit of finding links

1:03

and videos to really incredible

1:05

people, uh and sending it to each other

1:07

to sort of inspire each other. Especially

1:09

during the last few years. It's been it's

1:11

been a little dark at times. And UM

1:15

and one day she turned to me and

1:17

she said, you know, if

1:19

we start a podcast, we can make these

1:21

people talk to us. And

1:26

and literally that is how it was born.

1:29

And we were sitting there and we were like, oh my god,

1:31

you're right, you're right, we can

1:34

and she said, it doesn't even matter if nobody

1:36

ever listens to it, because we'll still

1:38

be able to ask all the questions we want, and

1:40

that's really all we want. It

1:44

was it was completely selfish, but

1:46

now that it's up and running

1:48

and we're getting such beautiful

1:51

feedback from people, uh, you

1:53

know, the whole the whole focus and intent of

1:55

it was to empower

1:57

people, inspire people. You know,

1:59

there's this this misconception

2:02

that you have to you know,

2:04

be really educated, or

2:07

you have to have tons of social media

2:09

followers where you have to have lots of money

2:11

in order to get into activism and to actually

2:14

help make change for good. And

2:18

so we wanted to dispel that and

2:20

to show everybody that literally

2:23

all you have to do is just take one

2:25

step and you're an activist. And

2:27

so we discovered all of these what we

2:29

call accidental activists,

2:31

people who never intended to

2:33

become a hero or to start a foundation

2:35

or anything. They just saw something that

2:38

they felt was wrong, and they

2:40

said, you know, I want to try and make

2:42

it better and motivated and that's great. And I

2:44

know you're you're pretty vocal on social media

2:46

about certain causes you're passionate about. So

2:48

that's very cool. And it's an impressive guest list. You've

2:51

had my girl even Longoria,

2:53

Jane Fonda, Jamala jamal

2:56

Um. What do you what do you find that all these uh

2:58

ladies um have in common? Uh?

3:03

Well, um, well, those three

3:05

are are obviously famous

3:08

names, and most of the

3:10

people that we cover aren't famous. But

3:13

those three women, I think um

3:16

are are are fierce and

3:19

they're uh, they're fearless

3:22

and um

3:24

somehow they all found

3:28

their voices very early

3:30

in life and um

3:32

and and none

3:34

of them were ever scared of

3:37

the any sort of you

3:40

know, pushback or flak

3:43

um for speaking whatever

3:45

their truth was. And

3:48

you know, for me, it took me much

3:50

longer to find my voice, UM.

3:53

And so that's why that is particularly

3:55

inspiring to me. Yeah, I bet who

3:58

all the people you talk to, you know what I'm doing my too.

4:00

I always constantly learning from

4:02

someone and it and it is inspiring kind of

4:04

helps keep you sharp, which is which is pretty

4:06

cool. Um, I know you were recently

4:09

in the movie Irresistible and Jon Stewart.

4:11

What what was the director? How was he

4:13

as a writer? Oh? He's

4:16

spectacular. I mean really,

4:18

I mean he's he's so brilliant.

4:20

I think, I think I and

4:23

I'm sure many people um just

4:25

took for granted just that he was a funny

4:28

guy. But he

4:30

is a brilliant screenwriter and

4:33

you know, a very intuitive and

4:36

generous director, and he was playful

4:38

and he made it fun and um,

4:41

I just I just think he's brilliant. He's

4:43

really amazing. That's cool to hear, very

4:45

cool to hear. The return of Will and Grace

4:48

was obviously a great success. Congratulations

4:50

and all that. You guys were very clever in the way you

4:52

brought it back. I haven't to coincidentally

4:54

be bringing back my old show as well. So my

4:56

question to you is, what's the secret

4:58

to capturing recapturing I should

5:01

say, the original chemistry and charm?

5:04

Oh wow, that's a good question.

5:06

Um, I think I

5:09

think the thing that helped Will and Grace

5:11

um live again, Uh,

5:15

was that we we did

5:17

the same show that we we did

5:19

twenty years ago. When people fell in love with

5:21

the show, we didn't um,

5:24

you know, change the voice of the show.

5:28

All the rules within the show stayed

5:30

the same. You know, we would talk about

5:33

you know, pop culture, what's

5:35

happening right now in real time. It was

5:37

very sort of sort of body and

5:40

always sort of pushing the boundaries. And

5:42

I think I think that

5:44

people are really sort of feeling

5:47

nostalgic right now, and that's

5:49

why they're really loving all of these

5:51

shows from the nineties.

5:54

Uh that made them feel you

5:56

know good. It was a happier time

5:58

for everybody. And uh, so

6:01

good luck have you started? Um, yeah,

6:03

we've got This is only my last week

6:05

as a matter of fact, so fingers crossed and

6:07

uh, hopefully we'll have a success.

6:10

Did did your first episode feel

6:12

like you were completely on a

6:14

different planet a little bit? You know what

6:17

was different was, um because

6:19

we shot it with the traditional for camera right

6:21

in front of a live audience, and now it's single camera, so

6:24

okay, yeah, exactly. So it's just a much different tone

6:27

and feel and and and it was cool but

6:29

just a longer process as you know, Yeah,

6:32

yeah, but it was but it was fun. So

6:34

you know, I'm happy we got Tracy Wigfield, who

6:36

was great and congratulations

6:39

Jeff. So thanks. Yeah, so fingers crossed, we'll

6:41

see, we'll see. Um. I know we

6:43

have a lot in common too, because I know you were supposed to return

6:45

to Broadway, which I love in them yea

6:48

birthday candles? Correct? Is

6:51

that still possibility at some point

6:53

when when the world seems to go back to somewhat.

6:56

Uh, thank

6:59

thank I'm incredibly grateful

7:02

and thankful that it is a definite happening.

7:05

Um, it's it's through the Roundabout Theater.

7:07

And uh so they said that

7:09

we would be the very first play that they

7:11

do once Broadway opens up

7:14

again, and I think, you know, the hope

7:16

is that we would get back into rehearsal mid

7:18

March April. Um,

7:21

knocking on wood. We were, we were halfway

7:24

through our rehearsal period when we

7:26

shut down. Um, and it

7:28

was so it's just such

7:30

an amazing play, and I

7:33

was really worried that it would never happen,

7:35

and thankfully it will.

7:38

That's great to hear. Yeah, I'd love to come and see

7:40

it. We always make a make a point

7:42

to see a bunch of shows that we're down there. So that's good.

7:44

That's good to hear. Um, Holl's your son now?

7:48

He just turned sixteen sixteen?

7:51

Is he is he driving yet? Well? Do

7:53

you live in New York all the times? Your son live in New York, I know,

7:56

New York City, it's home, so he know

7:58

he's not driving yet. That's the thing of New Yorkers,

8:00

right, You don't have friends that have never driven

8:04

in New York. I'm like, what do you mean? You know? But now as I

8:06

gotten older, I'm like, it's the number one pet

8:08

peeve of mind that I don't like to drive. I'm all about uber

8:10

now, but they don't have their license. I'm

8:12

like, how do you go about your middle aged man?

8:15

Do you not have your license? One

8:17

of my best friends was born and raised in

8:19

New York City and she didn't get her license

8:22

until she was forty one. Yeah, exactly,

8:26

my mind, what

8:29

do you mean you can't drive? What do you mean

8:31

you can't drive? You know? And

8:33

finally she got a

8:35

job in North Carolina so she had to learn

8:38

to drive. And you know,

8:40

it's like, welcome to welcome

8:42

to adulthood, right right right. I feel

8:44

like at forty one, I'd be too intimidated to even

8:46

take that on, Like I'd be no, you know what, someone

8:48

just driving me around. It sounds daunting. I'm

8:52

sure she was like, this sucks. Yeah,

8:56

but still he wants to learn how to

8:58

drive, and so I I'm

9:00

sure once once COVID is over,

9:02

we will be heading to the to

9:05

the driving you know, license

9:08

and school and everything. I told him I

9:10

wanted to teach him how to drive, and he didn't

9:12

have a response. I bet, yeah,

9:15

I bet, I got. I gotta imagine you don't start

9:17

out driving in Manhattan, right,

9:19

that's a little too much for the first Now,

9:22

I think what you know, although if you do conquer

9:24

Manhattan, you can drive anywhere. Good. You're good to go

9:26

anywhere in the country. You know.

9:28

I grew up in New England, so I

9:31

you know, great driver, and I'm

9:33

still scared to drive in Manhattan right. Still,

9:36

it's still it's still daunting. But

9:38

um no, I think what you do? Most people

9:40

go out to Brooklyn and go

9:42

into like a really big parking lot. That's

9:45

the move. Good, that's good. Mom.

9:48

Before I let you go, uh, Debora,

9:50

I want to put you on the spot. Quick questions, quick answers.

9:53

Okay, okay, favorite

9:55

show you've watched during quarantine? Oh

9:58

oh um un edged cad no

10:00

no, no, no, no, No, that's unorthodox

10:04

and educated was a book I love. Yeah,

10:07

go to karaoke song. Oh

10:11

um, uh

10:15

uh, it's the Barber streisand

10:18

Donna Summers on the radio

10:21

on the radio, all

10:23

right, Yeah, celebrity

10:25

crush growing up. Oh

10:29

gosh um. I think

10:31

I'd have to go with When I was really

10:33

young, Donnie Osman.

10:36

I worked with him. Very nice guy, nicest

10:39

guy in the world. Yes, And

10:41

he married a woman named Deborah and spelled

10:44

her name the exact same way.

10:46

And when she got married, I literally

10:49

went into a depression and like went into

10:51

my bed, and my mother was like, it's okay,

10:54

It's okay, and I was like, I'm

10:56

the depth right. He was supposed to be the

11:00

wrong thing, all right. Dream

11:02

Dream Podcast guest Oh

11:07

gosh um uh

11:09

rbj Ruth Bader Ginsburg

11:13

because we named we named it after her motto

11:15

that I dissent, so she

11:17

would be the person you never know, okay.

11:21

And last, something you've learned about

11:23

yourself in oh

11:27

um, You're never too

11:29

old to learn something new. I've

11:31

I've taken up piano. Oh, good for

11:34

you. How's that going. It's

11:36

good. I've been teaching myself. I

11:38

got like ten books and I

11:40

got an app and um,

11:43

I'm I'm really coming along. You know

11:45

what, You've inspired me because I've I've

11:47

read No No, No, I'm being serious because

11:49

I took up jiu jitsu for my boys

11:52

right recently, which is okay. And then

11:54

my kids played piano too, and I'm like, gosh, I kind of regret

11:56

not ever playing the piano. I did play the drums

11:58

when I was a kid. I'm like, maybe maybe I'll do Maybe

12:00

I'll dabble a little bit. It's not too late. I

12:03

like that, Deborah. Mario, I've told you

12:05

everyone in the family has to learn different instruments. You're

12:07

gonna have a family band. We're gonna have the band I know we're working

12:09

on will be the Latino Partridge from we're working

12:12

on. So thank you so much,

12:14

congratulations on everything.

12:16

Hopefully we'll get to see in person one

12:18

of these days. So uh and listen

12:21

to the dissenters on I Heart Radio

12:23

or wherever you get your podcast. Debra,

12:25

thanks again for checking in. Thank you so much,

12:28

Stay safe. Thank you. Likewise, on

12:30

with Mario Lopez