They love you.
We love you.
Welcome back.
I always love having you on the show.
Happy... I thought I was gonna get the ponytail version.
What happened to your ponytail?
That guy weirdly looks exactly like me.
It's so weird how many people do look like me.
It's an odd thing, because people send in some crazy photos, and I go, I look nothing like that.
My brain?
And then I put on a wig, and I look exactly like him.
That's who I am.
That actually is who I am.
I was asking you earlier if you celebrate St.
Patrick's Day, because I know you're a New Yorker.
We have a big parade here.
Do you?
So, I'm actually named after County Kerry in Ireland.
Absolutely, Karen.
Yes.
That's right.
Yes, that's very lucky.
Oh, my goodness.
And I was allowed to stay home from school on St.
Paddy's Day.
As a kid growing up here, because I used to take the subway to school and my mom was like there's way too many drunk people out on the street.
It's not safe.
Some things don't change.
So it was a big holiday for me.
Yeah.
Well, I'm happy you're here and made it to our show today.
Me too.
I want to congratulate you, by the way.
You just received an Icon Award.
I did.
No big deal yet.
So pretty.
Black women in Hollywood ceremony.
That's gotta mean a lot, right?
It was wild because I, so this is this beautiful luncheon that Essence magazine has every year.
And I actually got an award from them, not for being an icon, for being like a breakthrough artist, like 14 years ago.
So it was amazing to be back there at that lunch.
And some things had changed a lot and some things had, you know, were the same.
Like I had a lot of the same team members that I had 14 years ago, but like there was a guy sitting at my table who 14 years ago was my secret fiance.
He's now my husband.
You had fun?
Yeah, it was so fun.
And it just was really special.
Like when I was there, it was kind of in the midst of all of the craziness around this rocket ship that I was on called Scandal.
Oh yeah?
And I remember, So crazy.
I remember being really nervous to speak at the luncheon because there were a lot of women in the crowd who had auditioned for Scandal and who really wanted that role.
But when I got on stage, there was no sense of like competition or contempt or jealousy.
I just felt so much love in the room and support.
Like they were praying for me to win, that we would all win.
Yes.
And so I stood up there and I was thinking you know, if this show works like, if anybody actually watches Scandal, I have to pour back into this room.
Like I wanna start a production company and create opportunities for more of us.
So there's not just this one role that we're all competing for, you know.
Good, good for you and you did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You have done that.
That's why you get the icon award.
Come on, congrats.
Yeah, yeah.
I love producing.
I really do love producing.
You do?
Yeah, because when you're an actor, sometimes you feel like you're sitting at home waiting for somebody to invite you to a party.
And when you're a producer, you get to throw the party.
You're like, it's my party.
But it takes a long time to develop these ideas and make them a reality.
For Imperfect Women, Elizabeth Moss, who is a beast.
She's an amazing actress, she's a phenom, and she saw this book Imperfect Women at the airport, like six, seven years ago 2019, and she loved it.
She bought the rights and it's taken seven years to get it made.
To get it made.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All that stuff.
It's shocking to me.
When you watch it you go like because it would come out, and everybody's like -Oh my God, that was great.
-"It came out of nowhere!"
You're like, no.
Blood, sweat, and tears.
Yeah.
Yeah.
By the way, can I quickly talk about something we were talking about backstage?
But like, Depends on which thing that, Which of the things.
The one involving another certain icon, one of my all-time favorites, Whoopi Goldberg?
Yes.
Yes!
Wait, you're re-imagining?
Yes, so our production company Simpson Street, we are re-imagining Whoopi's one-woman show that she did on Broadway, which was spectacular.
It was groundbreaking.
That's my favorite.
Yes, but you can't do what Whoopi did, because she is a true icon.
So we're doing five actresses to do her one-woman show.
Yeah, that's right.
It takes five.
It really probably takes 20 of us to be whooping, but we're gathering as much talent as we can to honor her and to honor this piece.
We're doing it at Lincoln Center this summer.
No way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love that one-woman show.
I remember that was one of my first introductions to what Broadway was, because I was in upstate New York Saugerties, and I was watching, you know, television and these ads for Whoopi.
Yeah.
And I go, what is this?
Incredible.
And she... All her characters...
So she played so many different characters and she I mean some of the characters cursed, and I was young like single digits.
I'm like eight or nine years old and my mom used to let me walk around the house singing like, around the world in 80 mother .
Yeah, oh my God.
Dude, I remember, you did that?
She used to let me curse because she was like, it's art.
Around the world.
It's art, it's Broadway.
You can curse for Broadway.
Wow!
That's probably why I'm an actor today.
I was like, oh, I can do anything if I'm acting.
I remember, like, I said okay.
He said okay.
He said okay.
Oh, my God.
So good.
And my long, luxurious blonde hair.
Like, all these pieces are so important.
That was my introduction to Broadway.
That and also the Milford Plaza commercial.
Do you remember that?
Do I remember?
I'll take you to the lullaby of Broadway.
I'll take you to the lullaby of Broadway. at the Milford Plaza.
So good.
-"Oh, my gosh.
Mom, you have to go to the Milford Plaza."
-"I have to stay there, because the Bellmen sing to you."
-"They're dancing at the Bellmen.
Yeah.
The Milford Plaza is the lullaby of all Broadway."
Oh, yes.
The best.
I cannot wait for that.
I'm not doing the Milford Plaza.
No, no, no, you won't do that.
No, I'll do that on the way as people are walking into the theater.
Don't worry about it.
I'll be outside for you.
Let's talk about your new project, your limited series, Imperfect Women.
Congratulations on this.
Thank you.
It's a psychological thriller on Apple TV.
Juicy.
It is.
Juicy.
You star in it.
You produce it as well.
The cast is, like you said, amazing.
Elizabeth Moss.
Yeah, so she really brought it to me.
She's an executive producer.
She bought the rights to this novel.
When Elizabeth Moss calls you, you're like yes, whatever you want.
And then I hope, I was like, oh, I hope the material's as good as she is, right?
And so I read the book and I was like, I'm in.
Cause these girls are messy.
They are messy.
It's about these three best friends.
They become best friends in college.
And one of them winds up dead in the first episode.
And the other two are trying to come to terms with her death.
And as they are figuring out how she died and why she died, they really have to deal with a lot of their stuff.
Yeah, it's well done.
I want to show a clip.
Here's Kerry Washington in Imperfect Women.
Take a look.
Excuse me.
Oh.
Potato mini galettes with a tomato confit paired with champagne.
Compliments of the chef.
Oh, thank you.
Please thank Marco for me.
Will do, Miss Boucher.
Thank you.
Amazing.
They look very nice.
I mean, they're tater tots, right?
No, they are very fancy artisanal tater tots.
Rude.
I love it when you sleep with shifts.
Ooh, how's it going with the co-workers?
That's still... Yes, we are still connecting here and there.
You know, it's very casual, though.
Does he know that?
Yes.
Nancy, you good?
What?
Kerry Washington, everybody!
The first two episodes of Imperfect Women premiere today on Apple TV.
Kerry and I are doing something fun after the break.
Stick around.
It's good.
