Welcome back to the show.
And I just learned this backstage about you, but you are Irish.
I am mostly Irish on my mom's side, and then my grandmother on my dad's side, she was a touch Irish.
Well, happy St.
Patrick's Day to you.
Thank you.
You, too.
You're Irish, right?
Yes, very Irish.
You started acting in college, right?
Yeah, I mean, I tried before that, but... You did?
Yeah, but nobody cared.
They didn't care.
Do you remember any of your first auditions?
You know, I had read this thing that all these big stars used to crash auditions, and so I read that Michael J Fox had crashed auditions.
What does it mean?
Like, you just show up?
Yeah, you just like show up and they don't have an appointment and don't have an agent, and you can just get in there.
I don't think it's true.
I don't even know if it's true.
Wow.
But I read that all these people did that.
Yeah, and I'm not even that kind of person.
I'm always like, this restaurant's closed, right?
I can't eat here, right?
And then I get kicked out.
That's me too.
I play by the rules all the time.
And so this girl was going to an audition and I went with her.
It was for a commercial and you had to like, you know, hold a thing.
Can I touch your water?
Yeah, of course, please.
And you had to hold a cup and like talk about it.
And I just kept doing this the whole time.
And so I was covering whatever the product was, and they were like, you're terrible at this.
No.
Yeah, you're like, just hold the can of Pepsi.
Yeah, no.
Pepsi is the great... Yeah, you couldn't do that.
No, I could not.
I was bad at it.
I did an audition once for a soft drink or something like that, and I was so nervous.
And they went up, and before I had my lines, they sprayed me with a water bottle.
And they were just like, all right, you have to be out of breath.
I go, yeah, I know.
I'm like a courier or something.
I had to ride a bike or something.
And they just sprayed me in the face with water.
And I go, this is so degrading.
Did you get the part?
I did not get the part.
No, it was just embarrassing.
I go, oh, my gosh.
But did you ever take any chances to audition and get the part?
I mean, typically, yes.
And then all the times, you know, also it goes badly.
But I remember when I was auditioning for Scooby-Doo, I was going, you know, I...
Thank you.
I was really excited, because that was my favorite cartoon growing up.
So I was going in for Velma and I was like I'm not going to go in there without my glasses and my turtleneck.
So I went to Ross and bought this orange turtleneck and borrowed a friend of mine's glasses.
You went to Ross?
I did.
I did.
And I needed a bargain.
Of course.
Ross is great.
And they had things that were out of season.
It wasn't really orange turtleneck season.
And then I went and I got this orange turtleneck and this skirt and I dressed in a costume which I was kind of new when I got that part.
Is this after Freaks?
It was after Freaks and Geeks, but Freaks and Geeks wasn't like a big success or anything.
So I was pretty new and I just figured you were supposed to dress the part.
So I got there and there were a lot of people who so I was kind of still a nobody.
Freaks and Geeks got canceled and you know, and now people have seen it because it's on DVD, but at the time not a lot of people were watching it.
Yeah.
And so I went in there and I saw all these famous people sitting in the waiting room.
Were they dressed as Velma?
No.
They were in normal people clothes.
They looked great.
And I looked like an idiot.
Yeah.
And so I went in there.
Yeah.
And I went in there dressed up in this costume and just felt so stupid.
And then I did my audition and I did all these like crazy things that you know, like took off my glasses and did you know all these like they, and I just felt like I had made the biggest fool out of myself.
And I came home and cried and cried and cried.
And then I got the part.
Yeah.
See, there you go.
And you nailed it.
Yeah, my dad always says he knew I would get a part of a game.
I'm crying.
So I guess you have to make a fool of yourself.
You got to make a fool of yourself.
You got to try, yeah.
I know that also you're a fan of game shows, TV game shows.
You've actually been a contestant on games?
I have, on several.
Which ones?
Well, when I first moved to L.A., I was on The Price is Right.
I know.
With Bob Barker.
Bob Barker?
Yeah, in the olden days.
And I won a fireplace.
Come on down?
You got that?
Come on down.
Rod Roddy?
Of course, pronounced my name wrong, though.
Which is fine.
That's fine.
I'm used to it.
But Cardellini.
And I was like, it's Cardellini.
And then I ran down, and I was terrible at the game.
But I won a fireplace.
I bid $1,000.
I won a fireplace.
Which I then, in turn, lost in a fire.
Oh, my God!
That's so ironic.
Unfortunately.
And then I was on... Freaks and Geeks did a thing against this show called Popular.
We were on Family Feud.
Oh my gosh.
And yeah, we played for charity, which was amazing.
I would always love to play family theater.
Yeah, right?
And then I always wanted to be on Wheel of Fortune.
I used to watch it with my grandmother and it's like my, one of my favorites, so.
You never did?
Well, I auditioned when I first, after The Price is Right, I auditioned to be.
They had these auditions and you could go and it was like a like at an airport hotel and there were lines just around the corner because back in those days that was like the most popular show on television.
It was a huge primetime show.
So we waited in line a friend of mine and I all day and we played.
They do this thing where they do like a whole audition basically.
So you go through like a full day of auditioning, like to play, not like an actor's audition, but you just play the game over and over, and over again.
Yeah.
And I got to the very end, and I got chosen.
Because I was, you know, I'd played with my grandma.
We were good at it.
Yeah, don't play.
I'll play Wheel of Fortune, man.
I'm good.
Yeah, and then by the time, because it was such a popular show, by the time I got called to be on the show, I had my first-ever job on television as a series regular on a kids' morning show on ABC, so I couldn't be on.
I mean, we are way good for you, because, come on, you made it.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Would you ever go back?
Would you ever try to go on Wheel of Fortune now?
Well, here's what I know about a game show is it's terrible pressure.
It's really hard.
It's a lot.
By the way, it's harder.
Yes.
Whoa.
Playing at home when you're watching on TV is so much easier.
I'm so much better at home than I am in person, so I'd be afraid now to play.
I think that was a lot of pressure.
But I remember being on The Price is Right as, like you know, an 18-year-old and people just being like that's not right, you idiot.
And I was like, oh, my God.
They're like, it's 99 cents.
And I was, you know, I was terrified.
I think you could do it.
I don't know if I can handle the pressure anymore.
Yeah, maybe it was like a celeb wheel of fortune.
I mean, are they gonna take it easy on me?
Definitely not Jeopardy.
I can't do that.
That's way too much pressure.
I can't do Jeopardy.
No, no, no, no, no.
But I do love all types of game shows.
Have you been on one?
Yes.
Well, I mean, I've hosted a bunch.
Password.
Brag.
No big deal.
But it is a different thing.
It's a total different pressure.
But we do games here on the show all the time.
I know.
I always want to play a game.
Next time, I have to play a game.
You have to play a game.
I mean, I don't think I can break a record with football.
I gotta be honest, but...
He's unbelievable.
By the way, how about he threw it, even the one I threw behind my back, and he still hit that one.
He's unbelievable.
He's got an arm.
Oh, my God, he's the best.
Let's talk about your show, DTF St.
Louis.
Congratulations on this, by the way.
People love it.
I love it.
Your character, Carol, has a lot of hobbies.
I know she loves Jamba Juice.
She has a lot of good catchphrases.
She's a Little League umpire.
She sure is.
I don't know if she really wants to be, but she is.
But she is.
She needs to do it for the fam.
And by the way, here's you in character.
Oh, thank you for that.
No problem.
I didn't know they wear that much padding.
I thought it went on the outside.
Me too.
But Steve Conrad, who's our wonderful writer-director, was very intent on it being on the inside, which I do think makes it stand out.
That's pretty fun.
Is there any move that you learned as being an umpire?
Oh, I love the moves.
I mean, I'm a little rusty because, you know, I haven't umped in a while.
Yeah, because it gives a taste of what you're doing.
I mean, that one in the picture is like, strike!
Yeah!
That's what I'm talking about.
You know what I mean?
And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or like, you know, there's a bat.
There's like names for them all.
I know I did like a class with a guy who was an umpire and it was really fun.
That's also, I think, a lot of pressure, by the way, an umpire.
You're right.
I was a Little League ump once.
What?
Someone was sick and they asked me if I could jump in and do it.
And I go, sure.
And I put the thing on the outside.
But I was there with the mask.
And you've got to make the call.
I mean, yeah, strike ball.
A lot of people are angry.
You're going to break some hearts.
I did not like that.
I'm a very, yes, everyone wins type of girl.
I know.
I know.
What do you think of this?
I know.
I am, too.
So, Carol, not at all.
This character, not at all.
But I like the little clicky thing they gave you.
Oh, they gave me that, too.
I had that in a notebook.
Yes.
A notebook.
I don't know what I was writing down in it.
No, me either.
I like the clicky thing.
I go, oh, my gosh.
It says right here, two strikes.
I'm so excited.
Can we set up what DTF St.
Louis is about and who you play?
Okay, I play a woman named Carol, and she is married to a man named Floyd, played by David Harbour.
He's amazing.
I know, he is amazing.
And she also is, there's a love triangle with Jason Bateman there, and the three of us.
There certainly is.
And somebody ends up uh, dead and it's sort of looking into and that's not a spoiler, it happens very early and it's sort of looking into uh, how this whole, how this happened.
And you know the title is provocative, but sometimes the scenes are just more awkward and funny and odd and it has its own um style.
Yeah, and dtf st louis was what David Harbour finds out is an app, a dating app.
Yes, it's a dating app for married people who want to not act married for a minute.
Yes, yeah.
It's fantastic.
You do a great job.
I want to show a clip.
Here's Linda Cardellini in DTF St.
Louis.
Take a look.
Why are you doing up talk?
Doing what?
Doing everything ends in a question.
Doing kids are in the sunshine.
Okay, I'm not.
Okay, you are.
Okay.
Well, maybe I'm just, you know, maybe I'm little nervous about you know, saying that the umpire gear around the house it makes it a little hard for me to get my engine revved, you know kind of uh, because it kind of neutralizes uh sexually.
So maybe if there was more time around the house when we weren't an umpire um, i thought it was important to share this, you know, so that our sex life okay.
Thank you OK.
OK.
