Ryan Michelle Bathe

Thank you.

It's like a mobile, and they go around each other, and he has this little space shuttle that he can launch into the air.

You know what else we got? Right now we're in the midst of our spring breaks. Thank goodness I got our KiwiCo boxes right before spring break. Gave us some brand new things to do. The other thing we got was one of those fort building sets. Okay. Cute.

Comes with these rods and connectors so you can build structures so that you can, instead of trying to get all your clothes pins hooked to things around the room, you can build a structure and then throw a blanket over it. Instant little fork.

Listen, folks, I am what people would refer to as medium famous. Okay. And that makes me medium vulnerable online. Just as vulnerable as the next person. My medium fame does not make me any less vulnerable. When Delete Me came on as a sponsor, I was so fascinated. I signed up immediately. They ran all my information and I was baffled.

Very excited to find out that none of my personal information was on the 2,600 websites that they scanned. But I'm going to keep going back and make sure that all my information is safe and protected using Delete Me. That's awesome.

Listen, I love the Internet. I love it. All right. But I also don't want the internet knowing where I live. Okay, internet, get off my back. Delete me helped me set some boundaries with the internet.

And this whole episode is about, or for this storyline, is about the future of these kids. Yes. Their trajectories.

Who's going where. How and why. Yeah, and all these things and expectations. And, of course, Kevin kind of gets left out.

And it's another example of him just being here. I guess I'll just be here. Yeah. until we get to the end of this storyline and we realize that people are changing their trajectories.

But there is a bit of a hard boundary that's being kept that's like an odd support. There's maybe a little bit of too much of an emotional scaffold put on Randall.

Possibly. Randall, we're getting ready to go meet with the realtor. This is kind of the beginning of Randall's... Assuming what we find later in this episode, that Randall sees himself as the support system for the entire family. And if he doesn't do it, everything will fall apart.

With my Reese's peanut butter puff cereal.

Oh, yeah.

Paired it with my carnation instant breakfast.

You're going to love it in an instant. Shout out carnation.

Then they made a 12-pack. Somebody at Pop-Tarts was like, people are going through these six-packs too quick.

Louis. They made a 12-pack.

We were burning calories. We were burning calories.

I used to take a full-size ice chest to school with food in it. Full-size. Those igloos with the plop top. Full-size. Five, six sandwiches. I'd start eating period one and just eat all day long.

To hydrate yourself? Let me top this shit off with a bucket of sugar and colored water, and we'll just be happy. Don't tell me Gatorade's not just sugar water, too.

100%.

That's all. Anyways, childhood, the 19, kids, the point is the 1900s were fucking awesome.

When have you eaten pesto?

There was an admission in that scene that I had forgotten about, was that Jack had taken her. To look at a house a couple of months before the house burned down. Before the house burned down. Right. Which is just a little turn of the Dan Fogelman screw. Like, just a little insult to injury. Yeah. That they could have been in a whole new house anyways. Yeah.

This is 2016. Pre-election. We all decide what we're going to wear to work. And that was a choice. That was a choice.

Oh, of course.

I've enjoyed it once. Okay. In deep middle of nowhere Texas, this woman made fried okra salad.

which was little pieces of fried okra, bacon pieces, raw white onion.

Diced up. I know, I know. White vinegar and honey.

And again, I watched her make it and I was like, I don't know. And then sure enough, I ate half the bowl. Yeah. Okay. Hard to pull off.

We were just talking about This Is Us and their ability at excellent phone calls.

We got the best phone calls on TV.

Definitely. Not Sterling. Typical over-the-top Randall. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah. That's not brown. It's very admirable. No, no, no, no. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to We Don't Always Agree. We're talking with... When the kids were babies, you'd be like...

I'm getting the full value out of the diaper. One poop, there's room for another. I'm getting full value. Not poop. Not poop. No, come on.

But you can get a lot of pee in it.

I get that. I get that. That child needs to be walking different. I need to see a droop.

Sterling is looking for a 16-inch softball.

77%.

Throw your ice cream.

Ice cream or gelato? Gelato. Gelato.

In the Midwest, they got frozen custard.

There's a Ted Drew's. Come on. Ted Drew's. Jarlings? Do you have jarlings? I don't have jarlings.

I think so. Okay. All right. That's good.

What happened?

They switched to a different mix. You guys, you think I don't follow this?

In and out, I'm also looking at you. You used to have real ice cream shakes. Now you got some powdered mix. Get out of here. No more advertisers. Look, so they... This is not advertising.

Well delivered. It was good.

Which is a tie-in. We didn't talk about it in the flashback. But this is an old friend of William's. This is an old friend of William's.

Oh.

That's right.

And this is where Sterling and Randall diverge?

Okay, I'm just joking.

Oh, I did two other TV shows with. Are you serious? Yeah, because he's also in The Nick.

And he's also in Stranger Things.

There's a 60 watt.

Well, it's not even happening a lot anymore.

It used to happen more.

I remember that day.

And then I was like, Sterling, how do you get one? Where can I get one? How do you do this? How do you make one of these? Yeah. And Sterling was like, I'll send you a video. We'll talk through it.

You did this.

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Yeah, when I open the bag, my dogs, they come sit right next to me. They sit at attention and they wait for their command to commence feasting.

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That's where Quince comes in. Their stuff is high quality, feels super thoughtful, and it's actually affordable. Now, I don't overthink it. I just go straight to Quince.

I have to admit, my entire life seems like it's Quinn's now. I've got home goods. I've got sheets, linens, towels. The other day we did a podcast, and I was in a full outfit, head to toe, in Quinn's. A nice... gold chain, a knit cap, a wonderful sweater, comfy pants. I mean, I am Quince kind of through and through now.

He's four years younger than us.

Did you talk... I mean, this had to be quite the crossroads for the... writing staff because either path is the amount of storytelling and the possibility involved for that character. Was there ever any question that he would go or not?

And the financial aid office.

Yeah, I mean, it was an interesting moment because it was going to be, like, the first big emotional shift for the character. But I had very limited kind of story time. Yeah, real estate to do that. To maneuver these shifts, right? Because there were all these big stories going on. Yeah. And Toby is helping Kate with this process, or you know what I mean? There's a lot of evolution happening.

So ironically, in season three, I think the story... The amount of words I had to deliver this shift was getting fewer. So it was an interesting kind of shift.

And we have a moment as Kate and Toby have decided to go down the IVF route, and they're going to Kevin's premiere, and they're going to be around all the friends and family, and they've decided to keep IVF a secret until they... And they also decide, because you have to keep... Keep your medication cold. They're going to hide it in the pudding packages.

And you have to know Miguel Rivas loves pudding. You have to know this. You gotta know Miguel loves pudding.

I think it was scripted, but you can definitely see that I was having a real hard time delivering it. Do you remember that day? I do, I do. I couldn't turn to everybody in the room with a straight face and go, I'm a heroin addict. It was like I caught the giggles.

Randall had come over and introduced himself.

Because it was such like economical writing. I'm a heroin addict. Yeah. And you can see it on my face. Like if you know me, like that is the only take that was usable.

Because it was the only one I didn't laugh in. Because also, John and I do this sliding across with each other. And we're getting our supporting actor moment. And so the secret is out. And now the family's concern over Kate and Toby going down this IVF road becomes contentious.

We're doing very well. Today on the podcast, we're joined by a co-host of the Smash Hit podcast, we don't always agree, Ryan Michelle Bathé and Sterling K. Brown.

Really good writing.

All four of us could not keep a straight face. Mandy.

I was hysterical. You loved it. You couldn't. You loved it. I loved it. You were like, this is the best day on set ever.

Might as well do it now. They're on their way to Kevin's apartment to get ready for the thing.

And we roll in mid-conflict. A lot of tension. Kevin Pearson, get ready for this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What does it take to be taken seriously? And Toby snaps because he's flushed all of his medication down the toilet.

And I called you all asinine, which I thought, wow, Jesus. And then he calls everybody asinine, tells everyone to shut up, and then goes for a walk.

Anyways, got to go.

Yeah, I mean, it's a big emotional shift now in front of people who are not Kate. Yeah.

Right. So it's like there were small conversations in the past between Rebecca and Toby that were like, hey, I appreciate you, but I'm over here with this lady. And this is a different tone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's clearly like, and Kate points it out, like, hey. That was weird.

I mean, it opens on the most depressed Rebecca we've ever seen.

Yeah. She is reeling from the death of her husband. She's making coffee. She's in an apartment now.

Yeah, like transitional housing, nothing really personal about it. Yeah. And the kids are kind of... floating around trying to figure out what's going on.

He responds to Kate that way.

He says to Kate, he says, he was always the hardest one on me. And I think it was because he was the one person in the world that took me seriously.

Should we do a fan segment?

Actually, I love you.

You want to plug it?

I want to plug it. If you haven't listened to their podcast, it's called We Don't Always Agree. And it is an incredible look into your marriage.

I listen to every episode. I was fascinated by the whole thing. Thank you, man. We appreciate it. And it was very helpful.

She did get into every school she went to.

We received a beautiful email from one of our listeners, and we're going to read that email and then give her a call. After. Let's do that.

I did.

As the poem goes, I chose the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference. Thanks for always talking about topics that speak to my soul. I enjoy every episode of the podcast, you guys, and This Is Us means the world to me. Noreen Toastley.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.

Tell us about your books. I mean, this is why I was just doing a little Google. Tell us about your books that you just had your second book released.

I misread the letter.

Well, tell us about that then.

If people wanted to check out your blog, where would they find it?

Okay, great. And if you were going to write a book, what would you write a book about?

That's right, Maggie Rose.

Just to make sure you had options.

good dude and i think he wanted to see goodness yeah you know it seems like everything we grew up with that they did not think it was possible to make good people interesting right that it was in vogue anymore and there's and there's so much drama in in it In all of our lives.

Like if you write this family down on paper, it seems completely outlandish. Right. All of like the details.

On paper of this family.

The addiction and the adoption and then you take a step back and it's like every family. Every family. You've ever met. Yeah.

Would you do us the honor of looking in that camera and saying, that was us?

Yeah, who would?

It felt like basic application. Like, I went to a very nice high school that had all the resources. It was like, here's how you apply. But I don't think anybody knew anything about theater. And I'm like, I didn't even know theater. about NYU. It wasn't even an option. I didn't realize the difference between a college with a theater major and a theater program.

For some reason, it just wasn't in my purview at all.

It was a get-together.

That happened miraculously.

Would you like to join an eating club?

Just have lunch.

You were busy letting Harvard know you would not be attending. Yes, I was probably counseling with them.

I think you are a quality human being. Real quick, nobody was questioning that. I'm just making sure. Nobody said.

Something different. But never learned to read, right? But I never learned to read. Right.

Whether your kid is into outer space, dinosaurs, or engineering, KiwiCo has a crate for them, from toddlers all the way up to teens. We already have gotten a couple of their kits. Bear is super into outer space, so we got this astronaut beginner set where he got to design and kind of paint his own universe, all the planets.