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Episode: "From On Screen Bestie to Book Club Queen with Judy Greer"

Date: September 9, 2025
Host: Danielle Robay
Guest: Judy Greer

Episode Overview

In this lively and heartfelt episode, Danielle Robay sits down in-person with beloved character actress Judy Greer. The conversation moves from Greer's voracious reading habits and decades-long love of book clubs to her approach as both an actor and a writer. They dig into the experience of adapting Stephen King's The Long Walk for the screen, the evolution of female characters (and friendships) in film, and the complex relationship with fame, age, and ambition. The episode is filled with candid stories, hilarious asides, heartfelt confessions, and plenty of book recommendations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Judy’s Book Club Origins & Reading Habits

• First Book Club (“20 years ago”):

  • Greer started her first club herself, inviting friends and encouraging everyone to bring a friend.
  • “I was very specific about wanting it to be every six weeks, not once a month, because I didn’t want to only be reading book club books.” (05:10)
  • Book selection was democratic—members would pitch titles and vote.

• On Being a Voracious and Selective Reader:

  • Reads more than she posts about; only shares books she loves, doesn’t “say bad things about a book.” (06:44)
  • Describes herself as reading “way too fast,” sometimes skipping ahead to spoilers, especially with emotionally intense books. (07:03)

• The Collector Side:

  • Greer is also a knitter, vegetarian, and collector of jars (“literally just a bunch of empty jars,” now mostly used for her husband’s pickles). (08:11)

Childhood Reading & Emotional Connection to Books

• Judy describes her upbringing as an only child in Michigan, where books were her “companions” and playmates:

  • “Books were... my playmate too.” (10:47)
  • Favorite childhood reads: Sweet Valley High (“to the point where my dad limited every other book could be Sweet Valley High”). (09:19)

• Books became a vehicle not for escape from hardship, but a way to travel, learn empathy, and connect with the wider world.

  • “It was like travel. It was learning empathy. It was like getting out of suburbs of Detroit, even if only through a story.” (09:55)

Bringing Characters On and Off the Page

• Greer credits reading with helping her build characters as an actor, both adapted from literature and original roles:
  • “I am filing that away for characters, for thoughts, for ideas, for feelings when I’m at work.” (19:20)
  • Reading existing material for adaptations (e.g., The Long Walk) offers a “way in” to character, almost a “cheat code.” (20:00)

Judy’s Dream Book Club—With Her Own Characters!

• Characters she’s played who’d make her dream book club:
  • Quinn from The Last Thing He Told Me (“really, really smart”), Lucy from 13 Going on 30 (“would probably read a lot of Emily Henry”), Erin from What Women Want (“would bring the classics”), Kitty Sanchez from Arrested Development (“Who the hell knows what she would pick?”). (11:05)
• Characters not invited: her role in Dead of Winter (“not invited,” too intense).

Adapting Stephen King & Thematic Resonance

• On reading King in her youth:

  • “I read every Stephen King book I could get my hands on when I was a kid.” (12:22)
  • Despite loving his writing, Judy doesn’t think of herself as a horror fan, and emphasizes that genre is less important than good storytelling.

• Discussing the Long Walk adaptation:

  • “Well, you better do it well because the fans will eviscerate you if you don’t.” (21:16)
  • Notes how the film adaptation felt “more hopeful” than the original book, seeing in it a desperate search among youth for love, hope, and connection—possibly the “echo of this generation.”
    • “Are our kids looking for a hope and a connection and a sense, something to be proud of, like, how to be a patriot when you don’t know what you believe in anymore?” (23:18)
    • Memorable line: “Choose love.” (24:54)

On Writing Her Memoir (I Don’t Know Where You Know Me From)

• Greer only wrote her memoir after being approached by an agent; had to overcome fear and procrastination.

  • “I was afraid it would be bad and that I would be bad and I wouldn’t be able to do it.” (32:57)
  • “My job is to write your book, and you have to do your job. You have to go to work.” — Advice from her husband Dean (33:21)
  • Her writing sessions often took place at bars, not coffee shops: “I was no Stephen King, but I was much better after my little lecture from my husband.” (33:47)

• Would she write new chapters now, a decade later?

  • “Things are very different now.” (34:02)
  • Reflects on aging, being a woman, and societal expectations—expresses exhaustion with the “topic” of aging, but acknowledges its impact. (34:13)

Age, Ambition & The Shifted Landscape of Self-Image

• Shares a vivid old interview answer about wanting a role “not about finding love, but finding herself.” (34:29)
• Discusses how societal milestones (marriage, kids) loom large for her generation, often prompted by the outside world. (35:25)
• Notes change from rarely seeing her image to today’s culture of constant self-surveillance via social media—complicating self-esteem and perceptions of aging. (36:47)

The Right to Say No & Knowing Her Worth

• On her evolved approach to acting, ambition, and self-worth:
  • “I feel a lot more like cozier in my space than I probably did when I wrote the book... I really understand what I have to offer.” (38:34)
  • Blessing from a friend: “You’ve earned the right to say no to some things for a while, Judy.” (39:11)
  • She now values the ability to say no and create space for new experiences, not just work for work’s sake.

Female Friendship—On and Off Screen

• Reflects on White Lotus's viral monologue about envy and gratitude among women.
  • “I loved that monologue... depending on the day and time I watched it.” (42:52)
  • Observes how difficult it is for men to grasp the nuance of female friendships compared to male ones.

Book Recs from Hollywood’s Best

• Best book recs? “Emma Thompson.” (43:32)
  • Emma Thompson, her daughter Gaia Wise, Laurel Marsden, and Greer had an on-set book club, swapping titles.
• Who surprises as a big reader? “Owen Wilson... we text about books, and that surprised me.” (44:24)

Fall Reading List & Literary Speed Round (45:00)

• Recent purchases: The Book of Alchemy, Audition at Godmothers (signed copy), Rebecca (from Shakespeare & Company, Paris).
• Favorite recommendations: Demon Copperhead (45:17)
• A book she wishes she could read again for the first time: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (47:24)
• The literary classic she’s never read: Pride and Prejudice (“Me neither, that’s the best book we’ve never read.”) (47:37)
• Favorite trope: “Opposites attract” (46:43)
• Trope she’d ban: “The creative outcast boy draws” (her husband’s cliche) (46:33)
• Favorite female literary friendship: The mom from The Goldfinch (46:55)
• Dream adaptation/starring role: “The wife in The Bee Sting.” (47:12)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On adapting Stephen King:
  “You better do it well because the fans will eviscerate you if you don’t.” (21:16)

• On female friendships:
  “You need to watch these three movies to understand the conversation I had yesterday on the phone.” (42:48)

• On writing and journaling:
  “Not every sentence is meant to be read. Some things are only meant to be written—hurried, looped, illegible, but full of feeling, the opposite of aesthetic.” — Quoting Milk Fed on Substack (48:14)

• On changing perspectives:
  “Maybe what I was working toward was being able to say no and not being terrified.” (41:21)

• On making reading cool:
  “It wasn’t when I was little, but it’s now... BookTok made it cool. And Reese’s Book Club, I think.” (44:51)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|-----------| | Judy’s first book club and reading habits | 05:03 | | The joy & role of books in childhood | 09:02 | | Books shaping acting and character work | 19:20 | | Discussing Stephen King adaptations | 21:08 | | Thematic relevance of The Long Walk today | 23:18 | | Memoir writing process | 31:24 | | Aging, ambition, and self-image | 34:13 | | On being able to say “no” in career | 39:11 | | Female friendships in film | 41:21 | | Best book recommendations in Hollywood | 43:32 | | Fall reading list & literary speed round | 45:00 | | On journaling, writing for oneself | 48:14 |

Memorable & Notable Quotes

• On book selection rules (05:31):
  Danielle: “Did you have any rules for picking the book?”
  Judy: “We would kind of go around and pitch books... and then sort of choose between the ones that were pitched.”

• On only sharing books she loves (06:44):
  “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

• On Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ (13:52):
  “After I read that book, by the way, I was like—I am not a writer. I don’t have what this guy has.”

• On acting vs. writing (14:30):
  “You do what you want to do. And so clearly, I don’t want to do that because I spend more time online shopping than I do writing.”

• On aging and ambition (34:13):
  “I’m so bored of that topic.” (Re: aging and being a woman in the industry)

• On the right to say no (39:11):
  “You've earned the right to say no to some things for a little while, Judy.”

• On female friendships in media (42:48):
  “You need to watch these three movies to understand the conversation I had yesterday on the phone.”

• Milk Fed Substack quote (48:14):
  “Not every sentence is meant to be read. Some things are only meant to be written—hurried, looped, illegible, but full of feeling, the opposite of aesthetic.”

Closing Reflections

Danielle and Judy’s conversation is a celebration of books as lifelines, portals, and companions—and how storytelling flows between personal life and public art. Judy Greer’s effervescent humor and honesty, both about the joys and ridiculousness of Hollywood and the deeper emotional experiences of reading and growing older, make the episode both entertaining and insightful. Whether ruminating on journaling, the complexity of female friendships, or just why she steals books (and sometimes bras!) from film sets, Greer brings wit and warmth to this thoughtful, irrepressibly bookish episode.

For Further Reading

• I Don’t Know Where You Know Me From by Judy Greer
• The Long Walk by Stephen King
• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier