The Queen of Geek Culture (Felicia Day)

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Dropping Names ...and other things

Hosts: Brent Spiner & Jonathan Frakes
Episode: The Queen of Geek Culture
Date: April 8, 2026
Guest: Felicia Day

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Main Theme & Purpose

On this episode, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes sit down with actor, writer, producer, and self-professed "Geek Queen" Felicia Day. The trio explores Felicia’s multifaceted career, the evolution of geek culture, navigating creative independence in Hollywood, and the importance of authenticity in entertainment. Lively anecdotes, industry insights, and plenty of name-dropping (celebrity and otherwise) make this a must-listen for fans of genre storytelling, Star Trek, internet culture, and behind-the-scenes Hollywood.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introductions & Early Banter

• [03:37] Name-Dropping, Theme Songs, & Redheads
  • The hosts riff on sitcom theme songs, family ties, and the perils of learning about friends online.
  • Felicia is introduced as an “important American actor, writer, producer, podcaster, mother, gardener, singer, dancer, violinist, and maker.”
  • Memorable Quote:
    • Jonathan: “That’s a fucking hyphenate right there.” (05:07)

2. The Firefly Reunion & Geekdom

• [06:01] Speculation about New Firefly Content
  • The group discusses rumors of a Firefly reunion. Felicia describes fandom’s power and her friendships with cast members.
  • Memorable Quote:
    • Felicia: “We can only hope that our friends are working. That’s all.” (06:19)

3. Acting & Directing Styles: Lord of the Rings, Star Trek & Authenticity

• [07:45] How Imperfection Connects Audiences

  • Felicia analyzes why Lord of the Rings feels emotionally real, crediting Peter Jackson’s lived-in direction and authentic, sometimes imperfect, sets.
  • Discussion of how British and European TV often “get away with” more authenticity, citing “Happy Valley” and “Babylon Berlin.”
  • Quote:
    • Felicia: “Are we trying to be so slick that we’re just doing pictures that aren’t reality… I just feel like people want reality more.” (09:18)

• [11:04] The Star Trek Experience: Control vs. Improvisation

  • Next Generation was a tightly controlled set, with little improvisation allowed.
  • In contrast, Strange New Worlds embraced improv when crossing over with Lower Decks—harking to a more playful, authentic vibe.
  • Quote:
    • Frakes: “You couldn’t change from ‘is not’ to ‘isn’t’ without calling Rick Berman in the Alpha.” (12:05)
  • Felicia and the hosts reflect on how the industry’s “tight control” can sometimes hinder creativity and risk-taking.

4. Felicia’s Background: Homeschooling, Violin, UT Austin, Early Hollywood Stories

• [14:13] Academic Path & “Big Brain”
  • Felicia skipped grades, double-majored in Violin and Mathematics at UT Austin, and was accepted to a Juilliard pre-program.
  • Quote:
    • Frakes: “You got out of high school at 16, you got out of college at 19. You do have a big brain.” (13:48)
  • The trio shares laughs over college towns and shares stories involving Rip Torn, name-dropped multiple times, including wild set anecdotes (16:10-18:42).

5. The Guild & Early Web Series / Crowdfunding

• [28:06] Making The Guild
  • Felicia reveals how The Guild started on a shoestring, was one of the first scripted YouTube series, and was later picked up due to fan crowdfunding and Xbox sponsorship, all while she retained IP ownership.
  • Quote:
    • Felicia: “We shot three episodes for, I think, a total of a thousand dollars… We put a PayPal button up on the website… and we were able to make the rest of Season 1.” (29:55)
  • They discuss the discrepancy between web and TV audience sizes and why Hollywood still hesitates to trust new models or invest in original internet talent (31:54).

6. The Reality of Auditions, Confidence, and Creating Your Own Work

• [32:26] Testing & Auditioning Stress
  • Felicia describes the anxiety-inducing process of network tests and how indie success with The Guild gave her newfound confidence.
  • Quote:
    • Felicia: “Thank God writers love what I do and they write me parts…because I don’t have to go through that.” (34:05)

7. Industry Shifts, Aging, and Typecasting

• [35:20] Changing Roles and Health Insurance
  • Brent and Felicia lament the typecasting that comes with age, such as repeated auditions for hospital-bed scenes or dementia characters.
  • Memorable exchange:
    • Felicia: “You just gotta show your abs more.” (35:47)
    • Brent: “Thank you. I. You are, too, though.”
    • Felicia: “He’s a gym rat.” (35:58)

8. Pitching Dream Projects

• [39:47] Felicia’s Dream Role
  • Felicia pitches her ideal part: a forensic coroner for supernatural creatures, “fourth on the call sheet” supporting two hot leads.
  • Quote:
    • Felicia: “If this doesn’t happen in two years, I’m writing this comic… Any writers, run with it.” (40:28)

9. Board Games, D&D, and Origin of Critical Role

• [43:26] Tabletop Gaming Explodes Online
  • Felicia details how Geek & Sundry and Tabletop came about, her collaboration with Wil Wheaton, and the subsequent role in starting the D&D live streaming craze—including the formation of Critical Role.
  • Quote:
    • Felicia: “That’s how Critical Role started, and that started the whole D&D phenomenon.” (46:15)

10. Creative Burnout, Letting Go, and Self-Awareness

• [47:08] Leaving at the Right Time
  • She acknowledges a pattern: building creative ventures, then stepping away before full commercial success to avoid burnout and maintain mental health.

11. Book Plug: Lost Daughter of Sparta

• [52:55] Felicia’s New Graphic Novel
  • Explores a forgotten figure from Greek myth, inspired by her own experience as a homeschooled, outsider girl.
  • Quote:
    • Felicia: “I wanted to give her a hero’s journey… women get screwed over a lot in those stories. So I just wanted to write a story about…trying to remain true to myself.” (60:00)
  • The book will be available everywhere March 17th, with a US tour and a special UK edition. Wil Wheaton blurbed it: “This is fucking amazing. You are stupid if you don’t read it.” (61:10)
  • Felicia wrote and narrated a unique audiobook adaptation for the graphic novel.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Jonathan Frakes on Felicia’s credentials:
  “That’s a fucking hyphenate right there.” (05:07)
• Felicia on authenticity:
  “People want reality more. They want… like this.” (09:18)
• Brent Spiner on TV control:
  “You couldn’t change from ‘is not’ to ‘isn’t’ without calling Rick Berman in the Alpha.” (12:05)
• Felicia on web series pioneering:
  “We uploaded The Guild to YouTube the second year that YouTube existed. We were one of the first scripted series.” (29:38)
• Felicia’s D&D/Geek & Sundry origin:
  “That’s how Critical Role started, and that started the whole D&D phenomenon.” (46:15)
• Wil Wheaton’s endorsement:
  “This is fucking amazing. You are stupid if you don’t read it.” (Jonathan quoting Wil, 61:10)
• Felicia’s creative process:
  “I hope now… let’s not perpetually burn out and then get interested in something new. Because it’s not particularly great.” (47:21)
• Brent on his early medical career:
  [56:31] The hilarious story of breaking a thermometer in a patient at 16, inadvertently ending his “Nepo orderly” tenure.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:37 – Official intro, Felicia’s many creative titles
• 06:01 – Firefly and fandom, coming geek reunions
• 07:45-10:09 – Authenticity in filmmaking (LOTR, Happy Valley, Babylon Berlin)
• 11:04-12:24 – Control vs. improv on Star Trek, Strange New Worlds
• 13:34-14:48 – Felicia’s educational background, math and violin
• 16:10-18:42 – Legends and shenanigans: Rip Torn, Liam Neeson, more
• 28:06-31:23 – The genesis and crowdfunding of The Guild
• 31:54-34:22 – Industry economics, web vs. TV audiences, audition stress
• 39:47-41:08 – Felicia’s supernatural coroner dream role
• 43:26-46:57 – Gaming, Wil Wheaton, origin stories of Tabletop and Critical Role
• 52:55-61:52 – Lost Daughter of Sparta: creation, mythology, book tour plans
• 61:10 – Wil Wheaton’s “fucking amazing” blurb
• 56:31-58:52 – Brent’s “Nepo orderly” story: the thermometer incident

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Additional Highlights

• Supportive Creative Community: The power of getting friends together for new projects; psychological relief in bypassing industry roadblocks.
• Healthy Creative Boundaries: Felicia’s awareness of creative burnout and purposeful withdrawal from projects before they are “corporatized.”
• Geek Culture’s Mainstream Rise: Through internet video, live streaming (Critical Role), and fandoms, geeky interests have become influential forces in the entertainment industry.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a delightfully candid, laugh-filled conversation with one of geek culture’s brightest lights. It’s packed with behind-the-scenes stories (from both Hollywood and the early internet era), reflections on how to survive and thrive creatively, and mutual admiration among friends and colleagues. Felicia’s journey—from homeschooled math nerd to web series pioneer to published graphic novelist—is told with wit and honesty, making this an enriching and entertaining listen for Star Trek fans and aspiring creators alike.

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For more:

• Felicia Day’s new graphic novel, Lost Daughter of Sparta (Available March 17th)
• The Guild reunion movie Kickstarter (Summer 2026)
• Geek & Sundry, Tabletop, and the legacy of Critical Role

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Transcript

[Jonathan Frakes]

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[Felicia Day]

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[Brent Spiner]

well, where's Lara Cat? Lara Catt and I were talking Larry Kelly.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Larry's on our list, I believe.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, he should be here. I was talking about doing Sunshine Boys with Larroquette. Well, we talked about it years ago when we first did Night Court. I said, would it be interesting if somebody did The Sunshine boys. Younger, like, 30 years earlier. That's a good idea. I said, you'd be great, you know, in the. The Walter Matthau role and the guy from Willy Wonka.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And I said, boys. Albertson.

[Brent Spiner]

Right. I said, who could play the other part? And he said, well, you could. And I went, oh, that'd be good. So when I saw him recently, I said, well, now we're right for the parts. And he said, well, I'll look at it, see if it's any good. Maybe we should do it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

We'll hit him up on his other show.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, I want to get Larroquette.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's so.

[Brent Spiner]

He's great.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's a fascinating guy, and, boy, he can be funny. Yeah, he does funny.

[Brent Spiner]

He is funny, and he's huge. He's a big guy.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Six, five, six, six.

[Brent Spiner]

Larroquette is, by the way, a virtuoso, though. He really is.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He was a Klingon in one of the Star Trek movies.

[Felicia Day]

I know.

[Brent Spiner]

It's always. Everything here is. Even though we're not a Star Trek

[Jonathan Frakes]

show, it does come up.

[Brent Spiner]

We're Star Trek adjacent because it does come up. Because everybody kind of has a connection to it in some way.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Everybody knows it, and if they don't,

[Brent Spiner]

they wish they did.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Our connection is very strong.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. Well, our connection to Star Trek is very strong, obviously. 40 years worth of strong bombs.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I love that song.

[Felicia Day]

Dropping name and other things.

[Brent Spiner]

Where the whiskey flows and the laughter sings. Pull up a seat, Join the game

[Felicia Day]

Of Brad and Johnny Potasho.

[Brent Spiner]

You could lose your mind? Cause we're cousins? I've been little cousins? And you'll find they look alike, they talk alike, they walk alike? You could lose your mind? When cousins are two of a kind. I liked the British cousin best.

[Felicia Day]

What about her? Her?

[Jonathan Frakes]

His father's theme song.

[Felicia Day]

Oh.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, the Munsters.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, no. Adam's family.

[Felicia Day]

Adam's family is his father or the Amazon, John Astin. Sorry.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Where he got the name?

[Felicia Day]

I need to Google stalk my friends more.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Boy, I Google stalked you.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Our guest today is Felicia Day.

[Felicia Day]

Yes.

[Brent Spiner]

Felicia Day. The ubiquitous Felicia Day.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Important American actor. Writer.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Producer.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Podcaster.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Mother.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Gardener.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Felicia Day]

Okay.

[Brent Spiner]

Singer. Singer, dancer, dancer, violinist.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And one of my favorite titles, Maker.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, I like that one.

[Verizon/Advertisement Voice]

I've never.

[Brent Spiner]

Is that creator.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's like a devise. You devise things.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, I make stuff. I never thought about that. I never.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You like it?

[Felicia Day]

I like it. Give it to me.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's a fucking hyphenate right there.

[Felicia Day]

That was too much.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It's not too much.

[Brent Spiner]

We had Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk on the show together.

[Felicia Day]

Okay. I walked in and I was like. I knew that Nathan and Alan were here because I saw people contacting me. They're like, oh, they name dropped you on the podcast.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Felicia Day]

And I walked into this studio having just done Nathan's podcast, and I said, oh, on Zoom. Yes, on Zoom. Without.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Wait a minute, Nathan and Alan.

[Felicia Day]

And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I was like, oh, Nathan was so jealous, wasn't he? And I did. I said it unprompted. And then Frank C Was like, oh, yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He pretended not to be, but you could see he was.

[Felicia Day]

No, I guarantee you right now he's constructing a studio and he's got like a cad outline of where he's going to sit. And he's like, well, I'm going to make this better than those guys.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Have you seen the teasers for the new Firefly where he goes to the door?

[Felicia Day]

I have been seeing him accumulate people. I know.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He just did Tudyk yesterday.

[Felicia Day]

I know. And they're doing awesome Con this weekend and I wonder what they're going to announce.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I can't imagine.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. Really? Ooh, that would be amazing.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Jewel will be back. I mean, it looks like they're doing it.

[Brent Spiner]

Couldn't they use some new characters?

[Jonathan Frakes]

I mean, they really could.

[Felicia Day]

Who knows what's going on?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

We can only hope that our friends are working. That's all.

[Brent Spiner]

That's for sure.

[Felicia Day]

And coming back together in that group.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, and that. Yes, absolutely.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That was a cultural phenomenon.

[Brent Spiner]

It really was.

[Felicia Day]

You're very insight. That's why you're a good director. When he comes up and gives you a direction, you just get it instantly. Some people, they don't.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I don't give much direction.

[Felicia Day]

No, but when you do it just snap.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Do you remember Sean? Sean was the lead magician or was he clown or magician? But he had an audience and he had. And what he took upon himself to do as part of the character was direct all these people that were working for him to do what he wanted them to do. And instead of being the asshole, said, wait, that's my fucking job to go and direct those people. I thought, what a gift he's got. That whole part of the set.

[Felicia Day]

I felt like such a slacker actor because Sean goes the distance and he dives in and he loves to analyze and he really.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's a totally different character to play, though.

[Felicia Day]

Absolutely. I was like, in my seat.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He believed he was a magician.

[Felicia Day]

He believed. He's almost method in the way that he dives in. And I admire it so much.

[Brent Spiner]

He's a brilliant actor, actually. I mean, when you look at the whole Lord of the Rings and all of those wonderful actors. If I had to name one.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You're going to use the word U.

[Nikayla Matthews Akome]

No.

[Brent Spiner]

Okay. In the entire cast of great actors who are in. In those movies, the Oscar nominee for me would be Sean. That role, he's brilliant in it. He steals the whole thing.

[Felicia Day]

He. Well, okay. I just watched all of the extended edition of Lord of the Rings with my daughter, who just turned nine. She was eight at the time. And I didn't know. He is amazing. But those movies. And I watched the expanded edition. This is like 15 hours Peter Jackson broke. There is. And I don't know, as a director, I'd love to talk to you about this because I don't feel emotionally connected to the things I watch nowadays very much.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Right.

[Felicia Day]

I think the things. Star Trek, like, that's different. But most of the time I'm watching versus being in it. And when I watch the Lord of the Rings movie, there are. And I think it's. Because it's not perfect. You know, you can see there's like. There's always, you know, a person with, like two birds over here that has a life and things are rough and the cameras aren't framed perfectly. And like, there's an authenticity to his direction that makes the characters feel realer. And I don't know what it is. What do you know?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Don't you think maybe Peter Jackson felt like he lived in that period? That's what I think. Part of that great casting, great locations.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And his. He insisted on his vision, but I always felt. I never met him, but I've been down there to that world of his in New Zealand. I feel like he's of whatever. That hobbit.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. No, it's true. And also things looked authentic. Like the costumes look worn and like the buildings look. And I was just like, have we just. Are we going so fast or are we, like, trying to be so slick that we're just doing pictures that aren't reality, that we. I just feel like people want reality more. They want. Like this.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I always think that's part of the secret of. One of my favorite shows is called Happy Valley. That English cop show.

[Brent Spiner]

Love Happy Valley.

[Jonathan Frakes]

The people look like the real people. Their clothes look like real clothes. The sets look like real places they would actually work.

[Brent Spiner]

I'll tell you, the series that did that for me. And it's maybe my favorite series of all time. It's called Babylon Berlin. You love that show.

[Felicia Day]

What's it about?

[Brent Spiner]

Two seasons. It takes place pre Nazi. I mean, it's just starting to bubble up and you feel it in the. In the first two seasons. But it's about a policeman in. In Berlin in the twenties. And the music is unbelievable.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

They go to these. This dance club that's just wild. They do these big numbers that. And there are moments in it, particularly in the first two seasons. One thing happens. I won't spoil it, because you've got to watch Babylon Berlin.

[Felicia Day]

Okay.

[Brent Spiner]

No subtitles. I mean. I mean, only subtitles. You got to watch it in German.

[Felicia Day]

Sorry, I can't. I did do German in college. I studied German in college.

[Brent Spiner]

There is a dubbed version, but it's not. Not good.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You got to watch and recommend the dubbed version.

[Felicia Day]

Okay. He doesn't.

[Brent Spiner]

But there's moments where you will literally be like, this is one of his

[Jonathan Frakes]

great pitches for always.

[Brent Spiner]

Anytime we talk about tv, you gotta watch Babylon Berlin.

[Felicia Day]

I would love it. You know, when you're talking, when you're speaking about that, I'm thinking that maybe. Maybe entertainment is so controlled from a business aspect now.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Felicia Day]

That you can't have somebody, whether a showrunner or a team of people or a director, whatever, do things that aren't totally polished or controlled. And I think that's where something interesting happens. Right. You know,

[Jonathan Frakes]

broke the mold.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, totally. I mean, that's exactly what I'm talking. Like, there's authenticity. It seems like they get away with that more in Britain. You're right. Or maybe it was.

[Brent Spiner]

Everyone knows mistakes are the best thing that ever happen on a film set.

[Felicia Day]

Was there something on Next Gen was like a mistake.

[Brent Spiner]

That was a very controlled show, down to the word.

[Jonathan Frakes]

We weren't allowed to change a word until I did Strange New Worlds. And we had a crossover with the Lower Decks people. So I had Tawny Newsom and Jack Quaid on, who were cartoon characters on that show, and Real on Ice and Tony's Second City, and Jack's a great. So they started to ad lib, and Cat Lynn and Bill Wistruff were the writers. And I went over and I took a little look at them and I said, what do you think?

[Felicia Day]

They said, oh, my God.

[Jonathan Frakes]

So we started to ad lib. Then Anson took off and Rebecca took off and Ethan took off, and it was spectacular. It was a big boardroom scene and she called him Hot Spock. And they did all this it was just. And a lot of it stayed in the show. But I'd never been on any Star Trek where the. I mean, the joke used to be you couldn't change from is not to isn't without calling Rick Berman in the Alpha.

[Brent Spiner]

Are you kidding?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Absolutely.

[Felicia Day]

Wow. But, you know, you had a vision. You had somebody who was in charge of the vision, and they wanted the way Weiwei.

[Brent Spiner]

We could argue a moment and get things changed, but it took a while.

[Felicia Day]

Wow.

[Brent Spiner]

Interesting. But we couldn't just change the dialogue even slightly. We couldn't change a word unless we cleared it.

[Felicia Day]

Can I tell you a small story about Summer glow?

[Brent Spiner]

Summer glow, Summer glow.

[Felicia Day]

Let's drop this trip. Summer and I were in a. We were both homeschooled, and we were in a ballet company called San Antonio Concerto.

[Brent Spiner]

Ballet Company was in San Antonio or Alabama?

[Felicia Day]

San Antonio.

[Brent Spiner]

Okay.

[Felicia Day]

Because my dad was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base for, like, two years. So I was in that company with Summer. And then later I ran into her at a Mary Kate and Ashley audition for one of their movies that was set in the Winter Olympics of, like, I think it was, like, 2004 or something. Anyway, and I ran into her, and I was like, summer, what are you doing here? And she's like, oh, I just moved to LA to be an actor after being a professional, like, ballroom dancer. And I was like, cool, we should connect. And we didn't ever connect. But then I got Buffy and she got Firefly, so we were in the same verse.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You're in that circle randomly.

[Brent Spiner]

That is so cool. You know, I. I lived in San Antonio. I went to college in San Antonio.

[Felicia Day]

You did? Where?

[Brent Spiner]

Trinity.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, that's a fancy school.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, just for a semester. And then I left.

[Felicia Day]

Kicked out.

[Brent Spiner]

I got kicked out. But I. No, I didn't. I didn't. My brother and two of my aunts went to University of Texas in Austin, where you. That was your. Was that. Did you graduate?

[Felicia Day]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Do you know where double major was?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, I do. You tell me, though.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Violin.

[Brent Spiner]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And mathematics.

[Felicia Day]

That's correct.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Come on.

[Brent Spiner]

Those go hand in hand. Music is math.

[Felicia Day]

It's the same part of the brain. I actually did a thesis paper on that, and I got an A.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You got out of high school at 16, you got out of college at 19. You do have a big brain.

[Felicia Day]

Well, I was homeschooled, and I was just bored, and I was studying with a professor at the violin who taught violin at ut. I just went the summer before I started. He was like, you want to go to college. I'm like, sure. And he just got me a full scholarship. And I don't even have a ged, guys. I don't have a high school degree. This is a secret that I should not tell the world. But.

[Brent Spiner]

But you passed on Juilliard. You were accepted to Juilliard.

[Felicia Day]

It was a pre program. Yes, I did get accepted to the pre program to study on the weekends with one of the most famous violin teachers there, but we didn't have the money to move to New York from Texas.

[Brent Spiner]

I was thinking you passed because Itzhak Perlman was teaching in Austin.

[Felicia Day]

No, no. I wish. I wish it was a more like, oh, I get to choose something else. No, it was kind of a financial thing. It was kind of like the tease. It's like you got in, but you can't go.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

But it is what it is. I'm glad. The path I've taken is.

[Jonathan Frakes]

How cool is Austin, though?

[Felicia Day]

I mean, it was cool.

[Brent Spiner]

It was.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's where my daughter is.

[Brent Spiner]

It's grown.

[Felicia Day]

Is she there now?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

She's at the Michigan center there.

[Felicia Day]

I mean, it's great. It's just. There's some weird vibes there now with. And stuff.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, I have a University of Texas story.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

If you can bear with it.

[Brent Spiner]

Bear with it? Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

You can bear with anything, can you?

[Brent Spiner]

I'll make it as fast as I can because it drops a couple of names, but I was doing a. A movie in.

[Felicia Day]

That was a pre Ring.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, Pre ring. Getting ready for the name I'm gonna drop. I. I was doing a movie in Colorado and.

[Felicia Day]

With who?

[Brent Spiner]

With Rip Torn, and second time he's

[Jonathan Frakes]

been mentioned on the show.

[Brent Spiner]

Have I told this story already?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, God knows. Probably. I told a Rip Torn story where he was drunk and he was fishing, and they had to send a teamster with him to bring him back up to the set.

[Brent Spiner]

Right. Well, that kind of happened on this movie, too.

[Felicia Day]

Ding yourself.

[Brent Spiner]

But my aunt who went to University of Texas said that Rip was the handsomest guy at the University of Texas, and all the women were in love with him.

[Felicia Day]

Okay.

[Brent Spiner]

So I got to the set, and they said, you're going to work with Rip tomorrow. And he's kind of not in a good mood, which is not a good thing because Rip was once blacklisted in a couple of theaters for shooting live ammunition at a guy's feet into the stage. Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

What?

[Brent Spiner]

Rip was a wild guy, you know, wonderful actor, really talented. But anyway, so his real name, Elroy, I think Rip Torn. Elroy Rip Torn.

[Felicia Day]

Elroy Rip Torn. You gotta be a bad boy with that name, right?

[Brent Spiner]

So I. Okay, I'm kind of nervous, and I see him coming towards me across a field, and we're meeting and then we're going to work together. And so first thing I said was, hey, I'm from Texas. And he was. Because I had to throw that out. He was, oh, good to meet you. And I'm thinking, okay, this is going well. I said, you know, my aunt went to the University of Texas with you. And she said, you were the best looking guy at University of Texas. And he said, I didn't go to University of Texas. I went to Texas A and M where my father went. And I went, what?

[Felicia Day]

Oh, no.

[Brent Spiner]

So later in the shoot, I was working with Pat Hingle. Let's give Pat a bell. I'm working with Pat and I'm in a car with him and he sees Rip, and Rip comes over and the two of them hug. And. And after Rip left, I said to Pat Hingle, where do you know Rip from? He said, we went to University of Texas together.

[Felicia Day]

What?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

What's the true story, though?

[Brent Spiner]

Well, that's Rip Torn.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Did he forget or was he lying to.

[Brent Spiner]

No, it could have been. He forgot. It could have been he was messing with you.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, but A and M and UT are enemies. They're like sworn enemies, so why would he say that? That's a power move right there.

[Brent Spiner]

I know. Maybe it was that he wish he had gone to A and M. Nobody

[Jonathan Frakes]

wouldn't matter if she would go to ut. That's the. It goes the other way around.

[Felicia Day]

Exactly. Nobody wants to be in college.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Even I know that.

[Brent Spiner]

Not to get off on a Rip Torn thing, but famously.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Go ahead.

[Brent Spiner]

Rip Torn was doing a play with Liam Neeson and Natasha Richards where they met. They met together and they were doing Eugene o' Neill play. And what's the one that Garbo famous? Anna Christie.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Anna Christie.

[Brent Spiner]

And so.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, just. Yeah, not a real person, but it's a name drop.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I did Anna Christie as well.

[Brent Spiner]

So they met on that and they fell in love and apparently were having at that point, a major affair. And Rip was playing her father and he was really jealous of her, of the relationship. And one night on stage, out of the blue, he pulls a knife on Liam Neeson.

[Felicia Day]

What?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

So it's a gun and a knife.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

And the story goes, he's ready for either fight.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, he is. He's packing.

[Brent Spiner]

The story goes that Liam took his hand with the knife and Drew him in close and said, I'd be glad to kill you when the show's over. And they fired RIP that night.

[Felicia Day]

I mean, I think that's appropriate. Liam Neeson was in Kroll.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, is that right?

[Felicia Day]

I think he's like 17 in Kroll. Is that correct? Somebody looked that up for me, but when I was watching Kroll, because that's a good movie. Good.

[Brent Spiner]

Who is the star of Kroll?

[Felicia Day]

I don't actually know. There's a lady with the biggest red hair in the world.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, I thought, she's beautiful. You have the best red hair.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, thank you. No, no, no. You've known so many redheads in your time. I mean, I don't know.

[Jonathan Frakes]

What's your question about redheads?

[Brent Spiner]

He knows a lot of redheads.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Is your pain threshold higher than mine?

[Felicia Day]

Probably.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Do you have natural vitamin D?

[Felicia Day]

Maybe. I hope so.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And are you sensitive to temperature change more than the regular?

[Felicia Day]

Yes, I am headed. Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

How do you all true. That's the kind of fucking research we do here on dropping names and other things. 3 for 3 on my redhead research.

[Brent Spiner]

Wow.

[Felicia Day]

I didn't know that all. I knew the pain thing, but I didn't know the other two because the vitamin D. I don't go outside. Look at me. I am made to be a vampire or a corpse.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I'd like to cut to something that.

[Brent Spiner]

Wait, look at me. I wasted my time researching blondes. How. Okay, if I had a nickel, what were you gonna talk about?

[Jonathan Frakes]

I wanted to cut to something that I just watched. It's called Invisible, and you play a character named Gorgol, who is a Norwegian.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, my. Why would you do that?

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's fabulous. It's a heavy metal, black metal artist of questionable everything with some of the best makeup and very black hair.

[Felicia Day]

Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And very long painted on. Do you remember this?

[Felicia Day]

I remember it was my music. It was one of the other funded YouTube channels. I had a ch called Geek and Sundry. And then there was another channel that the Fine brothers were doing, and that was one of their premier scripted things, and they asked me to be in it and I was like, only if I could do the most ridiculous.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And you did.

[Felicia Day]

I did.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You crushed it.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, really?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh. Have you watched it yet?

[Felicia Day]

I don't know if I ever wanted to see it again, but I'm glad that you think I was good.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Not only. Well, I'm a big fan. I've had the privilege of directing Felicia Day. We did the Librarians.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, I was in the library.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I know. No, no, you Leverage.

[Brent Spiner]

Leverage, yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's a great story, actually.

[Felicia Day]

Did you direct Will and Leverage as the hacker?

[Jonathan Frakes]

He was, but I know he was.

[Felicia Day]

He was very good in that, too.

[Jonathan Frakes]

We got a lot of discuss. Got Will Wheaton to discuss.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

On the Librarians. The other guest star was the president of our union, Sean.

[Felicia Day]

Sean Aston, who later worked with me because I was like, hey, we worked together. Can you be in my office, get one early?

[Brent Spiner]

And you see, I go back far enough to I work with Patty Duke.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I know. That's how we are.

[Felicia Day]

That's how we mangled that theme song that I haven't thought about since I was a teenager watching Nick at night.

[Brent Spiner]

I want to ask you something right off the bat, just because it is the concept of our show, and sometimes we get so wrapped up in conversation with our friends that we fail to ask, have you ever. Who have you been in a room with? Yeah, here we go. Who have you worked with or met that you found yourself. You just couldn't believe I am standing next to or I have met this person.

[Felicia Day]

This is embarrassing because it's somebody you know very well.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh.

[Felicia Day]

So I was at, I believe, Emerald City Comic Con about Seattle. Yeah. I love it. It's one of my favorite Cons.

[Brent Spiner]

Every state, every city, you know?

[Felicia Day]

Yep. I don't know what the qualification for the. I think you're just drunk with power. I think you're drunk with bell power.

[Brent Spiner]

Drunk with bell power.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And also, there's a thing. Brent doesn't really love the bell.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, you're not going to.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You're ambiguous.

[Brent Spiner]

I'm ambiguous about all things.

[Felicia Day]

Was this your pitch for the podcast? You're like, listen, I'll do it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I stole it from Rosenbaum.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, he's funny.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I did his podcast and he said, what's that thing you and Brent are doing? I said, it's dropping names. He said, well, you gotta put a little bell on each of the names you drop. And I stole the idea. I went to an antique store. What do you think of the bell?

[Felicia Day]

I love it. It's very vintage.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Thank you.

[Brent Spiner]

But it is Z Claus celeb. When you look at the comments, you're

[Jonathan Frakes]

not supposed to read the comments.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, you're not supposed to look at them. But I just look at the one. One's about the bell.

[Felicia Day]

Okay.

[Brent Spiner]

I hate the bell. I love the bell. I hate the bell. I love the bell.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, you should do a little poll and then ignore it. Like I do.

[Brent Spiner]

Exactly.

[Felicia Day]

Of anything online.

[Jonathan Frakes]

But you read all your comments.

[Felicia Day]

I used to. Now I'm very good about not.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You were starting something.

[Brent Spiner]

No, you were starting something about the famous person.

[Felicia Day]

About the famous person.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, yeah.

[Felicia Day]

Somebody you guys know. So Will says, hey, I want you to meet somebody. And I went in the green room and Sir Patrick Stewart was there. Now, I hate to admit this, Foreign.

[Jonathan Frakes]

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[Felicia Day]

But I was a super fan of you guys show when I was young.

[Jonathan Frakes]

What? You weren't even born and our show was on?

[Felicia Day]

No, I was a kid. I mean I was like Will's. I was younger than Will but it was my favorite show because I was homeschooled and I just dreamed about being on deck and I wanted Will to be my brother and I kind of had a crush on you.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I had obscene who was your favorite character?

[Felicia Day]

Well, I wanted to be. Oh, yeah, yeah, probably.

[Brent Spiner]

You don't have to say that.

[Felicia Day]

No, it's true.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Every fucking person who comes on here.

[Felicia Day]

I had a little bit of a crush on you two. I had a lot of crushes on this particular show and I wanted to be Beverly Crush. So, like redhead. Redhead, Yep. So I had a redhead star. I had a brother that was way better than my brother in my estimation. I had mild crush on you. Mild crush on you. Super crush on Sir Patrick. Ooh, sorry.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Don't be sorry. You're not alone.

[Brent Spiner]

But you know, there were 10 year olds all over the world who felt exactly like you.

[Felicia Day]

Really? I also had a crush on Kit, the voice of the Kit the car in Knight Rider. So I think it's a British thing

[Jonathan Frakes]

that brings up an interesting story. William Danielson, the voice.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, the great William Daniels.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's still on the. On the circuit, is he?

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, yeah, he and his wife. He's 96, I think. Yeah, he's William Daniels.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Fantastic.

[Brent Spiner]

And his wife is a little bit younger, but I've met them, met them on the. On the circuit.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Did I tell the story about these Star Trek uniforms that were stolen? What, $82,000 worth of star Trek uniforms or semi. They were stolen off the lot of Paramount. And the FBI was.

[Brent Spiner]

Could have been Felicia.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It could have been Felicia.

[Felicia Day]

I wish. Cause I've always wanted.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And then the FBI was called in and the great Mary Howard tracked them. It turns out they found out who they were and they were having a meeting to swap the $82,000 worth of costumes for the kit car from Knight Rider. So in the desert. So Larry Dukes, teamster, takes Mary Howard and the FBI down to the desert. They got binoculars looking down at the desert. The two semis back up to each other. The uniforms come out of one semi and the kit car comes out of the other semi and the FBI approaches and arrests everybody.

[Brent Spiner]

Wow.

[Jonathan Frakes]

True story. How great is that?

[Felicia Day]

How did they get the car?

[Brent Spiner]

How did they get the. Hasselhoff was driving, by the way.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, really?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Hasselhoff was in the tin. They stole those two items and swapped them.

[Felicia Day]

Who were they?

[Brent Spiner]

Clearly you can visit them in prison today.

[Felicia Day]

I know. I want to know what happened to these people.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Great image of the FBI coming. They.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, we lost that. The captain's chair was stolen several times. Yes.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Because it was ergometrically designed to Patrick's back. And we'd come to set and that hole in the middle of the bridge was. Where's Patrick's Somebody came in on the weekend and stole his chair.

[Verizon/Advertisement Voice]

On the lot.

[Jonathan Frakes]

On the lot.

[Felicia Day]

What kind of security did you guys have?

[Brent Spiner]

Really bad, clearly.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Well, we had. What's his name, who I adored. Everybody in our company used to smoke, so we'd go outside with security. We'd smoked between setups.

[Felicia Day]

No judgment.

[Jonathan Frakes]

No judgment.

[Felicia Day]

It was.

[Jonathan Frakes]

But we were young.

[Felicia Day]

You looked cool. Let's be honest.

[Brent Spiner]

The coolest was.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Well, it is. It is cool.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, we want to hear. Yeah. I wanted to say about the Guild. When you walked in today, you looked around, you said, wow, you've got a real thing going here. This is like. We have makeup. We have a set. We have. When I walked onto the set of the Guild because, as you might remember, I was doing my own web series at the. The time. You were fresh. Hell.

[Felicia Day]

Very funny.

[Brent Spiner]

Thank you very.

[Felicia Day]

Check it out.

[Brent Spiner]

But we basically. We had, you know, my crew got sandwiches. You know, that's all they got was. No, not money.

[Jonathan Frakes]

After the.

[Felicia Day]

That was after I got funded.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's what I'm saying.

[Felicia Day]

And we only shot that series for, like, I don't know, it was like 450,000. For a movie.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

And so I'm doing. I'm going to be doing a Kickstarter this summer for a Guild reunion movie.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, wow.

[Felicia Day]

And learning the economics of how I do a movie now is. It's much more expensive.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, my God.

[Felicia Day]

So our Kickstarter will have to be ambitious. But all the money's going to the.

[Brent Spiner]

You know, that'd be great. But anyway, I walked in, and there was. First thing you said to me is, you need to go to wardrobe, but. Wardrobe? What are you talking about? I thought I was wearing my own clothes, but no, there was wardrobe, there was makeup, there was hair, there was catering. It was incredible.

[Jonathan Frakes]

But it came from a.

[Felicia Day]

It came from $300, you know, shooting in our garages.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's what. That's the story. That's sort of your.

[Felicia Day]

That's. Yeah, that's my origin story.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Exactly. Origin story.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, it exploded. It became huge. Millions of people.

[Felicia Day]

Millions and millions and millions of people watched it because of. You know, I was talking about a subject that was only uniquely suited to the Internet gamers.

[Brent Spiner]

Right.

[Felicia Day]

I uploaded it to YouTube the first year or the second year that YouTube existed. And so we were one of the first scripted series, and the plat supported that. So around episode three, we shot three episodes for, like, I think a total of, like, a thousand dollars, believe me. And it was just in our.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And there were how many? Five of You?

[Felicia Day]

Well, there's six actors, six main actors and then we had a sound person, a director, my co producer, Kim, and that was pretty much it. We had like maybe one PA who was a friend of ours who were help has helping. And so we shot the first three of those episodes as like a 10 minute bulk or a 12, 15 minute bulk. And then we had no money left, we couldn't fund it. And so we put a PayPal button up on the website that I made and we got so much money pre selling a DVD of the first season that we were able to make the rest of season one and save up for season two, which I wrote the script, we were about to shoot. And then Xbox came in with a sponsor, Sprint, to be able to fund it. And I kept the ip and that's the only reason I can make a reunion movie now is I own everything.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, that's smart.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, it's really good ip.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, Microsoft was involved.

[Felicia Day]

Microsoft, yeah. So it was Xbox. Microsoft owns Xbox. And they were able to get an ad buy with a major sponsor, Sprint, and able to fund the whole season as. I mean listen, you know how like half a million dollars goes. It's not much. And it was a little less than that the first season. 2, 3, 4, 5. But you know, it's the craft service budget of a TV show. But we were able to make something really awesome. It was like essentially a movie cut up in 12 pieces. And our last season ended up on YouTube on my company, Geek and Sundry. And then nobody would fund cause they were like, that's too expensive.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Right.

[Felicia Day]

But I'm still selling DVDs of that. What about the stuff that they funded that just gets thrown away? Like that's what I loved about walking onto your set. I'm like, somebody in five years could enjoy this and I would enjoy this on any of my screens and you know, creating video that can last the testament of time. But you're still being able to talk to, you know, a smaller audience, but not really. Your audience is huge.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Well also people are going to be able to watch your show and now our show when they want. And if they want to binge, people binge. They say, oh, look who's on. Because these ours are spread out as yours were. So.

[Felicia Day]

And I gotta tell you, like I heard somebody told me an inside story about like a show that their finale was on like FX or something. And the numbers that they gave me who watched that finale, it was like 40,000 people on a TV show. And I'm like, every single Day videos like, you know this. It's crushing it. So what is the disconnect between the economics. Why not give somebody a couple million dollars and make an awesome film?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Or like, you decided to do this on your own because you said, I'll figure this out. I did it because that's the phenomenon to me.

[Felicia Day]

Okay. I did it because I felt so rejected.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Because you were a good violin player.

[Felicia Day]

Yes, exactly.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And you knew mathematics.

[Felicia Day]

I knew how to practice these things. No, it's because I was always auditioning. And then when I told people I was a gamer or a math major, they would look at me like, oh, whatever. That was of no value to them. But also, my face didn't fit what they needed on the screen. And then I had a lot of anxiety. So when I would get to testing, which I would test a lot, I would kind of crumple from anxiety, and

[Jonathan Frakes]

I wouldn't get that built in. The idea that we go into that room and we've signed a contract for the next whatever, we hope it'll be seven years, and then your competition is sitting in the same room. They just talked about that on Smartless. Have you heard of that other podcast, Smartless Smart? It's great. You should listen to it. Oh, Brian Cox was on this week. Another great story. But going into the room to test, we go to the network to test. Is something that either doesn't happen anymore and I hope never happens to anybody.

[Felicia Day]

No. I remember walking into. I think it was me and me. Melissa McCarthy.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Who's like, similar type.

[Felicia Day]

Very. Not. No. What?

[Brent Spiner]

Anyway, was she a redhead at the time?

[Felicia Day]

She was a redhead at the time, but she was like 10 years older than me, at least. But it's fine. It was me and Mercy. And I walked into. I think it was NBC and it was a stadium seating and me.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And it was like a camera and the executives are up there.

[Felicia Day]

I was like, what? This is nothing like what you'd be on. And I just went out of my body.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

And I just.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Was that the first time you tested?

[Felicia Day]

No, no, it was probably the fourth or fifth. But it was when I was doing the Guild and I went in and I was so confident because the Guild gave me confidence. I was making something. I created a role for myself and

[Brent Spiner]

it was hugely popular.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, exactly. And I went in and the pressure and I just left my body. I was like, I don't want to do that. I need to step back. So thank God writers love what I do and they write me part because I don't have to go through that. And I hope that no actor has to go through that pilot process, because it doesn't test how good an actor you are. Right.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It really doesn't.

[Brent Spiner]

Auditions don't. That's a whole.

[Jonathan Frakes]

But you're now in a position, and you're in a position where people offer you parts, which is so rare and so exciting and so hard to get. You've gotten into that position, and you then, as a director, say, oh, it's like when I got you on librarians.

[Felicia Day]

You did. Thank you.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I don't have to worry about that part. Same with Sean. Don't worry about that part. If I get you to say yes, which is sometimes very hard.

[Felicia Day]

Are you. What? Why?

[Brent Spiner]

Well, tell the truth. You know what it is?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Tell the truth.

[Brent Spiner]

I don't get offered anything.

[Jonathan Frakes]

No, No.

[Brent Spiner]

I really don't. Except by you. My manager's right here.

[Felicia Day]

Uh.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, yeah. No, I don't get offered things except by Jonathan. And so I feel like I need to then be like, oh, I don't know. I don't think I'll do that.

[Felicia Day]

No, No. I mean, I got offered a lot of things when my. You know, a lot, but not lately. I think the industry is very bad right now. Like, it's very tough for everybody. And so, you know, doing your own thing is the best way, because that. Then you have the confidence to be like, I don't know if I need this job.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, you know, that's kind of why we're doing this.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Well, and also, you're very, very selective. I'm a much bigger whore. I say, yes.

[Felicia Day]

I'll do anything.

[Brent Spiner]

I've auditioned for a lot of things in the last couple of years that I haven't gotten. What I'm selective about is because when you get to a certain age, particularly for. I found that most of what I audition for are guys in a hospital bed and, you know, and. Or dementia and.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, and you just got to show your abs more.

[Brent Spiner]

You know?

[Felicia Day]

I mean, listen, just get them out, oil them up, use them. Instagram. You are well.

[Brent Spiner]

Thank you. I.

[Felicia Day]

You are, too, though.

[Brent Spiner]

He's a gym rat.

[Felicia Day]

When I walked in, I was like, you look great.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Vanity, season three of Picard. I'd been on season one of Picard. I was like, fat pizza Riker. And then I said, I'm not going

[Brent Spiner]

back on camera this fat.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I'm too fucking vain for this.

[Felicia Day]

As of two weeks from now, I am gonna stop. But I just love baking. I love making somebody a pie. And then who's not gonna I'm not gonna eat it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Who doesn't love pie?

[Felicia Day]

Have you ever turned down something that you regret?

[Brent Spiner]

Have I ever turned down something I regret?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Great question.

[Brent Spiner]

You know what? I've turned down auditions that I regret. I've never been offered something and turned it down and regret it. But I had an audition once, I mean, offered an audition, and I said, no, I don't want to go in on this part. And it was Good Will Hunting and Robin Williams did the part. But, you know, that's the thing is. Yeah, but, you know, here's the thing. He was going to do the part. There was no reason for me to go in and audition.

[Felicia Day]

That's not true.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He was circling at the time.

[Brent Spiner]

He was circling that part.

[Felicia Day]

Do you, as a director. This is interesting. I want to know, do you as a director, when you see somebody who might not be good for a part but you like them, do you, like, save them or do you see so.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Absolutely.

[Brent Spiner]

I have saved so much here in somebody else.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Have a list of people who I've worked with, who I have in what I call my little rep company that I can. If I'm invited to be a guest director on a show and I see a part, I said, I got a great guy for this. And then generally they'll say, fine. And it's the same thing. If you can people the company with people you've worked with, like, trust and know all of a sudden you're a good director.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. No, no. Well, but also, I mean, I just was thinking about this. I was like, do you want to do this movie? Is it worth. You know, it's going to be hard. It's going to be low budget no matter what. Right. And I'm like, it's going to be stressful. It's going to be hard. But then we had a table read and the core cast was together again. And I was just like, oh, this is why I love it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Of the Guild movie.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. I love just getting friends together. I love working on in a project where, you know, I'm sure you've done a job where you're walked on the set and you're nervous and the cast isn't that friendly and you're like, oh, I'm doing a job.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

But when you make magic together.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

It's just special.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, it was kind of.

[Jonathan Frakes]

We had that experience on Picard season three.

[Brent Spiner]

Picard.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

All of us were there and it was like, oh, yeah. This is seconds, though. Doesn't it take seconds to just wind up back in where you were 20

[Jonathan Frakes]

years ago, that's the best feeling in the world.

[Felicia Day]

It is literally the best feeling in the world. So I'm like, okay, it's worth the effort. And also, just remember, that's why we're here. We're not here for the grind. We're not here to just show up and say some lines and then get off, you know, yes, we need health insurance, but at the end of the day, we could probably be making a lot more money in a different field. We're here because we're artists. Right. And the business kind of sometimes crushes it. And when you find a niche and people that puts that art in the business, it's, like, so beautiful.

[Brent Spiner]

You know, ironically, why I considered doing these guys in hospital beds is to get my health insurance.

[Felicia Day]

It's true.

[Brent Spiner]

That's the irony.

[Jonathan Frakes]

The irony is layered.

[Felicia Day]

The last couple years, I will say that a lot of my auditions have been one hour. Oh, my God. Is he going to recover or. I don't know what happened. He was such a nice guy. And I was like. I just told my manager, at a certain point, I was like, you know what? Other actors will be better at this. Yeah, I.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Unless you both have the same.

[Brent Spiner]

I do.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You're principled.

[Brent Spiner]

My manager's not here. But I will say, oh, you know who should play this part? Not me.

[Felicia Day]

I mean, if I'm in an alien hospital bed or I'm like, I don't know why he turned into an alien. You know, like, I don't know why my child can move things with their mind. Give me that. Right.

[Brent Spiner]

That should be you.

[Felicia Day]

Yes. But if it's just a normal child or a normal child, you're the go

[Jonathan Frakes]

to for that part.

[Felicia Day]

Exactly. Hire me. I'll be weeping.

[Brent Spiner]

And if there's a crazy scientist in bed with dementia.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Thank you.

[Brent Spiner]

It should be me.

[Felicia Day]

Can I pitch you my dream job?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

And I was. I actually have it in my mind if somebody doesn't hire me to do this one day, I will write a comic book where I'm. I want to be a coroner, but in an environment where vampires and werewolves and other supernatural creatures are real, and these other two hot leads go and investigate the things, and then they bring the body back to me, and I get to be like, oh, the werewolf, you know, gland right here. Right.

[Brent Spiner]

That's a great idea.

[Felicia Day]

Fourth on the call sheet. Fifth may be fine.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Don't have to work every day on the poster. And on the poster.

[Felicia Day]

On the poster. Supporting being part of the ensemble.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

Maybe I'll write on it too. So anyway.

[Brent Spiner]

And a piece of the back end.

[Felicia Day]

Piece of the back end. Exactly. So if this doesn't happen in two years, I'm writing this comic. I'm putting it out there. Any writers run with it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It's actually a wonderful idea.

[Felicia Day]

I know. Why did I just say it Made me my son.

[Brent Spiner]

She what?

[Felicia Day]

He should write it cause he loves horror. What would you do? You could be the police chief.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, yeah. Or I could be just this guy on the slab.

[Felicia Day]

Uh huh.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's the part you've been turning down.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh yeah. Okay.

[Felicia Day]

Can I cast you as the. I hate to say this, the hot vampire who's actually the good guy, who's kind of the head of the sort of like underground supernatural people. So you're the good guy trying to keep people in rain so we can live together.

[Jonathan Frakes]

The humans and I'm gonna have to think about it. I don't know if I can play that.

[Brent Spiner]

I have to play something evil.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I'm lying to you. I'm playing book. Me.

[Felicia Day]

You in a suit. In a. In a pan.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I'm suit that fits.

[Brooke Devard]

Hello? Hello, it's Brooke Devard from Naked Beauty. Join me each week for unfiltered discussion about beauty trends, self care, journeys, wellness tips and the products we absolutely love and cannot get enough of. If you are a single skincare obsessive and you spend 20 plus minutes on your skincare routine, this podcast is for you. Or if you're a newbie at the beginning of your skincare journey, you'll love this podcast as well. Because we go so much deeper than beauty. I talk to incredible and inspiring people from across industries about their relationship with beauty. You'll also hear from skincare experts. We break down lots of myths in the beauty industry. If this sounds like your thing, search for naked beauty on your podcast app and listen along. I hope you'll join us.

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[Felicia Day]

You don't even need to bring your own suit. We're gonna get this made with your suit.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Wait a minute. This is gonna be a costume department?

[Felicia Day]

Yes. Yes. I can't afford a penthouse. We can't crowdfund a penthouse. You need production value, baby.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I do.

[Felicia Day]

You need the lens flare. Okay. And then we'll go down to the police chief disapproving.

[Brent Spiner]

I've played a police chief before.

[Felicia Day]

You have?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. It's petty dreadful.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Petty dreadful.

[Brent Spiner]

City of Angels.

[Felicia Day]

That was a great shot.

[Brent Spiner]

The one that shot here, the City of Angels.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, I didn't see. I don't know.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Joe Logan was on our podcast. What a wonderful writer.

[Felicia Day]

He is such a good. I know. What is he doing now?

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, he's good. He wrote the Michael Jackson movie. That's an Aviator.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He wrote Gladiator.

[Brent Spiner]

He's got a couple Broadway shows.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's got a Tony.

[Felicia Day]

You guys know fancies?

[Brent Spiner]

Well, you are. Look who's here.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, no.

[Brent Spiner]

You know, go on. We did do, by the way, we played Dungeons and Dragons on Zoom. Yes. For a charity. Right.

[Felicia Day]

It was for a charity thing. That was fun.

[Brent Spiner]

It wasn't. But, you know, I have to be honest.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Are you a good D and D player?

[Brent Spiner]

I wasn't good.

[Felicia Day]

So Geek and Sundry is a company I have with YouTube. I sold a whole slate of things and I called Wil Wheaton up. I remember I was at a coffee shop, Groundworks on Sunset, and I pulled over the car because I had a slate and I had Will in it. And at conventions over the years, we would play tabletop games after Cons. And I was like, will loves. No, no, we play dd. Anyway, my experience, he introduced me to the whole love of board games, but also dd. My idea was Will would be a DM for a Dungeons and Dragons premium show. Shot like this with actually, you know, with beautiful production value. And so I called and pitched him and he was like, you know, that's great, but what about we play a different board game every week, and I invite my friends and we play. You were on that show?

[Brent Spiner]

No.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Were you on tablet?

[Brent Spiner]

I begged to be on tablet. I think he invited me, but.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, you couldn't make it?

[Brent Spiner]

No, I didn't want to go.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, yeah? Why didn't you want to do it?

[Brent Spiner]

Well, I'll tell you why. And this is going to get me in trouble here, but I don't really like Games. And I'll tell you why.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I know.

[Brent Spiner]

For a very good reason.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It changes everything, doesn't it?

[Brent Spiner]

I know it does. I don't like games because I don't like to win and I don't like to lose. So why play? Right. I feel guilty. Why? Why live? Exactly. I feel guilty when I win, and I feel worse when I lose.

[Felicia Day]

What about if you played a cooperative game?

[Brent Spiner]

Well, Dungeons and Dragons.

[Felicia Day]

Dungeons and Dragons, cooperative.

[Brent Spiner]

But I wasn't good at it. I was like.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You would get great at it.

[Brent Spiner]

I didn't even know what I was doing.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Todd Stashwick had to train me up

[Felicia Day]

to do a D and D. Todd is so great. You know, I just did his project, and I'm excited. His. His whole. The world that he created. Amazing dm. I'm excited for that.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Did you go to his lair?

[Felicia Day]

I did, yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It's amazing.

[Felicia Day]

I know. He invited me so many times over the years, and I just never go out.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's a classic nerd, too.

[Brent Spiner]

He is.

[Felicia Day]

He is great, but he's wonderful.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Anyways, he was fabulous on Picard 3, too.

[Felicia Day]

He. He's such a great actor. And then I'm like, oh, he's just Todd.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's another one. He's one. If there's a role and you can give it to Todd, all of a sudden, that would be part of his show.

[Felicia Day]

I think he has a bad guy vibe. But yet he's a good guy.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah. Yeah, that's.

[Felicia Day]

That's kind of hard. I mean, Will's kind of fallen into that, like playing bad guys, but I'm just like, he's. I mean, I cast him as a bad guy. He's kind of a bad guy in the guild, but not really. He's a romantic interest, too. He's a bad boy. Anyway, let me finish the story. So I asked him. So that's how Tabletop came to be. And that's him, you know, inviting people to play board games. And we developed that, and it was beautiful. And then at a certain point, I wanted to do DD for live streaming. I love livestreaming. This was in 2014, when nobody was livestreaming, and I started livestreaming myself, and I was like, hey, we should do this. And I love D and D. Let's put some D and D players on, you know, a live stream. And that's how Critical Role started, and that started the whole D and D phenomenon.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Wait, you started Critical Role too?

[Felicia Day]

Well, yes. I just. My friend Ashley Johnson, who I know through Joss Whedon, told me she had some nerdy voice actors she knew that played D and D together. And I was like, great. I can't be on the show because I'm on Supernatural. I can't stream every week consistently. Voice actors are always in town. Put them on. And so my company built them up. I left the company. They built up. They left. And now they have that thing, critical roles.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That show you're trying to get.

[Felicia Day]

They're amazing.

[Brent Spiner]

That I'm trying to get that.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I had one role on. Remember we were at the con and all the critical role people were, oh,

[Felicia Day]

yes, you did a voice. Yeah, yeah, you gotta be on that.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I had no idea how cool that was.

[Felicia Day]

It's very cool.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It's like this world. I didn't know anything about this world.

[Felicia Day]

They've done amazing stuff, building up. I don't have anything to do with them now, although I did a couple voices. But they. They built a business in an amazing way.

[Brent Spiner]

I get the feeling that you. You create these things. You get them going. They get big, lots of eyes on them. And a lot of money comes in from somewhere else.

[Felicia Day]

And I leave before the money and you leave.

[Jonathan Frakes]

No, but you leave when you feel creatively burnt out, right?

[Brent Spiner]

Exactly. You go, okay, now that it's become

[Jonathan Frakes]

a corporate thing that's so healthy, I

[Brent Spiner]

don't want to be in it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I mean, you are mentally healthy, really. Especially for an artist. In my humble opinion, I've gotten there.

[Felicia Day]

It was not. I mean, a lot of the times when I would leave something, it was because I was mentally and physically burnt out and. Cause I drive myself to the point where I'm, like, collapsing, and then I have to be like, I'm gonna step back. I hope now that. Now I'm like, hey, let's not do that again. Let's not just perpetually burn out and then get interested in something new and then perpetually burn out, because it's not particularly great, and the downtime between those projects is a little too much. I don't need to do that anymore. But that was very observant. I actually need to absorb that. Cause I never thought about it that way.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Before we plug the book and talk about beginning your book tour. I'm gonna run a few things and see if any of them are interesting to you.

[Felicia Day]

Okay. Ooh, wow. Note cards.

[Jonathan Frakes]

The Cheetos commercial.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

I loved it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Warm Springs.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. Well, I gotta ask about that.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

Because I expected you. The name drops are great. And I expected when I asked you about the name drops, that it would come out of Warm Springs somehow.

[Felicia Day]

I mean, there's some droppies.

[Brent Spiner]

No kidding.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Here we go.

[Felicia Day]

I will say that Kenneth Barano did intimidate me. Akin to Sir Patrick, but not on the level.

[Brent Spiner]

Right.

[Felicia Day]

Kathy Bass was one of the most lovely people I've ever met on set. Absolutely. I don't know if I could drop any other names, except one of the actors. I remember that I was with some of the supporting cast, and one of them was a young boy, and we had a hot wings contest where we had to eat the hottest hot wings, and he literally ate ones that's so hot, he had to jump up and run around the block with his mouth open because he was on fire so much. One of those actors, actually, another one passed away from a heart disease.

[Brent Spiner]

You know, from the wings?

[Felicia Day]

No, not. No, that's completely separate.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Have you done hot wings?

[Felicia Day]

They asked me to do it, but I have serious stomach issues. And I decided I was like, not a good idea.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Have they asked you to do it?

[Brent Spiner]

No.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Me neither.

[Felicia Day]

Would you be able to do it with your stomach? You'd do it?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Of course.

[Felicia Day]

All right.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I will do anything.

[Felicia Day]

I almost do anything.

[Brent Spiner]

That's true, by the way.

[Felicia Day]

I was naked in a bathtub.

[Brent Spiner]

He's here.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Can I make that point any more clear?

[Felicia Day]

I was naked in a bathtub of soup for a short last year. And I'm like, I still haven't seen it, but I hope it was worth it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It was naked in a bathtub of soup.

[Felicia Day]

Well, it was colored.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It was colored soup.

[Felicia Day]

It was colored. I was worried for my vaginal health afterwards. Yeah, but it wasn't actually tomato soup. It was just red that they were gonna CGI the soup. And I was like, aye. But I showed up prepared to be in soup.

[Jonathan Frakes]

They were gonna CGI soup. So you were gonna be naked in what?

[Felicia Day]

In soup?

[Jonathan Frakes]

No, but were you naked in water?

[Felicia Day]

Well, almost. You know, partially. And then it was TV naked. Yeah, TV naked. It was short film naked. Not. I'm not. Listen, I'll do only fans if I'm showing these off or I'm gonna monetize them if I have to one day. I will. I'll do anything.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, clearly, because in Warm Springs, you sang I Won't Dance in a Wheelchair.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, I know. That is embarrassing.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

But it's famous.

[Felicia Day]

It's true. It was about polio.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. Was it Roosevelt?

[Felicia Day]

It was about Franklin du Roll Jo. Oh, yes. Cynthia Nixon was in. And she was incredible as well. Quite a mental. I wouldn't take that role now because it required Me to be in a wheelchair. And I think that you gotta go. I would.

[Brent Spiner]

I can't offer that. You did.

[Jonathan Frakes]

How about you get a wheelchair actor?

[Felicia Day]

Exactly.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Someone did that.

[Felicia Day]

One of my very best friends was in that with me and she was my side. And she. I wrote her a part in the Guild because I was like, you deserve to, you know, have more roles because you're a brilliant actor. She just did a one woman show in Seattle, the Seattle Public Theater that she wrote so Teal Shear.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, you. You've come a long way since then.

[Felicia Day]

Thank you.

[Brent Spiner]

So has Kathy Bates.

[Felicia Day]

By the way, she's doing okay for herself, right?

[Brent Spiner]

I know Kathy Bates.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I've known her since I knew everything comes back to you.

[Brent Spiner]

Does it?

[Felicia Day]

Has to tell me your origin story with Kathy Bates.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, Kathy Bates. Well, I knew her. I knew her by the name. She went by the name of Bobo Bates in. At the smu. She went to SMU with a lot of my friends and she was Bobo Bates. In fact, if you watch the movie, Milos Foreman movie Taking off, she's in it briefly, and in the credits she's Bobo Bates. I did a point.

[Felicia Day]

I didn't know that. Also, I didn't know you were such a scholar. You're much more intellectual than I thought you were.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, really? Do you think I was just a stupid nerd? I mean, we've already. We've already said nerd, but now stupid

[Jonathan Frakes]

nerd on top of a cinephile.

[Felicia Day]

I didn't know that. He really is cinephile. You're a nerd about cinema, which I did not know. I knew you were smart, but I didn't know you were.

[Brent Spiner]

And I like theater too, and that's where I knew Kathy Bates is. We did a. We did a workshop of a play at the Public Theater, you may have heard of it. And it was Sigourney Weaver and Kathy and myself.

[Brooke Devard]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Brent Spiner]

But Kathy's a lovely person and she's a brilliant actor.

[Jonathan Frakes]

She's keeping the network alive.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, exactly. Can we get her on the show? Well, you know her as well as I do.

[Felicia Day]

No, I haven't talked to her since Warm Springs. That's a long time ago. That was when I did the Tone. That was my one Tony. Do you have one credit where you're like, oh, I was fancy. I mean, obviously Star Trek, but did you do one?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, yes, and I was not.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He was on Broadway. He's been on Broadway a number of times.

[Felicia Day]

Wow, I did not know that about you.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He was in 1776. He's a beautiful tenor. He's a beautiful singer.

[Felicia Day]

How do I not know these things about you?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Well, you know, Big river, he was in. He's.

[Felicia Day]

You need to put.

[Brent Spiner]

I'll give you some of these on myself when I leave.

[Felicia Day]

Can I come back and interview you guys? Or I should get a podcast with a set. Maybe one day. A lot of work.

[Jonathan Frakes]

So you mentioned Supernatural. We mentioned the Librarians. Eureka.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

Yes. Eureka was also with Will. With Will, exactly. He was an antagonist.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And wasn't Amy Berg a writer on that?

[Felicia Day]

Amy Berg originated my character.

[Brent Spiner]

Is that right?

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. And I love her. She's incredible.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I do, too.

[Felicia Day]

What a great woman.

[Jonathan Frakes]

We like to think of ourselves as the first stop on your book tour. It is kind of the lost daughter of Sparta.

[Brent Spiner]

Here it is right here.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Felicia Day.

[Brent Spiner]

Would you like me to read a paragraph?

[Felicia Day]

I mean, it's a graphic novel, so you don't.

[Brent Spiner]

Would you like me to illustrate?

[Felicia Day]

The voice is a young girl. I could do it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I've done it.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, boy. You're gonna do that. That's a good voice. It is six years in the making, guys. So it's taken six years to get to this point, but I'm really proud of it.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Do you write or do you write?

[Felicia Day]

You know, I try to hand write when I outline and do, like, the creative blueprint, and then I type.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Do you go legal pad or cards regular? Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

Wow. Do you. What do you do?

[Jonathan Frakes]

I don't write. I edit. I'm not bad. If somebody sends me a script, I can say, I don't think you need this, but I. From a blank page, I don't. You guys have both reading books and that.

[Felicia Day]

Is it your dad.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It might be another short story, which I think I've already told in this show.

[Felicia Day]

Tell me.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I haven't heard it. I said to my dad, I think we had read Portrait of an Artist, and he taught Ulysses and Faulkner or not Ulysses. He taught Joyce and Faulkner and Hemingway. And I said, dad, I think I'd like to read Ulysses. And he looked at me and said, you can't handle Ulysses.

[Felicia Day]

He said that.

[Jonathan Frakes]

And then he died. And then I got all of his reading books. You've heard this story before in my little library. It was about 10 years ago. I take down his copy of Ulysses and I sit in his chair that I had had as well. And I thought, this is a great moment for me and my dad. And I open Ulysses that I read about two pages, and I look and I say, you're right, Dad. I still can't handle us.

[Brent Spiner]

He said, I take the book and I put it back up on the shelf. He was right. It turned out he was right, but

[Felicia Day]

it was still soul crushing. It's so crushing to be like, this is my passion in life and it's not for you.

[Brent Spiner]

Right.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. You know, we all have complicated histories and that's why we're artists. Because of our parents.

[Brent Spiner]

Absolutely.

[Felicia Day]

Probably.

[Brent Spiner]

They asked me that at the Saturn Awards the other night.

[Felicia Day]

I've never been to the Saturn Awards.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, I never haven't either. Don't go. No, no. It's the longest.

[Brent Spiner]

It's long. But. But, like, Jackson had a great time.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You know who was there? James Cameron, Tom Cruise, George Lucas.

[Brent Spiner]

Did you mention Tom Cruise?

[Jonathan Frakes]

And Tom Cruise.

[Felicia Day]

He has that museum opening and I'm so excited about. In LA in September. They're opening it.

[Brent Spiner]

Who?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Lucas.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, I thought Tom Cruise has a museum.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He has a Tom Cruise museum.

[Felicia Day]

So you've never been.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I'd never been. We got a couple of Saturn words for the show, but I'd never been in. I was.

[Felicia Day]

Now you're just bitter like me.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah. No, no, I wasn't. I was at a funeral and Noah Wylie accepted my first Saturn Award. And then I was working and Marina accepted our kind of group side of award.

[Felicia Day]

Noah Wiley, the Pit.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Noah Wiley at this point was Noah Wiley, old friend from.

[Felicia Day]

No, no, no, I know, from.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Watch the Pit. It's the best. I think it's the best show.

[Felicia Day]

Incredible. I come from a doctor family, so I'm like, oh, this real? This is real.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Both sides.

[Felicia Day]

No, just my. My dad's a doctor.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

So I know all about my. Believe me, I saw. I would be, you know, eating at the table and my dad would be like, here, my computer. I just opened someone up today. Look at that. I'm like, okay, very nice.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, that's great.

[Felicia Day]

That's why I don't have tattoos. He showed me. He's like, listen, you can get a tattoo if you want, but here's what happens after 30 years. And she'd show these saggy.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, my.

[Felicia Day]

Like, just like somebody's back or like their stomach. Like. Like a butterfly that turned into just like a Rorschach block. And I'm like, nope, not doing it.

[Brent Spiner]

Well, not to bring it back to me again, but to bring it back to me. I worked as an orderly at a hospital. Yeah. At St. Luke's Hospital in Houston, Texas. It's in my book, actually. But I do want you to take a copy because you will I do.

[Felicia Day]

I want to.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I want to read it.

[Felicia Day]

I want to know about you. I mean, I obviously don't know about you.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You don't know this story.

[Brent Spiner]

You'll love this. Anyway. Yeah, so I was an orderly in a hospital, and I was in the recovery room, which is a really tough place. I was 16.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah.

[Brent Spiner]

And they brought a guy in who had had carotid surgery, you know, and so all the doctors were around the bed, and the guy opened his eyes. I'm taking his blood pressure. And he looked up at me and he said, am I dead yet? And I said, not yet. And they grabbed me from the back and pulled me away. Yeah. Don't you ever say that.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I.

[Brent Spiner]

Okay. But he asked. So then all the doctors left the room, and the nurse, I think her name was Ratched, she said to me, take this man's temperature. And I said, well, but he's unconscious. And she said, roll him onto his side and insert the thermometer.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, and his butt work.

[Brent Spiner]

This was back in the day. Yeah, exactly.

[Felicia Day]

Full service.

[Brent Spiner]

I said, Look, I'm 16. I can't. And she said, well, no, you have to do it. Don't be a baby. And I went, all right. So I rolled him onto his back and I put the thermometer in gently, and I'm looking at my watch going, two minutes. Let's go, let's go. And at the end of two minutes, I went to take it out, but he'd rolled back onto his back. Oh, no, Brent, why?

[Felicia Day]

We weren't.

[Brent Spiner]

Look, so I wasn't looking. So then I rolled him back onto his back.

[Felicia Day]

Terrible orderly.

[Brent Spiner]

I know. I rolled him back over, and on the bed are beads of mercury and broken pieces of glass. And I put them together and it made like a half a thermometer. So they. They had to call the doctors back in and take him into. Into the operating room and remove the other half of the thermometer before he woke up and sued the hospital. And what a fabulous.

[Jonathan Frakes]

How have I not heard this story?

[Felicia Day]

This is.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, well, the doctor. The Instagram Patient of Dr. Michael DeBakey, who was the eminent. Who created. Invented the heart transplant. He was one of the great surgeons of all time.

[Felicia Day]

He loved you.

[Brent Spiner]

I was fired that day.

[Felicia Day]

What?

[Brent Spiner]

No, that was the end of my medical career. And I thought, you know, I'm gonna play a doctor one day. And that was it.

[Felicia Day]

Why did. I mean, that's weird that he even hired a 16 year old.

[Brent Spiner]

Also, my uncle was a doctor.

[Felicia Day]

You were a Nepo orderly.

[Brent Spiner]

I was. I was a Nepo orderly.

[Felicia Day]

You know what? That explains it.

[Brent Spiner]

It's in the book. You'll see.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. Anyway. Lost Daughter of Sparta.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah, Please.

[Felicia Day]

Please is a graphic novel about a lost character that I found in ancient Greek myth. So I had a lot of insomnia when my daughter was a toddler. Covid hit. I was reading a lot of Greek mythology and Greek writing because it was the only thing that would calm my very nervous temperament down enough to go to sleep. And so I was reading the Odyssey, and I would read it on my Kindle and be like, oh, who's that? And I would go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and I found a passage in Hesiod's catalog of women, which we have fragments of. He did a book, you know, in 300 BCE that just lists all the women in, like, prominent mythology. Anyway, and there was one line about Helen of Troy's sisters, Clytemnestra, Timandra, and Filonoe. And there's a line about Filonoe that I don't want to spoil, but what happened to her? And I was like, what? I've never heard of this character. So I searched this character online. There's only this one line that exists about her.

[Brent Spiner]

Huh.

[Felicia Day]

So I decided you created exactly.

[Brent Spiner]

You would give her a backstory.

[Felicia Day]

I wanted to give her a hero's journey, like Heracles or Perseus or Theseus. Cause I felt like those are amazing epics, but there's not one woman that stars in it. Actually, women get screwed over a lot in those stories. So I just wanted to write a story about. And it also parallels my journey of, like, being a homeschooled kid, going into the world, seeing, like, whoa, this is not as fair as I thought it was, and trying to remain true to myself. It's also Hollywood because it's not a useful story for Hollywood. And I was kind of avoiding stories that wouldn't be useful to Hollywood because if I pitched it, nobody would care. But I allowed myself to write the story that I felt really intrigued about. And so it was kind of like an analogy for you.

[Jonathan Frakes]

So it's pre Covid.

[Felicia Day]

You started 2020, like, shut down. I played video games a lot. And then I was like, oh, let's do a project that is not useful to Hollywood. And this is what happened. It took a long time because Covid and I got an artist on board. And.

[Brent Spiner]

And where do we find this book now?

[Felicia Day]

It's available on March 17th everywhere. You would list it everywhere. UK has a special paperback edition, but the hardback edition Is available in the U.S. i'm going on book tour across the nation until April 1st. And.

[Brent Spiner]

Wow. You know what? You are just as smart as I thought you were.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah. I have a quote that Wil Wheaton wrote the blurb.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, he did? He did.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It says, this is fucking amazing. You are stupid if you don't read it.

[Felicia Day]

He kind of did say that, but I was like, maybe something for the book.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Just telling you what Will told me.

[Felicia Day]

He did? He blurbed it. He is. I mean, listen, he's just a confidant and an artist, and when he says something's good, I know that it's good. I just know it. So anyway, that's how. And then I'll do the Guild Kickstarter. Now I will say, you've already been in the Guild.

[Brent Spiner]

I have.

[Felicia Day]

Frakesy, will you come?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yes.

[Felicia Day]

If I get the movie made, do

[Jonathan Frakes]

I get a costume?

[Felicia Day]

You'll get a costume.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, do I have to bring my own suit?

[Felicia Day]

No.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Okay, cool.

[Felicia Day]

I'll get you a costume. Okay, good.

[Brent Spiner]

This looks wonderful. And the illustrations. Rowan McCall.

[Felicia Day]

Rowan McCall.

[Brent Spiner]

Really nice.

[Felicia Day]

She's beautiful. Yeah, she does beautiful work. I found her on the Internet. Like you find all good people.

[Jonathan Frakes]

This is fun, plugging a book. You're delightful as always, Fraksie.

[Felicia Day]

You make my blood.

[Jonathan Frakes]

That's Sir Patrick Stewart.

[Felicia Day]

I like you too.

[Brent Spiner]

Should I leave? I could.

[Felicia Day]

What is it like living with such charm with you?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Oh, please.

[Brent Spiner]

He doesn't live with me. What are you talking about?

[Jonathan Frakes]

I live with you.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, you do?

[Jonathan Frakes]

Yeah.

[Felicia Day]

No, the chemistry you guys have is just off the chain. I don't think I've ever spent time with both of you together.

[Brent Spiner]

This is cool. We're so glad you were here.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Brent Spiner]

Absolutely. And we have so much good luck on this. I know. It's good.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Are you looking forward to the tour?

[Felicia Day]

The book tour?

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Have you done it before?

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, I've done a couple of them. This one's only a week on the road, and then.

[Jonathan Frakes]

This is a lot of cities, though. I saw.

[Felicia Day]

It's a lot. We just added two. We added Santa Fe and we added Seattle. Just because I'm gonna be there.

[Brent Spiner]

Is Paris one of the cities?

[Felicia Day]

Oh, would that be. Well, it would be nice. I'm hoping. Translation, I'm hoping. Did you go on a book tour for your book?

[Brent Spiner]

It was. I wrote my. In Covid. The book tour. I mean, what would have been a book tour was during COVID and so no.

[Felicia Day]

How long did it take you to write?

[Brent Spiner]

6 months.

[Jonathan Frakes]

It's a Story. He's.

[Brent Spiner]

But I've had the story in my head, and it's based on something that actually happened.

[Felicia Day]

I can't wait to read it.

[Brent Spiner]

While we were doing Next Generation.

[Felicia Day]

Isn't it wonderful to be able to work in. I mean, I don't know. We're just artists. We just be art wherever we can be art.

[Jonathan Frakes]

We did the audiobook. Are you getting an audiobook done?

[Felicia Day]

I actually wrote an audiobook for this, which is weird because it's a graphic novel. But they asked me to do it, and I was like, great. And then I realized, oh, this is not the same format. So I had to spend a month, like, writing dialogue to make.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Are you reading it or are you getting all the stuff?

[Felicia Day]

I read it. I read it all. Read all the. Yeah, but it's fun. Have you done.

[Jonathan Frakes]

No, I've done audiobooks. I did Seth's book, actually, the Million Ways to Die in a Death, but we played ourselves in his book.

[Felicia Day]

Are you kidding?

[Brent Spiner]

You get to perform better. They all. Yeah, they all did. Everybody did. Now, mind you, it was brief because I was the biggest part in the book, but.

[Felicia Day]

Of course. But you had some cameos. That's so cool. Oh, it's so fun to work with your friends.

[Brent Spiner]

It really is. Everybody was great about it.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah. Well, I can't wait for your next one. Are you tempted to do, like, a novel?

[Brent Spiner]

It is a novel, by the way.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, it's a. No. So it's not a biography?

[Brent Spiner]

Not really. I mean, sort of, but not really.

[Felicia Day]

So do you want to write, like, your story?

[Brent Spiner]

No, that's why I wrote this.

[Felicia Day]

I want to hear your story now. I want to know.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I've heard all my stories.

[Felicia Day]

Listen, we could dive in.

[Brent Spiner]

Have you ever heard the story about Ulysses? His dad? Yeah, I've heard that one.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I told it twice on the show.

[Felicia Day]

Know.

[Brent Spiner]

Oh, I've told. Yeah, please.

[Jonathan Frakes]

But you repeat it. But this. This story about debecki and the. And the broken thermometer.

[Brent Spiner]

Thermometer.

[Felicia Day]

This poor man.

[Brent Spiner]

Jesus. I know.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Felicia Day.

[Brent Spiner]

Felicia Day, everybody. With all the clockwork, you are. You've.

[Jonathan Frakes]

You've moved up. You've set a new bar, I think.

[Brent Spiner]

Yeah. We love you.

[Felicia Day]

Oh, I love you guys. I can't wait. Okay. I'm going to put you. I'm going to do something good with you.

[Jonathan Frakes]

I'm in. I'm all in.

[Felicia Day]

Well, you already. I used you.

[Brent Spiner]

You have used me. You've used me up.

[Jonathan Frakes]

If I had a nickel.

[Felicia Day]

You're so usable, though.

[Jonathan Frakes]

He's so usable. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.

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[Brent Spiner]

And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Jonathan Frakes]

Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird.

[Felicia Day]

What is this your first date?

[Brent Spiner]

Oh no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Felicia Day]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your

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