Fran Drescher’s Memoir Enter Whining (with Jo Feldman)

Summary

Glamorous Trash: Fran Drescher’s Memoir "Enter Whining" (with Jo Feldman)

Podcast: Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast
Host: Chelsea Devantez
Guest: Jo Feldman
Date: January 13, 2026
Memoir: "Enter Whining" by Fran Drescher (published 1996)

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Overview:

This episode of Glamorous Trash features Chelsea Devantez and returning favorite Jo Feldman (TV writer and former Fran Drescher colleague) diving deep into Fran Drescher’s 1996 memoir, Enter Whining. The conversation is both a celebration and critique: the hosts unpack Fran’s rags-to-riches trajectory, her bombshell/comedic duality, iconic Hollywood moments, and the more complicated truths behind her personal life and career. The discussion moves briskly — from laugh-out-loud Hollywood antics to the surprising revelations in Fran’s personal life, including her marriage, career breakouts, and lifelong struggles with body image.

Trigger Warning: Sexual assault, body/weight discussion (01:08).

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Fran’s Early Life & Career Beginnings (03:51–05:50)

• Queens Roots: Fran was raised in Queens, New York — proud of her Jewish, New York identity, which permeates her writing and public persona.
• Pageant Hustle: At 15, she placed second in "Miss Teenage New York City" and parlayed that into agent calls, stretching the truth about her rank.
  Quote:
  "You were second. Might as well be first… I would have been like, I won second in the Miss Teenage New York Pageant, and just see what they heard over the phone." — Chelsea (04:25)
• Personality vs. Beauty: Fran is a stunner, but her comedic, outsized personality is what sets her apart.
• The Nanny's Secret Origin: Many don’t realize Fran co-created The Nanny; her creativity often obscured by her on-screen persona.

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Marriage to Peter Marc Jacobson & The Reveal (05:50–09:06)

• Met Peter (future husband and creative partner) at 15; together for 20 years by the time of the memoir.
• Revelation: Peter comes out as gay years after the memoir’s publication, reframing much content in the book. Quote:
  "This entire book is about… my soulmate is Peter and we have the happiest marriage… and then you find out three years later, they divorced and he was like, I am gay.” — Chelsea (07:09)
• Jo, who worked with both Fran and Peter, confirms their close ongoing friendship and their eventual collaboration on TV Land’s 'Happily Divorced', based on this twist.
• Reflects on the tension between stereotype and reality (hairdressing, theater school, etc.).
• Notable segment: Re-reading the memoir with hindsight, the subtext pops:
  "If you read this book knowing Peter's gay, you're like… you are screaming on every page… Gay. He's gay.” — Jo (07:31)

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Rising Stardom & Hollywood Stories (10:13–20:13)

• Early Hollywood Roles:
  • Saturday Night Fever cameo: Fran scolds a withdrawn John Travolta, gets him back to set, showing her mix of chutzpah and charm (10:43–11:35).
  • American Hot Wax: Plays Jay Leno’s wife, studio gives her a Mustang convertible, which her husband wrecks—studio promptly replaces it (15:23–16:19).
  • Hollywood’s excess and connections of the time.
• Elaine Rich: Both Fran and Peter’s manager; pivotal to their careers.
• Peter’s Pivot: Peter transitioned to writing/producing as Fran’s on-screen career soared — a classic, if inverted, “husbandger” arrangement discussed with nuance (16:19–18:45).

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Dissecting Celebrity Culture: Parties, Photos, and Memoir Style (18:45–22:19)

• Wild Hollywood Parties: Anecdote about a famous guest passing out at a party, brushing up against darker undertones of Hollywood culture (19:52–20:45).
• Memoir Format: Heavy use of candid, annotated photos; Fran’s humor emerges in photo captions (21:14–22:11).
• Jewish identity, humor, and culture referenced repeatedly:
  “She does write several times… I was a gefiltah fish out of water.” — Chelsea (21:47)

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Key Career Moments: “This is Spinal Tap,” The Nanny, and Lessons from the Book (23:29–42:44)

• Rob Reiner and "This is Spinal Tap":

  • Fran’s lesson: “work brings work” — importance of showing up, even for lower-profile projects.
  • Valuable industry advice about treating everyone on set with respect (24:20–25:10).

• Hollywood Hustle and Personal Connections:

  • The early 1990s multi-cam TV landscape: “They made 58 pilots… picked up two,” underlining the high stakes of The Nanny’s pickup (45:23).
  • Employing friends: Fran and Peter built their team from close friends — a lesson Chelsea and Jo echo about the value of loyalty (41:04–42:44).
  • Pilot Production Wisdom: Always create a full pilot if possible, not a “pilot presentation”:
    "Every pilot presentation I've made has never been picked up… we're gonna find a way to make a full pilot." — Pilot advice segment (43:12–44:34)

• Pitching “The Nanny”:

  • Inspiration came during Fran’s first solo trip; she constructed the "tag-along nanny" fish-out-of-water premise after visiting Twiggy in London and running into CBS president Jeff Sagansky (37:24–38:23).
  • Fun game: What celebrity would your partner be most excited to see?
    Chelsea calls her husband, Jo calls hers (39:03–40:17).

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Gender, Sexism, and Hollywood Misogyny (26:06–32:25)

• Warren Beatty-Oriented Anecdotes:
  • Fran’s run-in with Warren Beatty during Ishtar audition: tension between attraction and professional boundaries.
    "I really wanted to fuck Warren and he really wanted to fuck me…” — Chelsea (27:01)
  • Warren’s inappropriate behavior: makes Fran sit on his lap in front of a casting director.
    “Come sit on my lap… I felt embarrassed and somehow like a piece of meat.” — Memoir quote (31:25–31:59)
• Elaine May (director) vs. “boys’ club” dynamics; hosts sympathize with women directors and call out the misogyny Fran encountered.

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Weight, Body Image, and Food (45:22–49:49)

• Obsessive Focus: The memoir contains persistent references to Fran’s weight, dieting, and a picture of her as a child stuck on her fridge as motivation to stay thin (45:56–47:12).
  • Jo shares a poignant, personal anecdote and critiques this internalized body shaming:
    “She is adorable… it is like I have this picture in front of my desk because I remember looking like this. My sister is behind me and a leotard… and I remember being told my body was a problem in that picture.” — Jo (46:21)
  • The diet talk is ever-present in Fran’s interactions, even with other women.
• Food, Culture, and Identity: Fran brings chopped liver to sets; Jo recounts a classic Fran encounter about kosher vs. organic chopped liver (48:00–49:21).

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Trauma & Vulnerability: The Assault (54:13–59:27)

• The Home Invasion: Fran was the victim of a brutal assault during a robbery, experienced and survived with Peter.
  • Howard Stern’s Insensitivity: Fran learns Stern intends to put her trauma at the center of her interview, forcing her to recount her sexual assault on-air without warning (54:13–56:23).
  • Discussion of how trauma is handled in memoir, therapeutic approaches, and the era’s attitude toward survivors.
  • Noteworthy therapy insight:
    "We were taught to walk our minds past that point, all the way to the part when they left and we lived." — Fran quote read by Jo (57:43)

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Later Career, Memoir Odds & Ends (61:02–64:52)

• Filling Pages: Fran’s memoir tapers off with odd, likely fabricated Princess Diana story (61:02–61:27), and weird “bickering over appetizers” anecdote with Peter monitoring her food intake (61:54).
• SAG-AFTRA Presidency: Discussion of Fran’s union leadership, compared to Patty Duke and successor Sean Astin (her son), who all appear together in a photo (51:10–52:03).
• Fran’s Eccentric Health Beliefs: 5G conspiracies, microplastics, and water bottle lore (62:31–63:51).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You were second. Might as well be first." — Chelsea, on Fran’s pageant hustle (04:25)
• "If you read this book knowing Peter's gay, you're like... you are screaming on every page… Gay. He's gay." — Jo (07:31)
• "Work brings work, so be reticent about turning down anything." — Fran, read by Chelsea (24:04)
• "We were taught to walk our minds past that point, all the way to the part when they left and we lived." — Fran, trauma-healing approach (57:43)
• "I have so many notes that are just me going 'haha'..." — Jo (64:17)
• "I think you and Fran are very simpatico on jokes per page." — Jo, to Chelsea (65:35)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Trigger warning (sexual assault, body talk): 01:08
• Fran’s origins and early career stories: 03:51–05:50
• Peter’s coming out, memoir recast: 05:50–09:06
• Hollywood launch stories (Saturday Night Fever, American Hot Wax): 10:13–16:19
• The creation and pitching of The Nanny: 37:24–42:44
• Warren Beatty/Ishtar/sexism stories: 26:06–32:25
• Body image obsession & food: 45:22–49:49
• Fran’s assault, Howard Stern incident: 54:13–59:27
• Memoir endings/oddball Princess Diana story: 61:02–61:27

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Book Dull Test: Did the Memoir Succeed?

1. Was the author vulnerable?
   Thumbs medium (for 1996 memoir conventions); honest about trauma, but surface-level elsewhere. (64:00)
2. Was it entertaining?
   Absolutely—a "ball," full of jokes, tea, and classic anecdotes. (64:17)
3. Did it elevate your life in any way?
   Yes—reminders about loyalty, creativity, and powerful female legacy. (64:52)

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Tone & Takeaways

• Irreverent, affectionate, but critical—Chelsea and Jo combine warm fandom with clear-eyed cultural analysis.
• The episode moves fluidly from fun Hollywood gossip to meaningful discussions of feminism, trauma, and the complexities of personal truth in celebrity memoirs.
• Ultimately, Fran comes out as an icon: hilarious, complicated, a survivor, and—for Chelsea and Jo—a role model for both comedy and original voice.

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Recommended for:
Fans of The Nanny, pop culture fiends, those interested in the mechanics of TV/film, feminist memoir, or anyone curious about the duality behind the public face of stardom.

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

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[Chelsea Devontez]

Welcome to Glamorous Trash. This is a podcast that book clubs, viral articles, celebrity memoirs and trashy discourse to elevate your life. I'm your host, Chelsea Devontez. I'm a TV writer, comedian, filmmaker, author, and sometimes I'm in stuff, too. And today we are covering Fran Drescher's memoir titled Interwining, published in 1996. You, of course, know Fran from her famous show the Nanny, where she played, you know, the nanny. She was also just in the film Marty supreme as Marty's mother. Or perhaps you know her as our past SAG president, the actors union president during the strikes, which got lots of press. And of course she's been in so many other things like Spinal Tap and I mean, I could go on and on and on. You'll hear about some of them in this episode. Now this, this is your trigger warning for discussions of sexual assault and just a lot of talk about weight loss and weight so much. That's my guest, Jo. Let's dive in. Oh, I won the tennis match.

[Ad Voice]

There's no fan.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I slaughtered him. Six, four. I creamed his little English tuchus. Get out. You be dad at tennis. Oh, I'll tell you, I felt so bad for the guy. It was really sad. He had this look on his face like when I'm eating Haagen Dazs and my spoon hits the cardboard. My guest is the returning and beloved Joe Feldman, TV writer bestie of mine, a frequent guest on this podcast. I've known her since she was 22. I was around when she was losing her virginity. Is that a credit? I should say? Like, I wasn't there, but I was. I was in proximity.

[Jo Feldman]

You might as well have been there.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I might as well. I do think I was in, like, another room.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah, you were definitely. First text. Second text.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, Close. I was close. So anyways, that's Joe's big credit on this pod. Or maybe it's my. Actually, it's my credit. It's my credit on this podcast. Joe also worked with Fran Drescher on one of her most recent TV shows. So we've got an expert. Expert in the house. Let's take a second to discuss the COVID which I love because. Because it's so sticky on the front is her. And her, you know, classic famous victory pose as the nanny in a black little dress. And then you turn the book around, and her dress is caught in her underwear. And her. She's giving you a little booty flash.

[Jo Feldman]

And I gotta say, I'm loving the cut of the underwear.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Great cut of the underwear. Great nylons and funny. It's a funny, sticky, funny little memoir. Like, hottie with a body and a lot of humor.

[Jo Feldman]

Hell, yeah.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Okay, so let's just dive right in. Fran Drescher grew up in Queens, New York City. She is a New York City gal all the way. And what I love about the book is that it jumps right into the good stuff where she has submitted herself to be Miss Teenage New York City in the pageant. Teenage New York City, whatever that is. She wins second. And she's like, good enough for me. Calls up a bunch of agents and is like, I am Miss teenage New York City. Which, like, how they get.

[Jo Feldman]

So. Such a smart move.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Absolutely. I'm so. Listen, you were second. Might as well be first. And I was gonna say that feels.

[Jo Feldman]

Like a devontae's move.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Absolutely. Absolutely. I would have been like, I won second in the Miss Teenage New York Pageant. And just see what they heard over the phone. This, of course, also indicates something that's. It's clear from looking at her. But her personality, in the best way, takes over her looks. And I sort of forgot until going through this book that she's, like, the most beautiful woman alive.

[Jo Feldman]

She is the most beautiful woman. It's so funny because she holds such a duality to me of someone who relies so much on her personality and her. Her Jewishness is like. It's so. I feel very. I relate to it so much that it is like. It encapsulates her. It informs her whole personality. But then she's also a bombshell. And so she'll be like, yeah, and had to Model and wear couture and like.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, no, she is. When I was looking at her modeling headshots from high school when she's winning this pageant, I was like, oh, yeah, you're a. You're a model. Which I think it's so cool to have such a comedic personality that that's what you're known for. When you could have just walked in and been like, I'm Monica Bellucci. You know, no shade to Monica. Monica's so hot. I'm just saying the hotness level.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah. I think most people don't know that Fran is also a creative person.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Oh, interesting. You don't think. I feel like when your personality is that fun.

[Jo Feldman]

I think people don't know that she was like a creator of the Nanny versus She got cast on the Nanny and it was just a perfect part.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Interesting. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, and listen, we'll get to it. But she created the Nanny. Now, the other way the book starts is she writes the sentence that she met her soulmate and husband Peter Jacobson, when they were both 15 years old in high school. And basically, here's how I read it. I walked down the stairs, he was like, you're the hottest girl in high school. She looked at him, was like, you're the hottest boy in high school. And they started going together and that was that. But they have been together since they were 15 years old. She is writing this book. How long have they been together?

[Jo Feldman]

20 years. At the point of the book.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah.

[Jo Feldman]

Can I say what my note was on page two of the book?

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yes. Okay.

[Jo Feldman]

When she's describing Peter. And now, just as a spoiler, I've worked with Fran, so I have some insider info that's not that inside. Okay. She says, me with my Farrah Fawcett wings and 8 inch Goody 2 shoes, him with his dry cleaned blue jeans. I circled this and wrote gay.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Now here's where I tell you that this entire book is about, I would say a good, A big through line is my soulmate is Peter and we have the happiest marriage I've ever read about. And so when I ended the book, I was like, wow, this is so cool that their marriage has lasted since they were 15. They were both in the business. We're gonna get into some details where like, she becomes a star, he doesn't, but the marriage lasts. And I was like, I gotta look them up. I'm sure they're still together. So I go to Google Drescher husband Peter being like, how are they doing? Oh, only to Find out that three years after this book was published, they divorced. And he was like, I am gay.

[Jo Feldman]

And I said to Chelsea, when she told me last night, she didn't realize it. I said, now, unfortunately, you do have to reread the entire book, because if you read. If you read this book knowing Peter's gay, you're like, scre. You are screaming on every page of this book. Gay. He's gay. Your husband's gay, so.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Because that's not. Yeah. I didn't know that. I have to tell you, Joe, I had my jaw on the floor for. And I'm saying, like, it was physically open, and then I was aware, like, oh, wow. This is what they mean when your jaws on the floor. And it stayed like that for, like, two minutes. As I looked at the Wikipedia, every.

[Jo Feldman]

Other page of this book is her being like, peter and I couldn't believe it. Barbra Streisand, Peter and I couldn't believe it. Cher. Peter and I couldn't believe it. Madonna.

[Chelsea Devontez]

We love her, like, every single thing I know and listen, but it was so stereotypical. And then, you know, your brain doesn't want to be like that surgeon, because I will say on page 15, she's like. My mom and dad were very supportive of me and Peter becoming actors as long as we had a career to fall back on. So we both enrolled in Vidal Sassoon's hair school.

[Jo Feldman]

Yep. Where I circled gay.

[Chelsea Devontez]

They were both hairstylists, and, like, he did hair, and she did hair, and then he did her hair. But, like, I don't want to have a brain that goes to stereotypes.

[Jo Feldman]

Of course.

[Chelsea Devontez]

And so we're living in Salt Lake.

[Jo Feldman]

City World, where Angie Casanova's husband gets called gay and he's a hairdresser. So, like, we have to subvert a lot of stereotypes, but in this particular book, they're all true.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Well, and I do want to say that Peter. I spent a lot of time on this. Peter has come out and spoken about hiding this secret for so long. Fran is a huge supporter of LGBTQIA rights and is, like, a huge proponent of it. She and Peter are still best friends. Oh, yeah.

[Jo Feldman]

I saw him every week when I worked with her.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah. And so this is not just me and Joe pontificating. This is, like, a big part of their new story. They wrote a TV show called Happily Divorced about this. That was for TV Land. But here's the other reason why I was shocked, and I shouldn't have been.

[Jo Feldman]

Because, I mean, Hindsight really is 2020. Yeah.

[Chelsea Devontez]

It does make sense looking back. But the other thing is that she's constantly writing about them having sex. But, yeah, she would write about it in a way where she would kind of go through, like, a vacation they were on and a bunch of things they were doing. And she would put sex in a spot in their schedule where I thought to myself, huh, well, I'm sure wouldn't be having sex then. Like, it would be like, we had brunch and then some sex in bed and then, like, went out to explore. And I was like, oh, that's like, not. That's not a sex schedule. Partake in.

[Jo Feldman]

That's not the order.

[Chelsea Devontez]

That's just some context. Okay. So she immediately gets famous in that. Even when she has a tiny role in Saturday Night Fever, she's supposed to be on the dance floor with John Travolta. And I'm gonna read this story. So she said, finally it was my time to shoot my scene. John, as in John Travolta, seemed to be very down and depressed and unable to go on with the shooting. My mazel luck. Is that my mazel?

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah, Mazel is Hebrew for luck.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I know, like, mazel tov. But you can just say my mazel. Yeah, like that. Okay. My mazel. The scene he wanted to skip was mine. Now, there were plenty of people trying to coax him into working some more that afternoon. But I guess the grueling schedule coupled with the recent death of his girlfriend was more than he could bear. You want a steak, John? One guy offered. Maybe he needs a cold drink, said another. But I liked watching a Greek tragedy. I saw Travolta get cemented into his lump like position in the corner as my part was going down the drain. Okay, enough's enough, I thought. I marched my way over to John to try and salvage what was fast becoming a disaster. Mine. You know, John, maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but you're a trooper. Whatever happened to let's go on with the show? So what if you're tired? So what if you're run down? Maybe they will have to check you into a hospital for exhaustion in the end. But right now, I expect you to act like the star you are and finish the scene, and then we can all go home. Fran is like, this is her first set.

[Jo Feldman]

Fran is but personified. Every story in here is like.

[Chelsea Devontez]

You're like, no, no, no, no, no.

[Jo Feldman]

But it always works.

[Chelsea Devontez]

It's like. And it works, always works out. Okay, we're going to take a quick break right now, and we'll Be right back. Okay. A very fancy cool actress taught me this trick, which is that when you're getting on a zoom but you're so tired and you didn't shower and maybe you didn't wash your face. Okay. We all have tough mornings. All you have to do is put on a bold lip. And the way the zoo it makes you look like you have a full face of makeup on. I can't tell you how many times this has worked. Show your confidence in lipstick form and use empower. Matte Precision Lipstick Crayon from Thrive. The crayon is so smooth and buildable. It's like a thick lip liner but also a lipstick. I love it so much. I am extremely lazy but also like to look nice. Hence the name Glamorous trash. And so the Precision Lipstick crayon is my favorite thing in the morning. To slap it on, go into a meeting, pretend I've been awake the whole morning. Amplify your everyday go to thrivecosmetics.com for an exclusive offer of 20 off your first order. That's Thrive Cosmetics. C A U S E M E t I c s.com glamorous and it's cosmetics because every purchase donates to a very important cause. So you can be sure that where you're spending your money is going to great places, including your lipstick shade. When I went on the book tour, people were always surprised at how tall I was, even though on this podcast they say that I'm tall. But I'm 58 and Quince's wide leg pants are perfect for me. So if you are a tall gal and you're looking for a wide leg pant that's not gonna look so weird because it's like an inch and a half too short. You get to choose a longer inseam on Quints. I love their wide leg pants. I have three pairs at this point. Quince has all the staples covered from soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like designer pieces without the markup to 170 silk tops and skirts for easy dressing up. And like everything from Quint's, each piece is made with premium materials and ethical trusted factories, then priced far below what other luxury brands charge. And I got my husband this cool corduroy shirt jacket that he's loving. There's only a few places where I can order something for him and something for me, and Quints is one of them. Refresh your wardrobe with Quint. Don't wait. Go to quints.com glamorous for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com/glamorous. To get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com/glamorous. Okay, welcome back. Let's continue the conversation. John Travolta says, thanks, I needed that. Let's dance. But yeah, and then, I mean, that's page 23. On page 27, she's like, we moved to LA because I got American Hot Wax, which is a movie with Jay Leno, to which I said, oh, he's always been a little boner for cars. Jay Leno just always be boning cars.

[Jo Feldman]

Into which I said, I totally forgot he had an acting career.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I never knew.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah, but I guess like in my head I'm like, I guess he must have done something before he was Jay Leno, right?

[Chelsea Devontez]

Well, you. Yeah, with that. He was a comedian and went into movies before he like, got his own show, I guess. Yeah. And he's always been, you know, honestly, I know I should. No, Jandalenos a lot of things about him. However, him in denim on denim on denim, standing in front of a bunch of cars, just fucking with a hard on about cars has overtaken all other impressions I have of him.

[Jo Feldman]

What is wrong with men in cars?

[Chelsea Devontez]

So she plays his wife. So it's like a big part. But this is. See, this is a Hollywood I don't know about. She said it was time to start shooting American Hot Wax. The reason I was in la, the studio delivered a brand new white Mustang convertible. Okay, that alone. Holy shit. On our first outing, Peter drove over a parking divider at the mall and completely wrecked the car. That was it. They were going to fire me. What are we going to do? Who do we call? But the next day, the studio delivered a brand new red one. No questions asked. What's going on? What?

[Jo Feldman]

There was going on. So much money to just burn back then.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I mean, her first big role, she's playing the wife of Jay Leno and you get two free cars delivered. That's pretty sick.

[Jo Feldman]

I mean, and that your husband, like, you're like, oh, my husband crashed it. They're like, okay, no problem.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, yeah, you're right. And I mean, she's. She's just off to the races immediately. She said. A month or two after moving to Los Angeles, Peter connected with a theatrical manager named Elaine Rich. She was from New York, da da, da. And she becomes both of their agents and she gives like, Elaine's a big character in the book. She's like, we owe everything to Elaine.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Devontez]

And at one point she's like. And Elaine who just so smartly noticed that Peter should get into producing and writing, which is another way of saying wasn't a good actor. Yes.

[Jo Feldman]

Elaine knew where. Where to attach that wagon. That's right.

[Chelsea Devontez]

But that was another reason where I was like, what a marriage. Because for you both to have this dream and you can hear that Peter's auditioning and failing and he's not getting parts as Fran is becoming a superstar. But listen, also, he becomes her husband juror. So tale as old as time.

[Jo Feldman]

And he, like. I mean, I think I. I have so much curiosity about. I would love to know more about the writer's room at the Nanny because he's often, like, going back to work on scripts and is. Was he the showrunner? Like, he. There were two showrunner. It's just very. I'm curious, like, how much writing he was actually doing or if he really did, like, happily fall into that role and if that's what he wanted to be doing.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, yeah, good point. And this book is height of like, the Nanny has just taken off.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Devontez]

It's so big that they're like, quick, write a book. And so I think it's also written in that, like, fairy tale moment of, like, him producing worked out, but also like, yes. Even though he technically became her husbander, sometimes it feels like she's his husband in the best way where she's like, hey, Peter, here's a really good idea. Go sell it. Like, she came up with the idea for the Nanny. Yeah, she did, but then he pitched it and it. But it felt like classic Hollywood of like, if a man says your idea, it'll go better, even. Yes.

[Jo Feldman]

I mean, and I'm sure we'll get to it. But even just like, the way that when it was being pitched, like, she was sent out of the room afterwards for the discussions with her team, like, there's a lot of her being cast aside. And I think you're right. I do wonder if there's a lot. If, like, she's bringing him along for the ride, for everything. Like, he's getting to go to every single cool thing she goes to he gets to do. And he gets to do it without his life getting disrupted.

[Chelsea Devontez]

But yeah, well. And listen, they've had a shared savings account since they were 15 years old and opened it in high school. So it's like their fate is intertwined to. Yeah. Everything. Okay, fun tangent. They've been in LA for two months. They're At a huge Hollywood party, she writes this. I had just shoved a piece of honey baked ham in my face when, much to mind Peter shock, one of the guests, a famous celebrity who shall remain nameless, got so blitzed on booze and God knows what else that she passed out right in the middle of the living room. But I tell you, my hand to God, no one even noticed. They didn't even bother to pick her up. They all continued in their own worlds, quite unfazed. Mind you, this was Hollywood in the 80s when people threw wild parties, but we had never seen anything like this. And then she said. Meanwhile, Elaine Sachets out from the kitchen, stops at the body as if it were a parking bumper, and announces, come and get it. Dinner is served. And without skipping a beat, she asked her husband Alan, will you pick her up? She's blocking the buffet. Now, I think this is obviously exaggerated for fun of the book, but now we're playing. Who was that actress?

[Jo Feldman]

I don't. It's so hard to tell because this is also what I love about old memoirs is when they show old pictures of who they were hanging out with, and you're like, oh, I could have never. I would have never guessed, like, Dan Aykroyd would be a central character in Fran Drescher's life memoir.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah.

[Jo Feldman]

Or like.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Or like Dennis Quaid and her are just like, us hanging out at a party. Yeah.

[Jo Feldman]

David Caruso. Like, she's always with different. She's with different people that you would not. So I couldn't. I couldn't begin to guess.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I know. I. Yeah. It's also for. I feel like if we knew who it was, we would read this story really sadly. Like, this was someone who didn't get. Like, this is Judy Garland's. Like, this is like someone who was, like, not being helped and cared for.

[Jo Feldman]

This is a human. This is a human being who's passed.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Out on the floor that you're, like, fun 80s party. And, like, it's. Yeah, I. I think in hindsight, we'd be like, oh, no.

[Jo Feldman]

Sad. Yeah, it is interesting. Fran never gets, like, sucked into partying.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Here's the thing. We're gonna get to it. We're gonna get to it. I am going to push back on that maybe a little bit. Maybe not that she got sucked into partying, but just in terms of the amount of truth in the book in a fun way. All right. What a teaser. Okay, so then, I mean, this book is flying because as Jo texted me last night, half of the page space is pictures which, yes, I loved.

[Jo Feldman]

I loved every member.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Maybe we have photos. I'm talking. It's like a picture in the corner. It's like four pictures are all over the page, which spreads out like one paragraph, which was.

[Jo Feldman]

And each picture has her a little pretend. It's got the font where it looks like she wrote it herself.

[Chelsea Devontez]

That's right.

[Jo Feldman]

Each one has a little joke next to it.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah. My first Bob Mackie. He was such a doll. He lent it to me. That's just like written under her gown.

[Jo Feldman]

Our version of the Blue Lagoon, Jewish style. Just a picture of her and her husband. No need to point out the Jewishness, but it's constant. And again, I heavily relate.

[Chelsea Devontez]

She does write several times in the book. I was a gefelta fish out of water. And I'm not trying to do a Fran voice, but I feel like you can't speak her words without falling into it.

[Jo Feldman]

It feels like a disservice to not try.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I could go harder, but I don't feel like that's what the people want. Joe, I actually. Would you like to say I was a gefelta fish out of water?

[Jo Feldman]

I was a cafil to fish out of water.

[Chelsea Devontez]

That is. I really wonder if there was an audiobook to this.

[Jo Feldman]

I trust me, I looked and I couldn't find it.

[Chelsea Devontez]

That's really.

[Jo Feldman]

But also imagine doing the audiobook and you'd miss all the pictures.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Not worth it, not worth it, not worth it. So again, she is just like, success, success, success. Even though she's writing about hard times. It's kind of unbelievable because, yeah, we're just going into success after success. So she said it was during the shooting of Dr. Detroit, the Dan Aykroyd picture for Universal Studios, which I literally have never heard of. Dr. Destroy. You know, listen, I'm a Dan. I was big into SNL stuff, but I've never heard of that movie. When I first heard of a small but noteworthy project titled this is Spinal Tap, this was to be Rob Reiner's directing debut in features, and Norman Lear's company was going to produce it. So first off, moment for Rob Reiner, and this is his. Yeah, this is his very first movie. And one amazing thing about Rob Reiner looking at his career is that the different genres of films that he absolutely created iconic films in. So it's like he's going to create one of the most iconic rom coms ever with Harry Met Sally, but then he's going to create like the mockumentary. The mockumentary to end all comedic I mean, like, he is the reason for like.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah.

[Chelsea Devontez]

The Office and Abbott elementary and like, and Christopher Guest. And Christopher Guess. Yeah, yeah. Which is just incredible. And he casts Fran Drescher in Spinal Tap.

[Jo Feldman]

I think it's also really interesting how many people he cast in the movie that weren't improvisers and he let them all improvise. Like, there's so much trust to put in people like Fran having zero background in it and just knowing that the screenplay was like a 50 page outline.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, yeah, good point. I feel like if you meet Fran Drescher, you're like, yeah, you can improvise. Like you're improvising life, baby.

[Jo Feldman]

She's so funny. Yeah, she's so good.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Well, and I loved this lesson. She said it was like this tiny little low budget film. And she said, I'll tell you, it's a lesson to be learned during one's career that work brings work. So be reticent about turning down anything. What do you think of that?

[Jo Feldman]

I thought that was cool. I think it's like, I do think work begets work. I think she said somewhere in here about setting the tone. I can't remember who she was talking about, but. But setting the tone as like, how you should treat crew and everything and how you should treat crew and the cast on shows. And she's pointing out really helpful advice for people working in the business subtly throughout the whole book. And one of them is, like, when I was on my first show and I went to Crafty, where you get a snack, I just like went in and got a snack. And I didn't introduce myself to the person there because it didn't occur to me I would see them every day, three times a day for the next like eight months. And I should know their name. Like, they're. And they should know my name. And we would be chatting. I just thought, like, I'm just here, right? It didn't occur to me, like.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah.

[Jo Feldman]

And I think she does a good job of sort of subtly throughout the book being like, talking about how each person does become important to you.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, yeah. No, that's really nice. And also it's so sad. But some people do need this lesson. They do need the lesson of like, hey, be nice to people. The art with you. Some people really need the lesson. Yeah. But clearly she, from the beginning, like, knew. I also think it's interesting because that advice is sort of like the hustle, culture, grind, culture advice. But I think it still stands. And I do think you should be reticent about turning things down, especially if you love them. So even if they're like, small budget or stupid or they're not the it thing or they're not gonna whatever, but you love it. I just think you always have to. To do it because she could have said no to that and done a bigger movie instead.

[Jo Feldman]

That's true.

[Chelsea Devontez]

And we learned.

[Jo Feldman]

We learned also through the Charlie Sheen memoir that if you learn from Martin Sheen, you have to stay true to your word. So you can't turn something smaller down for something bigger. Once you said yes to something smaller.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Right. Wasn't that like the Karate Kid lesson?

[Jo Feldman]

Yes, the Karate Kid lesson.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Okay, so then we get in. Now, while she wasn't naming that actress, she's about to name Dringo Warren Beatty for four pages. And Elaine, her agent, calls her one morning and is like, hey, get up. You're going to go meet Warren Beatty and Elaine May, you have an audition for Ishtar. And she's like, warren Beatty, Hachimachi. And she gets it together. She gets into the room and she focuses on Warren, and she's like, our eyes locked. He has this way of looking right into your soul, making you feel like he is so totally focused on no one but you. Now, I will say the four pages, when I did really worry about her marriage, were these four pages a hundred.

[Jo Feldman]

A hundred percent. I was like, do we fully believe these four pages?

[Chelsea Devontez]

I can't believe they're in here. She. She's basically like, I really wanted to fuck Warren and he really wanted to fuck me. And the moment he found out she had a husband, it reads like he almost became more interested. That's not what she said. It's just what you're reading.

[Jo Feldman]

It didn't seem like it deterred him at. And I was like, that's fine.

[Chelsea Devontez]

He can.

[Jo Feldman]

He can also be there.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Bring Peter over. Exactly. And then as she's talking about, like, how hot Warren is, she's kind of digging Elaine May, which sucks, because I love Elaine May. I really look up to her as a director. I think her career was cut way too short as a director because in part, this movie we're talking about, Ishtar, was such a big failure for many reasons. Some of them you'll hear in this story. Because basically Fran is trying to find flirt and get something going with Warren. And Elaine's like, we're running behind. Please keep it moving. And she's like, shut up, Elaine.

[Jo Feldman]

It's the most, like, woman in charge of film, sad story you've ever heard.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Like, I think I identified with Elaine, man. Like, God damn it. I just got to watch Warren try and fudge all of the actresses. So she said, you know, I was wondering what the movie is about and how my character fits into the plot. And she said, this was really nice. She said, Elaine May's response really blew my mind as she proceeded to tell me the whole story from my character's point of view. It's about a girl who's been dating this one guy for a couple of years. He tells her he loves her, but then acts distant, says he's not ready to make a commitment, which of course ends with him breaking up with her, which breaks her heart. The last thing she heard of him was that he was off to visit a place called Ishtar. Then Elaine May looked at me deadpan and quite matter of factly stated, it isn't necessary to know more than your character would know because the part's like five lines. It's like five lines in a booth. And she said, the movie is about a girl. But I was like, that's a great way to frame it. What do you think?

[Jo Feldman]

100%. Also, especially if you're running behind in your schedule, you're like, I'm not going to give you the Wikipedia on my movie. Fucking ask your agent. Oh, such a. Warren's now trying to walk every single person out to the.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Elevator, which he then does. Elaine May is like, that's great. We got to move on. He's like, nice, I'm going to walk you to the elevator. Gets her to the elevator, is like, give me your number. She's like, I'm married. He's like, awesome. Peter should come over too. Then he, like, invites them to a dinner that she can't make, but she's still up for this role. Meanwhile, Ishtar is just becoming a scheduling budgeting, Warren Beatty disaster. Her part eventually gets cut for, like, time and shooting. And then she sees Warren at some event, and he's with an actress named Isabel Ajani. And Isabel extends her hand and says, warren and I were lying in bed in the hotel last night talking about you. And she goes, my turn to respond. I figured I'd make casual small talk. Oh, what hotel you staying in? You like? And then basically they're like, threesome. Us? You threesome, Peter? Fuck, who cares? And she's like, oh, I don't wanna have a threesome. And then basically she said, even years after that, Danny and Donna, as in Dan Aykroyd and his wife Donna, sat at a table At a fundraiser with Warren and Annette Benning. Years later, Donna told Warren that she was dear friends with Fran Drescher, to which he responded, we love her. She's so funny. In the Nanny, we lie in bed and watch her all the time. Annette and Warren lying in bed. Speaking of me, boy, sometimes things do come full circle.

[Jo Feldman]

I don't know if that's actually the definition of full circle, but I think that it's odd how much they bring up lying in bed and doing things.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I also think it's odd to be like, he's fully married to Annette. Benny. Now they're lying in bed talking about me when he was definitely trying to fuck me. Printed in my book for Annette.

[Jo Feldman]

Clearly, the book never crossed his death.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Listen, if Annette has read 10% of celebrity memoirs, she know what her boy had been up to.

[Jo Feldman]

She knew. She knew who she married. Also, there was this one moment that I thought was. I was like, this is where we're going to turn on Warren. Right? Right, Fran. It says, once during a discussion he was having with the casting director, he called me to come over. So of course I did. At which point he patted his knee and said, come sit on my lap. Now, call me crazy, but I felt embarrassed. Why am I reading it like this? Now, call me crazy, but I felt embarrassed and somehow like a piece of meat. Maybe because the casting guy was in mid conversation with him, but the request seemed disrespectful to both of us, and I said, you'll sit on my lap before I'll be sitting on yours. As if he hadn't heard me, he began to tell the casting director what a brilliant young actress I was while guiding me with his hand onto his lap.

[Chelsea Devontez]

So she does sit on his.

[Jo Feldman]

She sits on it like an idiot. I was bounced on Warren Beatty's lap while he sang my praises to this casting director. Well, as soon as he stopped telling the guy how great I was, you can be sure I got up and marched off, feeling somehow soiled but maintaining my dignity. I was like, this is where we're done right now. We're like, fuck him forever.

[Chelsea Devontez]

But maybe that is what the printing of this in the book is.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah, maybe. I mean, it is. It doesn't look good for him. Sit on my lap.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Sit on my lap.

[Jo Feldman]

That's so dehumanizing.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I know. It really does. It does harken to like Hef having, like, a Playboy bunny on his knee like it does.

[Jo Feldman]

It's so infantilizing, and it's very.

[Chelsea Devontez]

It's very Santa Claus. Sexy. You know what?

[Jo Feldman]

This book was published in, what, 96?

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yes.

[Jo Feldman]

Maybe this is the best you can do in 96 to be like, so Warren Beatty, or so look out for Warren Beatty.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah, maybe this was this. Maybe this was it.

[Jo Feldman]

Let's give it up.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Let's give it up.

[Jo Feldman]

Let's give her the Benny.

[Chelsea Devontez]

So then she's like, you know what? Me and Peter got married, obviously, you know, when they were 21 years old, when she found a wedding dress she liked, which was. It was fascinating to be like, we finally got married because I saw a wedding dress I fell in love with. And then you see the wedding dress and you're like, how it's. What do you call it? It was like a nightgown cap. It was like a swimming cap made of lace. And then that was. And then that just went straight down like curtains. Listen, I don't know. I don't know what I'm looking at here. Because then it's got like a ponytail of lace.

[Jo Feldman]

She's so goddamn gorgeous.

[Chelsea Devontez]

She's so.

[Jo Feldman]

I can't imagine getting full glam and being like. And the hair's not gonna help an ounce. We don't need to worry about it. My face will do the rest.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Then it's a turtleneck, okay? But it's a loose turtleneck made of lace. So it's like a lace turtleneck that opens up to the neck, but also has ruffles. Then it's a huge, big, blousy lace sleeves. And then it's like the rest is kind of like a nightgown. Every inch of her is covered, but her face. And it just seems so. Not Fran Drescher. Like, I'm sure it's a beautiful gown, but it was so shocking that that's the gown she wanted.

[Jo Feldman]

It is really interesting. She's really. I mean, she's young. She's 21.

[Chelsea Devontez]

She's 21. Although the moment you. We know I've talked about this too much because I went through a whole wedding, but it's like the moment something's a wedding, sometimes your entire personality changes to go wedding. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I think of Demi. Listen, gotta talk about Demi Lovato for a second. It's just like she's got, like, septum piercings and blue hair and, like a big Taco Bell sign and, like, her house is made of clouds. And then, like, she gets married, and it's like Hollywood waves and a white strapless fit. You know what I mean? Where it's like, marriage.

[Jo Feldman]

Yes, marriage.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Time.

[Jo Feldman]

I always wonder about mega celebrities. Obviously, Fran wasn't when she was 21, but someone like Demi Lovato, people who have been on red carpets a gazillion times. Times like, what is the fun of the gown at that point? Like, how do you make it different than your normal.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I can't relate. I would wear a gown nine times the size of normal gown and be like, this is what happens when you're a celebrity. Your gown weighs. I would go, I'm full. Celine Dion. You know what I mean? Sew it into my scalp.

[Jo Feldman]

I've worn one gown in my life.

[Chelsea Devontez]

You?

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah, to my wedding.

[Chelsea Devontez]

You've worn other gowns.

[Jo Feldman]

Have I?

[Chelsea Devontez]

You've been on red carpets. What do you. What do you call those? Just your shitty dresses. Well, those are from Nuuly. Nuuly counts. This is. Dear listeners. As Jo comes on this podcast more and more, you will find out. This is one of the great ways me and Jo Feldman differ.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah, okay.

[Chelsea Devontez]

So she's been married since she was 21. She's like. I realized I have never been alone ever. Okay, we're gonna take a quick break right now, and we'll be right back.

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[Chelsea Devontez]

I am your host, Stassi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast.

[Jo Feldman]

What's the most unhinged thing of season three?

[Chelsea Devontez]

Steven. Because he's so evil.

[Ad Voice]

I do think he is misunderstood.

[Chelsea Devontez]

You see everyone face consequences. It's intoxicating. The writers just know how to trick. Yeah. There's always a twist in this show, so nothing you would expect. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. Now streaming and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus. Okay, welcome back. Let's continue the conversation now. At this point in time, we've jumped pretty. I think she's, like, now in her 30s somehow. Oh.

[Jo Feldman]

@ one point in this book, she's talking about an apartment. Then she's like, we got our first apartment. Then eight years later, and you're like, oh.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Oop. Yeah. And I think there's like, obviously career lulls within that, but we're not reading about them in the book because now she's like, in her 30s. And she's like, I've never done anything alone. I've had my soulmate by my side since I was 15 years old. I've never taken a trip alone. I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take one trip by myself and I'm going to Europe alone. And I'm so thrilled for this. Anyone in this situation. It's like, if you've never lived alone, if you've never whatever, like you gotta do something alone. And lo and behold, she takes one trip alone. Her friend has a nanny. She calls up Peter and is like, guess what? I've got an idea. I'm the tag along nanny, but I'm like a girl from Queens. Like fish out of water, Peter, go sell.

[Jo Feldman]

It. Also, the friend is Twiggy. That's who the friend is that.

[Chelsea Devontez]

She.

[Jo Feldman]

Gets like a random. She stays with Twiggy in London. Yeah, that's.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Right. That's right. Twiggy's like, hey, girl, come on by. Yeah, because also, you know what friend has fancy nanny is this fancy friend. Yeah. And also on her plane in first class with her is Jeff Saganski, president of cbs. And she goes up to him like Fran would, and is like, hey, Jeff, you know I got a development deal with you over at cbs. And he's like, yeah, I know. And she's like, have I got a show for you. And he's like, all right, come on in and pitch it. And she's like, peter, I just ran into Jeff. I teed it up. Like, we're ready to go. Like, walk in the idea. And it's a phenomenal idea. It's the Nanny. So over the bridge from flashing to the Sheffield's door. She was there to sell makeup, but the father saw more. She had style, she had flash. She was there. That's how she became the Nanny. Makes, you know, sitcom.

[Jo Feldman]

History. The way it happens is scary fast. But you skipped one of my favorite parts of the story. She gets off the plane after the Jeff Zigansky flight run in. She is all abuzz. She runs to a French payphone. She goes, honey, honey, I'm at the Paris airport and guess who was on the plane coming over with me? Cher. He answers without skipping a.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Beat.

[Jo Feldman]

No. Look how he goes right to Cher. She should only know how my husband has the hots for her. Jeff Saganski. Jeff Saganski was on my.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Plane. Okay, but she's saying that he has the hots for Cher when she should have said he's a big fan of her.

[Jo Feldman]

Music. If you called Yasser right now and you're like, you wouldn't believe who I saw. Whatever he says, whatever his answer, I should do this right now with Andy. Guess who.

[Chelsea Devontez]

I. Okay.

[Jo Feldman]

Wait. Whatever it is is gonna tell us.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Something. Okay. You wanna do.

[Jo Feldman]

It?

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah. All right, I'm gonna call him. Hey, hey. I'm calling you from the podcast because guess who Joe saw at the coffee shop this morning. Is it, like, someone we've been talking about? Am I on the podcast? You are on the podcast, so don't say something we've been talking about. No, no, no, no. It's a.

[Jo Feldman]

Celebrity. No, you're not gonna believe. You're not gonna believe.

[Chelsea Devontez]

It. Like, that's gonna believe who she sought a celebrity woman. Like, it's a female celebrity. You have the hots for Salma Hayek. Okay, that was good. That was very good. All right. We're basically playing a game. Well, now Joe's gonna punk Andy. I love you. I love you.

[Jo Feldman]

Too. Okay, Andy, will you come here for one second? You're not gonna believe who Chelsea saw at a coffee shop this morning. You're, like, the biggest. Like, who would be the most exciting celebrity to see at the coffee.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Shop? I don't know. I literally don't. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. Okay, thank you. So. So your husband Michael Jordan. Your husband said Michael Jordan, and my husband said Salma Hayek. Okay, so back into the nanny. She's like, great. The nanny's going. We've pitched it. I will say when she recreates, like, how Peter is pitching it, granted, it's all for the book, but it's a nice little class in pitching and that the tv, Jeff Saganski, I guess, is, like, really into Broadway. And he was like, well, who does the widower work for? What does he do? And he's like, he works on Broadway. And then he's like, broadway, I love it. Like, this show's gonna go. And then there's another piece of really good advice in.

[Jo Feldman]

This. Oh, is it about the.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Friends? No, but you say that, and I'll say.

[Jo Feldman]

Mine. There were two interesting things about friends in here. One was everything was falling into place. But it became clear to Peter and me that the nanny was fast becoming an all consuming experience. And if we ever wanted to see our friends again, we'd better employ them. And they just started hiring all of their friends. They cast their friends. They hired their friends in entry level assistant jobs and watched their friends rise. Like, they just. I'll tell you this, dear listeners, Chelsea devontez Does this. You bring your people with you because you want to be with them and you trust them and you know that they're going to do a good.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Job. I do want to underline and say that when you get into the business, there's this idea. At least it hit me at first. And I don't know if it hit you, Joe, where you're like, well, all these other people know way more. All these other people know what's going to make it the best. That's going to da, da, da. And you kind of quickly have to learn a tough lesson, which is, no, they don't. And the people you've been making comedy with your entire life are the true experts. Even if there's someone across the room with credits or buzz, it doesn't mean they know better than the person you've been with the whole time. So don't big time them and give them a.

[Jo Feldman]

Job. Absolutely no. No shade to anyone on, on any show I've ever worked on. But I do remember, I remember telling myself this when I was in Chicago, and I was in Chicago working on my craft for a very long time before I had the guts to move to LA and thinking like, I have to be so ready when I get there. I have to be so ready. And then the first room I sat in, I sat around a table with a lot of really funny people. And I also thought, these people aren't any funnier than my friends. And there's no reason why I can't be at a table surrounded by my friends doing the same exact.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Thing. Yeah, yeah. I mean, listen, it's nice. It's the Michelle Obama thing. I've said it a lot where you're like, I just gotta get a seat at the table with all the geniuses. And you get a seat at the table and you're like, everyone's an idiot. And granted, like, so many people are not idiots, but there's a lot of people with seats who are idiots. And that's the surprise. The surprise is like five people at the table are amazing, but then like 10 people at the table, like, suck and just like sat down.

[Jo Feldman]

First. And then one person's at the table and you're. You like, mentioned that you don't. You try not to use.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Amazon. And they're like, why? Yeah, that's right. So, oh, this was the piece of good advice. So they immediately get a husband and wife showrunning team to write the script. Showrun the nanny. They're gonna produce it, she's gonna star, and the Studio gives them enough money to make a pilot presentation, not a full pilot. She said it was Rob Sternon and Prue Frazier who had done who's the Boss? The Charmings and Married People. And Rob says to her, we're not making a pilot presentation. We're making a full pilot. And she's like, but we didn't get enough money to do it. And he said, every pilot presentation I've made has never been picked up. And anything that has picked up was always a full pilot. So we're gonna take the money and we're gonna find a way to make a full pilot. This was a brutal lesson for me to read. As.

[Jo Feldman]

Someone did this at you.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Where you live, this hit me. This was pretty brutal because as someone who doesn't have enough money to make a pilot and has made a lot of pilot presentations, and it does track. And I am going to write about this more on the sprinkle cookie tier on Patreon because I learned a very intense lesson about making the full thing. So I'll write about it more later if you're into industry stuff like that. But this was a knife to the heart. But it was great because they just make a really low budget and when it gets picked up, they don't reshoot it because it.

[Jo Feldman]

Was. Yeah, that's what's so cool. They borrowed set pieces from all around the studio. They beg, borrow, and steal every piece of wardrobe. It really is.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Cool. Yeah, no, it's wonderful. And that's also why she has such classic, amazing wardrobe as the Nanny. Because they were pulling from her closet. They were borrowing. Now, here's where the book gets said. She's like, the pilot got picked up after they made them pitch, like, where's it gonna go? What's gonna happen? And then they're like, okay. It was the highest rated CBS pilot to test. So you're on the air. It's like, yeah, seems like that was enough. They had made 58 pilots that season and picked up two of them, one of them being the nanny. Pretty brutal. When? Last season. I mean, there's just not a pilot season anymore. So I don't know how many pilots they.

[Jo Feldman]

Made.

[Chelsea Devontez]

No. She then says it was time for me to become a superstar and lose a bunch of weight. So then the book just goes into, like, had to lose weight to become the nanny and obviously, oh, my God, Dringo. She said, those who watch me on the Nanny would never believe that in high school, I actually peaked at around £150. But I did. And then she like, goes dieting and loses weight. And she says, God bless Weight Watchers, Marilyn, my therapist, and Mary Lou Henner. Yeah, it's just.

[Jo Feldman]

Rough. The way Fran talks about food throughout the entire book is from a place of love. Like, I. And I. And I know she loves food. And I think the saddest part for me is she posts this picture of.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Herself. Oh, I. This, I had this highlighted.

[Jo Feldman]

Too. The cutest little kid. She says years later, this picture was stuck on my refrigerator to remind me that I'm a person with a weight problem. This is a.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Child. It's a picture of her as a.

[Jo Feldman]

Child. This is a picture of her as a child. She is adorable. And it is like I have this picture in front of my desk because I remember looking like this. This is. My sister is behind me and a leotard after her dance class. And I'm in, like a tank top and pajama pants. And I remember being told that my body was a problem in that picture. Like, I remember being this age and, like, trying so hard to shrink myself. And I found this picture when I was home and I was like, wait, this is like a totally happy, healthy kid in this.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Picture. But you had the memory.

[Jo Feldman]

Tainted. I had the memory. I remember it and I like. And I keep this picture up and I keep it on my desk to look at it, to send it love. And it's made me so sad to think that Fran takes that picture and uses it as a reminder to shrink.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Herself. Joe, thanks for sharing that. Cause I think that's such a. I think a lot of people out there, and I've definitely had times in my life where you see a certain picture with such, like, disdain and hate that you're trying to fencebow it to yourself. Which I think I'm almost positive. There was like a Weight Watchers class that taught you to do that. Like, put a picture of your ugly ass self on your fridge or.

[Jo Feldman]

Whatever. And, like, put pictures of models on your fridge and da, da, da.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Da. Jesus Christ. And I think for you to flip that and be like, that's a picture to put up there and, like, send love to and like, I especially feel that way about pictures of myself as a teenager where it's like, I had the worst thoughts about myself, but. And then you grow up and you're like, that is a child who, like, shouldn't have been spending her brain cells hating herself. She should have been so happy and just, like, enjoying.

[Jo Feldman]

Life. Such a waste of time.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Anytime.

[Jo Feldman]

Anytime. We see Fran meeting other women in this book. She is asking them diet tips or how they are thin. It is like, it's such a constant for her. It's such a bummer. And something that I also highlight because I had a personal experience with from Fran where she's talking about getting the show going okay here. The first week of rehearsals was mind blowing. Everything coming together just like a real television show. I brought my famous chap liver in for the cast and crew, thinking this would help us all feel like a family. Yeah, my family, indigestion and all. When I worked with Fran Drescher, I was still keeping kosher, which is a thing a lot of observant Jewish people do. In the last few years, I've sort of realized that, like, it's more important to me to eat organically than kosher, if that at all. Whatever. Fran brought chopped liver, and she came to me and said, have some of my chopped liver. And I said, oh, I can't. I keep kosher. And she went, it's organic. It's better than kosher. And I was like, I know. I still. I'm like, I can't do it. We were all crammed into her dressing room. Everyone was looking at me like, is this, you know, Eat the fucking chopped liver, Joe. We froze time in a standoff about me not eating her chapped liver. And I wouldn't do it, and I regret.

[Chelsea Devontez]

It. Yeah. I was going to say, it sounds like she's the. Like, three years later, you thought about Fran and said, you know what? I'd rather be.

[Jo Feldman]

Organic. She was voicing a thing that had been in my mind for years, which was like, if the point of keeping kosher was to eat ethically, then it should be more about how the animals are treated than having a mark of a rabbi on it. It should be like that should. Whatever. But she was voicing a thing that had already been in my head, but it was very influential, and I do wish I had had her chopped liver. I bet it was.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Delicious. Now, this is. Okay. So the nanny is.

[Jo Feldman]

1993.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yes. What year was this.

[Jo Feldman]

Show?

[Chelsea Devontez]

2019.

[Jo Feldman]

2019. You worked on Indebted, which was a multicam where she and Steven Webber played a married couple moving back in with their adult son, Adam Pally and his wife Abby Elliot and his sister Jesse Hodges. And it was my first show. And I will say she is every bit the icon. I am in love with her. She is terrifying. I watched her walk in front of a studio audience and a grown man yell, I would die for you, Fran. And the way she took It. She took it like, she hears it all day. She was like.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Thanks. And, like, kept.

[Jo Feldman]

Going. Like, didn't sit with her at.

[Chelsea Devontez]

All. Wow. Wow. Also, I just want to mark, like, that. That is 30 years of bringing chopped liver to TV.

[Jo Feldman]

Shows. So much.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Liver. Okay, so this part of, like, her bringing chopped liver to set also makes a bunch of things that I think we all heard during the SAG strikes make a lot of sense, because Fran, at the time of the strike, was our SAG president. And so if you're an actor, you're in the SAG union, and she was the SAG president. And I do think that, like, if you've written a memoir, myself included, it's very class president.

[Jo Feldman]

Energy. You're like, I'd.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Like. I'd like to give a report on my life. And if you've. If you're a female celebrity and you've written you had a hard life and you've written a memoir, chances are high. You want to be the SAG president because we just covered Patty Duke's memoir, and Patty Duke, she also became the SAG president. And then Joe Feldman, guess who just overtook Fran Drescher as the SAG.

[Jo Feldman]

President? Sean.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Astin. That's right. Sean Aston, Patty Duke's son, who is in a photo in this book with Patty Duke and friend. We got three SAG presidents, one photo, and having dinner in Mexico. They're all having dinner in Mexico. They must have just been talking acting, politics, and had the same space to be like, you know, we got to get in this union. We got to do some.

[Jo Feldman]

Stuff. I mean, they all look so young. She says this was about 15 years ago, and this is from.

[Chelsea Devontez]

1996. 1996. Three future SAG presidents. I really can't take that photo Now. Listen, it's been a long time, and I just can't be drugged back to that really dark period in all of our lives. That was just two years ago. But during the strikes, I do remember. Tell me if this vaguely rings a bell. Something about, like. Like, Fran would bring, like, a teddy bear to negotiations or, like, candy or, like. Or something like.

[Jo Feldman]

That. I wouldn't be surprised. Fran always brings things. I, in fact, had a head injury when I worked on this show. I had. I got in a scooter accident, which was stupid. And actually, when I came back to work after my accident, she put her arm around me and she went, hell mat. But when I was recovering from the accident. Super helpful. When I was recovering from the accident, she sent me a box of chocolates from A called Fran's Chocolates. And we realized that she supports brand named.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Businesses.

[Jo Feldman]

Okay. I love that everything about her is so iconic. Like, she also like without a stitch of makeup in leggings and a sweater at run through. This is the most beautiful woman you've ever.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Seen. Oh, yeah. And her comedic timing on top of it. How incredible. Yeah. This book made a lot of the things we heard during the SAG negotiations make more sense. Like. No, I'm serious. Like, she, whenever she was like, I want to sell a show to studio execs. I'm going to make this them dinner. I'm gonna host. Yeah, I'm gonna have a party. Like, it's very like charisma based negotiation. Like hosting based. Like I'm gonna host a party and make a business deal type of stuff. Because I, I remember hearing that stuff and being like, what is going.

[Jo Feldman]

On? I mean, it is interesting to have someone negotiating on your behalf who had something at the best time to have it. She's speaking from experience of like, why are we all not getting cars when we set when we're selling.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Movies? Which I think like also speaks to maybe, but how negotiations didn't go great, you know, And I don't think we should get into that because there's just a lot that could be said. But we're gonna keep it moving. Cause we gotta go to a really dark part of the book. All right, so first she takes a paragraph and she's like, I just love Howard.

[Jo Feldman]

Stern. A lot of people have a.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Hard time with him, but I do great with him because I'm just an honest gal and I love Howard Stern. And I was like, God damn it. Like, I'm just so over this. And then she says, sometimes being a celebrity does have its drawbacks. For some reason, it seems to give license to those who can profit from your exploitation by unearthing some of the darker, more painful traumas you might have encountered along the way. Just when you've worked desperately to pick up those pieces in your life and put the past behind you. Now she's sitting in the green room for the Howard Stern show. So this is how I think she talks shit about people. I do think that Warren Beatty story is like, fucking, fuck you, Warren Beatty. Because I think this is how she goes, fuck you, Howard. Even though she was complimenting him earlier. She's sitting in the green room, she hears Howard throwing to break, saying, next up, we have Fran Drescher and we are going to talk about how she was raped. Fran doesn't know this she doesn't know that he knows. This. She doesn't know this is what's happening. Peter is freaking out. He's like, that was 10 years ago. I can't believe this is about to happen to you. And Fran is like, I've got to get in there and face it. That's the way to do this. And for the first time, she speaks about this horrific thing that happened to her, where two robbers broke into a bungalow where she, Peter, and another woman were staying, and they were all tied up, and Fran was sexually assaulted. Peter was witness to it all. And the other woman was sexually assaulted as well. There are no details in this book. And she's like. And I don't want to give you the details, but this is what happened. And a lot of the book is about, like. And I overcame, and I put it past me, and I can't believe Howard Stern brought it up. And then what I want to call out is, like, this book is so fun, and she has all this great stuff and great stories, but given that this one is an event that happened in the middle or beginning of her career of all these stories in la and the impact isn't threaded through the other parts of her life. It's sort of put away and turned into a positive. I think you can look at that very positively of, like, wow, look. Look at how she, like, turns it around. And another way of looking at it is like, we're not acknowledging the darkness of life and existence and the horrible things that can happen to women in this business and women anywhere, and we're kind of pushing it.

[Jo Feldman]

Away. Yeah, I think that she referenced it in the beginning of the book, really subtly. She just referenced an unfortunate burglary in her apartment. And I wondered. I was like, oh, is that all she's gonna say about it? And then this chapter, what I thought was interesting is, like, she mentions her therapy and her therapist a.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Lot.

[Jo Feldman]

Ye. And I underlined this part that I thought was interesting. And I was curious how you felt about it. Chelsea, when she says, the hardest thing for Peter to get beyond in therapy was that image of me, the only one who knew what was happening. Cause he could see her face seeing the door getting broken down, the look on my face of sheer and absolute horror in that initial moment. This is what I thought was interesting. But we were taught to walk our minds past that point, all the way to the part when they left and we lived, which I think is like, a lot of Fran, because Fran has, like, gone on to have cancer. Fran has obviously had this sad breakup with Peter. She's devoted a lot of her life to Eastern medicine, and I think, like, a lot of, like, Eastern healing and modalities and organic and, like, not Western modalities, I think, is a lot of, like, healing the body whole. So maybe we're not really talking about the attack, but we're talking about, like, how to put our mind somewhere more productive kind of.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Thing. I did. I mean, listen, am I gonna bring it to my therapist? Yes, I am. I love the idea of when you're in the memory, continue the memory till you get.

[Jo Feldman]

Out.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah. Versus, like, the memory is usually just, like, the really bad thing or the bad. The heightened part. I hadn't heard that. Like, continue the memory until, like, they're gone. You're free. You live. And also, this was another thing. It's like she and Peter survived this together. So intense. And again, it's like, right when she's becoming an actress and they're in the business. And it is a real gut punch when you're reading the book, because the book is so surface y and fun. But I'm really glad she included it. And I would just like to say, fuck you, Howard Stern. How dare you? How dare.

[Jo Feldman]

You? 100%. And I even, like, I wonder how she would write this chapter now, because I even think there's some things that feel a little dated about the criminal just justice.

[Chelsea Devontez]

System. Yeah. And Also, this is 1993, and it still exists now. And I. I've felt this so much in my life where, like, you saying, like, hey, this thing happened to me somehow makes you feel like you're shitty. Like, you're a shitty person. And so it's like, by admitting this horrible thing, you're embarrassing yourself. I think that was, like, still exists with violence, domestic violence, sexual assault. And I think it really exists in 1993. She's like, I'm the nanny. Don't worry, I'm the nanny. Like, I'm still.

[Jo Feldman]

Really.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Sex. I'm sorry. Sexy and fun.

[Jo Feldman]

Yeah. Like, even though she talks about how she and Peter have to have, like, she talks about them having sex afterwards and having to, like, get through that block. But even just the way she begins and ends this memoir is a joke about her having, like, a sexual moment with a person interviewing her. And it's, like, just to remind.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Hammered. And it's a.

[Jo Feldman]

Joke. It's a joke, and it's a joke. It's not true. So it's, like, it's very clear. It's important that she's seen A certain.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that could be a whole other podcast hour. And now we kind of get to the end of the book where Fran France is filling. She's just like, time to fill a word count, because I haven't included enough pictures. And she's like, here's something about my mom. Here's a trip I took to Mexico. And then she gets to this really weird few paragraphs about Princess Di that I think are made up and a standup routine, but also, maybe they aren't, and it's just really rude. So she's like, meeting Princess Di. And she said we had just connected so well. I thought I could schmooze for one more minute. I said, by the way, I said, did you know you and I both made Mr. Blackwell's list? And then Princess D. Says, except I was on his best dress list and you were on the worst. She said, nobody likes a bitchy princess. I thought, and added, meanwhile, honey, you had Princess Margaret on your list, while I've got Demi and Madonna on mine. Princess, you're on the wrong list. Then I snapped a Z in the air and marched away until I reached the end of my train and could go no further since Diana was stepping on it. Parentheses, she's a size 10 shoe, at least. I tapped her broad square shoulder, pointed to her boat. I mean, foot. At which point she released me. Or at least that's the way the story went by the time I got on stage as a presenter and began my speech by simply saying, well, the Queen of Queens got to meet the Princess of Wales, the audience went nuts, and I became the belle of the ball.

[Ad Voice]

What?

[Chelsea Devontez]

What? So none of.

[Jo Feldman]

It. I read that. And I was like. I read it twice. Because I was like, what? So not. So none of that.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Happened. But also, like, wait, what? What? But also, the story begins with Princess Di being like, who is this? And they're like, this is the nanny. And she was like, okay, great. So there's no way. She's like, I was on the best dress. You were on the worst. But then why is she talking about her feet being sized in. Okay.

[Jo Feldman]

Ru. Why are we getting in a fractional fight with.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Her? Why are we calling her Shoulders broad? Come on. What is happening? But anyways, like I said, she's filling. She's filling pages. Because then a detail slips out that I said, oops, this probably shouldn't have made the book. And she said, you know, I'm at dinner with my husband Peter on the balcony of a hotel, of course, Peter and I managed to fight through our appetizers over his favorite pastime. Monitoring my.

[Jo Feldman]

Food. Loved that. Loved, loved that also. That's great. That's a great thing people should do for each.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Other. Very cool thing. And then the book's kind of over. Like, Jo said she's gonna end with like a fake, like, sex scene that didn't happen. But the paragraph before that is the real end of the book end of her story here. And she says, I'll tell ya, over the many years in my career as well as in my relationship with Peter, we've been poor and we've been rich. We've gone from agony to ecstasy. We've been to hell and back. And it's taught us to cherish life for all of its simplicity as well as its.

[Jo Feldman]

Grandeur. I mean, what, we could just end it.

[Chelsea Devontez]

There? Well, just quickly, on our way out here, I have to note a few things, which is that Fran also does believe that 5G caused Covid because she tweeted about it and she does believe 5G is like behind a bunch of things. Yeah. And I know she did do a lot of fundraising for some things that maybe are not.

[Jo Feldman]

Great. I do want to say I once watched her ask a pa, A production assistant, if the water bottle that she grabbed from the refrigerator had been kept cold since it was bottled. She was like, do we know if this has been been cold since manufacturing? Because you don't want it leaching. If it get. You don't want the plastic because there's carcinogens. You know, if you help plastic.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Water bottle, I'm more on the side. I do believe in.

[Jo Feldman]

Microplastics. So I listen. So do. So do I. And I also think now, Fran, you know that PA can't answer you.

[Chelsea Devontez]

In good faith because when they bottled.

[Jo Feldman]

That water and I just. I just watched a teenager shake in fear and I'm like, lady, leave her alone. Just drink it. You just want it. So just drink. Was a.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Tough. That was a tough one to be. That is really funny. All right, it is time to do the book dull test. First question. Was the author vulnerable in the sharing of her.

[Jo Feldman]

Truth? I'm going to give this a thumbs.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Medium. I'm also going. I'm saying for 1993, thumbs medium. For 20, 26, obviously thumbs down, but yes. And listen, it was. It was a. It was. Well, let's get to the next question. Okay. Was it entertaining to read? Yes.

[Jo Feldman]

Absolutely. I had a. I have so many notes that are just me going.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Haha. Yeah, at a ball. It Was so entertaining. I'm.

[Jo Feldman]

Laughing. I'm laughing through this.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Book. She served a great celebrity memoir in that usually I don't enjoy them unless they're, like, darker and more real. And I fully enjoyed this because she was like, here's pictures, here's stories, here's.

[Jo Feldman]

Jokes.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Yeah. Here's the tea. On making it, I liked.

[Jo Feldman]

It. I love that she's telling funny anecdotes about celebrities and her own damn family. She is delighting in everyone in her life. She's happy to be.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Here. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, final question. Did this book elevate your life in any.

[Jo Feldman]

Way? You know what? It actually brought me back to thinking about my time with her, which was a special time, and I'm gonna give it a yes. I really do appreciate Fran Drescher. I think she is an American treasure, an icon. I think it's so fucking cool that she. He was the creator and showrunner of one of the most successful comedies ever to grace our televisions in the United States. I would say Fran Drescher might be the middle of our Venn diagram. Listen and follow me here. Okay, first of all, loud Jewish loves.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Food. Okay, wait, how am I gonna fit into.

[Jo Feldman]

That? Not.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Jewish. Loud. I'm there.

[Jo Feldman]

Loud. Loud. Leopard print, leopard print. Jokes per page. I think you and Fran are very simpatico on jokes per.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Page. Big.

[Jo Feldman]

Hair. Big hair. The dog thing. Whereas I am, like, I would say dog neutral. That dog's with her all the.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Time. That dog's in movies. That dog's booking. Hey, my needy quarantine dog has been in two TV shows. That's my.

[Jo Feldman]

Dog. I'm saying you. You and Fran are not.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Dissimilar. Oh, yeah, yeah. I agree with you. And, you know, woman on a podcast, in the beginning, I got a lot more criticism for my voice. As I've said before, I think a lot of women get criticism for their voices because men aren't used to hearing us. They're just not used to what it sounds like. And so therefore, it sounds strange to them. And so as a woman with a quote unquote bad voice, making it off of that and making comedy off of that and making it, like, part of what makes her iconic, I think that is so special. And being a comedian with her voice and. And just, I don't know, really using it, I think is something really to look up to. And, like, some. Some good she's done for all women everywhere. Joe, thank you so much for coming on. You're gonna be coming back soon. Tell people what you'd like them to pay.

[Jo Feldman]

Attention. To pay attention to your neighborhoods and your communities and be a good part of the place that you.

[Chelsea Devontez]

Live. Okay. I love you.

[Jo Feldman]

Bye. Love.

[Chelsea Devontez]

You. Bye. A big thank you to our senior managing producer, Christina Lopez, our executive producer, Jordan Moncada, our sound engineer, engineer, Marcus Hamm, and our amazing associate producer, Jaron Padre. I also want to give a huge thank you to our incredible partners over at Thrive Cosmetics. And every plate, we will link to those brands in the show notes. Go check them out. Everything else we discussed is also linked in the show notes. And if you have questions, thoughts, comments, go to the Patreon sign up. There's a free tier. You can join, leave a comment, chat with your fellow cookies. We will keep the book club continuing over.