Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa

“Kelly, Albert and Jan: It’s All A Gift!”

Date: December 24, 2025
Guest(s): Albert Bianchini, Jan Chalet, Seth Gronquist, Marco Pollio

Episode Overview

In this lively holiday episode, Kelly Ripa brings her signature warmth and wit to a behind-the-scenes conversation with friends and colleagues Albert Bianchini, Jan Chalet, and others. The group shares personal anecdotes about gift-giving, family traditions, workplace parties, and the chaos and joy of the holiday season. Topics meander from Hanukkah rituals and covert missions in London to the social politics of workplace holiday parties and the meaning of gratitude. The episode captures the humor, neuroses, and genuine affection among friends — all presented in Kelly’s unfiltered, often hilarious style.

Key Discussion Points & Memorable Moments

1. Gift-Giving Traditions and Holiday Panic

(Starts ~01:00)

• Self-Gifting Rituals:

  • Kelly shares her system with husband Mark: "I buy a gift for Mark, and then I buy a gift from Mark to me, and then I wrap it, and then I open it, and I watch Mark's face with wonderment as he watches me open the gift that I bought myself from him." [05:37]
  • Jan gives kids scratch-offs for Hanukkah: "I give them scratch offs every day... just a little something while we light the candles." [02:46]

• Holiday Shopping Procrastination:

  • Kelly confesses, "I just started my Christmas shopping. I'm usually done before Thanksgiving... I'm panic stricken." [04:18]
  • Mark’s chill approach: "This year I say we just, we do nothing... We'll just let the holidays be the holidays and we will do nothing." [04:53]
  • Kelly’s retort: "That is easy for the person who does nothing year after year to say!" [05:03]

• Lottery Fantasies:

  • The crew jokes about winning Powerball, with Kelly quipping, "Maybe I'll buy Sirius XM." [03:21]

2. Navigating Holiday Parties: Sparkle, Slosh, and the Bumbies

(Starts ~16:45)

• Party Atmosphere:

  • Kelly describes hosting a Tuesday night party with “sloshy” guests, sarcastically noting, "The things people say to me when they're drunk. Oh, my God." [19:20]
  • Jan admits she and Seth arrived an hour early and partied in her car with beers. [17:18]

• The Bumbies Experience:

  • Jan explains: "There's two people sitting behind these typewriters... they're covered – ears, sunglasses, mouths... You go up and they just judge you." [17:49]
  • Kelly: “They flash a bright light on you and they give you a reading... based on your appearance.” [18:10]
  • Everyone is amazed at the accuracy: “They were dead spot on.” [18:25]

• Friend Group Games:

  • Albert and Kelly recount their Italian food word game, and how Albert’s perfect pronunciation regularly annoys Mark: “We mostly do that to piss off Mark.” [19:59]

3. The Covert Mission: Surprise at Lola’s London Show

(Starts ~09:24)

• Surprising Her Daughter:

  • Kelly and Mark secretly attend their daughter Lola’s EP launch in London, despite her requesting they stay away so she wouldn’t be too nervous.
  • “She told us specifically to not come... Why her low key parents would make her nervous as anyone.” [10:13]
  • Their elaborate disguises: “We look like reject cast members from the Peaky Blinders.” [10:34]
  • Lola’s reaction: “We walked in right before her encore... She was floored... and she goes, ‘Iconic.’” [12:34]

• Reflection on Music:

  • Kelly, watching her daughter perform, shares: "I will never cavalierly listen to a record again..." and marvels at the sweat that goes into making music. [14:05]

4. Office Holiday Politics: The Gift Rejection Saga

(Starts ~25:11)

• Gelman’s Producer Party:

  • Jan: “It’s otherwise known as the Hunger Games... none of it really mattered.” [20:31]
  • Shift from White Elephant to exposed gifts creates drama: “Every gift was laid out that you saw what it was... Lori Shulweiss wins...$500 cash.” [26:00]

• Seth’s Gift Refusal:

  • Seth describes ending up with leftover luggage: "I don't need any luggage situation... We don't have space in our apartment for luggage." [27:09]
  • Seth’s refusal sparks debate about etiquette. Jan insists you must take the gift; Seth holds his ground: “It wasn't a gift that was thought about... not only did I reject it, everybody else rejected it.” [28:33]
  • Kelly reassures Seth: “You are one of the hardest working and most appreciative people that I know... you are not an ingrate.” [30:15]
  • Ultimately, Seth gets a better replacement gift: "It's way more expensive than the original gift." [31:16]
  • Jan: "You turned down a gift, and somehow you won. Like, how does that happen?" [31:34]

• Marco Pollio’s Verdict:

  • Marco sides with Seth: “He didn’t need the luggage and he just, you know, stated what he felt... Parties are one of the reasons why I left. I left the show because of those parties, because the anxiety.” [33:12, 33:28]

5. Producer Antics and Fond Memories

(Starts ~32:01)

• Oscars Broadcast Behind-the-Scenes:

  • Marco talks about switching careers to medical tech, but rejoices in annual Oscars reunions: "It feels like we never left off... and the conversations are still amazing... it's like family." [33:45]
  • Kelly credits the show's success to producers: "I can't even explain to you how hard our producers work... If it were up to me, I would hire our producers for the Academy Awards." [41:13]

• Italian Food Word Challenge and Drinking Tales:

  • Rapid-fire of food terms ends with “Martini!” [36:42]
  • Marco recounts Albert passing out in a hot tub after too many appletinis: “We look over and Albert passed out. Passed out in the hot tub drinking apple martinis.” [37:38]
  • Kelly: “I'm not even mortified about sleeping. I'm mortified that it was an apple martini.” [37:41]

6. Family Stories, Food, and Culture

(Starts ~44:25)

• Family Gatherings:

  • Kelly is bundled up for the episode due to a broken heating system at home: "I'm wearing pajamas and a faux fur coat that I got at the Barney's 90% off sale.” [44:30]

• Albert’s Italian Funeral Experience:

  • “Every time we saw each other, [Uncle Frank] would go over and with his pinky ring extended and say, kiss the ring... The next morning, the funeral director had taken off the real ring and gave me the real ring. And I think he was expecting me to give the other ring back. But now I have both rings.” [45:09, 47:11]
  • Kelly: “You thought you were getting no ring and you wound up with two rings.” [47:35]

• Post-Funeral Food Feasts:

  • “Of course [we ate]. Everything you'd expect to be there, it was there... galamad [calamari], mortadel [mortadella], gabagool [capicola].” [48:56–49:21]

• Origins of the “Italian Word Fight”:

  • The group reminisces about how Mark and Albert’s debates over Italian pronunciations sparked a show segment: "The Bensonhurst Spelling Bee was written because Mark and Albert got into such a fight over the way Albert pronounces Italian words." [49:29]
  • Kelly: “Lorraine Bracco said it’s her favorite thing she’s ever done. I was like, really—not Goodfellas? Not The Sopranos?” [49:45]

7. Coming of Age & Parenting Revelations

(Starts ~49:55)

• Jan’s Son Turns 18:

  • Jan shares that Caden’s 18th birthday prompted her husband to finally recount getting arrested in college.
  • “Glenn proceeded to tell Caden about when he got arrested in college... This is where Luke gets his investment.” [50:23, 51:29]

• Birthday Tributes:

  • Kelly jokes about almost posting an embarrassing comment: "I typed it out, and then I was like, no, I can't, and I deleted it. But I was going to say I was there when they cut off the tip of your penis." [52:04]

8. Holiday Foods & Italian-American Traditions

(Starts ~52:53)

• Feast of the Seven Fishes:

  • Kelly recalls hating smelts stuffed with carrots as a child: "As little kids, we were just like, oh, you know, it's like, smells. It's a fishy fish." [53:13]
  • Albert notes, “It is really an American tradition. That didn't come over from Italy. It was all of these Italian Americans who created it.” [53:28]

• Garlic in Italian Cuisine:

  • Albert: "Garlic is also a southern Italian thing... Northern Italians don't use garlic in any of their recipes." [54:09]
  • Kelly: “Or if they use garlic, they will put a garlic bulb in whole and pull it out whole.” [54:13]

Notable Quotes

• On Gift Exchange:

  • Kelly: “That is easy for the person who does nothing year after year to say!” [05:03]
  • Seth: “I didn't go over to pick my gift. There was only one thing left... I just—hey, listen, it's lovely. I just—I'm not gonna...” [26:44, 27:27]
  • Kelly: “You turned down a gift, and somehow you won. Like, how does that happen?” [31:34]

• On Family and Holidays:

  • Kelly: “I will never cavalierly listen to a record again... so much work goes into that.” [14:05]
  • Kelly: "Having you as our listeners is a gift to all of us. And we can't wait to talk off camera with you in the new year." [55:41]

• On the Realities of Family Gatherings:

  • Albert: “Everyone’s yelling and laughing... A lot of people that have vendettas against each other. Why is this bastard in the front row?” [45:45]
  • Kelly: “There's a dead body there. Always ignore, ignore.” [46:09]

• On Italian-American Traditions:

  • Kelly: “Nothing really came over... They're like pulling a trick on us all.” [53:37]

• On Appreciation:

  • Kelly (to Seth): “You are one of the hardest working and most appreciative people that I know... you are not an ingrate.” [30:15]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:00] – Gift-giving traditions; self-gifting
• [09:24] – Kelly's covert London trip to surprise her daughter
• [16:45] – The holiday party and “the Bumbies”
• [25:11] – Producer party and the “Gift Rejection Saga”
• [32:01] – Reconnecting with former producer Marco Pollio
• [44:25] – Albert's family funeral rituals and ring saga
• [49:55] – Jan’s son turns 18; family revelations
• [52:53] – Italian-American holiday food customs
• [54:39] – Reflections, closing sentiments and gratitude

Final Thoughts

This episode brings listeners into the inner circle of Kelly Ripa’s world, balancing classic family and workplace anecdotes with sharp, relatable humor. The conversations are candid and affectionate, full of the chaos, warmth, and messiness that the holidays bring. Whether discussing the politics of office gifting, the nostalgia of childhood traditions, or the emotional highs of parenthood, the hosts remind us: it’s all a gift.