Annaleigh Ashford

Summary

Senses Working Overtime with David Cross: Episode Featuring Annaleigh Ashford

Release Date: June 19, 2025

In this engaging episode of Senses Working Overtime with David Cross, host David Cross delves deep into a candid and heartfelt conversation with renowned Broadway actress Annaleigh Ashford. The episode seamlessly weaves through personal anecdotes, theatrical insights, and humorous exchanges, providing listeners with a multifaceted view of Annaleigh's life and career.

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1. Honoring Linda Lavin

The episode opens with Annaleigh discussing her commitment to performing at multiple memorials for the beloved actress Linda Lavin.

Annaleigh Ashford [02:30]: "I have to do Linda Lavin's one more memorial today."

David expresses curiosity about the frequency of these memorials, highlighting Linda Lavin's significant impact.

David Cross [02:33]: "How many memorials is this lady gonna have?"

Annaleigh shares the emotional experience of performing Linda's signature song at the memorial, emphasizing the personal connection.

Annaleigh Ashford [03:31]: "The Alice theme song. It's like. It was actually like really hard to get through because it was her song. You know what I mean? That's really like her."

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2. Childhood and Family Background

The conversation shifts to personal backgrounds, with David sharing his transient childhood marked by frequent relocations and eventual stability during high school.

David Cross [08:03]: "We moved literally annually until we moved. I moved back to Georgia when I was nine."

Annaleigh adds her perspective, touching upon the challenges of family dynamics and the eventual financial struggles following their father's departure.

Annaleigh Ashford [03:04]: "Her name is like a famous piano player. He played for Eliza Minelli."

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3. High School Memories and Genealogy

Both guests reminisce about their high school experiences, mascots, and the complexities of discovering familial roots.

Annaleigh Ashford [38:15]: "It's a big deal. When you got a locker for the first time, you were like, I'm getting a locker next year."

David shares his journey to uncover his dual citizenship, revealing surprising links to his great-grandparents from Leeds.

David Cross [32:21]: "My great, great grandmother, they were all born in Royal Hospital in Leeds."

Annaleigh discusses her own ancestry revelations through platforms like Ancestry.com.

Annaleigh Ashford [35:38]: "My grandma was adopted on my mom's side. She was like, almost completely British."

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4. Theatrical Ventures and Broadway Insights

Annaleigh provides an in-depth look into her Broadway career, including her roles and the challenges of portraying characters that balance humor and darkness.

Annaleigh Ashford [60:27]: "I played a ballerina. Really, though. This girl who was terrible at dancing but thought she was good."

David reflects on his own limited Broadway exposure and shares memorable experiences from theater productions.

David Cross [41:04]: "Crestwood is not there anymore. It became something else."

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5. Travel Tales and Cultural Observations

The duo discusses their travels, comparing the efficiencies and cultural nuances between Europe and the United States. David critiques the American perception of freedom versus the structured and clean environments in European cities.

David Cross [70:02]: "There are people swimming in whatever that body of water is off of Oslo, where they have, like, this sauna rooms that are on little boats."

Annaleigh echoes similar sentiments from her experiences in Toronto and Vancouver, highlighting the palpable tension and cultural differences.

Annaleigh Ashford [73:46]: "It felt like going to Thanksgiving and your brother being like, fuck you."

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6. Parenting and Personal Humor

Annaleigh opens up about the humorous and sometimes awkward moments of motherhood, particularly dealing with breastfeeding and managing her child's preferences.

Annaleigh Ashford [10:33]: "I don't want to taste my own milk. But maybe it's not good."

David reciprocates with funny anecdotes about his daughter's playful teasing regarding his sports affiliations.

David Cross [76:49]: "We were up at a sports bar... decided to tell everybody that I was a Yankees fan."

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7. Current Projects and Future Endeavors

Towards the episode's conclusion, Annaleigh promotes her latest project, the Paramount Plus series "Happy Face", where she plays Melissa, the daughter of a notorious serial killer.

Annaleigh Ashford [80:08]: "It's about the daughter of the Happy Face murder who was a serial killer in the 90s."

David encourages listeners to watch the series, integrating a seamless plug into the conversation.

David Cross [81:54]: "Happy Face on Paramount Plus, the daughter of a crazy serial killer."

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8. Closing Remarks and Audience Engagement

Wrapping up the episode, David introduces a thoughtful question from his daughter Marlo, prompting Annaleigh to reflect on the ever-changing desires women have regarding their hairstyles.

David Cross [82:06]: "Today's question from Marlo: Why does every girl want the opposite of the hair they have?"

Annaleigh provides a heartfelt and insightful response, addressing the psychological aspects of self-image and personal change.

Annaleigh Ashford [82:27]: "I think it's because your hair grows, so it's always changing... it's something you can change about the way that you look."

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Notable Quotes:

• Annaleigh on Memorial Performance [03:31]: "The Alice theme song... really like her."

• David on Finding His Roots [32:21]: "My great, great grandmother, they were all born in Royal Hospital in Leeds."

• Annaleigh on High School Mascots [38:15]: "When you got a locker for the first time..."

• Annaleigh on "Happy Face" [80:08]: "It's about the daughter of the Happy Face murder who was a serial killer in the 90s."

• Marlo's Question [82:06]: "Why does every girl want the opposite of the hair they have?"

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Conclusion

This episode of Senses Working Overtime offers a rich tapestry of personal stories, professional insights, and heartfelt conversations. Listeners gain a deeper understanding of Annaleigh Ashford's journey in the performing arts, her reflections on family and identity, and the universal challenges of self-perception and change. David Cross skillfully navigates the dialogue, balancing humor with poignant moments, making it a must-listen for fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Annaleigh Ashford]

This is a Headgun podcast.

[David Cross]

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[Annaleigh Ashford]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[David Cross]

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[Annaleigh Ashford]

There's always a trade in. Not right now.

[David Cross]

At T Mobile.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I feel like I have to give.

[David Cross]

You something in return for karma. That's okay.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I don't really have much in my purse.

[David Cross]

Oh, let's see.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Hand sanitizer.

[David Cross]

It's lavender. I'm good.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Seriously, Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[David Cross]

Really, I'm fine.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[David Cross]

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[Annaleigh Ashford]

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[Annaleigh Ashford]

I have to do Linda Lavin's one more memorial today.

[David Cross]

Again. How many memorials is this lady gonna have?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

She had one last night and then she has one today and then she has another one in la. Wild. So today I like. Her sweet husband did not explain today at all. Yeah, and then she don't really stretches.

[David Cross]

I've heard the name.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's like a famous piano player. He played for Eliza Minelli. Okay. Anyways, he was like, do you know that said something about Monday. And I was like, what?

[David Cross]

I was like, oh, that's why we had to do it earlier. Memorial isn't until one o' clock, but me again. How many? Even in death, she. This woman, Linda Lavin.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But anyways, that they won't. I have to do sound check.

[David Cross]

Sound check for a memorial. Oh, are you singing? What are you singing? I'm singing the Alice Chim Chim Cherry. Which one?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The Alice theme song. It's like. It was actually like really hard to get through because it was her song. You know what I mean? That's really like her.

[David Cross]

That seems.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Does it seem crazy to you?

[David Cross]

It does, but in a. In a.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

She would have loved it. She like.

[David Cross]

I think it's funny for things like if at a memorial that you would sing the television theme song.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Well, I mean, she was Alice.

[David Cross]

I know she was. I'm aware of that. Otherwise it would be very strange.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Everybody sang along with her.

[David Cross]

That's really the only time to sing the Alice theme song at a memorial is at.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Or. Unless you're in Linda Lavin and it's your club act. Those are like the only two times that it's appropriate to sing the Alice theme song.

[David Cross]

Yeah. Even the club act is a little kind of narcissistic to me. But.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Well. But all of her fans are like, we're here to see you sing the Alice theme song. Because she sang it. You know what I mean?

[David Cross]

Oh, I didn't. She sang it in real life.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. Oh, you know, she played a nightclub singer on the show.

[David Cross]

Oh, yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So that was always a thing that like she. And then they would reiterate.

[David Cross]

How does the song go?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's like, used to be sad, used to be shy Funniest thing. The saddest part is I never knew why. You know, going through life with blinders on it's tough to see I had to get up, get out from under.

[David Cross]

Look for me there's a new girl in town and she's feeling good. There's a fresh freckled. Oh yeah, I've watched it all the time. I know because I, I, there was a, there was a, there were a couple shows that my sister and I, my, the sister I'm closest with, with.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The one that I met.

[David Cross]

Yes, yes. Who is a Broadway aficionado.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Awesome.

[David Cross]

And so there were, there was good times and Alice kind of spoke to our situation where a dad had left and my mom all of a sudden with no real skills, had to, you know.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do all the things.

[David Cross]

Do all the things. And, and you know, we had kind of the same relationship with our mom, who was, you know, progressive and, and liberal minded. Not that she's political in any way, but brought us up with, with those values and, and yeah, we just, we, you know, kind of connected to those two shows in particular and then, and, but Alice also like having to move and we were in Georgia, which was not anyone's desire, and not even in Atlanta. Well, so I was born there.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

And then we moved. What do you mean?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, I feel like I knew that. I feel like you told. I feel like I don't know why I'm common knowledge.

[David Cross]

I'm wearing a Braves hat though.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So.

[David Cross]

Hang on.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I think I remember you being like, I was born in Georgia, but I.

[David Cross]

Thought, oh, you know what, we talked about this because you're from Oklahoma. Is that right?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Denver. Close. Well enough.

[David Cross]

Ish. Denver's but a cool place.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Super cool. But Denver, Oklahoma, Nebraska, you know, they kind of all like live in the same geographical world.

[David Cross]

Yeah, but there's nothing cool about Oklahoma.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No. Or Nebraska.

[David Cross]

Yeah. What was I going to say though?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Well, you were born there and did you guys move somewhere else?

[David Cross]

Yeah, we moved every year. So we moved literally annually until we moved. I moved back to Georgia when I was nine. So I lived in, I was born in Atlanta, lived in three places in Florida, two places in Connecticut, and three, three places in New York before moving back to Georgia. Georgia when I was nine. And then stayed there. But then we got evicted from our apartment not too long. Six months after we moved back. And then we had to find another place. All like, you know, shitty apartment. You know, those like prefab 70s, rotting from the inside out and the outside in and the outside outside and the inside inside just garbage.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Just garbage.

[David Cross]

Yeah. And, and that didn't really get kind of back on our feet. And then our dad left and didn't really like right after he moved us down there and then took off and didn't really kind of get Back on our feet and get back to out of, you know, poverty level until, I want to say, 10th grade. I went to school, the arts, which saved my life. I've said that without hyperbole. I think it possibly could have saved my life.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

Moved closer into the city and it was a. It was huge for all of us. For everybody. Yeah. So. And I want to tell people we're talking to. Is it Annalee or Anna Lie?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I like analytic ass face.

[David Cross]

Sure. Was that your high school nickname?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I wish.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I just think that would have made things more fun.

[David Cross]

Anal leakage. Ass face.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's what my best friend calls me. My best friend, Craig, when we were in college, he was like, I'm gonna call you anal Anal leakage Ass face. Isn't that a good one?

[David Cross]

So that. It's a very good one. And it fits. It fits your personality.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Thank you. Thank you.

[David Cross]

Your physical presence.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Thank you. Thank you so much.

[David Cross]

And you just had a baby, so there probably is a little leakage all the time from everywhere.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I have my breast pump right here.

[David Cross]

Great.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

If you'd like some later.

[David Cross]

I'm good. I had some of my wife's breast milk. It was quite nice. Is that what you got in your matcha?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, it's like vanilla sweetener. It's kind of like what it tastes like.

[David Cross]

It's not bad.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do you know, for some reason this baby, we have an eight year old, but this baby, sometimes I tell my husband, I'll be like, you know, when the. I'm pumping. And also I breastfeed. But like, you know, you. When you give her milk at the bottle, like, sometimes the nipple gets clogged, she's like, freaking out. And sometimes I'll be like, joe, check the nipple. And he's like, you check it. You know, we do that thing where I'm like, no, you know, because you want to just. It's easier to just like suck on the bottle nipple to see if it's clogged. But this baby, I'm like, I'm not doing it. You do it. I make him check. For some reason, I don't.

[David Cross]

I don't see what the big deal about checking is.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I don't. I don't want to smell my own milk.

[David Cross]

Is it a kid thing? I only have the one, but it was never an issue.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I don't know what it is this time. I'm like, I don't want to taste my breast milk this time around. Which is still.

[David Cross]

I see.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. I don't know what. What's. What the problem is for me this time, but it's like off putting to me, which it shouldn't be. It's my own breast milk. But there's something about it where I'm like, I can't.

[David Cross]

I don't want to taste my own breast milk. But maybe it's not good. Maybe because you don't have much to go on. How many. How many other women's breast milk have you tasted?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Unfortunately, only my own.

[David Cross]

Yeah, see, see, maybe it's not that good and you don't. You're kind of now coming to that understanding and it's off putting to you. Not the physical act of it, but just like, this is nasty. This is like. Like in an apocalyptic movie when they go and they find like, they're so excited. They're like, there's an underground shed and there's like some canned food, you know, from like 48.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Are you caught up?

[David Cross]

I am, yes.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Okay. Are you thinking of that? No, I was. I went right there.

[David Cross]

But you know what? I did have last night for the, I think first time ever zombie dreams. And they weren't that scary. They were. It was more about I had to do this thing. I had to get out of this place. And. And it's because we watched two episodes back to back, my wife and I. But yeah, never had zombie dreams before.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

What kind of zombies were they?

[David Cross]

They were like, you know, they weren't the. The whatever the infected things with the.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They look like.

[David Cross]

They look like. They look like canker sores, you know, and. But they were just like. They were more like people.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Classic zombie.

[David Cross]

More classic zombie, but not like arm falling off kind of thing. More like 28 days later kind of zombie.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Great. Yeah.

[David Cross]

And which I find physically more attractive just in a biological sense.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Me too.

[David Cross]

If I was going to procreate, I.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Mean with the zombie.

[David Cross]

The 28 day later zombie, for sure. I do not the walking dead zombies.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No. No way. No way. To the cankersaur.

[David Cross]

No. Last of us.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

How about that? I'm not going to ruin anything. How about in the last of us, the gigantic monster ones versions?

[David Cross]

Yeah. There's a name for that version. The gigantic cankersaur ones.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

Or like it's like a cold sore. More like a. Like a right before when it's peaking.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I like that you saw a peaking cold sore and I saw a flower.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I don't know what that means.

[David Cross]

It means I will have a greater chance of survival should that scenario play out.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Like they lost Analika Jazz face. Oh, man.

[David Cross]

Annalee Ashford.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

My Middle name's Amanda. It's too much.

[David Cross]

That's aaa.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's exhausting.

[David Cross]

Annalee Amanda Ashford. So was there a story behind your parents giving you the aaa?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Well, I don't think the AAA was thought out very much, but my mom was supposed to be named Annalee, and at the last second, they named her Holly. I think Annalee came from my great grandpa Clark's mom. She was like Annabelle Lee. And then somehow Annalee, like, in the 60s, was maybe a kind of a thing.

[David Cross]

An improvement.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

An improvement upon Annabel Lee. Like, Annabel Lee is like a lot.

[David Cross]

Annabel Lee sounds like the, you know, the ingenue and a book about pirates or something.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Totally. Like, I need a ribbon around my neck, you know, with, like, pale skin and willowy lashes, you know? But, yes, she chose Annalee, which is the way that we spell it is so extra. It's like, so Southern. But we're not Southern. I'm from Denver.

[David Cross]

When I first met you, I thought you might be Southern.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I mean, my name is ridiculous, but.

[David Cross]

Like, Southern in the sense it's not legit. Like, you know, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, like, that kind of area of Southern, but Southern, like in. Like in Oklahoma, they're kind of Southern adjacent, but not really. Or Arkansas. You know what I mean?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. Well, I also. I grew up in, like, a Southern Baptist church, which was like, sort of.

[David Cross]

Well, that was every. I mean, that was 90% of everybody where I was growing up.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

[David Cross]

Southeast.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. Also.

[David Cross]

I do hinge of Pentecostal.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Just a touch.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yes. Just a hint.

[David Cross]

Just to make it fun, make it spicy.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But lots of yelling.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You know, some good old fashioned singing.

[David Cross]

Yeah. But speaking in tongues.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You know, just. Just a hint. There's always just one or two people.

[David Cross]

Having an episode on the floor, writhing around.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You know, it's just. So I guess you're worshiping the Lord in that way. But. Yeah, we put. The first time I went to Atlanta, I felt this way in New Orleans, and I felt this way in Atlanta, you know, like, have you ever been to. I feel this way in London, too, where you're like, I've been here before. There are certain places in the world that you go that feel familiar to you.

[David Cross]

Well, I can't speak to London and New Orleans, both places that I've been to a bunch and loved. But Atlanta might feel familiar because there's. It's lost a lot of its unique character over the years. And there's like, we're gonna knock down the These places and Put Barnes and Noble and a Bed Bath and Beyond. And then when Bed Bath and Beyond goes out of business, we'll put in another big box store that'll go out of business and that. But you can eat if you'd like. You can eat at the TGI Fridays and the Cheesecake Factory in the P. F Changs. So while Atlanta is, you know, close to my heart, a lot of it is based on older Atlanta and a lot of the. I think it's grown so much and it was so quick that it just sacrificed quite a bit for. Of what was unique and cool about it. And while it still has, you know, unique and cool qualities, I mean, a lot of it is just, you know, we're going to get rid of our trees and put in a Best Buy.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Sure. Boo. Boo. The first time that I went, I played the Fox Theater.

[David Cross]

Oh, yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And we. We stayed right across the street at that hotel. It's called Georgia Terrace. Yeah.

[David Cross]

I've got a whole story about the Georgia Terrace.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It was amazing in those rocking chairs. And like, I was playing. I was Puff Annie in Wicked. That was like my first job on the road.

[David Cross]

Which is Puff Annie.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Puff Annie, Yeah. It's her two best friends. Glenda's two best friends. Bone Yang played it in the movie.

[David Cross]

I don't. I haven't seen it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's okay.

[David Cross]

I'm not aware. I'm not just so. So we should get this out of the way. I. I'm not a Broadway person, so. So Annelie and I were in a. A Broadway ish production. I mean, it was on Broadway, but it was. There wasn't that much Broadway to it, but I would say really absolutely enjoyable. Every. It was just great. I really, really had an amazing time doing that. And I never met you. Heard of you. I don't even. The things that you've done.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I'm like, I was a huge fan of yours.

[David Cross]

Okay. But I'm not. I'm not that in. In tune with Broadway. And I mean, of course I know the. The hits, you know. No of them. And I've seen. I've seen a bunch of stuff, but it just wasn't my world. Like my sister's way, who you met is way. That's her thing. And I think Broadway is a very. Maybe the. One of the most specific things that a kid could want to do. Somebody who wants to get involved in the arts. Usually it's like, I want to be an actor. I want to be a singer. I want to do this. I want to, you know, I Want to make films or. But the specificity of I want to be on Broadway is a very. Is something that was just not part of my, you know, consciousness.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Really also wasn't part of, like, your soul journey and, like, your artistic spirit.

[David Cross]

Yeah, my artistic spirit. I did. I was able to capture, and I. It's in a tiny, teeny, tiny little cage in my basement, but you open.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It up every once in a while and sniff it in.

[David Cross]

Feed it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You feed it.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

What's it look like? Does it look like a canker sore or a flower?

[David Cross]

No, it's like a. It's like a little me, but more kind of impish and has wings. Oh, that I taped on the wings? Yeah. They don't work, but they. I just thought it looked more interesting. And they're real wings. They're like. What do you call them? What's the one with the four wings?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Dragonfly.

[David Cross]

Dragonfly, yeah. So I. I got some dragonfly wings from that place in Cobble Hill.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's the only place to get them from because it's tough to get them from a. From the Dragonfly.

[David Cross]

And I'm not going to. You know, here's the thing. I live in New York City, and I try to avail myself of all the things at New York, the specialness. So I don't go online.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No.

[David Cross]

To get something I can basically is two miles down the street.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You can get fresh.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I can get fresh. But it's also like, why would I get dragonfly wings off of Amazon? Which you can. I'll go to the dragonfly wing store. This is New York.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I mean, you also. Now you're going to be paying a tariff for that dragonfly wing. Even though it's locally sourced. You're still going to play that.

[David Cross]

I mean, that wasn't part of my concern. But you're right. You're right.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You know, I'm really happy for you that your creative spirit has artistic wings. Mine is wearing a sequin muumu and a bad wig. That's really what mine is.

[David Cross]

Oh, that's what your creative spirit. Oh, where is your creative spirit?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

She's in my jewelry drawer.

[David Cross]

Okay.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, she's just chilling there with some cheap, bad jewelry. You know, it's very apropos.

[David Cross]

Now you. You pronounce. I'm gonna pronounce it incorrectly, but you pronounce jewelry correctly.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do. How do you say it?

[David Cross]

I say jewelry. Jewelry, and you say jewelry, which is.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Giving you all the syllables. You give it two syllables, and I give it three.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I do. I Give that kind of Southern kind of. Yeah, I know. It comes out every once in a.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

While a little bit. Love it.

[David Cross]

Yeah. No, it's you.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And I'm not from the South.

[David Cross]

I know. That's a crazy thing, your spirit. You seem Southern in spirit.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I know.

[David Cross]

Well, seriously, though, your face, you know, very.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

My roots, you know, I've got a. I give you a sensible. Rudy blonde. Feels very Southern to me, you know. But, you know, that feeling, though. Have you ever been to, like, a place where you get off the plane and you're like, I feel like I've been here before. I feel like I've. In another lifetime.

[David Cross]

Yes. Well, not the lifetime part, but the. I think because I travel so, so, so much. I mean, so much and pretty constantly. There's a lot of like, have I been here before? Like, I was in. Just a couple weeks ago, I was in Brussels and I sent some. I was talking to my wife and I was like, hey, when we were. Last time, I was in tour in Belgium. Was that in Brussels? Where was that? And she's like, no, I think it was Bruges. And I was like, oh, okay, because this looks familiar. But I can't. I don't know if I've been here or not. And you get that a lot, you know, all over Canada, the States, whatever. Have I been? And sometimes I'll ask the audience, have I been here before? And because you don't. I mean, you're just. You're kind of in and out in 36 hours and isn't that a crazy.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Way to see a city? Yeah, you know, like, there have been, I'm sure, a million times where you've been like, oh, I wasn't even here for 24 hours. And somebody says, oh, you. Oh, you've been to wherever. Edmonton. And you were like, yes, but I actually couldn't tell you what it looks like. Is that the place where there's, like, lots of forest and then a big building and there's a cross at the air? You know, you're.

[David Cross]

The answer is no.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yes. No.

[David Cross]

That was just an Edmonton.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Is Edmonton kind of lush, though? I remember. I think I was there in the Fall flat.

[David Cross]

It's in the kind of central western part, I think, because I think I went east to west, so I think that was after Winnipeg.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I've been to Winnipeg.

[David Cross]

And Edmonton is north.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yes.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I think it's like north. Some kind of between central and west.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Got it. Okay.

[David Cross]

Before you get to.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Calgary, Winnipeg has, like, a really cute little town in their downtown, right? Yeah. Okay.

[David Cross]

Well, it's. Winnipeg is. It's seen better days. Yes, that's for sure.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Totally.

[David Cross]

But Edmonton is more. I think it's like tar sands oil field. Before you get into the cattle ranching part of Canada.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I don't know what city I'm thinking of. That's lush. See, when I'm doing that thing where.

[David Cross]

You'Re like, Vancouver is extremely lush.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Super lush. It wasn't, it wasn't. I mean, I just spent like four months in Vancouver, which was great. Vancouver's beautiful. Do you like Vancouver or Toronto? Which do you like better?

[David Cross]

I like both of them, but if I had to choose one to live in, I would live in Toronto.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I think I would too. Because you're closer to New York than you get home.

[David Cross]

Even if that wasn't. If that wasn't a consideration. I love, I love. I mean, all those places in Canada are great. I, I love Montreal. I love, you know, Toronto. Even Ontario's kind of got some cool to it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But I forget. I lived in Montreal for like nine months. I was a clown for Cirque du Soleil. And I like, of course you forget.

[David Cross]

Of course you were.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

How would. I'm like, what's Montreal? Oh, I lived there for like nine months.

[David Cross]

Love Montreal.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I need to go do a do over because I had such like an extreme experience, you know, the, like the, the campus of Cirque du soleil is like 45 minutes outside of the city and it's very nationalist and like very extreme and.

[David Cross]

Well, yeah, that Quebecois kind of separatist thing is serious and my friend is terrible. And I was like, well, their French is terrible.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

What do you mean? I was in a costume fitting and everybody kept. And I was like, what is way mean? And somebody was like, yes. And I was like, we.

[David Cross]

Yeah, they're even French people. Not even French people, particularly French people or people from France who speak. It's. It's a dialect thing, you know, same total same language, same words, but you can't understand half of it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No. And I already, like, I'm very challenged by French. Anytime I have to speak another language, you would think I'd be better at it. You know, I'm like an actor. So, you know, we have an our year around dialects and sounds and something happens to me where I just freeze and I can't. I just. I like have like a panic attack and I can't talk.

[David Cross]

For me, it's about confidence when I, when I. And I'm pretty confident in a lot of things, but when I'M asked to do an English accent or.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, really?

[David Cross]

Australian or something. I just. My confidence goes for accents. Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, you're great. Well, you did do a British accent when we played.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I've gotten better at it. And I lived in London for two years and I'm jelly.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

How fun.

[David Cross]

That was great.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Was it magic?

[David Cross]

Is. It was great.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I would live there in a heartbeat.

[David Cross]

I would too. I just was there for, you know, I just did this European leg of the tour, which is about a month. It was great.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, it was a fun.

[David Cross]

It was fun. It was, oddly enough, the. For the most part, the exact opposite of my prior European tours. I think this is probably my fourth. I'm gonna say. And bravo.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's amazing.

[David Cross]

Yeah, it's fun, you know, it's cool and, and. And, you know, it's stand up. So, yeah, there's. And at this point, I'm in, you know, known quantity. So people aren't going to go. They're not going to Pay, you know, €45 to go, hey, who's that guy? Is he funny? You know, so. But the Scandinavian shows are usually pretty. They're not bad. The only bad show I've had in Europe was in Antwerp. That was not good.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I mean, in Antwerp, which is beautiful.

[David Cross]

Beautiful city, but not. And it was also during Antwerp. Yeah, but that's in their language. It's beautiful. And lip flu lives. That's the word.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The way that I say it, though, is the pits. Antwerp.

[David Cross]

Yeah. You're American.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I'm also.

[David Cross]

Hear that accent that will. I don't care where you are, you know, wherever you are abroad, you will hear that American accent, you know, within 15ft of you, wherever you are. And it's just like nails on a. Yeah, it's drawing nails.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

What do you mean? You don't like a flat Midwest dialect.

[David Cross]

Loud. Also loud.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Antwerp. We're here to discover Antwerp and also some.

[David Cross]

It's a complaint. It's usually about, like. Yes, well, that's not how they do it. I don't. Well, they should tell you. Explain what an Americano is.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

This Coca Cola doesn't taste right.

[David Cross]

But. So the Scandinavian shows were really good. Really, really, really, like crazy good.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Great.

[David Cross]

But they're usually not. They're usually like reserved. What? Reserved? Yes. So you're not. You never really get it flowing. They're a good audience or attentive. They don't laugh, but they don't roll. And then you, you know, you're doing an hour and 15 and you're like, well, you know, in your head, you're like, well, that didn't go that well. And then. And I've learned this now, but the first couple times, you know, you go, well, all right, all right, Oslo, thank you, bye. And then they go nuts, and you get a standing ovation. So that. And then usually the UK is crazy.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Good, but they were quieter.

[David Cross]

But they were. It was so Scandinavia, Germany, although Bristol. Bristol, England was amazing.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But then Bristol was like, we love you.

[David Cross]

I don't know where. What that accent is.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I don't either.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I don't know. I know it's Bristol.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It wasn't. Yeah, it was like a sad mishmash.

[David Cross]

Yeah. See, that's what I'm. I'm afraid when I do an accent, I'm picking up, you know, stuff from the north and the south and Cornwall and Essex and all the various regions and create a mishmash, which people are like, what are you doing? It'd be like, you know, here's my American accent. You know, like, what? You're mixing everything up.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Which. They all do that sometimes, too. The Aussies and the Brits, they. They occasionally do that, but they get to hear us so much more, I think, then we get to hear them also. Sometimes I feel like, you know, when you're working out a dialect with somebody from there, you're also getting whatever dialect they have. You know what I mean? Somebody from the north, you're also getting whatever they grew up in.

[David Cross]

It's just I. I feel like the north is easier to do.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I do, too. It's not really dark. That was the first one that I did.

[David Cross]

Oh, it's up and down, isn't it? Well, it depends.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Up.

[David Cross]

It's up and down.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It depends on where you're, like, which part of the north, like, in Yorkshire.

[David Cross]

Like, I'm not talking about, like, you know, like, Scott. Scottish border. I'm talking about, like, and not the Midlands, but, you know, like, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, that. That strip that goes across in the north, because my relatives were from Leeds, and my family. I found this out when I got dual citizenship. Goes back.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You have dual citizenship?

[David Cross]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, my God.

[David Cross]

Generations. Leeds. I. I assumed, and this is just, I don't know, a dumb assumption I made, that my family probably only went back to, like, a couple generations in Leeds because I just assumed everybody came over from Russia or Eastern Europe, you know, escaping the pogroms or whatever and settled in England. But they go way, way back. Really way farther than I expected. Like, it at least up to great. Great. Yeah. Great great grandmother.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's amazing.

[David Cross]

Which is shocking to me.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

How'd you, how'd you figure it out?

[David Cross]

I didn't. I. There's a. Because I, I wanted to get dual citizenship for a while because it would just make travel because I was always going back and forth and you know, I did these shows over there. So there's a lot of back and forth and. And. Except I'm estranged from my dad who is from Leeds, and I didn't want to contact him. And the only way I could facilitate this was to get his birth certificate or a copy or something. And I wasn't going to, you know, he's just a piece of shit and he probably wouldn't do it anyway, but you know, when, you know, whatever. So eventually somebody said, oh, use this service. They're out of Edinburgh and they're really good. And it's like. It was like $2,000 all in.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Great.

[David Cross]

And they said, I talked to them, you know, several times. We had zooms and stuff and they're like. And I explained situation. They're like, okay, if you can get us a copy of your parents marriage certificate, I think we'll have enough to go on.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Amazing.

[David Cross]

And they're all like, this is what they do. They're like detective genealogy type things. So I got them a copy of my birth certificate and my mom's, which. My mom had a marriage certificate and sent it to them. And then, I mean, yeah, it was some searching database stuff, you know. And now in, you know, the, in this, with the technology we have, they were. I'm sure they've amassed all this stuff. So they were able to get it. And like honestly two weeks later they're like, okay, we figured it out and they sent me this thing, they got my grandparents birth certificates, which, which, which means that I know because they had the grandparents on there.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

So my great, great grandmother, they were all born in Royal Hospital in Leeds.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do you get pictures too?

[David Cross]

Of what?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Like, did you get pictures of anybody or do you have.

[David Cross]

Oh, no, it's not like a service. It's not like, you know, finding your roots type thing.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But, but could you find them at all? I mean, like, that's how it could.

[David Cross]

I know. I just got names.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Abe.

[David Cross]

Abe and Anne.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Abe and Ann.

[David Cross]

Abe and Anne were my grandparents, my dad's mom and dad. And then their mom and dads were. I can't remember, but, but I had an Auntie Pearly.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Auntie Pearly.

[David Cross]

Annie, Esther, like this, up and down. David. Oh, look at him. Up and down, up and down. I remember that.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Met him.

[David Cross]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I met that.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You met Auntie Pearly.

[David Cross]

Auntie Pearly and Auntie Esther. Oh, look at him and Ro. Oh, yeah. So I had a lot of the. So I can kind of do like a northern. You've got.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You've got a hidden body. You've got a darling.

[David Cross]

I do. Well, look at my shitty teeth.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I have terrible teeth. I'm. I'm super British, too. My grandma was adopted on my mom's side. She was. We didn't know anything about her birth mom or her. Or her dad. And then when my mom did, like Ancestry.com or 23andMe, she came back, like, almost completely British.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So British. And then Ashford is a. There's like a. An Ashford castle in Ireland. And then there's a town in. In England called Ashford. You know, it's just like.

[David Cross]

Yeah. And there's Ashford and Simpson, you know.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You know them too?

[David Cross]

Yeah. They're both from England, right?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[David Cross]

I mean, they would have to be.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I mean, of course, you know, and.

[David Cross]

Simpson was a Ashford. Sounds very regal. Yes, But. But we also know that surnames, especially back then, were given kind of without a whole lot of thought. So obviously your ancestors, your, you know, but not too far back, you know, were able to shore up a kind of a. I guess a fence or something. With ash.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

With ash.

[David Cross]

Yeah. And that's what they did.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Just a little ash.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I just like to say ash like this.

[David Cross]

Who doesn't? Yeah, no, everybody does. Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I actually. I would love to do one of those, like. Is it called Find you'd Roots? Is that the show on pbs?

[David Cross]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I would be. That'd be.

[David Cross]

I would love to do find your roots, but I would rather have them do it because I don't think I have the skill set to find my roots, and I think that'd be a boring show anyway. So what I would like to do is have them find my roots and then present it to me in like a book form. Like almost like a.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

A beautiful book.

[David Cross]

A beautiful book that maybe was like a 10th grade class project.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I love a 10th grade book class project.

[David Cross]

Doesn't.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I wonder what they do class projects like in 10th grade now. Because now they have so many things that we didn't like. Do you still get sheet protectors? I mean, our kids, like, remember sheet protectors and a binder like that. You put your projects in, you'd be like, well, the clap that's due. It's the end of the semester. I need to put My. I need to put my project in sheet protectors.

[David Cross]

I don't even remember having backpacks until I was like, I'm serious. I mean, I'm sure we did, but I don't remember having, like, all the kids. I mean, I guess we had backpacks, but how else would we get our shit to school? But you go to the locker, you get your. You get your locker for the year.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's a big deal. When you got a locker for the first time, you were like, I'm getting a locker next year.

[David Cross]

And it made you feel like, oh, yeah, I'm putting stuff in my locker. Yeah. And hang on, guys, I gotta go to my locker. This isn't the locker I wanted. Okay, well, where's your locker? It's by. It's by Mr. Jenkins. Spanish.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So much better.

[David Cross]

I don't know. I don't like. I'd rather have your locker.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No, I'd rather you have a better locker. You're closer to the lunchroom. That's so much better.

[David Cross]

I remember discovering I didn't know this for, like, a good five months, but that my. The last high school I went to, where I was 10th, 11th, 12th grade, had an elevator. Yeah. Had an elevator.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Wow. I mean.

[David Cross]

And I guess it might have been something put in there for, like, disability for sure, you know, But. Yeah. I didn't even realize there was an elevator.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Ours was all one level. Ours was a ranch style. Our high school is a ranch style. There was no. We didn't need one.

[David Cross]

Well, that's what. That feels western to me. It feels very Denver.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

How about this? This is so wild. My mascot for my high school is the Farmers. It's the Wheat Rich Farmers. Can you believe that?

[David Cross]

I do.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

If you wrote it in a show, people would be like, that's crazy. We can't use that.

[David Cross]

Well, you want to. Now I'm going to get Super Southern 70s on you. My. The first high school I went to, it was like a. So there was no middle school, so we had elementary school. And then the first high school I went to, Crestwood, started in ninth grade.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Okay. Mine started in ninth grade. Did elementary school.

[David Cross]

I'm sorry, eighth grade. Eighth grade.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Okay.

[David Cross]

So elementary school, went to seventh.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Crazy.

[David Cross]

Yeah. Elementary school went to seventh, and then high school was eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And then Wild.

[David Cross]

And eighth graders were called Jinkers for some reason. And. But our. Our mascot, the Crestwood High School mascot was the Crestwood Colonels. And it was the old, old school. Big mustache. Yeah. Like kind of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Sanders type of guy, but more cartoony and more like slave owner looking.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

How full on?

[David Cross]

Full on. With that. With that weird tie.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's really comfortable.

[David Cross]

Yeah, comfortable. The Crescent.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I wonder what they are now.

[David Cross]

Crestwood is not there anymore. It became something else.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Crestwood is not there anymore.

[David Cross]

It isn't. Well, it's there, but the building is there. But they're now. They're like folded in. Same with my other school. They all got folded. They don't exist as the school I went to anymore.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No more Colonels.

[David Cross]

No, there's. Crestwood is something else. It got. I don't know what it is. And then north side is now like North Atlanta or something like that. And it combined two different schools or something and. But this is. This was a very surreal experience I had. I did this thing a couple years ago to celebrate the whatever anniversary of The Chronic Town EP that R.E.M. did great. A bunch of guys got together. Some of the Count County Crows, the Black Crows. There's quite a difference between those two, man. The Black Crows. And gosh, who else was. A bunch of people put this like super group together to do where everybody came on and did REM covers.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Awesome.

[David Cross]

It was amazing. It was fucking amazing. And I wish I could remember more details about it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Cool covers too. Like.

[David Cross]

Oh, it was great. But there were people. There were members of like Gang of Four and Pylon and Elf Power and like amazing session musicians and. And I'm forgetting a bunch. But like. And really cool. Interesting. Fred Armisen did some stuff. Oh, Broadway guy. Oh shoot. I'm spacing on his name. Super nice guy. Gay. I know that's crazy. John Cameron Mitchell.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Great. That's cool.

[David Cross]

And oh gosh. Who. I mean just Darius Rucker. Country guys. Anyway, it was just this killer, killer lineup that switched around and Peter Buck and. And Mike Mills were part of it. So they. The. And oh, and also some of the guys from Young Fresh Fellows and all this like this. It was amazing. They did a 40 watt in. In Athens as like a warm up show. And then we did Atlanta at some big theater in By Truest park and then live streamed. It was all to raise money. It was a benefit and. And so. And I was posting it emceeing, whatever and. And so Peter Buck. So I was. I got to Athens and. And just from the hotel to the stage door at 40 watt is like five blocks tops. But one of those massive southern storms. Right. So by the time I got from my hotel to there, I'm just soaking wet.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Great.

[David Cross]

And. And. And the. And 40 watts. Pretty old, you know, and it's tight space. And I. I'm. I mean, like, I walk in the door and I'm trying to get a laminate, and Peter Bucks there, who I've met before, but very briefly, not, you know, we never, like, hung out or anything like that. And. And I'm soaking wet, and I just want to get in, get a towel, get my laminate and whatever. And he's like, hey, David. I can't remember how he brought it up, but here's some crazy new. He didn't say crazy. It was like he basically, as I was trying. And I wanted to hear it. I wanted to talk how cool. He's a hero, you know, and. But I really want to get a towel. And he told me that he and I were in Crestwood. He was in the first class in Crestwood. He's a couple years older, not much. And we were at the school at the same time.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You were Colonels at the same time.

[David Cross]

We were Colonels.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

We were Colonels together.

[David Cross]

To say that you were a colonel, too. You were a colonel, too.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, my God, that's amazing.

[David Cross]

And, yeah, it was pretty cool. It was really cool.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You should be like, did you have a Colonel letter jacket? Do you still have it?

[David Cross]

You know what? I, I. There was a embarrassing little bit of peer pressure where I actually bought a high school jacket, or I didn't have any money. Like, I spent money, and I went to maybe two or three football games, like, trying to be a part socially, because we, you know, we were out in the woods, and it's. And it. And I didn't have a good time. That was not a good part of my life. And. But I tried. I think I even. I sold donuts, you know, trying to. School spirit. You're like, raise money for the Go Colonels.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Would you like a donut?

[David Cross]

Yeah. And I bought a dumb, you know, high school jacket or whatever, and it was.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I think you should wear it in life. That would be a great, great. Well, you know.

[David Cross]

One, I have no idea where it is. Two, I don't think it'll fit me.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Why not, do you think? I thought you were going to say.

[David Cross]

Look how I got.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You look great.

[David Cross]

Come on, dad. Belly fat.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No, you look fantastic.

[David Cross]

All right, well, thank you.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Okay, I'm taking a right turn, But I'm so curious.

[David Cross]

Oh, I'm so sorry. You look fantastic as well. Oh, shit.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm bloated, and I always.

[David Cross]

I was going to say, I thought you had another on the way.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So it's my favorite sometimes people. When I was not pregnant, occasionally people would like. I'd have on like the wrong muumu. And people would be like, when are you expecting?

[David Cross]

Well, you know what the wrong mumu is? Any mumu.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You're wrong. Mumu's are magic.

[David Cross]

No, no.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But my grandma, I love my grandma was like one of the funniest people that I ever. And I've spent a lot of time with funny people in my life, but she's like one of the funniest people I've ever known. She would get asked a lot if she was expecting and she would just say yes. She'd just be like, yeah, we're just so happy to be having another because it was like. It's like really uncomfortable and really like heartbreaking for people when they say that to you. And you go, no, I'm not expecting you.

[David Cross]

Just tell me that. I love handed on a silver platter. The ability to make somebody feel shitty without. When it's not really that big a deal.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

And they never. They should have more tact.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Totally.

[David Cross]

And you have a. You've been given a coupon to make somebody feel shitty without you feeling shitty for making them feel shitty.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Sure.

[David Cross]

How many opportunities in life do you get that you should.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You feel shitty too when somebody says it to you, you're like, oh man. I mean, for me, usually it's like, oh, I'm having a case of sibo right now. We just need to, you know, treat my gut microbiome. I'm very bloated.

[David Cross]

I'm not going to be in that position. So I can't. It's easy for me to say that. It might be a painful, humiliating thing to hear, but all the more reason to go, no, I'm not. Why? What makes you ask that question? And just put them on the spot.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Just keep them going. Yeah, but there is.

[David Cross]

Oh, my God. No, I'm so. I just thought. You thought what? What is it? What? Tell me. I know. I just. I thought because it was probably the way that. You know what it is? It's the light. It's the way the light is. Like if you turn this way, it's not so much. Now. I see now. No. Okay. You're. You're. You're. I'm what? You're. No, I meant your. Your. Your body is. Yeah. My body's what?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You know, I'm really enjoying this lassie. This lassie was my favorite part of the day. You know, I though it's probably like True example of me avoiding conflict and being a people pleaser, that I would rather just be like, yes, we're so happy to be having another one. Doing a couple months.

[David Cross]

Fuck that.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It is, though. It's so uncomfortable when somebody says it.

[David Cross]

I'm sure. Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You're like, oh, my God. And then you're like, I just have to pee. Or maybe fart. Yeah, it's really. What's happening. But okay, I want to know.

[David Cross]

So maybe that's your. No, no, no. Thank you so much for asking and inquiring. I just have to fart. In fact, if you could cup your hands and open your mouth, I'd appreciate it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

My. That is my grandma. Actually, that's something that she would have said, too. My grandma, like, loved farts. She was a really funny farter and thought farts were funny and that everybody.

[David Cross]

How is she a funny farter?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Her farts were hilarious. She'd also be like, pull my finger. Any chance that was possible, which was great. Usually it's your grandpa that does that. My grandpa would be like, carol, don't do it again. Oh. She'd go, no arm. Who cares? It's funny. You know, it's like a.

[David Cross]

Wait, your grandparents were parrots?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yes. How'd you know?

[David Cross]

Well, just by the way you presented them.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They weren't in. Carol, Carol, Carol, Carol. You know, my grandma.

[David Cross]

You actually do a very good parrot. I was impressed with your parrot.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Thank you very much.

[David Cross]

In the Broadway thing.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I know.

[David Cross]

What do we call it?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Production. I used to say it was a. It was a. I said it was comedy essays on stage. A reading of comedy essays on stage. That was. That's a good. That's a good description.

[David Cross]

Pretty much what it was.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. But you had to say a reading, because we were.

[David Cross]

People loved it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I know.

[David Cross]

I. I kind of maybe shouldn't have done this, but I. I qualified it to a lot of people who were. Who I knew wanted to come and, you know, it was very expensive, and.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I think it was okay to qualify it because you needed to explain it wasn't like a play. It's not play. You know, it's a.

[David Cross]

And I. But I guess the tone I had was more of it was almost apologetic in a sense, like, I hear you. I didn't. I didn't dissuade people from coming, but I was like, you know, we're sitting down and we're. You know, the cast is great and the. The scripts are funny, but that's what it is. That's what you know, and there's like animation and band and stuff.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Which made it theater.

[David Cross]

Which made it theater.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Which made it more than just like a reading of comedy essays and.

[David Cross]

And. And it was directed. And it was directed. Well, like, that was a thing that was really cool about it, that it all made sense, but I. Yeah, I didn't want people to be disappointed. Like, you know, you're not going to see War Horse or.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

We're not doing.

[David Cross]

Yeah, we're not. You know, it's. There's not. It's not. What was that? The really theatrical one. The. The Boy who Mistook His Dog for a Thing or whatever.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The Curious Incident.

[David Cross]

Yeah. At Night Time, which had some really cool theatrical stuff. Or War Horse or, you know, but, you know, I fucking cried at that. At that.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

At Warhorse.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. Because it's a beautiful.

[David Cross]

But I mean, it's. It's amazing. I was. I was blown away that you can see the people operating it, but you still believe. But I. But the scene where I saw it in London too, where I think it originated, original folks. The scene where the horse gets caught in the barbed wire during the war, you know, and I was like, I was tearing up, like. And you get. It's amazing that you can get transported like that and you can see the people operating it. But I was still like, come on, War Horse.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I did the same thing on a ride at Disney World. Know, like, it's a reminder, you know, when you watch your kids play.

[David Cross]

That's different.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I think it's sort of those things. It's not storytelling. It's letting your. You know when you watch your little kid play.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And how they're. They just like completely, completely abandon themselves to their imagination. You know, there's something like. There's not really many spaces you can do that as an adult where your. Your brain just sort of like, lets go of reality. And in a theater, you do that, you know, like, you kind of like, get quiet even more than you do like in a film because, like, you know.

[David Cross]

Oh, good.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The tv, like, don't have to use your imagination as much.

[David Cross]

Yeah. Good theater. And I kind of came into to this world kind of via my wife, who's done a bunch of stuff, and she's on the board of soho Rep and stuff, and. And she goes and sees a lot of stuff. And, you know, there have been a couple of clunkers, but she's usually really spot on about going, you should see this. You'll like this. No, there were a couple things where I was like, what the is it? And it just made me angry. I get really angry at.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Well, that's one thing. Like, when you go see bad theater, there's something about it, like, you can't just, like, turn it off halfway through.

[David Cross]

You have to, like, get the up and leave.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I, that's one thing that's really hard for me. I've never actually, like, left a show. I, I, I know people who can, they, like, don't come back at intermission if it's really, they're really unhappy.

[David Cross]

There have been a couple. I was like, this is making me angry. I hate this pretentious. And it's empty. And it's just little tricks and I don't give a. Not a lot. But again, you know, because of Amber, I'm. My success rate has been phenomenal because I don't see a whole. She sees, you know, 10 times as much as I do, but she'll go, you gotta see this, you gotta see that. And almost all, like, a strange loop.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

Blew me away. And I'm not a musical guy. I'm not. I kind of go into those with a little bit of skepticism and. But holy shit, that thing. And Michael R. Jackson is going to be here, coming, I think, on Wednesday.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Awesome.

[David Cross]

He's doing the podcast and he's awesome. I met him after the show. But strange loop was just.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's art.

[David Cross]

It's art. And I was telling everybody I knew, who also kind of share my reluctance to go to the theater unless something is, you know, unless it's highly recommended. But I was like, you gotta see a strange loop. It's amazing.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's the thing, like, in this art form, when it's right, it's really right.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But when it's wrong, it's, like, painful. It's also because it's. You're really having to, like, you know that the old saying is you, you know, you sing when you can no longer speak. That's like the whole thing. So the stakes have to be super high. You also have to create.

[David Cross]

Wait, you sing when you no longer.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

When you can't speak, you sing.

[David Cross]

So what does that mean? Oh, meaning if you don't have anything to say, you start singing more than that. Like, it's a crutch.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's a crutch if it's not made well. But if it's made well, it's like, you can't, with words, express what you need to express. So you have to.

[David Cross]

I see. So it's not a negative, it's a positive.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's a positive when it's done. Right, right. Like that's the origins of it.

[David Cross]

Well, that explains Grease the musical. There's so much about like Grease is the word. Like you can't say that. You have to sing it. I get what you're saying.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Totally Summer lovin. They couldn't really explain it with just a story. They had to sing that story.

[David Cross]

Yes, right, I get it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But like in every musical too, there should be an I want song. So like a great example that like have you seen Little Mermaid?

[David Cross]

I. That's literally the thing that went through my head when you said that. Have I seen Little Mermaid? I have an 8 year old daughter. I have seen Little Mermaid 117 times.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So like she has an I want song. Right? That's what she wants.

[David Cross]

I love how she has a really advanced vocabulary. But there are certain words she's like, oh, what do you call them? Shoes?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Well, because she's not a human, she can't remember what they're called. She doesn't wear them from, they're from the human world.

[David Cross]

Feet. What do you call. But she has all these other words.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, what is she? I got gizz. What does she say?

[David Cross]

Oh, got gizmos and da da plenty.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I got who's it's and what's it's galore. You want thingamabobs.

[David Cross]

I got 20, I got 20.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

But who cares? No big deal. I want more. I know the best.

[David Cross]

Oh, just give me a little taste of that.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I want to be where the people are. I mean Jodi Benson, nothing better also.

[David Cross]

But your, your inflection is perfect. People are.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I want to see, want to see them dancing.

[David Cross]

That is spot on.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I know, I've listened to it. That is a really good impression one million times. I mean I tried to sing like her when I was younger. It's like, you know, you want to be like a D. Disney princess. That's one thing. Like I would love, love, love to. Now I've aged out of the princess roles, but if I could just be some weird mom or aunt or.

[David Cross]

Sunset Boulevard. How about Sunset Boulevard?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Sunset Boulevard.

[David Cross]

You're aged out a princess by getting.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Into, I mean Sunset Boulevard is a Disney movie. You know, that's a, that's a. But I really like in a Disney cartoon. Now I'm more into the I'm your evil stepmother land where I get a song where I get to sing like this. Here you come.

[David Cross]

Annalee. I, I, I mean this sincerely. Do you think because you're really, really funny and you're funny, you know, just in person. And. And then, you know, when we did that show, you were fucking awesome with multiple, you know, different things spanning a wide range. But do you think your singing voice might have hampered your. Because your singing voice is so good, did it hamper your becoming, like, more of a comic actress or something?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I would say in the. You know, what's a weird part of my career is that people usually think of me for whatever they saw me in last, which is sort of a compliment because.

[David Cross]

Oh, that's the only way I know you. Because I've never seen what you were in Wicked. No, you were in what?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I wasn't.

[David Cross]

You won a Tony, for fuck's sake.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I won a Tony for a show called you Can't Take it with you. Do you know that play at all?

[David Cross]

Is that Moss Heart?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, it's like. It's like.

[David Cross]

I don't know it, but I know of it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Beautiful play. It's like a classic, classic comedy. And I played a ballerina. Really, though. This girl who was terrible at dancing but thought she was good. Her name is Essie, and she.

[David Cross]

Well, that's Broadway in a nutshell, isn't it?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I mean, hey. But my whole thing was that I wanted her to not know that she was bad. So the equivalent would be, you know, when somebody gets up to do karaoke, and at the beginning you're like, oh, I think they're good. And then they're terrible. But it starts out with like, yeah.

[David Cross]

I know exactly what you mean.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

There's a hero. When you look inside your heart, you don't have to be afraid of what you are. Do you know what I mean? Just.

[David Cross]

Or even. Even. Not so much tone, but they're, like, overcompensating by.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You have to be afraid of what you. But she started out good. There's a hero, you know, if you start out.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So I tried to do that physically with my dancing. So I would do, like, a perfect leap, but, like, my foot would be sickled and a little bit, like, not right. And my hands were, like, pretty but not right. Like, everything was just a little off. I was on pointe shoes, but, like, I wasn't all the way up on my boxes.

[David Cross]

Did you get any grief from people with palsy?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It wasn't like that. It was more like ballet dancers.

[David Cross]

It's like a crack baby.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Not quite. See, I couldn't go. I couldn't go. Like, if you go too far, then it's not funny. Then you're like, that's Ridiculous.

[David Cross]

Agreed.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So it had to be just a little bit bad. Just subtly terrible.

[David Cross]

Yes.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And thinking she was very good, that was the thing. I was, like, really committed to how good I was. So anyways, my point is that I would say most of my stuff on stage has been in the land of comedy. And, like, I did a. I played this part in Kinky Boots where I sang this song about just realizing that you're in love with somebody. You know that moment when you're like, oh, my God, I'm in love with this person. Am I gonna shit my pants? You know that when you see them, you're like, I feel all the feelings, but I'm terrified by it.

[David Cross]

Well, that's like an anal leakage thing that goes back. We're coming back around analytic. Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

So I would say that I feel like the opposite has sort of been the case where vocally, sometimes I sing crazy. Like, I stoof crazy things. And then. Then I do a show like Sunday in the park with George, where it's super comedic, but the score is really classic. Sweeney Todd, too. Vocally, I did, like, some kind of fun. Did you.

[David Cross]

Were you in the. The. I don't know what you call it. The reimagining.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The last revival.

[David Cross]

The. I don't know when it. The. I saw it. I saw the reimagined. The one that was super dark and Patti LuPone. Patti LuPone, yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Amazing. That was like. Like 12 years ago. Yeah, 12 years ago. Now. That was the revival for. Before the revival. I just did. I did a revival in the last. I did it in 2023. Me and Josh Groban. I played Mrs. Lovett and he played Sweeney, and we did a classic revival of it. Right.

[David Cross]

It was a little more comic and full.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Full orchestra. But I would say I Definitely. The way that Stephen Sondheim wrote about the show and the way that Hal Prince wrote about the show, but especially the way that Steve wrote about it, he would always say, it's a musical comedy. Horror. That makes sense comedy to me. I. I was like, it's so dark that it has to be funny. And that's always kind of the way he talked about it. He. He thought it was a comedy. So I really took that one.

[David Cross]

Well, there have been productions that have really heightened the comedy of it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

But, yeah, I saw that again. It was another thing that a friend dragged me to. I'm like, I want to see this. And it was so cool because it's.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

One of the best musicals I've ever written. That's one Thing. I've gotten to do two of his shows.

[David Cross]

I don't know about that.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I think Sweeney Todd and Sunny in the park with George are in the top 10 best musicals ever written.

[David Cross]

My personal opinion, I would say Aladdin. I would say. What's the bubble one? The kid. The. Where the guy does the bubble show. The bubble show.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

The bubble show.

[David Cross]

I would say.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I love that. You've seen the bubble show.

[David Cross]

I've seen the ads for it.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I've been. I took Jack.

[David Cross]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure my daughter would love it. That's another cool thing. Great thing about living in New York is, you know, she's seen a bunch of shows.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

And she, you know, loves them.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, my God. I didn't see my first Broadway show until I was coming to college. You know, it's like 16. It was crazy.

[David Cross]

Yeah, well, that's how it should be.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's how it should be. You don't get to see Broadway until you're coming to college.

[David Cross]

If you're lucky.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

If you're lucky.

[David Cross]

No Ashford's gonna go to Broadway and watch a bunch of gays flitting around singing about, you know, fancy imagination stuff.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Ain't a leakage, ass face. Not for you.

[David Cross]

You'll get back to the. You get back to the hay loft.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

What is a hay loft?

[David Cross]

It's a loft where you keep your hay. Where you keep your hay. Yeah. Hey.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Hey, girl.

[David Cross]

Hey. No, this is a different. And also, why would you keep a greeting? Would you need a loft for a greeting?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That actually, that should be. There should be a little thing. You know, when you walk into some people's houses and they're, like, welcome. You know, like, their little mat says it. Their siri says it. If you have a barn, you should have your siri go, hey, girl.

[David Cross]

Hey.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

When you walk into the barn.

[David Cross]

Welcome to the hey, Barn. Then do the snap thing.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Hey, girl. Hey. That's fun. Wait, I want to ask you a question that I've been dying to. How was Europe in last month? How was it navigating as an American? Was it a fucking nightmare? Was it so wild?

[David Cross]

No, it was palpable.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. People know how you feel about.

[David Cross]

Yeah, well, I had an opening. I kind of stumbled upon this opening that really worked well that I can't do here. But I would. I would come out and. And I just thought, you know, and then I kind of rifted on stage, but I was like, you know, I love Oslo. Oslo was my first show in. In the. In the European tour. I love it. It's beautiful. And, you know, I love this city. It, you know, been here a number of times. Love this country. How much you want for it? What do you want? A million. Great million. We're gonna take it one way, you.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Know, and then I would say, break the ice. Get out of the way right away.

[David Cross]

And they would laugh, like, insanely. They laugh harder than you would because, you know, it's an absurd notion. And. And then I would say, I want to get this out of the way. I want to talk about something briefly. I just want to acknowledge it, and then we can move on. But, you know, I've been doing this a long time, and this is a palpable thing. And I can see you guys and. And I could see and sense that you are all jealous of my freedoms. And then they would laugh again, like. And then we would. I would talk about the freedoms that I have as an American and just riffing shit, you know, and also Oslo, all these places, you know, Stockholm, it doesn't matter. Wherever they are, they function at a higher level than any American city. And they are. There are people swimming in whatever that body of water is off of Oslo, where they have, like, this. What do you call them, the sauna rooms that are on, like, little boats.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And then they go in and get. Take a dip.

[David Cross]

Yeah. And then they go in the water.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They do a cold plunge.

[David Cross]

They do a cold plunge.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And they invented it.

[David Cross]

But I mean, can you imagine trying to do that in, like, I don't know, Lake Michigan or the Hudson river or, you know, I mean.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No.

[David Cross]

No. Yeah. The answer is no, but.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And everything have to go to the emergency room afterwards.

[David Cross]

Yeah, it's. It is. And it's. I mean, it's immaculate, clean. There's not. No litter. There's. I don't know what they're doing with their homeless, but they're not there. And there's. I mean, it's. It just functions in a. At a higher level. The mass transportation in Europe is on time. Clean, beautiful, spacious. It's. It smells nice.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Not like our journey here today.

[David Cross]

No, I mean, the. The idea that there are hundreds of millions of Americans who truly think we've got it better than everybody else and that we are freer than anybody. It's, you know, whether it's like, you know, human freedoms or economic freedoms, it's just absurd.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Preach, brother.

[David Cross]

But. And I, you know, I'm walking around going, you know, for real. Our. The transportation system in New York is, I wouldn't say filled with. But I'd say 20% of your. Of the subway cars or buses have mentally ill, disturbed people on them that you're dealing with. And in Oslo, it's like 90% of the transportation systems, whether it's tram, subway, I don't know if they have. Yeah, buses are filled with the most beautiful people on the planet. Beautiful. They're really ridiculous.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They have clean. Because they have clean water. It's their water because they take those dips.

[David Cross]

They take those dips and it's just like a clean. And the things that we've traded that we have said, okay, we want to have these conveniences and these things. And what we're going to trade for those things and those conveniences are clean water and clean air and a really pleasant experience traveling from point A to point B. And we're going to trade those off. We're gonna trade those things in. So we're gonna have disgusting, shitty, deadly water and deadly air.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Are you talking about Gowanus? Gowanus is so clean.

[David Cross]

Remember the dolphin got stuck there and then died.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do you also remember it kind of got buried?

[David Cross]

I wanna, I would just wanted for those. For those of you not familiar. Was it about five years ago?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That sounds right.

[David Cross]

A dolphin somehow, somehow mistakenly made its way in from the harbor into the canal in. In Gowanus.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Just look up at the Gowanus Canal on Google Maps. Have fun. Enjoy where it is.

[David Cross]

It's a super fun site that never got cleaned up. And then, and then the dolphin was stuck there and like, oh, we gotta save this dolphin. Too late.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Just a couple of days. Remember when Irene happened and if you had been flooded that was anywhere near the Gowanus Canal, they were like, do not eat your vegetables in any garden for like five years. They're like, don't eat them. It's so.

[David Cross]

But the trade off is great because we. I mean, you have those snacks. Oh, the snacks in America are.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They're so helpful.

[David Cross]

I'll tell you what. And this snack reminded me of this. So Europe wasn't. I didn't get this palpable tension. This, that, that I did in Canada. And I was in Canada for a couple weeks. And those folks are pissed.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. I went and they should be.

[David Cross]

They have every right to be.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I was there for a day and was like, whoa. You could feel it zinging.

[David Cross]

Oh yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They are kind of interesting. It was like everything. That part was fascinating. I felt the same way, everybody.

[David Cross]

For Canadians to be like telling jokes.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Right away, like I popped in and they were like, well, we're not happy to see you. You know. Oh, yeah, you're right.

[David Cross]

It was Canada's pissed. And again, they should be.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They're like, it felt like going to Thanksgiving and your brother being like, fuck you. Like, right when you walked in there, like, are you kidding me? How could you do this to us? You know, it was like, really? Yeah, I agree. It was palpable immediately. But that's kind of why I was curious, like, what did it feel like in Europe? Because my experience in Toronto for the two days that I was there was.

[David Cross]

Everybody was like, yeah, I mean, it was way more pronounced in Canada, Europe. It was. It was, you know, it wasn't anger. It was like. And also, you know, they know that I don't represent that thinking.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah.

[David Cross]

And, you know, you know, much like, we can look at Turkey or Hungary or, you know, various other places and go, you know, this isn't the citizenry. You know, it's not their fault. They. They live under this. You know, they've make it more difficult to vote. It's. It's rigged. And, you know, and we're in. They see that in us now. You know, like, they. They've understand that us, you know, this, this. Whoever's listening to this podcast and, you know, who are fans of ours are like, well, they're not the problem, you know, so there's an understanding there. But yeah, it's.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's wild. There's. I'm doing a callback, there's a line, and you can't take it with you, which you don't know and have not seen. Is that these are crazy times, Grandpa. One of the characters says that these.

[David Cross]

Are crazy times, Grandpa.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, these are crazy times.

[David Cross]

I bet that's not the only production that that's ever found. I bet there are other maybe books and novellas and plays and musicals where.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Somebody says, these are cartoon. Maybe These are crazy times, Grandpa.

[David Cross]

Yeah, I bet that exists somewhere outside of.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I just like the Russian character of Kolenkov saying, these are crazy times, Grandpa.

[David Cross]

There you go.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's a Russian character. A lot of parallels here. It's crazy. It's crazy, crazy times, Grandpa.

[David Cross]

Now, Annalee, I close every episode and it's been a delight to have you here.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's been a delight. I could just sit here all day and. And talk with you.

[David Cross]

Well, that's the idea. You know, I. I know you have to go to Linda Lavin's funeral. Not funeral, memorial. Memorial. Because she's been buried already. She was buried in cement and then dropped. Is. Is that correct? That was her wish.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Sweet Linda, you know what? I'm having a really hard time, like, accepting that Linda Lavin passed.

[David Cross]

I'm not.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You are.

[David Cross]

Yeah. It's just.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You've accepted it. She. To me, she was always just gonna live forever. I just loved her. So I also. I knew her at the end of her life. I got really close.

[David Cross]

I feel that way about Tyne Daily.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You do?

[David Cross]

No, I don't. I was kidding.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do you know Linda played Gypsy in Gypsy right after Tyne?

[David Cross]

Yeah. Everybody knows that. Annalee, my daughter, knows that. There's farmers who know that. That. Linda. Linda.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That part of musical theater history you are familiar with.

[David Cross]

With. I don't know any of that, but.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, at Sweet Linda Laven. Okay.

[David Cross]

So what happened, Sweet Linda? Lan had. The Red Sox won last night, I believe.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Congratulations.

[David Cross]

Yeah, thank you.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Do you root for them?

[David Cross]

I do.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, good for you.

[David Cross]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Red Sox and Braves, both anti Yankee.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

I'm with you on that. My husband's a Cardinals fan, so I'm automatically.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah. But then I'm from Denver, so I'm like, go, Rockies. And he's like, you're not allowed to do that.

[David Cross]

You were absolutely allowed to do that. First of all, it has no bearing on the fact that they're just an awful team and not going to get better for a while.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

God love them.

[David Cross]

Their front office, they. We got some issues in the front office. Beautiful park. Love that park.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Are you talking about the Rockies?

[David Cross]

Yeah, yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Colorado Rockies. I know the Cardinals are not having their best moment as well.

[David Cross]

No, but they. They're historically on a better.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

They always will be on a better track, historically. But, yeah, the Rockies, you know, the Rockies are a younger franchise.

[David Cross]

I do know that. So have you been to the park?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, a bunch of times.

[David Cross]

Yeah.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's amazing. It's gorgeous.

[David Cross]

And great for kids, too.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Fantastic.

[David Cross]

They have that whole area that's like a playground up there.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It's beautiful.

[David Cross]

I love. Yeah, I love. I love the stadium. It's great. What was I gonna say, though? Baseball, Red Sox. Oh, my daughter decided to mess with me last night. We were in this sports bar up. We were upstate, just her and I, and there's this place that we, you know, there's very little there, but went in and decided to tell everybody that I was a Yankees fan. And I was like, absolutely not. And she's like, my daddy is a Yankees fan. Daddy is a Yankees fan. I was like, no, I'm not. That is not. I've got a Braves hat on for Daddy. Is he. No, I'm not. Listen, you know, all right.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

It gets very dramatic. I get it. My husband would be like, freaking out if Jack said that. I get it.

[David Cross]

Oh, they. When I was doing the increasingly poor decisions of Todd Margaret, there was one. There was a scene. I don't. It was in the. It was in the character's apartment or something. In. In. In. It was like flashback where he lived in Portland and everybody knew my allegiances and they had dressed a bunch of Yankee stuff in the thing. And I came on and I did not have the sense of humor about it. Like, I was like, you know, start production meeting or whatever. I was like, all right, list. I'm thinking we start. Hey, hey, get that out of here. Really angry. Get the out of here. Michael. Michael. Yeah, I get it. Haha. No, get all that Yankee out of here.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And then people are always like, yeah, okay.

[David Cross]

But it's like, it's kind of, you know, you don't know what you're stepping into. You know, you'll be in the UK and you're like, boy, Arsenal didn't or something. Or Liverpool. And people like, it's not funny.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

No, that is the one place where my husband's like, they get it. They get it.

[David Cross]

Okay, so Annaleigh Ashford in Alika Jasphase in Leak of Jasface. Where. Do you have anything to plug?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Oh, yeah, Besides your butthole? Hey, O. And my sweet little sweet breasts. Say my sweet little milky tits. I just. We just aired the final episode of Happy Face on Paramount plus you can watch to show that I just finished airing on Paramount plus. It's about. It's about the daughter of the Happy Face murder who was a serial killer in the 90s.

[David Cross]

A real person?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Yeah, a real person. Dennis Quaid plays the Happy Face killer and I play his daughter Melissa.

[David Cross]

Did he, like, carve Happy Faces or.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

He would write letters to various news stations throughout the country, like admitting to his murders, and he would sign with a happy face. Anyways, she came out as his daughter. And now as an advocate for people who've been like, touched by the trauma of crime. And it's like, touched by the trauma of crime. It's a great classic song. So anyways, yeah, you can watch the full season now.

[David Cross]

Wait, what's it called again?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Happy Face.

[David Cross]

Happy Face on Paramount plus on Paramount.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Watch it. I play Melissa.

[David Cross]

Yeah, See Analika Jasface as Lisa. Melissa, which has the word Lisa in it in Happy Face on Paramount plus the daughter of a craze serial killer. That is, if you're not careful, you just might learn Something.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You got it. What a great plug that was perfect.

[David Cross]

People who've been touched by crime. All right, here, I. So I end every episode with a question from my daughter.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Okay. I love that.

[David Cross]

And this is. She actually said this today. So this is for you.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Okay.

[David Cross]

And you can answer it any way you see fit.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Great.

[David Cross]

This is my. Today's question from Marlo. Why does every girl want the opposite of the hair they have?

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Marlo, what a great question. I had this whole thought process actually, on the way here today, because I'm thinking about maybe cutting my hair, like, short short. I think it's because your hair grows, so it's always changing. Like, every day, your hair is changing. And also, your hair never, ever looks as good as it does when you leave from getting it cut. So you're always trying to get it back to that state. So I think those are two reasons. And also it's because it's something you can change about the way that you look. There's nothing else about you that you can really change the way that you look.

[David Cross]

Well, that's not true. I have her scheduled for breast augmentation surgery.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

You've put it in the books. You're like, when she turns 18, she will go to Dr. Living on the Upper east side, and she will get the augmentation that I have designed. Yeah.

[David Cross]

Put money away. She. It was a college fund. We moved it. We moved the funds.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Especially during the. When the terror stuff happened. Oh, my God, the trade wars.

[David Cross]

You were just like, contact lenses. Tattoo on the. Underneath, the upper part of the lip.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

My little sister got that. So she's like, oh, it's the one thing I regret. Poor Carolyn. Nobody sees it, but what does it say? It says, like, bang with an exclamation point. It should just. She's gonna listen to this, too. Did you tell people? I know she's so smart and so cool, and that one, I. You know, nobody sees it, but, yeah, I would say going back to your hair, it is. It's like, something you can change. Like, dudes, you can change your hair and your facial hair. Like, you know, you can't change anything else on you. By, like, a tattoo, like, takes a long time. And I mean, a tattoo, you can, but you can't change it back. Your hair, it grows back. You can change it back. You dye it a crazy color. You can dye it back. You can shave it, you can cut it.

[David Cross]

But I think the key word. I don't want to editorialize in this. You know, it's not my place I try not to do that, but I think the key word is opposite. What does every girl want? The opposite.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

This is a bet. This is a different kind of, like, question than what I was initially thinking. If it's more about the opposite of it, it's like, what is it about you that you don't like or don't love or want to change? I would say I don't always think. Marlo, what is it about? Do you want opposite hair than your hair, or do you think girls just want the opposite of their hair? I don't know if I want the opposite. Just sometimes I want something different. So that's a bigger question.

[David Cross]

All right, well, I'll get you on the phone with her.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

And yeah, also smarty pants. What a smarty pants. She's a smart.

[David Cross]

She was brushing her hair this morning, and she. And she was like, oh, it's getting kind of long. And we're like, yeah, it is getting kind of long because she had to.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

Cut, you know, not too long, three months ago, probably.

[David Cross]

Yeah, yeah. And then. And then she said, why does every girl want the opposite of the hair they have? That's a good podcast question.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

That's really sweet.

[David Cross]

Yep. So she gets quarter. She gets a quarter for every podcast question. She gets quarter because she's earned it. And she gets a piece. She has a little piece of the show. So I pay her for that. I don't normally pay her to do, like, chores or anything like that, you know, some extra things outside of that. But I. I feel like if I'm. She's contributing to this thing that. But, you know, then she should. I make over. I want to say, $260 an episode.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

She gets a writing credit.

[David Cross]

Absolutely not. Come on, that's bullshit. All right.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

This was a treat. I have to pee my pants.

[David Cross]

Yeah. Sense is Working Overtime is a Headgum Podcast created and hosted by me, David Cross. The show is edited by Katie Skelton and engineered by Nicole Lyons with supervising producer Emma Foley. Thanks to Demi Druchin for our show art and Mark Rivers for our theme song. For more podcasts by headgum, visit headgum.com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and maybe we'll read it on a future episode. I'm not gonna do that. Thanks for listening. That was a Headgum Podcast.

[Annaleigh Ashford]

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