← The Bobby Bones Show
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- [00:08]
Bobby Bones
Welcome to episode two of the official Yellowstone podcast. I'm Bobby Bones. We're gonna talk with Teeter, who's a real life person. The actor that plays Teeter is Jen Landon. So here's some Teeter for you. And Teeter was brought in a little later in the series. And Teeter was quite aggressive because she had a big, thick accent. Either you thought, wow, she's funny, or it's too much. I think she did a great job of playing this character. And so here's Teeter. Teeter introduced to Rip and Lloyd on season three, episode two. Here you go.
- [00:39]
Jen Landon
What's your name? T. What's that, Turk?
- [00:48]
Bobby Bones
You know what I'm saying? She said Peter. Your name Peter?
- [00:51]
Jen Landon
Do I look like my name is Peter? You skunk hard.
- [00:57]
Bobby Bones
That's funny. That's funny. Titer was funny, Titor. And I don't want to spoil anything, but I feel like at this point you've probably seen through season three, if I'm just guessing. And so there was a romance with Teeter. And here is a clip. It's Teeter fixing a fence with Colby before they ever became a couple. And this is Colby struggling to understand Teeter.
- [01:19]
Jen Landon
You ever wonder why there's lizards in the mounds? But nice, nice.
- [01:24]
Bobby Bones
Oh, but I do wonder what the fuck you just said, but I always wonder that. So. So Teeter's coming up in just a second. I was asked the other day, like, when did I know Yellowstone was a massive show? And sometimes I watch shows that aren't even massive, but this show, to me, I went to Montana. I was doing my series called Breaking Bobby Bones. And part of it was we had to spend, I think, three days in Montana. And we were not actually moving the sheep. We were the sheep herder. He was protecting the sheep, but we were there to help protect the sheep from bears and wolves. And on the show, that's what it was. Because at night, if there are any stragglers, if any part of the sheep are vulnerable, the wolves or the bears will eat the sheep. And so we're out there and I got a rifle and I'm up all night. And I remember in the day we would drive back into town and I just started watching Yellowstone as, like a devout Yellowstone watcher. And I would just ask everybody, hey, how true is Yellowstone? And you could tell it started to be this big show because as nice as they were, they were kind of getting annoyed with every single person coming from out of town. They would come in town and ask about it. That's how you Knew how big Yellowstone was getting because everybody that lived in Montana was being asked about it by everybody that didn't live in Montana. But it was pretty cool to see the show do that. And most of them were like, yeah, it's pretty accurate. But some of the show they shot in Utah, they shot in Texas. They shot all over the place. Just the ranches, you know, supposedly in Montana we have Teeter, who, by the way, not a real name, Jen Landon. Jen was very generous. We talked about Yellowstone, but also about her acting career, a whole lot more. Here she is. This is Teeter, AKA Jen Landon. When did Yellowstone start to exist for you professionally, where someone said, there's this role. When did that happen and how long until you actually were cast?
- [03:33]
Jen Landon
I started working professionally while I was still in college. I booked my first audition, which was a very good thing and a horrible thing to happen to you. So that was in 2005. Yellowstone was 2019. So I auditioned for the part John Papsidera was casting. I love John Papsadero. He's brought me in three times and I booked two of those times. Not because I'm that good, but because he's that good of a casting director. He just kind of gets a sense of an essence. And even though I'm really different from Teeter, I think that he's like, oh, this she. She should play angry women. Tired angry women. So I read for it. I thought I bombed the audition. It was one of like those stereotypical stories where you leave the audition and you're like, okay, I'm quitting. I'm hanging up my hat. And we got really positive feedback from it and that I was pinned. They wanted to know about my horse experience. I think I was sitting on the top of the stack. And then a few months later we get a call that that role has gone away. Like, not away from me. That role has just ceased to exist. And I think it was about nine months later. I mean, I wasn't even thinking about the show anymore because the part was gone as far as I knew and my team knew. And I got a call from my team telling me that I booked Peter. And we were all like laughing because we just couldn't figure out how this came about. Taylor called me that day because he's awesome and he's so hands on to talk to me about it and hooked me up with his reigning horse trainer, which is a certain kind. It's a certain kind of horse event. Reigning is its own cool thing. And I wrote out in California with this Guy, Tom Ferran, who is awesome. And I think it was probably a month, maybe a month later that I headed out to Utah, where we were still shooting the bulk of the show until we moved it to Montana entirely.
- [05:51]
Bobby Bones
What's the dynamic? Because I was the new kid in school a bunch. We moved around a lot as a kid. I know what it's like to hop in and you hope everybody's nice, but you don't really know what's the dynamic, being the new kid on a successful show.
- [06:01]
Jen Landon
I mean, I'm a terrified person. I have tremendous anxiety that is actually not helpful. So going into any show, for me, I'm mostly just wrestling with my own fight or flight. Regardless of anything else. I was living in Los Angeles, so, like, Yellowstone had popped, but, like, it hadn't quite popped there. But Taylor Sheridan had certainly popped for me with his movies, so there was an extra set of nerves with that. I had worked for Jason Reitman probably a year before, and I had a pretty. A similar set of nerves going into that because these were, like, artists that I had tremendous respect for. I have found that I've been really lucky. I've never walked onto a mean set. Our show is unique, though, because there's such presence of actual cowboys, not just with the Wranglers, but with a lot of the actors in the show. And cowboys live really close to the earth. They don't seem to have the customary neuroticism that actors have. So the whole group just had this sort of earthy vibe that felt very unique and it was awesome. They are like a family.
- [07:23]
Bobby Bones
I grew up in Arkansas and your character's from Arkansas.
- [07:26]
Jen Landon
I'm sorry, not that you're from Arkansas, but Teeter's from Arkansas.
- [07:31]
Bobby Bones
So where did you get the character? Like, what. What was Teeter based off of?
- [07:39]
Jen Landon
So I always felt like it was entirely on the page. Apparently, that's not true. Based on, like, the interpretations that came into the audition room. The role, the dialogue was written phonetically. Not in, like, proper. Proper phonetics, but it looked a bit like gibberish. So that was there for me. It was laid out how she, like, should sound. Teeter's place of origin was sort of vague. She was a composite, I believe, of two people that Taylor knew. And she was maybe originally from Texas. But the way that I kind of hooked into it the best I could, and I felt like it certainly grounded over the seasons. I feel. I feel like in the last season, it was the closest I got to feeling like I landed her where I would want her. I based her a bit on my great grandma, who is from Utah, but speaks like nobody else in Utah. She is from a. She's, like, lived underground in, like, a ground mud house until she was 14. And so I always figured that teeter just spoke the way her family spoke. Taylor and I had talked about how she's probably raised on a sheep farm with a bunch of older brothers. I feel like her family had their own dialect that had been passed down for generations, that if you ever saw, like, a scene with all of them at a dinner table, no audience would be able to understand any of them, but they'd all understand each other perfectly. You know, almost like there was a speech impediment built in to their regional dialect.
- [09:28]
Bobby Bones
I had to go to a lot of speech pathology to be able to do any sort of national anything. So when I say. I mean, that's how there was a lot of teetering, like where I grew up in a small town in Arkansas. And so when I said, you know. Really? Oh, yeah, yeah. Hard. I mean, very thick. The eyes. Eyes, eyes. Right. That's the first thing that I had to lose to be able to, you know, because I tour and our show's a national show. And so the eyes and the ings were the most difficult parts. From someone who grew up in Arkansas and was a bit of a hillbilly. It was things. You don't go fishing. When you're talking and you're speaking properly, you're fishing. Very difficult for me to pick up. And then again, it's not like it's nighttime. That's what I would say. Until I would go to a speech pathologist, then it was nighttime. But there's a lot of teeter that I would go, like, you know, as much as people laugh, that's very much central Arkansas. As to where I was from, you.
- [10:18]
Jen Landon
Know, this probably, I'm sure, like, as an actor, you don't get paid very much for most of your career. Like, you're. I'm mostly a lunchbox actor, recurring guest star. You. You get paid okay, but you have to book a lot, right? So it wasn't until pretty late in shooting that I was like, okay, I can. Let me take a big chunk of money and hire a dialect coach. Which was a big deal for me to be able to, like, afford to do that and carve the time to do that. So I did work, really, going into the last season, more specifically on, like, kind of really trying to ground. Ground that accent for me. And it's really fun. I'm A nerd. So I love anything, you know, I like a handout.
- [11:15]
Bobby Bones
I was watching a show last night, random show, and it was, it was like the Night Manager or something. And I do this thing and I wonder if, like really successful actors do. This is why I'm asking you. If I see somebody and I know I've seen them in something else, I'll like Google and like go IMDb and like, find all the shows they've done until I can place what I know them from. As a successful actor, do you do the same thing?
- [11:37]
Jen Landon
Ooh, you mean like when I see somebody and like I recognize them, do I go on a deep dive?
- [11:42]
Bobby Bones
Well, it's like I saw this guy and he was playing like a CIA agent, but I knew I'd seen him from a different show, but I just couldn't place the show. So finally I realized it was called Manhunt on Apple. But I wonder if like you see an actor as well and go, I know them from something. Let me see if I can place what. Maybe it's Family Ties from the eighties or something.
- [12:00]
Jen Landon
Yeah, I totally do that. I feel like most of the people I know who are like actors or writers, there's like the phone and the computer is nearby to do exactly that. I do that all the time. I actually do that as well with like my TaskRabbit hires because in Los Angeles I feel like 75% of them are actors. And like, I just had an experience the other day. I'm like, hey, that's your last name. I'm like, I feel like I know you. Turns out I did. But yeah, I totally do that. Are you talking about the Night Agent?
- [12:38]
Bobby Bones
It's a show. And the thing is, and it's from 2016, and I think it's called the Night Manager because he managed a hotel. My wife was the one that we were on it. But I just kept looking at this dude and going, I know him. And then I wonder too, if you're watching a show because again, you have done so much at such a high level. Like, it's hard for me to watch stand up comedy and just enjoy it because I do it a bit and I'm. I'm breaking down how I personally am inferior to the greats. Can you watch a show without comparing or going, wow, I'm so inside. I'm just watching all their talents.
- [13:09]
Jen Landon
Really Great question. So it's mostly not as fun as it is for, you know, the viewer, like the average viewer. But there are shows that are just so good. And I Get so wrapped up in them that I can do that. I just rewatched Severance season one, the best. I rewatched it twice this week and I could watch it a third time. I'm absolutely obsessed with that show. I just realized poor Bobby had to interview the cast of 100 people from Yellowstone. No, I bet you are like, I'm over it.
- [14:07]
Bobby Bones
Not true. I have, actually. If I. Let's just be completely honest here. So I watched all of it, right? And I was. I was a Yellowstone fan. And when it. Although I got into it about season two, because most shows now are recommended to me by friends. Like, that's marketing now, right? It's all word of mouth. So Yellowstone popped in my little world about season two, so I started to watch it all. I've only, like, asked to talk to, like, three people, and you're one of them. So inaccurate that I've talked to 100 Yellowstone people.
- [14:40]
Jen Landon
What? Bobbi, this means so much. I'm 23 on the call sheet and I'm really flattered. I.
- [14:49]
Bobby Bones
Before we get together, I have so many questions, though, about your career, if you don't mind indulging me. And for example, when you talk about theater and television. Yeah, my version of that would be a theater if I'm telling jokes versus, like, doing a podcast. But to project is so different. Like, to communicate or show an emotion, the same exact emotion has to be projected so different based on where you are. Was that an adjustment for you? And how did you learn to go back and forth so easily?
- [15:24]
Jen Landon
I. I didn't learn it easily. And I. I think it's something I still struggle with. The. The vocal projection, and I'm sure you would agree is like, the easiest part, the hardest part is that sort of conveying. Not that you're ever like, conveying emotion, right? You're just having it. But like, with theater, you are telling this entire experience with your body, you know, usually somewhat in profile. So I feel like kind of honing, like, gearing that more towards camera is like, it's a constant reminder. And I do sometimes notice that I tend to play better in a medium shot. And I think the director on the day is like, no, no, no, we're not going to get that close to her. But it is a sort of trusting that you're just gonna have the thoughts and the experience and the camera, the camera's gonna grab it. And that's when it's at its best.
- [16:39]
Bobby Bones
When I was just touring, and again, the micro expressions of my face, I didn't worry about from the stage because who's gonna see them from like the third row back? But then when we shot it as a special, I noticed that I really didn't put a lot of effort into the micro. So then I would have to go, oh, I need to really like lift my eyebrows. Like, do it. Human emotions that I wouldn't normally do if I were just in a stage because the people aren't that close.
- [17:04]
Jen Landon
Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, I mean, I kind of want to see that because I feel like my, like, usually the comedy that I like very much, a lot of them have no expression at all to the point of like psychopathy. And it's. Yeah, I know there's a lot of psychopaths in our industry. Any performer. Yeah, it is a different. It is a different thing. And then, you know, after my first job in TV and film, coming from theater, was soap opera, which, you know, that actually kind of plays the same on soap. It's about as big as how you're doing it on stage and then maybe then some. So that was like a transition point. And I did that for three years straight. So my first job, you know, for people who don't know a soap opera is shot in some ways, like a sitcom, you've got three cameras, right. And you're doing it in one take. If you have to do another take, that means you were so bad. And they're shooting the edit as they go, which is really wild. So it is very much like live performance. So even. Even now it's like, maybe not now, but just this reminder or of. Okay, we're in the wide here. What story am I telling in the wide? Can I tell a slightly different story in the medium? And then in the close up, what am I doing with that? You know, your body is pointless at that point, right? Except to serve what's in your face.
- [18:56]
Bobby Bones
Which is why I'm so curious about your perspective on a lot of this with your career. Because you've done what would seemingly to someone be the same. You're an act, you're acting, but you're acting in all these different. A stage. And like you said, shooting a soap opera and then shooting a show with no studio. Maybe it's not multi camera. Like, it's all different. Like to. To you. It. It almost couldn't be more different. Even when it comes to like memorization.
- [19:18]
Jen Landon
How.
- [19:19]
Bobby Bones
How are you with memorizing lines? Because I'm sure with a soap opera you had to shoot a lot and quick, right?
- [19:24]
Jen Landon
Yeah, we shot about 80 pages a day.
- [19:27]
Bobby Bones
Oh, my gosh.
- [19:28]
Jen Landon
Yeah. Which is insane. Like, when I think back on it, I don't know how we did it. And then my character was written really heavily for. And there were stretches. You know, you're shooting, like, 49 weeks a year, and you're averaging maybe 35 pages a day. And there were a couple weeks where there was one day that I shot 60 pages, and I was. That was just my page load. And I had, like, really made it in soaps because I got a doppelganger that's like. That's like a sign, like, you've really landed. So I'm basically doing whole scenes with myself, and that's just a muscle that develops. I don't have that muscle now. I would say that I'm probably quick at learning lines, but my process is really slow, and I. And I totally have ocd. So if you give me one day or you give me a month with a scene, I'm going to fill up that time, like, in a way that doesn't benefit the work at all. It's like a tick. And I've really. I use an app called Rehearsal Pro. It's not the fanciest app, even though it has the word pro in it. And I record my lines as flat as I can, and I read the entire scene. My lines, any other character's lines. Stage direction. That's take one. Take two is everyone else's lines but mine. And I kind of live in take one for a while to learn them, and then I run it in take two, and that way I can walk. I can pretend to clean the house. I'm bad at cleaning. You also, you know, whatever it is.
- [21:30]
Bobby Bones
Well, you. You've. You've been in just those three areas we mentioned a lot of people, and I have friends that. That are Broadway performers, and they. You know, that's their. Their specialty. And they don't really try to do television or they don't try to do. Because they've been labeled as a Broadway artist, creator, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. For you to do all. Is that bravery? Is that. What is that?
- [21:59]
Jen Landon
I mean, I want to. I want to say I've never done Broadway. When I say theater.
- [22:05]
Bobby Bones
Yeah, Theater. Still theater. Yeah.
- [22:07]
Jen Landon
You know, the older I. Somebody said to me the other day, he's about to go. He's a. You. He's. You know, this guy, he's done tons of TV and film and started out in theater, and he's going back to go do a really awesome Broadway play, and he's like, don't you want to go do a play? And I was like, I know I should want to, but there's like that kind of muscle in me has gone a little soft. And I think the part of it that has gone the most soft is my desire to leave the house after the sun has gone down. Like I, I get introverted at night, you know, like I, I want to be home with some weird show and like maybe an alcoholic beverage or not, depending on where I'm at in my life. With that substance, it just seems hard to do an 8 o'clock show.
- [22:59]
Bobby Bones
I have three final questions for you. It's something you'd mentioned earlier that I wanted to go back into it, but you mentioned your casting director who had pushing a couple different things. A long time ago I did a pilot for ABC and it was like a mid one of the producers but wasn't the highest producer. And I made the pilot, we shot the pilot did not get picked up. It was a daytime talk show. It was me and Deion Sanders and we were very pumped about it. It didn't fail, but they decided not to put the money in it. That showbiz baby, right? But that same producer then elevated through the years and was then producing her own things. And I got, I get randomly get a call going, hey, we want you to go to South America to host the show. And it was that same producer who had put me on a pilot back when they weren't the main producer. So when you said that, it made me think, are there people that you've come up with, like that casting director that knew you early and as they have also climbed in their career will go. You know what's perfect for this? My girl Jen, who I've known for 10 years.
- [24:00]
Jen Landon
You know. Yes. I think it's not happened in such a clear and obvious way like it did for you where it was like, okay, here's one job and it goes into another. But so so much of like being on the audition circuit is just sort of, you can win the room. It doesn't mean you're going to get the job because it's. You can't control that it, you know. But you can win the room and it's certainly opened. You know, a lot of my auditions are from casting directors reaching out to bring me in because they think I have a shot at that based on my previous work in those rooms.
- [24:46]
Bobby Bones
Your life with horses leading up to the show was obviously vital to being able just to hop in with. Was everyone super cool with Horses, whenever they got put on the show, or did you have to kind of work with them a little, too?
- [25:01]
Jen Landon
You mean with the other actors?
- [25:03]
Bobby Bones
Yeah. Like, is everybody comfortable or is there a different level?
- [25:06]
Jen Landon
I was by far the worst, and I joined late. You know, a lot of these people started training going into season one. I started going into season three, and I. My character starts to two episodes in. So I missed out on this, like, cowboy camp thing that we have where you kind of. You know, it's like cowboy boot camp for a week. I was so bad, and I didn't know that I. I didn't know how bad I was until I got good enough to know how bad I was. But I became obsessed with it, and I worked my tail off. It's one of the things I'm most proud about in my life is how I. How I worked to get not just better at writing, but, you know, and any other. Most other TV shows, like, they barely let you do a stunt, even if it's like tripping and fall. Like, one time I had to get a stunt double for a show because I had to trip and fall into a table. And I'm like, I'm. I can do it, guys. You know, and with this, we're basically shooting a dock. I mean, anything that you see us doing, with the exception of a few pieces, we're actually doing it. When we're branding cattle, we're branding cattle, which means we're roping them and we're flanking them, which is when you get the cows on the ground and, you know, it gets hairy. But it's also so much freaking fun. Fun.
- [26:42]
Bobby Bones
My assumption was you were with horses your whole life. I just assumed by watching you that you had been a horse rider forever.
- [26:50]
Jen Landon
If you go back and watch my first scene, which you shouldn't, but if you did, you would be like, oh, this. This girl can't ride a stick horse. And. And the stunt. Our stunt wrangler would tell you as much.
- [27:07]
Bobby Bones
Okay, last question. What was the most fulfilling part of being a part of this show? Like, personally?
- [27:17]
Jen Landon
That's a. Okay, that's a good one, man. There were. So. There are so. There are quite a few things I would say. One of them is definitely being with these cowboys, being around these horses, being in Montana. It all sort of gets lumped into this sort of really soulful, earthy experience that you. You don't really get. I've not had that anywhere else except, you know, maybe on my road trips. That was a part of it. And another part of it Is, you know, being an actor again, a lunchbox actor who moves around a lot and I like that. But you know, you're kind of on your own on the road, just sort of coming in and out of places. And especially with Taylor at the head, he's like such a personal guy. It was, it gave me a sense of family in a really, really different way. And I feel like all of those guys in that bunk house with me were like my brothers. And I think if I talk to you 40 years from now, if I'm still alive, I would have the same feeling and I would still have relationships with them.
- [28:40]
Bobby Bones
Well, thank you so much for the time and like going like deep, deep, deep diving some of this stuff. So I really appreciate it. I'm big fan and love John the show and we, yeah, we really appreciate it. You guys can follow Jen at the Gin Landon and we'll look forward to seeing you in another show going, that's freaking teeter. Like I do all the other shows when I find, see, I'm like, oh, that's teeter. Look. And then we'll look you up and it'll be Jen Landon. That'll be awesome. Thank you, Jen.
- [29:05]
Jen Landon
It'll be great. Thanks, Bobby.
- [29:13]
Bobby Bones
The Yellowstone official podcast, hosted by me, Bobby Bones and brought to you by iheartmedia Podcast and MTV Entertainment Studios. Big shout out to executive producers Jason Reed, Lindsey Hoffman, Carl Cadle and Kevin O'Connell. Also our senior manager of podcast marketing, Ali Kanner Graber for keeping the word out. And of course a big thanks to Will Pearson, president of iheartmedia Podcast for him supporting this show. We've also got special thanks going out to Whitney Baxter, Xavier, Afri, Barbara Pareda, Emily Curry and Joe Flattery. You guys make this happen. This podcast is produced in association with 101 Studios over there, Executive producer Scott Stone and director of podcast development and production Danielle Waxman. We also got to give a big nod to Michelle Newman, David Glasser and David Hutkin for their support. Thank you guys for tuning in. See you next week.
- [30:13]
Unknown
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