Fran Drescher

Summary

Podcast Summary: Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson

Episode: Fran Drescher
Release Date: February 18, 2026
Guests: Fran Drescher, Mary Steenburgen (occasional participant)

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Overview

In this rich, candid episode, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sit down with Fran Drescher, celebrated for her work on The Nanny, her activism, and her recent high-profile role as president of SAG-AFTRA. The conversation ranges from Fran’s career resurgence with the film Marty Supreme and her battles—both personal and professional—to her views on leadership, health, trauma, and the changing landscape of America. There’s plenty of laughter, real talk about resilience, and a running subplot involving dogs in the recording studio.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Fran’s Career Resurgence and Marty Supreme

• How Fran got the role:
  Fran shares how a previous opportunity with director Josh Safdie fell apart due to strike schedules, but the connection led him to offer her the role of Timmy's mom in Marty Supreme.
  • “The strike outlasted the baseball season…then he offered me this part to play Timmy’s mom.” (07:12)
• The experience of being back in a buzzy film:
  Ted and Mary praise Fran’s performance, and Fran reflects on the excitement of being part of a critically acclaimed, high-profile project after years of working in less visible roles.
  • “It’s really lovely. Most people do [like the film]. I haven’t really heard otherwise.” (08:35)

Shifting from Sitcoms to New Ventures

• Reflections on sitcom life:
  Fran doesn’t see herself returning to sitcoms, noting the long hours, lack of sunlight, and limited creative stimulation when not in control of the project.
  • “I don’t see myself doing another sitcom…Honestly, just playing the mom in it, it just wasn’t enough for me.” (09:35, 10:51)

The Creation of The Nanny and Finding Your Own Voice

• From character actress to lead:
  Fran recounts her pivotal meeting with CBS president Jeff Sagansky, her tenacity, and how a quirky real-life interaction with Twiggy’s daughter inspired the concept for The Nanny.
  • “You gotta hear me pitch with Peter.” (12:22)
  • “What do you think about a spin on The Sound of Music? Only instead of Julie Andrews, I come to the door...” (23:44)
• On manifesting success:
  Fran describes her mindset: If she couldn’t break out as a star, she was prepared to leave show business and try something else entirely.
  • “If I can’t be on the inside in a big way, I’m getting out.” (13:59)
• Collaborating with then-husband Peter Marc Jacobson:
  Fran details their creative partnership and how she guided him to focus on writing/producing.
  • “You’re much more empowered talking about writing and producing than acting…it’s not healthy for you.” (21:36)

Leading SAG-AFTRA Through Crisis

• Women in leadership and attacks from the opposition:
  Fran discusses facing gendered criticism during the actors’ strike and why she refused to respond with “no comment.”
  • “I’ll be God damned if I’m gonna say no comment. I say no to no comment.” (00:49, 27:00)
  • “I realized…there’s even a bigger story here than me leading this union strike, because I have to show women and girls what women leadership could look like.” (28:57)
• Maintaining unity in turbulent times:
  Fran reveals her strategy to keep 160,000 union members unified during intense negotiations, underscoring the importance of strong, credible leadership.
  • “The most important thing during that whole period was that I keep my 160,000 members of one mind and body.” (30:34)
• Behind-the-scenes support:
  She attributes her survival to her private circle of trusted confidants, as well as union staff.
  • “I had my own private group of people that were in on everything that I was going through and helped me through it.” (31:52)
• On stepping down and fears of blacklisting:
  Fran shares concerns about backlash from her union activity affecting her acting career, voicing both anxiety and gratitude.
  • “I thought I was gonna be blacklisted after that, quite frankly. But thank God for this movie Marty Supreme, because it put me right back in the center.” (33:46)

Trauma, Healing, and Advocacy

• Connection between trauma and illness:
  Fran candidly recounts her rape and subsequent cancer diagnosis, drawing connections between unprocessed trauma and physical health.
  • “I didn’t really completely unpack what I was feeling. I just sort of went back to my life and let these residual neuroses kind of begin to rule me.” (47:48)
  • “Because I really didn’t deal with the rape in a very healthy way, it created a cancer within me—and poetically, in my reproductive, you know, my female parts.” (53:30)
• Turning pain into activism:
  Inspired by medical misdiagnoses and her own early detection, Fran started the nonprofit Cancer Schmancer to educate and empower patients.
  • “I’m turning patients into medical consumers and empowering them to know how to deal with their doctors.” (52:10)
• Lean into pain:
  Fran shares her evolved philosophy:
  • “Strength is to lean into your pain, to allow yourself to feel your pain… I’m really good at doing that now.” (53:55)

Resilience, Politics, and Maintaining Hope

• On America’s direction:
  Fran muses about historical cycles of empires, fascism, and what it would take for her to leave the country. Her systems analyst upbringing attunes her to cultural breakdowns and dealbreakers.
  • “If this nation turns into something that I don’t recognize, then it’s not my nation anymore. I don’t want to stay too long at the fair.” (78:26)
• Compassion and systemic change:
  She advocates for kindness, diversity, and an America that defines itself by progress and compassion rather than money and division.
  • “Make kindness and compassion your compass and let’s go there. Cause that’s where we should be heading.” (79:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On refusing to “play nice” under attack as a female leader:
  “I’ll be God damned if I’m gonna say no comment. I say no to no comment.”
  — Fran Drescher (00:49, 27:00)

• On healing from trauma:
  “Strength is to lean into your pain, to allow yourself to feel your pain… I’m really good at doing that now.”
  — Fran Drescher (53:55)

• On creating The Nanny:
  “What do you think about a spin on The Sound of Music? Only instead of Julie Andrews, I come to the door…”
  — Fran Drescher (23:44)

• Crediting her mother’s faith in her:
  “My mom said, then you don’t need to learn typing because you’re going to have a secretary.”
  — Fran Drescher (19:35)

• On activism and compassion:
  “Make kindness and compassion your compass and let’s go there. Cause that’s where we should be heading. And we’re a work in progress.”
  — Fran Drescher (79:28)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:49: Fran’s refusal to play the “no comment” game during the SAG-AFTRA strike
• 07:12: The story of getting cast in Marty Supreme
• 23:44: Inspiration and creation of The Nanny
• 27:00: On women in leadership, public attacks during the strike
• 30:34: The burden of keeping 160,000 union members unified
• 47:48–53:55: Fran on personal trauma, cancer, and the mind-body connection
• 52:10: Founding of Cancer Schmancer
• 78:26: Fran’s dealbreakers and America’s future
• 79:28: Her call for an America led by compassion and progress

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The Episode’s Central Tone

Fran is earnest, passionate, and direct, mixing humor with vulnerability and incisive social analysis. Ted and Woody are curious, supportive, and lightly self-deprecating; Mary Steenburgen adds warmth and insight. The episode organically moves between laughter and heavy subjects, always grounded in honesty.

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Additional Highlights

• On being a single woman in Hollywood:
  Fran reflects on how married women sometimes see single women as a threat, and shares her code of ethics around not going after “sisters’” partners.
• On supporting and empowering women:
  The conversation turns to female solidarity and the importance of supporting one another, especially in a male-dominated industry.
• Industry insight:
  Fran delves into the intricacies of TV/film writing credits, women’s voices behind-the-scenes, and the evolution of her roles in production.
• The ever-present company of dogs:
  Moments of hilarity involving Fran’s dog Angel and Ted’s Blue, bringing warmth and humanity to the recording.

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What’s Next for Fran

• Acting, writing, creating:
  Fran is working on new scripts, considering a part in Germany, and contemplating another book to chronicle the dramatic recent years of her life.
• Continued activism:
  Her work with Cancer Schmancer and interest in public health education remain strong priorities.

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For listeners (or non-listeners), this episode offers an unvarnished look at Fran Drescher’s resilience, creative spirit, and commitment to making meaning from pain. Her journey—through trauma, fame, activism, and leadership—comes alive with wit, wisdom, and a relentless push for a more compassionate world.

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

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[Woody Harrelson]

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[Ted Danson]

The Food and Drug Administration.

[Woody Harrelson]

These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

[Fran Drescher]

The union advised me to say no comment. And I said, I'll be God damned if I'm going to say no comment. I say no to no comment.

[Woody Harrelson]

Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. I am so happy for the opportunity to talk to Fran Drescher. You know her from the nanny and this is Spinal Tap. But her life is much more than acting. She lives to serve others. She's a cancer survivor and advocate, past US Diplomat. She's led two successful strikes as a past president of sag, AFTRA, and so much more.

[Ted Danson]

You can currently watch Fran on the.

[Woody Harrelson]

Big screen in Marty supreme, which I.

[Ted Danson]

Highly recommend you do.

[Woody Harrelson]

It's a wonderful film and Fran's great. Let's meet her. Fran Drescher.

[Ted Danson]

Can people tell that we have a dog right here? Tell me now that I'm simmering so.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I can't take that many treats for her.

[Ted Danson]

What is her name again?

[Fran Drescher]

Angel.

[Ted Danson]

Angel.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Hi, Angel.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Angel. Mama loves Angel. You have to lie down and relax.

[Ted Danson]

We have a blue. Oh, he was bred to beat blue. We thought we tried Chauncey for a while, but then when you go in a dog park and go, Chauncey, you and the dog become instantly embarrassed.

[Fran Drescher]

Now, was that because of Chauncey Gardner?

[Ted Danson]

Yes, because he was a rescue, but kind of a high class rescue. He was bred to be a show dog, a mini Aussie, and then just kept growing into monster Aussie size. And so they give Aussie Australian Shepherd.

[Fran Drescher]

Oh, Australian shepherd.

[Ted Danson]

And then was given away to someone else who loved dogs and showed dogs. And then she passed away and da, da, da, da. So when we we got him, he had seen very little trees, greenery, all of that stuff.

[Fran Drescher]

How tragic.

[Woody Harrelson]

I know.

[Ted Danson]

And he came to our house and he saw A squirrel. His first squirrel, I'm sure. And he sat down and watched it on the tree without moving.

[Fran Drescher]

Wow.

[Ted Danson]

For like half hour. So we thought, ah, Chauncey Gardner.

[Fran Drescher]

She'd never been at the beach until I rescued her. And then she became. At first she was afraid of the waves and then she became a beach dog.

[Ted Danson]

It's a great place for dogs to run. And we had a puppy once that got to be really strong, running on the beach.

[Fran Drescher]

But no more. Not since the Palisades fires. We don't live there anymore.

[Woody Harrelson]

Thanks for coming in.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Thank you for inviting me.

[Woody Harrelson]

Can we start?

[Ted Danson]

Well, first off, I loved acting with you.

[Fran Drescher]

Oh, yes.

[Woody Harrelson]

And the mayor.

[Ted Danson]

That was.

[Fran Drescher]

You have to know that there isn't that often that you get an opportunity to do a guest on someone else's, particularly a sitcom. And it's that fun and interesting.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, yeah, it was. It was really fun. I'm sorry that didn't go on that show. I really enjoyed it. So that was fun. But what I really want to start off with was how much Mary and I loved your performance.

[Fran Drescher]

Oh, and Marty Supreme.

[Ted Danson]

Marty Supreme. We watched it a couple nights ago and this sounds like. It always sounds bad if somebody says, we wanted to see more of you, like there's something wrong with the film. They didn't do it right. But we just literally wanted to see.

[Fran Drescher]

The director hears that a lot and a lot of the reviews said that too. And he, not he. I mean, did you shoot more?

[Ted Danson]

Was there more of you?

[Fran Drescher]

There was a little more. There was definitely some more, but not a whole lot. It could have been more developed, I think the character. But I say leave him wanting more is probably better than.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, you're really good in it, Frank.

[Fran Drescher]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

You are. Because it isn't a big huge on film part lengthwise. So for you to come across so fully blown as a human being who, you know, that's so nice. You understood and had so much gravitas. It was great. Thank you.

[Fran Drescher]

Thank you. I appreciate that. I really do. I mean, I'm really enjoy being in a movie that's this buzzy. I mean, I don't know, it's been a number of years before I've been lucky enough to be in something that's so hyped, so critically acclaimed. And now the cast was nominated for both the actors Awards as well as the Oscar. So it's really lovely.

[Ted Danson]

Great. Good for you.

[Fran Drescher]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

There's so many wonderful performances and films that don't get buzz and so no one really sees them that's true. And you don't get that. That's true.

[Fran Drescher]

And that's usually the ones that I'm in. That's why this is such a nice, you know, new experience.

[Ted Danson]

How'd you get it?

[Fran Drescher]

He called me Josh Safdie, the director and also co writer of the screenplay. And, you know, I was actually supposed to do a different movie with him that was about baseball and it had Adam Sandler in it. And I would have been playing some scenes with Adam. And it was very dependent on the real baseball season because he wanted to shoot a lot of stadium scenes with real people and baseball players. And when the strike hit, Josh started calling me to get a pulse on what was happening because the movie, you know, he was losing the baseball season with every passing week. And so we kind of developed a bit of a friendship. I always took his call and brought him up to speed on where we were at. But sure enough, the strike outlasted the baseball season.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And.

[Fran Drescher]

I don't know if that movie's ever gonna come back around, but certainly not until the baseball season comes again. That's Angel.

[Ted Danson]

Can I just claim for the YouTube viewers my big silly grin was not because of what you were saying because angel came over and I got a little attention.

[Fran Drescher]

Maybe she smells blue.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, definitely.

[Fran Drescher]

So anyway, then he offered me this part to play Timmy's mom. And I was, you know, just really delighted. I'm a big fan of Safdie and also of Timmy. I like him in all of his movies. So, you know, to play his mom, it's a distinguishing character in the movie because I don't really have to say anything except I play his mom. I play Marty's mom. And it's nice that I'm a part of it. Great cast, great direction. I'm very, very thrilled. And I brought my 91 year old mom to go see it when I was visiting her down in Florida and she absolutely loved it.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

And I really. Most people do. I haven't really, you know, maybe people are not telling me no more. No. Or you're going to have to go out for the listeners.

[Ted Danson]

Fran is now talking to me, not her daughter. I can't remember what year does the movie take place? I forget. But the production value. Production value was amazing too. It was really beautifully shot.

[Fran Drescher]

Beautifully shot. And the music was great.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

It was very riveting and kept, you know, the pace of the movie. And the whole movie is just such a complete ride. You get on it and you're not, you know, it's just unrelenting until it's over.

[Ted Danson]

If you had your druthers, would you stick more to film now or are you up for anything?

[Fran Drescher]

Well, I don't see myself doing another sitcom.

[Ted Danson]

Nor I. Oh, really? Yeah. At least the three camera live. That takes a lot.

[Fran Drescher]

You know, it's just the idea of going into the soundstage every day. The last one that I did wasn't my show. I played the mom in it and I really didn't. I loved the people, but I didn't enjoy the experience that much because I would. We were shooting it over the winter months. It was pretty dark when I entered the stage and it was dark when I left it.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Fran Drescher]

And I thought I just lost the whole day. Was this worth it? Is this how I would have wanted to spend the day if it turned out to be the last day of my life and it wasn't? Now maybe when I'm writing and executive producing, directing all of those hats that I wore in my own shows, maybe it would be more stimulating and, you know, gratifying.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Fran Drescher]

But in this situation, I think just playing the mom in it, it just wasn't enough for me. And I felt like I could have been doing other things during my day.

[Ted Danson]

Well, let's back up then. And then I want to. I keep. This is what I do. I back up a lot.

[Fran Drescher]

That's okay.

[Ted Danson]

So let. I just recently listened to you talking about your plane ride with the head of Jeff Saganski. Yeah, head of cbs, Right.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And you sat there, you had done a lot of work before then.

[Fran Drescher]

I did do a lot of work, but nothing was, you know, I mean, I was getting known within the industry. I don't know how known I was with the public besides being maybe that girl with the funny voice who I saw in this or that. But I was still trying to define myself as a lead and a star instead of the nutty neighbor, the third banana, you know, and when you're like, got a funny voice, maybe. I don't know. They didn't really see me as the star as much as I did. And I really had to create my own show.

[Ted Danson]

So you get on a plane, you're going to Europe, incidentally, you end up nine hours of talking to the president of cbs. The president of cbs. And he.

[Fran Drescher]

And convincing him that, you know, he wasn't, you know, he said, there's a lot of pilot scripts coming down the pike and we'll find something else for you. And I said, you know, you won't because I'm very too unique and it's not gonna fit me hand in glove. You gotta hear me pitch with Peter.

[Ted Danson]

And did you or you and Peter had already come up with.

[Fran Drescher]

We were developing things because a pilot that I did not that long before that and then another very short lived series that I did with Julie Haggerty and Twiggy was like defining life changing moments for me because I realized that I can't do this this way. I feel like I'm, you know, smarter than a lot of the people I'm working for and they don't know what to do with me.

[Ted Danson]

Now do that again because that's accurate would be my guess. Turned out I'd be so afraid to say that. How did you know? How did you have the whatever within you to not have it? Be an arrogant, misguided thought? Because a lot of people think that and they're very misguided and they end up not very satisfied people, in my opinion. How did you know?

[Fran Drescher]

I mean.

[Ted Danson]

Because it's not arrogant coming from me.

[Fran Drescher]

No, no more.

[Ted Danson]

Okay, I'll move on.

[Fran Drescher]

Audience. I'm talking to the dog, not Ted. I actually thought to myself that if I can't be on the inside in a big way, I'm getting out. Because this, you know, waiting for the phone to ring and doing what they see me doing is unfulfilling.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And when I was very young and.

[Fran Drescher]

I'm very aware of life lessons that the universe offers me throughout my life and I was actually a teenager just starting out as a professional actress and.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I went on an audition for a.

[Fran Drescher]

Commercial and I was still living at home with my parents. You had to take like two buses and a train to get into the city from where my parents lived. And I, I went all the way. I took the two buses, took the two trains, put on the makeup, did the hair, all of this stuff. Went all by myself into the city. And when I was at the audition, I kind of held back. I felt self conscious about what they wanted me to do. It was just a commercial, but it seemed so stupid. But I. All the way back home on the train and the two buses, I had such profound regret because I knew that I didn't get it because I got in my way when I should have just thrown myself into it 150%. So that became like a life lesson to me that, you know, go for it because the feeling of regret is far worse than if you just. That was why I had the chutzpah to talk to Jeff on a plane, because I would regret that I did in Carpe diem in that moment. And that was why I decided I have to get on the inside or get out. And I gave myself a finite amount of time and I manifested it because it was. It's.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I have to be.

[Fran Drescher]

Even when I was president of sag, I never SAG aftra. I was never really involved in the union prior to that, short of being very proud to be a union member from the time I got my first union card. But I never was on any committees. I never ran for any office. I was invited to run for president. And I knew I would be good at it because of all my experience that led up to that one defining moment. And I told everybody very candidly I could not do what you guys do. I have to be president on nothing. And that's the way it is with me. I have to be in charge or it's not really fun for me.

[Ted Danson]

No, I mean, if you know that, and that's the truth, then how wonderful. Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

I mean, I knew I would be successful at whatever I really put my mind to. So saying I'm gonna walk away from show business because they won't let me do anything but be a third banana on someone else's show, you know, didn't frighten me because there were other things I could do well and I would just throw myself completely into that. Success was always my main objective.

[Ted Danson]

And as an actor or as anything.

[Fran Drescher]

I wouldn't be, you know, like I was in my 30s when the writers were on strike and I went on unemployment. And I said, I'm not gonna turn 40 and still be doing this on and off unemployment. Forget about it. I'll drop out before I become one of those, you know, actors that are really waiters. It's not for me.

[Ted Danson]

Your mom and dad, are they.

[Fran Drescher]

My dad passed away a year and a half. March will be two years. And my mom, God bless her, is still alive and well. And I was very close with both of them and remained so with my mom and spiritually with my dad and. And, you know, they were very, very happily married for all of their marriage, which was a very long and beautiful one. And when I was a child, we shared a bedroom wall. And even as a kid, I remember listening to them giggling on the other side of the wall and thinking that that was like music to my ears, that I was lucky to hear them be so, you know, in love.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I brought them up. But I'm glad you got all the way back to Queens, basically.

[Fran Drescher]

Flashing.

[Ted Danson]

But your mom and dad, if they were in the room Talking and listening to us talk. Would they. They. Would they recognize that person that, you know, had the chutzpah or learned the lesson after the commercial and the chutzpah to sit next to the head of cbs? That girl, way back when you.

[Fran Drescher]

Absolutely. When I was in middle school now, they used to call it junior high. You had to take some kind of an elective course. And one of them was typing. And my mom said, then you don't need to learn typing because you're going to have a secretary. And that was when I was like 12.

[Ted Danson]

And she saw that in you. Not just she was trying to manifest self confidence or something in you. She saw that.

[Fran Drescher]

I was once, when I was still in elementary school, we were on a fire drill. So the class walked outside of the building as a class, and I saw across the street there was a for rent sign. And I knew my parents were. Were looking.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And I said, you know, right across the street from the school park, it.

[Fran Drescher]

Looks like a very nice building. And that's where we moved.

[Ted Danson]

How old, how old were you?

[Fran Drescher]

I think I was 11 or 12.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

So, you know, I'm me and I've been me my whole life.

[Ted Danson]

That's amazing. I'm trying to see if I can apply any of it to me and learn. I'll do that on my own time.

[Fran Drescher]

You don't need to learn anything. You're doing great.

[Ted Danson]

I am, I am, and I do. So, okay, so you convince Jeff to have come in with an idea to pitch something to him or them. Right. And you and Peter, your husband?

[Fran Drescher]

Yes, at that moment, yes, he was my husband at the time.

[Ted Danson]

Slash, partner.

[Fran Drescher]

Yes. We were developing together. We hadn't really done anything. I think he actually wrote something with Dan Aykroyd that he p. So he was a writer?

[Ted Danson]

Producer, yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

He started out an actor.

[Fran Drescher]

And I told him that you're much more empowered when you talk about writing and producing and the acting. You're very insecure. You can't take rejection. You know, it's not healthy for you.

[Ted Danson]

He took a moment and finally talked you out. Did it hurt or did he him or did he get it?

[Fran Drescher]

He got it. I think he got it. It was a little hard for him to walk away from it, but he knew what I was saying was true. You know, he would get depressed if he got. If he didn't get something or if he'd beat himself up. He'd think that he made a mistake. He shouldn't have done this. Why was he so nervous? All of this? It was Just very unhealthy. And he came from a dysfunctional upbringing, so it didn't feed him in a healthy way.

[Ted Danson]

Okay, so you guys are partners looking for something specifically for you to do or just projects in general?

[Fran Drescher]

No, we're trying to come up with an idea. Yes.

[Ted Danson]

And you call them at one point.

[Fran Drescher]

And say, well, it wasn't until on that trip I was with Twiggy, the one and only. Who was was in that short lived CBS series we both did, along with Julie Haggerty. They did, I think seven episodes, aired four and then pulled it. But I remained friends with Twiggy and I was going to see her when I was in Europe, except she and her husband were working on a project and so I ended up spending time with their 12 year old daughter.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And.

[Fran Drescher]

She said to me, my new shoes are hurting me while I'm schlepping her all over London. And I'm thinking, why is she telling me this? You want me to take her back already? We just got here. So I said, oh honey, just step on the backs of them.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And she said, won't that break them?

[Fran Drescher]

And I said, break them in.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And I couldn't get this relationship out.

[Fran Drescher]

Of my head because it felt very.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Funny to me that I was telling.

[Fran Drescher]

Her what was good for me, not what was good for her. I really wasn't behaving like a true child caregiver. And I called Peter in the middle of the night, London time in la and I said, I think I got the idea that we should pitch to Jeff. What do you think about a spin on the Sound of Music? Only instead of Julie Andrews, I come to the door and he thought for a moment and then said, that's it, that's the one. We'll pitch to CBS as soon as you get back. We'll develop it a little. But honestly, we went in with that logline and they greenlighted it right there and then.

[Ted Danson]

So as producer. Right. You and Peter.

[Fran Drescher]

Yes. We weren't executive producers. He might have been, but I wasn't and I was.

[Ted Danson]

What does that mean? You were, you were a producer?

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah. I think that they were all concerned that I would maybe have too much say if back then there weren't a lot of women star executive producers, writers, creators, you know, so. But eventually I did get everything.

[Ted Danson]

But it was your. Right? It was your idea though.

[Fran Drescher]

It was my idea, but it was. But it was created by me and Peter because there's so much that he contributed to it.

[Ted Danson]

Right, right. But were you both in the. Were you in the writer's room.

[Fran Drescher]

I had my own writer's room because I broke and outlined every episode. And I never took WGA credit for doing that, which I actually regretted, because it's good to have the points that you earn in that union. Because there was, you know, I became a cancer survivor years later, and there was always that pressure that, what if I don't work enough this year for the. To get the insurance? So I regretted not doing that. I had brought it up at the time to the other showrunner, and I said, you know, I mean, I'm writing every week. These are my shows. And then we're handing it to a writer, and then they hand me the first draft, and then I give them extensive notes on it, and then they go back and write it again, all before it goes to the room. And the other showrunner had said, you know, but this is how we keep good writers. You know, you're a star, you're making the lion's share of the money, and if you take the story by credit, then you're taking it away from the writer. And so I said, and you're a woman.

[Ted Danson]

Was that in there or no?

[Fran Drescher]

That didn't come up. But a lot of it has to do with. I constantly see that. Even when I was, you know, led the union into a historic strike, I realized that there was a lot coming at me because I was a woman leader. And to tell you the truth, when the opposition, all of the producers, the amptp hired a very big PR firm that has a reputation for handling the bad guys, essentially, and they're in Washington, D.C. and they brought them in, they went for the lowest hanging fruit trying to discredit the woman leader and making me out to be buffoonish. And the union advised me because all of the press was wanting me to comment on some of the things that they were releasing of how I was in the negotiating room. And the union advised me to say no comment. And I said, I'll be God damned if I'm gonna say no comment. I say no to no comment. And I decided to do a self video where I was putting on my makeup, as millions of women do every day, to go to work. And I was going into the negotiating room and is. I said, what I realized was that there's even a bigger story here than me leading this union strike, because I have to show women and girls what women leadership could look like. And it's not to roll over and show my soft underbelly when I'm being wrongly accused of things to Try and make me look bad. So how did you just.

[Ted Danson]

Can I. Sorry.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah, well, I was just gonna say that, you know, I. As I'm putting on my makeup, I was talking into the camera saying I don't have to emulate male energy to lead.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I can lead with wisdom and empathy and compassion and intellect and I can.

[Fran Drescher]

Still rock a red lip.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And that went viral. That was after my strike speech, which.

[Fran Drescher]

Was seen 12 billion times around the world.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And that speech became a mantra for.

[Fran Drescher]

All labor, not just actors. And so it was a much bigger story than ultimately a very successful billion dollar strike contract.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

How do you. I'm saying wow because it's just not in my. Who I am. That is not my comfort zone that you just described. How do you know? Did you know whether or not there was a little bit of fuck me, fuck you back as opposed to staying on course of what was needed for the union? Was that ever, you know, I mean, if you're getting insults.

[Mary Steenbergen]

What needed for the union is that.

[Fran Drescher]

The president maintain absolute credibility. That was needed for the union without question.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Fran Drescher]

Because the most important thing during that whole period was that I keep my 160,000 members of one mind and body. And the minute people start losing confidence in me, we're in trouble.

[Ted Danson]

Because then they want you to negotiate and give up or something.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yeah, whatever. I mean, they start fragmenting. Some are for me, some are against me, Some want it over already. They don't have confidence.

[Fran Drescher]

They me, you know, that cannot happen. I have to lead and be very strong and I can't have people questioning.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Me or doubting me, but having confidence in me.

[Fran Drescher]

And so it was very important who had your back.

[Ted Danson]

I mean, forget about man, woman, whatever. That's a lot what you went through, it seems to me.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah. One of the members who's very active in the LA local, David Joloff, he really gave me some very sound advice when it was all beginning. And he said, you're gonna have to get your own little team and they.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Don'T have to be in this union.

[Fran Drescher]

And they don't have to be involved in the negotiations. They have to be people that you are going to turn to, people that you trust, people that can be your advisors and help get you through this because it's going to be a lot. And I did that. I took his advice and I had my own private group of people that were in on everything that I was going through and helped me through it. Because besides the negotiating committee, which was amazing, and the union staff and all of Them helped carry me. But ultimately, I mean, I thought, if this doesn't kill me, I don't know what will, because the stress was just unbearable at times. But. And, you know, I did two terms. It was really. Because over the course of those two.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Terms.

[Fran Drescher]

Was Covid, which also not only fractured the nation, but the union. And. And then, of course, there was negotiating the contract, ultimately striking, and then having to negotiate again our terms in our offices. And then my dad passed away. And then there were the Palisades fires, and that was my tenure.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Fran Drescher]

So, you know, it's when they wanted.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Me to run again.

[Fran Drescher]

I said, I'm flattered. I can't. I absolutely can't. I have to find myself, find my way back into my career, you know, And I thought I was gonna be blacklisted after that, quite frankly. But thank God for this movie Marty supreme, because it put me right back in the center of the business in a very potent way as an actor, which I'm extremely grateful for, because, you know, I half. Only half kiddingly said, you know, there's a blacklist out there with one name on it, and you're looking at her. So I didn't really know how long a grudge was gonna be held, if at all. I didn't know. But, you know, here I am.

[Ted Danson]

They'll come knocking. So how about. How about the. How long ago was that? When did your tenure end?

[Fran Drescher]

It ended this past September. September of 25.

[Ted Danson]

Right. So how. How's your. How did you take care of yourself after the fact? Because that's a lot of adrenaline pouring through your body, a lot of anger coming your way, a lot of all that stuff. And I've heard you talk, and I would love to talk in a minute about how unexperienced grief, unexperienced anger can harm you, your body and all of that. You must have been pretty conscious of somehow taking care of you and your health and your body in the midst of all of that.

[Fran Drescher]

Yes, very much so. I mean, as a cancer survivor, I have to really self care.

[Ted Danson]

And also, self care means emotionally and physically. Okay.

[Fran Drescher]

You know, my world became very small. I had a rest a lot.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And, you know, it's funny, because I'm not sorry.

[Ted Danson]

During the strike, during that time.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yeah, during the strike, and even during.

[Fran Drescher]

The presidency, because it was really one thing after another.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I forgot to even mention that the.

[Fran Drescher]

Hamas Israeli war broke out while I was president. And that also divides a union that's very quick to fracture. And we, as a union, represent people from many different nations all over the world.

[Woody Harrelson]

And.

[Fran Drescher]

For me, I felt like it was really important to set a very strict policy that we don't engage in polarizing conversation, but we encourage all the members to align themselves with special interest groups that are geared for that and completely in agreement with your point of view. And I encourage people to do that. I'm an activist. But within the halls of the union, our objective is to protect our members with contracts and protections. And in order to really successfully do that opposite behemoths like the industry studios, you have to be of one body, one mind, one heart. And you can't bring in there very volatile subjects. And there's a wealth of them that will very easily fragment the member body when right outside our doors there are really noble activists that are ready to welcome you into their folds and go for it with, you know, great seal. So, you know, that was all part of it. And that kind of leadership, it takes a lot of guts because people very quickly fall into a predictable place pit and it's very hard to climb out of that. And I can see it coming from a mile away. So I had to be very strong about how and why this must be for this union if we're to be successful as a union. Because we're unique.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Some unions, like almost everybody in the union, is cut from the same cloth. That is not SAG aftra.

[Fran Drescher]

We're many different peoples, many different walks of life, many different points of view.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Many different politics, many different ethnicities, races, nationalities, religions.

[Fran Drescher]

Because we represent performers who can play everything. And not only that, but we also represent. Represent.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Dancers, commercial actors, singers, stunt people, puppeteers. I mean, the list goes on and on.

[Fran Drescher]

Now we just took on a whole new community of the people who intimacy coordinators.

[Mary Steenbergen]

So, you know, it's like that's a lot of people with a lot of.

[Fran Drescher]

Different points of view living all over.

[Mary Steenbergen]

The country and the world.

[Fran Drescher]

We're not the union to start taking political stands, you know.

[Ted Danson]

Good for you. Good for you, Fred.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Well, it's just to protect our best interests.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. When I first got here, I had a sag, and after experience with insurance, that was so noble. My. My wife, then Casey, was giving birth to our first child and had a massive stroke.

[Fran Drescher]

Oh, my God.

[Ted Danson]

During delivery. And I went when things, you know, in a couple of weeks, things started to settle and not settle, but, you know, she was going to live and all that stuff. I went to the union and I think I was first after and then sag, but they were different.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah, that was usually the way Someone.

[Ted Danson]

Would, first one would pick up and the second one would, whatever wasn't covered, pick that up. So you really were totally covered between the two. And I went to Astra and the lady looked up at me and I told her why I was there and just wanted to check everything. And she said that my after had run out like two weeks before. And then she looked at me and said, but don't worry, we'll make this work somehow. And I never really asked. There was such trauma all around me that I didn't really follow up other than there was no reason legally, technically that I would have been covered. Our family would have been covered in that moment. And we were. They covered it. They looked at it from a, you know, human point of view and took care of us. It was huge.

[Fran Drescher]

Wow. Well, there is a, you know, like you can extend past the eligibility for a small amount of money that you keep paying. I forgot what that's called. But everybody can extend their insurance past the point for a while, for I think at least a year or maybe 18 months. I'm not sure.

[Ted Danson]

Talking Greek I'm just nodding my head going, oh, I'm so glad you are president.

[Fran Drescher]

But I'm not anymore.

[Mary Steenbergen]

John Astin is now and so I'm.

[Fran Drescher]

Sure he's going to do a great job.

[Woody Harrelson]

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[Ted Danson]

Can we talk about what happened to you in your apartment that you were attacked and then years later you ended up having cancer and the connection between the two I would love. I don't the stories of the stories and are huge but the connection you make between the two I found fascinating and real.

[Fran Drescher]

Well you know I think that the mind body is connected. There's nothing that's autonomous from the other. It's systems within systems and everything everything connects. And actually in Chinese Asian medicine there's a huge acceptance of this but in western medicine not as much. And I was in my condo with my girlfriend and Peter, my husband at the time when two men broke in with guns and raped me and my girlfriend and stole everything and left and thank God left us alive. Even though at the time you really don't know whether you're gonna get through this or not. And by the grace of God they were apprehended and put in jail. So we had closure to the whole experience. But still, I write about it in both my books. It's. It's something that shatters you in a very profound way. And I think that I've never really been fearless because of that experience, because I'm always a little anxious or nervous or fearful or. I always carry this as a 91 one thing that I always carry with me. I have a big, you know, dog that's very protective of me, and that helps me to function in a very good way. But it's, you know, everybody. It manifests differently in everybody. But that was kind of how it manifested in me. And yet I didn't really completely unpack what I was feeling. I just sort of went back to my life and let these residual neuroses kind of begin to rule me.

[Ted Danson]

This is in the middle of the Nanny.

[Fran Drescher]

No, actually, yeah. Was probably like eight years before. And then. I got the Nanny. I mean, we made the Nanny happen.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And the last season of the Nanny.

[Fran Drescher]

Which was in 98, 99, I started to have symptoms that I couldn't really explain. And over two years, I went to eight different doctors and I was told I had perimenopause. I was told, you know, I needed to go on hormone replacement therapy, but nobody gave me a very quick in office test to see if I had uterine cancer, even though I had symptoms of uterine cancer, except for the fact that I was typically too young and too thin. So I slipped through the cracks. And what was more typical for my age was perimenopause. So they just immediately assumed that was my problem. And after two years, the last HRT that I went on, I had, you know, breakthrough Bleeding that was 24,7. Not just minor, but really like full on. And the doctor said, well, I probably just. It's probably just the wrong hormone combination that I gave you. Stop. And just to be sure, we'll do a endometrial biopsy. Well, that was what Dr. Number once that I was too young for. And I never really asked, well, what would it prove or disprove? I really had no idea what they were thinking at the time. But in fact, that test two years later showed that I had early uterine cancer. And so I was immediately put together with a gynecology oncologist.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And my sister, who's a nurse in.

[Fran Drescher]

New York, said, have that oncologist do another endometrial biopsy because she's in a hospital, it's a controlled environment, and I would feel better if she did her own tests. So the doctor, the oncologist said, well, I don't. I mean, this is. I did check with the pathology report, and this is you, and you do have this. And I said, I'm not doubting that.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I have it, but my sister said.

[Fran Drescher]

That you need to take your own tests. And sure enough, the next day, she called back and said, am I glad we listened to your sister, because the doctor in her office took too superficial a tissue sampling of the endometrial lining of the uterus and where she was.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Picking up on cells that were, like.

[Fran Drescher]

Just turning to be grade one or I'm picking up on grades three and four. And I said, well, what's the highest grade? She said, 4. And now I'm concerned. And this isn't something that just started. You've had this a couple of years. So that kind of was just really very difficult news to hear. And I felt like if maybe it wouldn't have happened. Not that the medical industry would have missed it, because that happens all the time. So much so that I felt the need to start my own nonprofit called Cancer Schmancer, because more people should be recognized in the early stages, but they don't get the tests that they need that would rule out that. And so I'm turning patients into medical consumers and empowering them to know how to deal with their doctors. But I always felt like. Because I really didn't deal with the rape in a very healthy way, it created a cancer within me and poetically, in my reproductive, you know, my female parts. So I do think that there's a.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Strong connection, and I think that it.

[Fran Drescher]

Got me on a path of feeling my pain much more so than I used to. I used to kind of put it away and just get on with things and thought that that was a sign of strength. But in fact, really, strength is to lean into your pain, to allow yourself to feel your pain.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And.

[Fran Drescher]

You know, I'm really good at doing that now.

[Ted Danson]

Good. Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

But I wasn't 25 years ago. But the cancer was an opportunity for me. And because I'm kind of a Buddhist, I'm always trying to understand, why is the universe presenting this to me and what can I learn from it?

[Ted Danson]

Is that so empowering?

[Fran Drescher]

Yes.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Turn everything.

[Ted Danson]

Otherwise you're the victim.

[Fran Drescher]

Right?

[Mary Steenbergen]

Exactly.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. I'm trying to stay curious about what's next, even though next is becoming a little more obvious as you age. You go, oh, boy.

[Fran Drescher]

I know it's true, but it is. Every passage of life offers us opportunities. But I am looking at the generation just ahead of me and where they're at, if they're still living. And so that's the next chapter, the next passage.

[Ted Danson]

Just going back for a second. I've known a lot of women who have had breast cancer. My mom had, I'm pretty sure, environmental breast cancer. She was downwind from Nevada atom bomb testing. And it was so clear that the government didn't even ask. If you could prove you were downwind during those times and had cancer, they would give you $10,000 or something. And my sister also preventatively had a double mastectomy. And I've heard this many times before, that the connection for women of un. Whatever this examined grief and grief and breast cancer seemed very tied together. And a lot of doctors will say, have you just gone through a sorrowful experience in your life? Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

Well, at Cancer Schmancer, my organization, we speak to a lot of really amazing, cutting edge doctors who began very traditional Western medical careers and started questioning that there's gotta be a better way, and took their medical prowess and began a new path. And those are functional medical doctors of all different specialties, from cardiology to oncology and everything in between. And they look at the body as a system. And that includes your emotions.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

Which is so important. And that's why even, you know, I.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Mean, I think that most people nowadays.

[Fran Drescher]

Have accepted that stress is a killer.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

Well, you know, that's an emotion.

[Ted Danson]

And we, you know, usually an unexamined emotion.

[Fran Drescher]

That's right.

[Ted Danson]

So you raise money and then what do you do with your money? What is the.

[Fran Drescher]

Well, we have a really amazing summit.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Are you a building Best Glass Health Summit?

[Fran Drescher]

We're education.

[Ted Danson]

Okay.

[Fran Drescher]

We wake you up, shake you up, and motivate and activate you out of.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Complacency, out of mindlessness. We teach you how to be a mindful consumer. We teach you how to become better partners with your physician. We have a very progressive program called Detox youx Home. And annually we have the Fran Drescher Masterclass Health Summits. This last one, every year it's a different theme. This last one was empowering the aging woman. I had the privilege of interviewing Jane Fonda. And then we have three great doctors.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah, you know, you go to cancer.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Schmancer or you go to YouTube and you can watch it as it's happening live.

[Fran Drescher]

Then we're also involved in Washington.

[Mary Steenbergen]

You know, I got a. So we got a bill passed by unanimous consent, which means all 100 senators said, yes, Fran. Which is a feat. And I was written up Twice in the Congressional Record. And that was the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness act, the first of its kind in US history. I'm thinking that it might have been in 2007. And from there, it was at the.

[Fran Drescher]

Tail end of George W. Administration.

[Ted Danson]

And.

[Fran Drescher]

I was then given the opportunity to have the appointed position. At the U.S. state Department of.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Now, what the hell was my title? Oh, my God.

[Fran Drescher]

Oh, yes.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Thank you. Well done.

[Fran Drescher]

Yes. Public diplomacy envoy.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And so I was sent around the world to speak to our allied nations.

[Andy Richter]

And.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Military basis on just what cancer schmancer teaches everyone is how to take control of your body, how to become better partners with your physician, how to.

[Fran Drescher]

Recognize the early warning whispers of the.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Cancers that may affect you, how to.

[Fran Drescher]

Detox your life, how to detox your home, how to eat differently, everything.

[Ted Danson]

I tell you that what's great about that is if you do one or two of those things, you become addicted to feeling empowered and not victimized by. You become less fearful. You become more hopeful.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I mean, well, you know, at the.

[Fran Drescher]

End of the day, you can only really control yourself.

[Mary Steenbergen]

But each one teach one, and each one teach one. So. Is that me? I'm sorry.

[Ted Danson]

I think it's angel who so wants out of this room.

[Fran Drescher]

Okay.

[Woody Harrelson]

I know.

[Fran Drescher]

I'm surprised you wanted to come with me. Yeah. You look at me with that gorgeous face. She doesn't even know how gorgeous she is. Do you? One blue eye, one brown eye.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. The best.

[Fran Drescher]

I know. Mama loves you. Mama loves Angel.

[Ted Danson]

What's next for you? Looking for acting roles, producing, directing.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yes, all of that. All of that.

[Fran Drescher]

I'm writing something with Peter right now, which we're very happy with. And I probably have another book in me. I've written a couple of New York Times bestsellers, and I haven't really sat down and talked about the enormity of the last four years and everything that kind of led up to that. And I might be working in Germany in April. There's an interesting part that I'm considering doing.

[Ted Danson]

How nice to consider doing something.

[Fran Drescher]

I know it's a very. I mean, every day. I'm grateful every single day. And that I can go to a supermarket and buy what I want and not. I read labels, but I really don't, you know, look at how much this tomato costs versus that tomato. I'm much more interested in getting the tomato that's farmed organically and, you know, regeneratively.

[Ted Danson]

I've always been in the act. I've never. I'm a contract player. I'M most comfortable when they'd say, okay, thank you, Ted, Take off that hat, put on the cowboy hat, and go over to that soundstage four and do that.

[Fran Drescher]

Wow, you've been a star a long time, but if you're so easygoing, then.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Maybe I'll hire you.

[Fran Drescher]

Because I love male leads that are like that. I was always so grateful for Charles.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Shaughnessy on the Nanny because he was never threatened by me. He knew I had his back.

[Fran Drescher]

He believed in me, and he was always very supportive of me.

[Mary Steenbergen]

But not all men are, and I've worked with both.

[Fran Drescher]

And it's a tough.

[Ted Danson]

Which is so silly, because acting is a contact sport when done right. I think.

[Fran Drescher]

Well, there's a lot of ego and dysfunctional people in our industry.

[Ted Danson]

But if in the middle of this contact tack sport, metaphorically, when you smack somebody, you want them to smack you back harder so that you're into this ping pong game or something. Whatever.

[Fran Drescher]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

You know, you want a strong leading man or a, you know, strong leading lady. It seems very strange to want someone less than that.

[Mary Steenbergen]

It's not being strong as an actor.

[Ted Danson]

Let me correct.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah. It's me wearing all the other hats and being his boss.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And writing all the shows and, you know, directing some episodes. I mean, and playing, you know.

[Fran Drescher]

In a part that was really, like, in support of the female lead.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Now, he couldn't have done it without Mr. Sheffield, and he was magnificent.

[Fran Drescher]

But not all men would have been.

[Mary Steenbergen]

As magnanimous as he was.

[Fran Drescher]

And I was always very grateful.

[Ted Danson]

I'm trying to think if I'm just playing the role of a magnanimous. Can't say it. So maybe I am playing the role you mean.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And actually your opinion is.

[Ted Danson]

I love how strong. I love how strong my wife is. Mary's very strong. She loves men.

[Fran Drescher]

I do, too.

[Woody Harrelson]

Totally loves men and loves women.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I'm a man's woman and a woman's woman.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. I didn't know the term sister until I met Mary. And she goes, that person's not really a sister. And I go, oh, I see that. You're right.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah. No, I'm very, very supportive of women. And I think it's really important because I think historically we were almost pitted against each other for male attention. And the more we realize that we don't need to do that and we don't need the male attention to validate who we are, it becomes easier to be part of the sisterhood. I mean, I've been felt like I've. I'm very Supportive of women. For example. You know, sometimes I'm more single than involved with someone, especially in the past years.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And sometimes that's threatening to married women. You know, when I'm with someone, I get invited to those couple dinner parties, but never by myself when I'm alone. And.

[Fran Drescher]

You know, I've always been very.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Candid about the fact that I never understood women that go after married men. I would never do that to a sister. And I don't respect a man that does it either. If you're feeling dissatisfied in your marriage, then, you know, man up and talk about it. And if it means a separation, okay, everyone will live. But don't be behind the scenes and hurtful in that way.

[Fran Drescher]

And I would never partake in that.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I don't, you know, so. And I've always been very candid about that. But having said that, there are still a lot of women out there that are threatened by single women.

[Ted Danson]

I'm trying to think of a dinner party. Fran, come to our home. Do you know Mary? You'd love her.

[Fran Drescher]

Yes.

[Mary Steenbergen]

No, I do know Mary.

[Ted Danson]

You are.

[Fran Drescher]

And you know what?

[Mary Steenbergen]

We've met back in the day at Hillary Clinton events.

[Ted Danson]

Right, right.

[Mary Steenbergen]

But, yes, I've met Mary several times.

[Ted Danson]

Were you in Ragtime?

[Mary Steenbergen]

I am.

[Fran Drescher]

Wonderful.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yes.

[Ted Danson]

Do you think you guys met on that, or did you shoot in different time zones?

[Mary Steenbergen]

I don't think we. Yeah, I was on the Lower east side. That's the only place that I shot.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, she was in the Hamptons or wherever.

[Fran Drescher]

Yes, exactly.

[Ted Danson]

The wrist side of the tracks.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yeah. But that was a great experience. And I loved working with Milos Forman.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Did you get to meet James Cagney? Wasn't that his last role?

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yes, his last role. You know, I think I might have met him, but not when we were shooting. But afterwards, my stuff was with Mandy.

[Ted Danson]

Yes.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Who's wonderful actor, and I shared a dresser, if you could believe it, with.

[Fran Drescher]

Elizabeth McGovern, who was on the other.

[Ted Danson]

Side of the tracks from you. Wasn't she on the rich side of the.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Well, she was the whore on the rich side. I mean, really, I gotta watch this again.

[Fran Drescher]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I mean, I don't know. Maybe that's a hard word, but yeah, she was like.

[Fran Drescher]

A. A woman that slept her way up.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Into, you know, wealthy men.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And she was. But I don't think she herself came from any kind of a pedigree. And, in fact, when I was talking to Milos, I said, you know, I'm the Evelyn Nesbeth of the Lower east side. So that was what broke me up.

[Fran Drescher]

With Mandy's character, Tata, because he caught.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Me with a guy that wasn't selling art on the street but actually had his own tailor shop or something. So yeah, and I auditioned for a different part in that movie. Emma Goldman screen tested with Natasha Kinski. Didn't get it. Neither one of us got it, me or Natasha. She was auditioning for Evelyn Nesbit and I was auditioning for Emma Goldman. Neither one of us got it. But then Milosh put me in the movie anyway in that small. The small role of Mama.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

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[Ted Danson]

Oh, my famous cashmere zip up sweater.

[Woody Harrelson]

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[Ted Danson]

Do you think you'd be happy just being an actor, doing wonderful films and roles and everything? Or do you want to go be producer, director or.

[Fran Drescher]

I do like wearing multiple hats because especially in movies, there's a lot of sitting around and I like to multitask. You know, I love the end result of a movie and I love that it has a finite amount of work time and then you're done. But the sitting around is excruciating for me.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And unless you're like Timmy when you're in every scene, okay, then you're busy.

[Fran Drescher]

Wall to wall busy.

[Mary Steenbergen]

But when you're a character like mine, you're sitting around a lot. And I didn't have that experience on the Nanny, obviously, or any of the series that I starred in. You know, happily Divorced but living with Fran.

[Fran Drescher]

But I, you know, I don't know.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I mean, it's lovely to do a movie and I love supporting it by promoting it and all of that.

[Ted Danson]

I love it. It's a movie. I mean, it's still a movie. It's very exciting to be in a movie.

[Mary Steenbergen]

It is. It's exciting to be in movies.

[Fran Drescher]

But there is a lot of sitting around.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

It can be excruciating sometimes. The waiting game.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, it's true.

[Fran Drescher]

I mean, I don't know. That's just me. But I wouldn't, you know, if this.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Movie puts me back into, like, are.

[Fran Drescher]

The indie films or stuff.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I mean, I've done a lot of.

[Fran Drescher]

Those and I've done a lot of movies. I'd be happy because I don't know if I want to do. I don't think I want to do a series really.

[Mary Steenbergen]

But you never know. You never know because it's a different game. When I was doing the Nanny, for example, we would do 27, 28 episodes a year.

[Ted Danson]

It's like 10 months a year.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Oh, it was absolutely crazy. And you have to be very young.

[Fran Drescher]

To do that, which I no longer am.

[Ted Danson]

I don't know if I have the adrenal system to stand in front of an audience anymore. I'm okay with single camera, but yeah.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I don't mind that. I don't think. I like the thrill of being in front of the audience and putting on a little play. And maybe because now with streaming, it's much smaller seasons. So maybe doing a single cam or.

[Fran Drescher]

A multi cam without a live audience.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And shorter seasons, maybe it's not so difficult. I don't know. I'll see.

[Ted Danson]

Don't have to keep this in. Don't have to be political. But I am always asking people how your heart is nowadays. It's a lot of sadness. A lot of things that make me very angry and sad.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Well, you know, it's funny because.

[Fran Drescher]

You know, I grew up in a family that wasn't directly, as far as I knew, affected by the Holocaust. Like other people that I grew up with and knew who had parents who are Holocaust survivors or immigrant grandparents who escaped the Holocaust or came during the pogrom, you know, all of these historic tales of very haunting political escapes, refugees who left. And I always felt so lucky to.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Be born in the United States, where everybody was running, too. But in the back of my mind, because of all the countless movies.

[Fran Drescher]

No, stop it. No. Come on, we're almost done. Give me a break. You wanted to come. I was nice. I said, okay, now you gotta wait. Just wait. Give me a minute. But I always.

[Mary Steenbergen]

When you'd watch, like, Holocaust movies and.

[Fran Drescher]

Stuff like that, I would always think.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Would I know when to get out?

[Fran Drescher]

Because a lot of people didn't.

[Mary Steenbergen]

They had their whole lives, their homes, their businesses.

[Fran Drescher]

They were German.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And so why should they go? This is going to blow over. You know, I mean, I'm not going.

[Fran Drescher]

To, like, leave everything so in my head.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And then they ended up getting stuck. And so for some reason, I've always had this rattling around in the back of my mind.

[Fran Drescher]

Would I have known when to go, when to just drop everything, pack a bag and get the hell out of Dodge?

[Mary Steenbergen]

And now is when I'm beginning to see these, you know, little indications of fascism that frighten me. And, you know, kings fall, empires crumble. And maybe this country had a great run. But as Jefferson said, it's an experiment. And it's either going to recover and come together and.

[Fran Drescher]

Or it won't.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And it's not the first one. I mean, when everybody was living in ancient Rome, nobody saw that Rome would someday fall.

[Fran Drescher]

Nobody saw it with Greece, Nobody saw it with Great Britain.

[Mary Steenbergen]

You know, there have been many, many empires in civilized world. And, you know, I'm a systems analyst, daughter. I see systems beginning to break down in many ways.

[Fran Drescher]

It was why I was so.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I saw things that needed to be put in the contract for SAG aftra, because I saw a system where it was broken. And other people got so nervous because they said, well, let's not make that the deal breaker.

[Fran Drescher]

That's the deal breaker, baby.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And I have my deal breakers all the time. And I'm already thinking that if this nation turns into something that I don't recognize, then it's not my nation anymore. I don't know.

[Fran Drescher]

I don't want to stay too long at the fair.

[Mary Steenbergen]

And I definitely don't want to be an ostrich. I want to.

[Fran Drescher]

Keep advancing in a place where this country recognizes that we're.

[Mary Steenbergen]

A country that's built on immigrants, that.

[Fran Drescher]

Diversity is the name of the game. It strengthens us as a people. Improve on our farming, improve on our education, improve on our environment.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Don't make.

[Fran Drescher]

Money the deciding issue for the way you process decision making. Make kindness and compassion your compass and let's go there. Cause that's where we should be heading. And we're a work in progress. So I hope that everybody wakes up and smells the coffee and sees that we're going off the rails a little bit. I hope they do.

[Ted Danson]

Love talking to you.

[Fran Drescher]

Thank you. I love talking to you and I love working with you.

[Mary Steenbergen]

Yeah, so we'll have to make that happen someday too.

[Ted Danson]

Yes. I love that.

[Mary Steenbergen]

I gotta see that episode again. It was so fun.

[Woody Harrelson]

That was the great Fran Drescher and her dog Angel. Some of the groans I hope you.

[Ted Danson]

Know are not coming from me or.

[Woody Harrelson]

Fran, but from Angel. Do me a favor yourself a favor and go see Marty supreme this weekend if you haven't already.

[Ted Danson]

That's it for this week.

[Woody Harrelson]

Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. As always, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and maybe give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you're in the mood. If you like watching your podcasts, all our full length episodes are on YouTube. Visit YouTube.comteamcoco See you next time. Where everybody knows your name.

[Podcast Host/Producer]

You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows yous Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Leow. Our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross and myself. Sara Fedorovich is our supervising producer. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grohl. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Antony Yen, Mary Steenbergen and John Osborne.

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