Fran Drescher on Regis & Kathy Lee
December 21, 1993
Regis: She plays a sassy New Yorker who is hired by a polished Englishman to watch his three children in the new hit comedy, The Nanny, here is Fran Drescher…
Fran: Hi
Regis: How are you?
Kathy Lee: It’s so nice to finally meet you.
F: I’m so happy to be here. I watch your show all the time. I’m so excited to be here, I can’t tell ya. I mean really! I’m so happy to be here!
R: And I’m happy that you’re happy.
KL: We’re very big fans of yours.
F: Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s mutual.
R: This is your first time on our show.
F: Yeah, I know. I’m so happy to be here. And I was waiting up in the office because apparently there’s some chorus taking over the Green Room.
R/K: Yeah.
F: I was sitting at Gelman’s desk watching the show and he had this sorry, little, half-dead plant with an American flag sticking out of it and then they said, they pointed to your desk and it had a little kind of Chia pet thing growing, it was so sweet.
KL: I have never been to my office upstairs in my life. I have never been in it! Never! A Chia pet?! I want that out!
F: (laughs)
R: Well, listen congratulations on all the terrific things that are happening to you-
F: Thank you.
R: You’re a local lady here, grew up over in Queens…
F: I know and now...
(Audience Applause)
KL: What I loved about your success story Fran, is that you actually studied to get rid of this marvelous New York accent that you have and all the success that has come to you has been because you’ve just been yourself.
F: I know. Well-
KL/audience/Fran: (laughs)
F: You know it was always when I was out of work for an extended period of time that my manager and my agent would start saying it’s time to get rid of that accent and broaden yourself. I really did study and actually accomplished knowing how to do it, but I never, it didn’t get me work so-
KL: Do it for me.
R: Did you actually overcome it? I mean with all the lessons you had? And what were the lessons like?
F: Well, actually-
KL: (a la ‘My Fair Lady’) Rain in Spain.
F: It was Lillian Glass in Beverly Hills who had, I studied with and well, (readies her throat) she taught me how to do, okay, (readies her throat again) she taught me how to do what she calls a low – slow – flow dialect. (66kb - For Real Player download go to bottom of page)
R: Nice.
F: Yes! It’s not-
R: Nice!
F: What I think was-
(Audience Applause)
F: (Laughs)
R: Low, slow, flow.
F: Yeah, that’s what we did all the time. Weekend and week out, she worked with earphones, and recordings and exercises and basically we talked a lot and she would just be correcting me while she was talking to me.
R: And when it came time for the big job they wanted the uh…
KL: The New York thing.
F: The New York, yeah. And uh, you know, I’ve kind of become known for doing comedies, and the, it’s a funny voice, who’s kidding who?!
KL/Audience/Fran: (Laugh)
R: But you’ve always have, even as a kid, right?
F: Absolutely.
KL: Does your whole family basically sound like you?
F: My mother, my sister definitely sound like me, yeah. We all sound alike.
KL: Let’s get everybody on once Reg, it’d be the funniest thing in the world (To Fran) to have your mom and your sister and your-
R: A little coffee klatch with Fran.
F: (Laughs) Oh God, that would be a dream come true. My sister’s just getting married New Year’s weekend and my parents are flying up. It’s a very exciting time. We’re here in New York. I’m doing a show. Everyone’s watching it all over…
R: So what’s it like to be a star now?
F: (Laughs) It’s a lot of fun, I’ll tell ya!
R: Signing autographs in K-mart. What was that like?
F: I know! (laughs)
R: What was that like?
F: CBS sent me up to K-mart to sign autographs because they have this big promotional thing with CBS and uh… what was it like? You know, the people were very nice. I went to one of the flagship K-marts in Seattle-
R: Flagship?!
F: (Laughs)
R: How was it?
F: They sent a CBS star to every flagship K-mart. Of course, I asked who was getting the Los Angeles one?
R: Yep.
F: That was Marilu Henner.
R: Ohhhh.
KL: But she’s pregnant, she’s pregnant.
F: Oh, okay, you think that’s why? I thought it was because she was just more famous!
KL/Fran: (laugh)
F: She don’t have to travel.
KL: She’s pregnant.
R: Flagship K-mart in Seattle, that’s big!
F: There was me, and there was the uh, girl dressed up as a Barbie doll, and someone dressed up as Mr. Peanut and the Ever Ready Battery Rabbit.
(Audience Laughs and Fran joins in)
KL: A normal day in Seattle.
R: You were the biggest. You were bigger than all of ‘em! You were bigger than that rabbit!
(Fran laughs)
R: So you just signed…
F: I signed autographs when they said, ‘You know, uh uh, Oreos are on sale on Aisle 5, Fran Drescher is signing autographs on Aisle 6. Two women thought because there was a bottle of water on the table for me to drink when I get thirsty, they thought that I was there to give out samples of bottled water!
KL: (Laughs)
F: Don’t ask! …You know that was like an exercise in humiliation!
(Audience cracks up)
F: Just when you’ve think you you’ve made it!
R: Well, you’re back in New York now and you’re going to see a basketball game?
F: I’ve never been to a basketball game.
R: You’ve never been to the Garden to see the Knicks play?
F: No, never. I’m very excited. I mean, they say that’s the most exciting sport to spectate.
KL: To be courtside it is.
R: Are you close up?
F: I guess. You know, I’m going to be doing some local play-by-play talk show afterwards so… that’s part of the whole thing. They set you up to watch it, so I guess I’ll probably have good seats?
R: Sure.
F: And… what should I say?! I don’t know what to… who’s the big person? Who should I root for?
R: Mike Francessa is the host of the show. He’ll question you about what your thoughts are after seeing your first basketball game. You’ll have fun!
KL: And you can be you.
F: (laughs)
KL: You are your greatest asset.
R: Look. If you blackout over the game, take him right back to the flagship K-mart in Seattle! Don’t fool around with it!
F: In our show, I have a scene with Renee Taylor who was on your show and she’s telling us, me, about my cousin who has a beach-front property right next door to Dan Marino. And I say, ‘Who the hell is Dan Marino?’ And she says, ‘How the hell should I know?’ (laughs)
(Audience and KL laugh)
R: Boy, if you two don’t sound alike!
F: I know!
R: Now when you were auditioning, did those CBS guys get you two in a room together and listen to those voices?
F: You know, I have always wanted Renee to play my mother and we simply offered her that part. There was, in my mind, nobody else who could play my mother. She’s so much like me in her voice and in the way she approaches playing a part, she’s very specific-
KL: The timing.
F: …in her details. And you know, always rooted in a truthful place and I really love working with her. And we just finished another show where I have my 30th birthday and she gives me as a present, a bottle of Chanel ‘parfume’ and a cemetery plot that were having like a two for one sale. So this one is for now and this one is for later.
R: We’ve got to pause, but we’ll come back for more Fran Drescher.
~~~~~~
R: We have Fran Drescher, you’ve seen as the nanny, and incidentally quite a love story here…
KL: Yeah…
R: Been married at this tender young age for how many years now?
F: We just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.
R: 15th wedding anniversary!
(Audience applause)
KL: You met each other in high school?
F: Yep. We met each other when we were 15.
R: Peter Marc Jacobson.
F: Yeah. And he is one of the co-executive producers of the show. And he co-created it with me. And uh… we’re best friends. And we met in Jamaica, Queens, going to high school in 10th grade.
R: A couple of high school kids going to business together. Him producing-
KL: That’s so great.
R: … you acting and winding up in the same series. I think it’s a first.
F: I know… it probably is. You know, he started out as an actor also but over the years he had such a facility for this that as the opportunities came to him, it was, he had no choice but to keep moving in that direction and, I think now we’re both operating at our strengths. It’s a very happy time. I mean, it’s really amazing. We’ve been through highs and lows in our lives and good times and bad times. It’s nice that we have survived it and strengthen our relationship. We’ve gone to therapy when we needed help, someone to give us counseling. There is life after death! When you really think you’ve bottomed out then you just go that extra mile-
KL: Hang in there.
F: … and somehow it comes back.
R: Does he have a New York accent too?
F: No, curiously enough, I don’t know why. Because he lived just 10 blocks away!
KL: Something in the air in your house!
F: Yeah, something nasal was flying around.
(Audience laughs)
KL: (Laughs) I just told her if she lived in New York, she would be my best friend. You are funny!
R: (teasing KL about best friend remark) Oh, I don’t think so!
KL: (Stops and gives Regis an annoyed look.)
R: (Laughs and gives her a peck on the cheek.) I’m kidding!
KL: He needs a vacation from me, can you tell? Running on empty. That’s funny, Regis.
R: You do isometrics?
KL: Can you believe this woman does not work out? A few little isometrics.
R: When you do isometrics you just, you mean, you just hold it?
F: Yes.
KL: But you scrunch your butt muscles?
R: Buns of steel.
F: Where ever I am, sometimes I’m sitting in a movie theater and I noticed that everyone else is slumped over, eating their popcorn and I’m like sitting there, squeezing my butt!
R: You should sit up at all times.
KL: You can do it when you’re brushing your teeth, when you’re peeling potatoes…
F: I stretch my arms when I’m at work and I push back with it and everything…(chuckles) I don’t want to sound like I’m doing an exercise tape, (Regis & Kathy Lee are both sitting up straight now and look like they’re really concentrating on squeezing.), but since you brought it up! People, people are always asking me, do I work out? And I happen to be at my, on my thin side right now. You know, like once a decade a woman gets to lose weight without really trying and that’s where I’m at right now. It’s just from having to do everything. That’s how you lose weight without trying.
KL: Now what about your future? Are you and Peter going to have little ones and get a nanny of your own?
F: You know, I really, I think we will have at least one child. I want to do it when I have the kind of time, I know how to do it right because my parents did it right. And I don’t want to do anything less than what they gave to me, so I don’t have the time right now. I love the three kids on my show. I really enjoy vicariously, you know they’re all three different ages-
KL: Sure you can send them home.
F: I know! Love ‘em and leave ‘em. It’s perfect! But eventually I think and I say to Peter, when me and Maxwell have a baby on the show that’s when we’ll have a baby.
KL: You can write it into the show.
F: Exactly!
R: Right now you’re married to Maxwell?
F: No, I’m not married to Maxwell yet.
R: You’re the nanny!
F: I’m the nanny and this is like the Sound of Music-
R: I haven’t-
KL: There is an under current. (To Regis) There is sexual tension – remember that?
R: Between her and the guy?
KL: Yeah.
F: Yeah, but we’re world’s apart right now. I’m like saying in 7 years when we’ve exhausted all the possible stories of me being a fish out of water, blue collar meets blue blood, maybe then we’ll end up in bed together.
R: It’ll be the perfect ending… not the perfect ending – the perfect climax… no, I shouldn’t say that either!
F: (Laughs)
R: I don’t know what I’m saying. You know what I’m saying? It’s like an episode to look forward to.
F: I’ll say!
R: (Laughs)… is Maxwell… you know, I’m sorry, I have not seen-
F: Charlie Shaughnessy. You know what… you should watch, are you going to be home tomorrow night? Because we have the big Christmas episode tomorrow night. It’s after Charlie Brown and…Peter and I
wrote this episode and it’s really wonderful because we go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and uh, I uh, it’s just wonderful.
R: We have a clip from it.
F: Oh, you do?
R: You want to take a look at it?
F: Okay.
R: This is when you receive a Christmas present.
F: (pointing) There’s so many people in your audience wearing Christmas sweaters.
KL: Aren’t they adorable?!
F: It makes a pretty picture.
KL: But they’re much too respectful today, I don’t know.
R: You want to take a look at…
F: Yeah, the family’s opening their Christmas presents.
Clip – Fran opening the present that Maggie gave her.
KL: Those kids are great.
F: You know it’s a very traditional silhouette of the show and then we color it in with very original details and it makes for a very enjoyable show. I think so, people seem to like it.
R: Right, so it’s Wednesday nights on CBS at 8:30 – tomorrow night.
F: Tomorrow night. Thank you very much.
**I know the pics are a little fuzzy, but that's because this is an old interview.
A HUGE thank you to
Kiki for sharing this interview as well as many others,
(that I'll be putting up when I can), with us!
Real Player
Back to Title Page
Back to Main Page
Back to Fran's Room
December 21, 1993
Regis: How are you?
Kathy Lee: It’s so nice to finally meet you.
F: I’m so happy to be here. I watch your show all the time. I’m so excited to be here, I can’t tell ya. I mean really! I’m so happy to be here!
R: And I’m happy that you’re happy.
KL: We’re very big fans of yours.
F: Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s mutual.
R: This is your first time on our show.
F: Yeah, I know. I’m so happy to be here. And I was waiting up in the office because apparently there’s some chorus taking over the Green Room.
R/K: Yeah.
F: I was sitting at Gelman’s desk watching the show and he had this sorry, little, half-dead plant with an American flag sticking out of it and then they said, they pointed to your desk and it had a little kind of Chia pet thing growing, it was so sweet.
KL: I have never been to my office upstairs in my life. I have never been in it! Never! A Chia pet?! I want that out!
F: (laughs)
R: Well, listen congratulations on all the terrific things that are happening to you-
F: Thank you.
R: You’re a local lady here, grew up over in Queens…
F: I know and now... (Audience Applause)
KL: What I loved about your success story Fran, is that you actually studied to get rid of this marvelous New York accent that you have and all the success that has come to you has been because you’ve just been yourself.
F: I know. Well-
KL/audience/Fran: (laughs)
F: You know it was always when I was out of work for an extended period of time that my manager and my agent would start saying it’s time to get rid of that accent and broaden yourself. I really did study and actually accomplished knowing how to do it, but I never, it didn’t get me work so-
KL: Do it for me.
R: Did you actually overcome it? I mean with all the lessons you had? And what were the lessons like?
F: Well, actually-
KL: (a la ‘My Fair Lady’) Rain in Spain.
F: It was Lillian Glass in Beverly Hills who had, I studied with and well, (readies her throat) she taught me how to do, okay, (readies her throat again) she taught me how to do what she calls a low – slow – flow dialect. (66kb - For Real Player download go to bottom of page)
R: Nice.
F: Yes! It’s not-
R: Nice!
F: What I think was-
(Audience Applause)
F: (Laughs)
R: Low, slow, flow.
F: Yeah, that’s what we did all the time. Weekend and week out, she worked with earphones, and recordings and exercises and basically we talked a lot and she would just be correcting me while she was talking to me.
R: And when it came time for the big job they wanted the uh…
KL: The New York thing.
F: The New York, yeah. And uh, you know, I’ve kind of become known for doing comedies, and the, it’s a funny voice, who’s kidding who?!
KL/Audience/Fran: (Laugh)
R: But you’ve always have, even as a kid, right?
F: Absolutely.
KL: Does your whole family basically sound like you?
F: My mother, my sister definitely sound like me, yeah. We all sound alike.
KL: Let’s get everybody on once Reg, it’d be the funniest thing in the world (To Fran) to have your mom and your sister and your-
R: A little coffee klatch with Fran.
F: (Laughs) Oh God, that would be a dream come true. My sister’s just getting married New Year’s weekend and my parents are flying up. It’s a very exciting time. We’re here in New York. I’m doing a show. Everyone’s watching it all over…
R: So what’s it like to be a star now?
F: (Laughs) It’s a lot of fun, I’ll tell ya!
R: Signing autographs in K-mart. What was that like?
F: I know! (laughs)
R: What was that like?
F: CBS sent me up to K-mart to sign autographs because they have this big promotional thing with CBS and uh… what was it like? You know, the people were very nice. I went to one of the flagship K-marts in Seattle-
R: Flagship?!
F: (Laughs)
R: How was it?
F: They sent a CBS star to every flagship K-mart. Of course, I asked who was getting the Los Angeles one?
R: Yep.
F: That was Marilu Henner.
R: Ohhhh.
KL: But she’s pregnant, she’s pregnant.
F: Oh, okay, you think that’s why? I thought it was because she was just more famous!
KL/Fran: (laugh)
F: She don’t have to travel.
KL: She’s pregnant.
R: Flagship K-mart in Seattle, that’s big!
F: There was me, and there was the uh, girl dressed up as a Barbie doll, and someone dressed up as Mr. Peanut and the Ever Ready Battery Rabbit.
(Audience Laughs and Fran joins in)
KL: A normal day in Seattle.
R: You were the biggest. You were bigger than all of ‘em! You were bigger than that rabbit!
(Fran laughs)
R: So you just signed…
F: I signed autographs when they said, ‘You know, uh uh, Oreos are on sale on Aisle 5, Fran Drescher is signing autographs on Aisle 6. Two women thought because there was a bottle of water on the table for me to drink when I get thirsty, they thought that I was there to give out samples of bottled water!
KL: (Laughs)
F: Don’t ask! …You know that was like an exercise in humiliation!
(Audience cracks up)
F: Just when you’ve think you you’ve made it!
R: Well, you’re back in New York now and you’re going to see a basketball game?
F: I’ve never been to a basketball game.
R: You’ve never been to the Garden to see the Knicks play?
F: No, never. I’m very excited. I mean, they say that’s the most exciting sport to spectate.
KL: To be courtside it is.
R: Are you close up?
F: I guess. You know, I’m going to be doing some local play-by-play talk show afterwards so… that’s part of the whole thing. They set you up to watch it, so I guess I’ll probably have good seats?
R: Sure.
F: And… what should I say?! I don’t know what to… who’s the big person? Who should I root for?
R: Mike Francessa is the host of the show. He’ll question you about what your thoughts are after seeing your first basketball game. You’ll have fun!
KL: And you can be you.
F: (laughs)
KL: You are your greatest asset.
R: Look. If you blackout over the game, take him right back to the flagship K-mart in Seattle! Don’t fool around with it!
F: In our show, I have a scene with Renee Taylor who was on your show and she’s telling us, me, about my cousin who has a beach-front property right next door to Dan Marino. And I say, ‘Who the hell is Dan Marino?’ And she says, ‘How the hell should I know?’ (laughs)
(Audience and KL laugh)
R: Boy, if you two don’t sound alike!
F: I know!
R: Now when you were auditioning, did those CBS guys get you two in a room together and listen to those voices?
F: You know, I have always wanted Renee to play my mother and we simply offered her that part. There was, in my mind, nobody else who could play my mother. She’s so much like me in her voice and in the way she approaches playing a part, she’s very specific-
KL: The timing.
F: …in her details. And you know, always rooted in a truthful place and I really love working with her. And we just finished another show where I have my 30th birthday and she gives me as a present, a bottle of Chanel ‘parfume’ and a cemetery plot that were having like a two for one sale. So this one is for now and this one is for later.
R: We’ve got to pause, but we’ll come back for more Fran Drescher.
~~~~~~
R: We have Fran Drescher, you’ve seen as the nanny, and incidentally quite a love story here…
KL: Yeah…
R: Been married at this tender young age for how many years now?
F: We just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.
R: 15th wedding anniversary!
(Audience applause)
KL: You met each other in high school?
F: Yep. We met each other when we were 15.
R: Peter Marc Jacobson.
F: Yeah. And he is one of the co-executive producers of the show. And he co-created it with me. And uh… we’re best friends. And we met in Jamaica, Queens, going to high school in 10th grade.
R: A couple of high school kids going to business together. Him producing-
KL: That’s so great.
R: … you acting and winding up in the same series. I think it’s a first.
F: I know… it probably is. You know, he started out as an actor also but over the years he had such a facility for this that as the opportunities came to him, it was, he had no choice but to keep moving in that direction and, I think now we’re both operating at our strengths. It’s a very happy time. I mean, it’s really amazing. We’ve been through highs and lows in our lives and good times and bad times. It’s nice that we have survived it and strengthen our relationship. We’ve gone to therapy when we needed help, someone to give us counseling. There is life after death! When you really think you’ve bottomed out then you just go that extra mile-
KL: Hang in there.
F: … and somehow it comes back.
R: Does he have a New York accent too?
F: No, curiously enough, I don’t know why. Because he lived just 10 blocks away!
KL: Something in the air in your house!
F: Yeah, something nasal was flying around.
(Audience laughs)
KL: (Laughs) I just told her if she lived in New York, she would be my best friend. You are funny!
R: (teasing KL about best friend remark) Oh, I don’t think so!
KL: (Stops and gives Regis an annoyed look.)
R: (Laughs and gives her a peck on the cheek.) I’m kidding!
KL: He needs a vacation from me, can you tell? Running on empty. That’s funny, Regis.
R: You do isometrics?
KL: Can you believe this woman does not work out? A few little isometrics.
R: When you do isometrics you just, you mean, you just hold it?
F: Yes.
KL: But you scrunch your butt muscles?
R: Buns of steel.
F: Where ever I am, sometimes I’m sitting in a movie theater and I noticed that everyone else is slumped over, eating their popcorn and I’m like sitting there, squeezing my butt!
R: You should sit up at all times.
KL: You can do it when you’re brushing your teeth, when you’re peeling potatoes…
F: I stretch my arms when I’m at work and I push back with it and everything…(chuckles) I don’t want to sound like I’m doing an exercise tape, (Regis & Kathy Lee are both sitting up straight now and look like they’re really concentrating on squeezing.), but since you brought it up! People, people are always asking me, do I work out? And I happen to be at my, on my thin side right now. You know, like once a decade a woman gets to lose weight without really trying and that’s where I’m at right now. It’s just from having to do everything. That’s how you lose weight without trying.
KL: Now what about your future? Are you and Peter going to have little ones and get a nanny of your own?
F: You know, I really, I think we will have at least one child. I want to do it when I have the kind of time, I know how to do it right because my parents did it right. And I don’t want to do anything less than what they gave to me, so I don’t have the time right now. I love the three kids on my show. I really enjoy vicariously, you know they’re all three different ages-
KL: Sure you can send them home.
F: I know! Love ‘em and leave ‘em. It’s perfect! But eventually I think and I say to Peter, when me and Maxwell have a baby on the show that’s when we’ll have a baby.
KL: You can write it into the show.
F: Exactly!
R: Right now you’re married to Maxwell?
F: No, I’m not married to Maxwell yet.
R: You’re the nanny!
F: I’m the nanny and this is like the Sound of Music-
R: I haven’t-
KL: There is an under current. (To Regis) There is sexual tension – remember that?
R: Between her and the guy?
KL: Yeah.
F: Yeah, but we’re world’s apart right now. I’m like saying in 7 years when we’ve exhausted all the possible stories of me being a fish out of water, blue collar meets blue blood, maybe then we’ll end up in bed together.
R: It’ll be the perfect ending… not the perfect ending – the perfect climax… no, I shouldn’t say that either!
F: (Laughs)
R: I don’t know what I’m saying. You know what I’m saying? It’s like an episode to look forward to.
F: I’ll say!
R: (Laughs)… is Maxwell… you know, I’m sorry, I have not seen-
F: Charlie Shaughnessy. You know what… you should watch, are you going to be home tomorrow night? Because we have the big Christmas episode tomorrow night. It’s after Charlie Brown and…Peter and I
wrote this episode and it’s really wonderful because we go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and uh, I uh, it’s just wonderful.
R: We have a clip from it.
F: Oh, you do?
R: You want to take a look at it?
F: Okay.
R: This is when you receive a Christmas present.
F: (pointing) There’s so many people in your audience wearing Christmas sweaters.
KL: Aren’t they adorable?!
F: It makes a pretty picture.
KL: But they’re much too respectful today, I don’t know.
R: You want to take a look at…
F: Yeah, the family’s opening their Christmas presents.
Clip – Fran opening the present that Maggie gave her.
KL: Those kids are great.
F: You know it’s a very traditional silhouette of the show and then we color it in with very original details and it makes for a very enjoyable show. I think so, people seem to like it.
R: Right, so it’s Wednesday nights on CBS at 8:30 – tomorrow night.
F: Tomorrow night. Thank you very much.
**I know the pics are a little fuzzy, but that's because this is an old interview.
A HUGE thank you to
Kiki for sharing this interview as well as many others,
(that I'll be putting up when I can), with us!
Real Player
Back to Title Page
Back to Main Page
Back to Fran's Room
KL: Yeah…
R: Been married at this tender young age for how many years now?
F: We just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.
R: 15th wedding anniversary!
(Audience applause)
KL: You met each other in high school?
F: Yep. We met each other when we were 15.
R: Peter Marc Jacobson.
F: Yeah. And he is one of the co-executive producers of the show. And he co-created it with me. And uh… we’re best friends. And we met in Jamaica, Queens, going to high school in 10th grade.
R: A couple of high school kids going to business together. Him producing-
KL: That’s so great.
R: … you acting and winding up in the same series. I think it’s a first.
F: I know… it probably is. You know, he started out as an actor also but over the years he had such a facility for this that as the opportunities came to him, it was, he had no choice but to keep moving in that direction and, I think now we’re both operating at our strengths. It’s a very happy time. I mean, it’s really amazing. We’ve been through highs and lows in our lives and good times and bad times. It’s nice that we have survived it and strengthen our relationship. We’ve gone to therapy when we needed help, someone to give us counseling. There is life after death! When you really think you’ve bottomed out then you just go that extra mile-
KL: Hang in there.
F: … and somehow it comes back.
R: Does he have a New York accent too?
F: No, curiously enough, I don’t know why. Because he lived just 10 blocks away!
KL: Something in the air in your house!
F: Yeah, something nasal was flying around.
(Audience laughs)
KL: (Laughs) I just told her if she lived in New York, she would be my best friend. You are funny!
R: (teasing KL about best friend remark) Oh, I don’t think so!
KL: (Stops and gives Regis an annoyed look.)
R: (Laughs and gives her a peck on the cheek.) I’m kidding!
KL: He needs a vacation from me, can you tell? Running on empty. That’s funny, Regis.
R: You do isometrics?
KL: Can you believe this woman does not work out? A few little isometrics.
R: When you do isometrics you just, you mean, you just hold it?
F: Yes.
KL: But you scrunch your butt muscles?
R: Buns of steel.
F: Where ever I am, sometimes I’m sitting in a movie theater and I noticed that everyone else is slumped over, eating their popcorn and I’m like sitting there, squeezing my butt!
R: You should sit up at all times.
KL: You can do it when you’re brushing your teeth, when you’re peeling potatoes…
F: I stretch my arms when I’m at work and I push back with it and everything…(chuckles) I don’t want to sound like I’m doing an exercise tape, (Regis & Kathy Lee are both sitting up straight now and look like they’re really concentrating on squeezing.), but since you brought it up! People, people are always asking me, do I work out? And I happen to be at my, on my thin side right now. You know, like once a decade a woman gets to lose weight without really trying and that’s where I’m at right now. It’s just from having to do everything. That’s how you lose weight without trying.
KL: Now what about your future? Are you and Peter going to have little ones and get a nanny of your own?
F: You know, I really, I think we will have at least one child. I want to do it when I have the kind of time, I know how to do it right because my parents did it right. And I don’t want to do anything less than what they gave to me, so I don’t have the time right now. I love the three kids on my show. I really enjoy vicariously, you know they’re all three different ages-
KL: Sure you can send them home.
F: I know! Love ‘em and leave ‘em. It’s perfect! But eventually I think and I say to Peter, when me and Maxwell have a baby on the show that’s when we’ll have a baby.
KL: You can write it into the show.
F: Exactly!
R: Right now you’re married to Maxwell?
F: No, I’m not married to Maxwell yet.
R: You’re the nanny!
F: I’m the nanny and this is like the Sound of Music-
R: I haven’t-
KL: There is an under current. (To Regis) There is sexual tension – remember that?
R: Between her and the guy?
KL: Yeah.
F: Yeah, but we’re world’s apart right now. I’m like saying in 7 years when we’ve exhausted all the possible stories of me being a fish out of water, blue collar meets blue blood, maybe then we’ll end up in bed together.
R: It’ll be the perfect ending… not the perfect ending – the perfect climax… no, I shouldn’t say that either!
F: (Laughs)
R: I don’t know what I’m saying. You know what I’m saying? It’s like an episode to look forward to.
F: I’ll say!
R: (Laughs)… is Maxwell… you know, I’m sorry, I have not seen-
F: Charlie Shaughnessy. You know what… you should watch, are you going to be home tomorrow night? Because we have the big Christmas episode tomorrow night. It’s after Charlie Brown and…Peter and I wrote this episode and it’s really wonderful because we go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and uh, I uh, it’s just wonderful.
R: We have a clip from it.
F: Oh, you do?
R: You want to take a look at it?
F: Okay.
R: This is when you receive a Christmas present.
F: (pointing) There’s so many people in your audience wearing Christmas sweaters.
KL: Aren’t they adorable?!
F: It makes a pretty picture.
KL: But they’re much too respectful today, I don’t know.
R: You want to take a look at…
F: Yeah, the family’s opening their Christmas presents.
F: You know it’s a very traditional silhouette of the show and then we color it in with very original details and it makes for a very enjoyable show. I think so, people seem to like it.
R: Right, so it’s Wednesday nights on CBS at 8:30 – tomorrow night.
F: Tomorrow night. Thank you very much.
A HUGE thank you to Kiki for sharing this interview as well as many others,
(that I'll be putting up when I can), with us!
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