(pop music)
Our first guest is best known
for her roles in Dawson's Creek and Cougar Town,
and now she's got a new book, and a new talk show.
It's called Busy Tonight.
Welcome back to our show, Busy Phillips.
(Crowd applauding)
(pop music)
Oh my god! I love your outfit! No. Come on.
I'm not sure.
I know. I know. I know. I'm obsessed with it.
You're being interviewed.
I feel like, honestly, this is something
I would rock. I'm obsessed.
This is the thing with me and you.
What?
Okay.
Tell me.
The other day on The After Show,
remember I was saying that she's coming to the show,
but secretly, I'm interviewing you
for a position in my head.
(Busy laughs)
Like, to be one of my friends in my head.
Yeah. I can be your friend in your head.
We've talked. I'm not sure.
Oh! What's holding you back, Wendy?
In my mind, it was if I roll up to your house,
and I see Kerry Washington, Demi Moore, Drew Barrymore,
and the rest of them, I'm turning around.
Okay!
(laughing)
I'm not that cool! If you're my friend, you're my friend!
Wendy,
What?
I know I've worked in Hollywood for a really long time,
and I can roll with those girls, but truly,
90% of the time, it's Emily Beebee,
my best friend since I was five, my husband, our two kids.
I read that, and I get sucked in
You know what I mean?
Yeah, but that's, generally, like, if you came over
to our house for a dinner party, it would be that.
And then maybe Michelle Williams.
Acceptable, because you have been friends with Michelle
for a very, very long time.
You even had a bar fight for her.
I did! I did!
(laughing)
Yeah, she just told that story recently,
but I am very, very loyal for my friends.
But also, do not mess with my friends.
And, when we were shooting, not Cougar Town,
when we were shooting Dawson's Creek
in Wilmington, North Carolina,
there were some girls at a bar.
That's the age. That's the age
that I got into the bar fight.
And there were some girls being rude to Michelle,
and I just was like, I'm not having this. Absolutely not.
And I used to have a nose ring, like my septum pierced.
I was kind of a badass.
There I am. Wow, wow! Okay Busy, calm down.
(Wendy laughing)
Okay. I like it!
And I just was like, I'm gonna defend her honor.
I was like, do we need to take this outside?
(audience whoops)
They apologized! It diffused the situation,
no blows were thrown, it diffused the situation
because I threatened violence.
(audience applauds and cheers)
Perfect!
(Busy giggles)
So Michelle was married at one point to the late...
They were not married. They were never married,
but they have a baby together, who's my goddaughter.
And how old is she now?
She turns thirteen next week.
Heath Ledger, everyone. Thirteen?
Yeah, Yeah.
So you guys are thick like that.
Now she remarried, did you go to the wedding?
Yes, I was there.
Were you a bridesmaid?
Well, it was just very small and intimate and sweet,
and it was just lovely.
She is just such a private person, they both are,
and it was just really sweet.
Okay, you're back in my head.
You're back in my head.
(laughing and applauding)
'Cause, I don't want to hear about
you have to buy the dress to match.
By the way, this dress, right here,
is poofy and beautiful on you.
Christian Siriano. I am obsessed with him.
(audience applauding)
Oh my god. It's really good.
I love him because he really designs for all women.
You guys know who Christian Siriano is?
Yeah, he's been here.
Yeah, and he really designs for all women.
He's very body inclusive.
In fact, my sister was coming to the premiere with me,
and my sister used to be a plus size model.
She's a larger, curvier girl,
and she was really having a panic,
like, "I can't find a dress that fits me.
I don't feel good."
And I knew I was wearing this dress,
and I emailed Christian,
and I was like, "I know you don't normally,
but my sister, she's not gonna be on the red carpet,
but she doesn't have any--" And he's like,
not even a worry, and shipped a dress that he like
just made specially for her.
(audience applauding)
And he's just forever in my heart.
I just love him to pieces.
Yeah, he's a sweet guy.
By the way, all this, all this! Really?
I knew I was coming to see you,
so I was like, I wanted my leopard and put in some hair.
(laughing)
It's all working.
(applauding)
Did I give you Shoe Cam?
Ya, ya, ya.
No? I did? No I didn't. Put your feet on those feet.
Just twist and turn. Little Busy Phillips shoe cam.
These are a small heel for me actually.
Really?
But I have a long day ahead,
I guess my stylist was trying to protect me.
I've reduced myself all the way down to flats.
I'm obsessed, but a white sneaker is everything.
Yup!
I wear a white sneaker all the time.
Okay, you're back in my head.
(Busy and audience laughs)
So how's Marc? They've been married for 11 years.
Ya, he's good, he's dumb, he's great.
There we are together.
Someone told me that you often ask him for a divorce.
No! Ha ha. No I don't often ask him for a divorce,
but I do write about it in my book.
We've had ups and downs. Marriage is hard. We have 2 kids.
We live lives that are full of a lot of different things
and I am just very open and honest
with the fact that it is, it has been a struggle.
It continues to be something we work on.
Did most of your family have to read about you in here,
Yes, ya
to understand exactly what was--. Right?
Ya well Marc and I had a conversation,
actually I get very deeply personal in the book
and I tell a lot of stories from my childhood
and teen years, that I had never really
talked publicly about before.
And I was having a hard time ending the book and my husband,
who's a very, very supportive feminist awesome dude,
was like, it's because you're not being honest
about what goes on, what's being going on in our marriage,
and that you felt so alone and you should write about it.
Like you're being so deeply personal about everything else.
Wow, I love it.
Ya, and he's like, go for it. Tell your truth. So I did.
By the way
(audience applause)
you're pose on the cover, definitely your friend in my head.
You see how you're
Gripping?
Gripping insecurely? Yes!
She's gripping insecurely at her chair.
The way I do during hot topics like,
you know you grip, oh my god I'm here
Ya, ya.
Is today the last day? Oh my god, oh my god.
I'm about to start this journey,
I was going to ask you some tips.
Let's talk about that. So you gonna have a,
alright Busy's got a late night show, it's coming on E.
Uh huh
It begins when?
It's October 28th 10 PM, 4 nights a week.
Come join me for a margarita.
(audience applause)
We're going to have some celebrity guests.
So you're going to make friends with these people?
Well, I mean a lot of it, I know it's hard right?
What do you do? Cause you do you're hot topics,
or is there anything that's off limits?
Do you get stories sometimes about celebrities
and you're like I'm not touching that,
cause I don't want a call?
No!
No. (Busy laughs)
Cause I don't live like you live,
and that's why I want the skids with you.
I don't know whether you're in my head or out of my head.
Like to be a really good talk show host,
you can't fraternize with them.
Right, you just have to be separate.
Yup! That's all I'm saying.
Okay. I mean, ya. I think that ship has sailed,
cause I'm already friends with so many people.
Damn it man!
(Busy laughs)
Maybe it'll just be a little bit different.
I mean I definitely, I could never,
I'm not Wendy. You know?
I could never be Wendy.
So, what's the talk shows? A half hour, an hour?
It's a half hour, 10 PM. We'll like kinda go through some,
a little bit of the days events.
We'll have one celebrity guest.
So that means hot topics?
A little bit, ya like, we'll see. But you know--
So you're doing hot topics on your late night show.
(Busy laughs)
And you really think you're gonna
remain friends with these people?
I mean, I think that there are certain things
that I have a boundary with because--
Oh my god! Your nails! Oh my god! Look! Rainbow!
Alright so,
Get up on it.
Alright so my mother was a real estate agent
growing up in the 80's and 90's
and she always had these like perfectly manicured,
acrylic nails. And I guess in my head,
I just, I put that when you're a woman
Right
You get nails
Well let me tell you something,
now that you're a talk show host,
you have no time for nails. You chomp them down to the bit,
(Busy laughs)
you figure out your color that you're gonna wear.
I wear the same color everyday, that's it, that's it.
I already have been having this problem.
Do you know what I did last night? I got a facial at 10 PM.
Look I know this is not highly relatable but I was like,
I am going, going, going, doing all this press.
I was done at 9:15 and the facialist was like come on over.
You gotta get your nails done at like midnight, right?
I do them myself.
Oh, okay
It's a remove and paint you know.
I don't wanna be involved.
You know after you work all day on your show,
Ya
Believe me
You just wanna go home and sleep
Uh huh, your gonna want to take off your eyelashes,
and take out your hair, and just go home.
(Busy laughs) -Okay, well we'll see, I have a few weeks.
Okay if you have time for Cricket and,
Birdie.
Birdie.
Those are my little girls.
Ya, and Marc, that's your priority.
Ya, for sure. My girls are like 100 percent my priority.
So how'd you get this talk show?
What, where'd this come from?
I think that part of it.
I heard you got drunk in the middle of the country
(Busy laughs)
No, no, no.
No I was stoned, in the desert.
Okay, okay. Perfect.
(Audience applauds)
And then what happened?
Well I was at a little bit of a career crossroads.
You know I've been an actress for 20 years,
I've done lots of television, I've done movies.
And I didn't know what I wanted to do next,
nothing was sort of speaking to me,
and people really respond to my Instagram,
and my Instagram stories, and they love following me there.
And Tina Fey had reached out
and she said like lets develop something together.
You know her?
There she is.
See, nope, get out.
(Busy laughs)
There's like, no hot topics about Tina.
She is just like the best, most wonderful person.
I could never say anything that would,
like you know what I mean.
Like she's never gonna be in a tabloid story. Right?
Until she is.
Right!
And then you gotta talk.
And then you gotta talk about it.
And that's when you have to choose your sides.
Well she's my boss, so,
anyways so she's producing my talk show
Sometimes you have to walk away from the money.
Okay. Well, I'm not walking away yet,
I don't have that much. So, anyways
so she said lets develop something together
and I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I went to Palm Springs for my managers birthday party,
it was at the Merv Griffin Estate.
Look at this. Get out of my head. Go ahead.
I got a little stoned, it's legal in California guys.
Right.
And I just turned to Marc and I was like,
I know what I'm supposed to do,
I need a late night talk show.
And it was just was like that.
Can I ask you something before we wrap up?
Ya, ya, ya
I wanted to know what your set looks like.
Like will you walk out and greet the crowd
with a stand up opening monologue,
or will you be sitting at a desk.
There's no desk.
Made of wood
There's no desk. It looks like the set,
actually they're building the set in Los Angeles
while I'm here, so I had my interior designer.
I was going to say, have you given instructions?
Ya, ya, ya, oh of course a hundred percent.
My interior designer in LA that did my house,
who's one of my best friends for 20 years.
She's mentioned in the book.
She, and actually I had to like cram her into the book,
cause I felt sad that she didn't a mention.
And you got a big chair?
I have a chair and I've got a cozy--, it's more like a,
little bit like a house set. Like you're in my home.
Okay.
Like come to my home and like lets chat.
I can dig it
Ya, and so they're building it right now,
and I can't wait to get back to LA and see it.
And then we have a week of test shows.
I've been running the show every day,
like just for the, my writers and my producers.
You know, with no guests. They pretend to be my guest,
and I interview them.
This don't count. It's the host that makes the show.
Right
(audience applauds and cheers)
That is true.
That is true.
So I do, we've been running through it.
Practicing every day, and you know we're gonna see.
So then when we get back we'll figure out
if I'm going to stand or sit or how I'm most comfortable.
Ugh.
When the set if built. It's a lot.
Remember you built your your show.
You're back in my head.
(audience cheers)
Busy Phillips everybody. Her book is available right now,
and her show premieres October 28th on E. Let's watch.
