00:00Welcome to Meet Your Nominees. I'm Mariah Goa from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm on the set of The Good Place with Ted Danson.
00:07Hi Ted. How are you? How are you doing? I'm good. End of the day. Excited about going home. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. We'll make it quick and painless for you.
00:17No, no, no. I'm kind of a mellow, you know. Yeah, well, maybe this will excite you. Yes, it will. This is your 18th Emmy nomination.
00:26How do you feel about that? You know what? That's pretty cool. And I've won two, so that means what a loser.
00:36Oh, sorry. I remember driving home, you know, during the Cheers years and my kids who would stay up, but, you know, were like 8 and 10 or something or younger.
00:48So, did you win? No, no, but it's okay. It was really fun. And, you know, you have to be philosophical.
00:56When you lose, you can be relaxed when you win. That's the only difference. You have to work a little harder when you lose.
01:04And how has the Emmy ceremony changed since then? Don't know. I haven't been for a while, so I'll let you know.
01:10But I do remember that you brought food. You filled your pockets with little snacks.
01:15Yeah. Because it's a long haul. It's like a four and a half hour deal.
01:21Well, you're lucky in this category because you've already won for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
01:28So, things are looking good for you.
01:31Nice. Good. I'm glad to hear that.
01:34And what does Emmy Night look like for you? Are you going to be able to stay out late, dance at the after parties?
01:42Wow, you never know. A little splash of CBD oil and maybe I'll hit the dance floor.
01:49Excellent. Excellent. So, let's talk a little bit about The Good Place.
01:53Because The Good Place is obviously a very unique television show. But in your career, what makes it so special to you?
02:05Here's what I love about it. It's about decency. It's about ethics. It's about your actions have consequences.
02:17Everything you do. That action goes out into the universe and whatever amount of good or bad it creates, there are consequences.
02:28Somebody's, you know, paying attention. And I like that. I like that being put out in the world.
02:34Now, that's kind of could be preachy or something, you know.
02:39And it's not because it's wrapped in this kind of nine-year-old's fart sense of humor.
02:46And it's sprinkled with visual magic because we're in the afterlife. We're not on earth.
02:53Except for those moments that we are.
02:55So, it's this wonderful visual. There's so many things going on.
03:01And Mike Schur, our creator, has, there's so many funny things.
03:06But he doesn't stop to go, here's a funny thing. Wasn't that funny?
03:09It's just, whew.
03:10So, people watch it several times, the same episode.
03:15Kids, 12-year-olds come up.
03:17And I love that.
03:18And are glued to it.
03:20And families watch it together.
03:23And I just love that.
03:24Because it's about something.
03:25And that's pretty neat.
03:26Yeah.
03:27And the character of Michael, what about him do you think resonated with the Emmy voters this year?
03:34Tell me a little bit about, you know, how he's written.
03:38Well, it's always fun to see somebody who you thought was one-way flip.
03:44Kind of in front of your eyes.
03:45And you go, oh, that kind of Willy Wonka, nice guy act was an act.
03:51And he's really a demon having the best time torturing people.
03:54But seeing the second season, you saw behind the curtain.
03:58So, that's always fun when you see, you know, somebody being so nice and actually, you know, just ripping the rug right up from under you.
04:06So, it was kind of that season for me where it was sky's the limit, you know.
04:12Yes.
04:12And at the end of the season, you had to play bartender to Eleanor.
04:17And Michael Schur said he wanted to ask your permission to film that scene.
04:23What was that conversation like?
04:25It was that.
04:26Yeah.
04:26Do you mind?
04:27No, I don't.
04:28Then I went.
04:30And I minded.
04:31Right.
04:32Because there's this bizarre, you know, I never went to bars.
04:36I had to go to bartending school to even understand all of this for Cheers.
04:40And it took me like two years to get that kind of arrogant bartender, you know, man about town kind of thing.
04:51So, going back to that just made me, I was sweating and I was nervous and I felt unsure of myself, which is basically how I feel in a bar anyway.
05:00And season three, you're filming it right now.
05:06What's it like?
05:07What's Michael's character like?
05:10Are you enjoying what he's doing?
05:12The new things he gets to do in season three?
05:14Oh, Lord, yeah.
05:14Very much so.
05:15Very much so.
05:16I can't give away stuff because it's just fun to discover it as you go.
05:21But it's about, we do become a family this year.
05:25You really tangibly see how much, you know, we love each other as characters, but also as actors.
05:34So, it's really been a fun year.
05:36Excellent.
05:36Yeah.
05:37And it's funny.
05:38This year is really, really funny.
05:41And they do these outrageous turns and we're all over the place.
05:46I don't doubt that.
05:47Yeah.
05:48You'll love it.
05:49Mike sure will not disappoint you.
05:50In our roundtables last year, you said you never wanted your fame to exceed your ability
05:57to get work.
05:58Yeah.
05:58Did you have to make conscious choices to make sure that didn't happen?
06:03No.
06:03I mean, no.
06:05The choices that I learned to make as I went along was not to worry about having something
06:12created for you or how big was the part or that, you know, I learned finally kind of
06:18halfway through.
06:19Well, I was very lucky.
06:20I mean, Lord, I had some of the best writers and best experiences.
06:24But at a certain point, I realized what I need to do is go be in the room with the most
06:30creative people.
06:32Ask them very nicely if I can be part of whatever it is they're doing and don't worry about the
06:36size of the part and just go be with creativity.
06:40So, always looking for the creativity, you know, I think stands you in good stead.
06:47Now, Ted, I can't interview you without asking you about your amazing wife, Mary Steve.
06:53Oh, yes.
06:54Good.
06:54Now this is going to pick up a little.
06:56What's the best piece of advice she's given you career-wise?
06:59Oh, whoops.
06:59Wow.
07:03Sit up straight.
07:06You know, I don't know if she gives me, well, of course she gives me advice, but not really,
07:12you know.
07:14She's just incredibly, yeah, no, we're just both supportive of each other's.
07:18I fell in love with, partly with her creativity and who she was as an actor.
07:24I was totally, you know, starstruck even before I met her.
07:28So, I wouldn't think of giving her advice and I don't think, I don't think she does.
07:33She'll comment about my hair periodically.
07:36And her go-to thing to get me to change something, she's, oh, it makes you look very old.
07:40I go, huh?
07:41Oh, you know.
07:42Girls, they're very good at winning arguments.
07:47Yeah, that choice made you look old.
07:48Oh, what?
07:49No.
07:50Now, you're passionate about ocean conservation.
07:55Can you give us an advice on, you know, what's one thing that we can do to help heal the ocean?
08:02Everyday people.
08:04All right, you know, know that your actions have consequences.
08:09So, if you care about your health, which you should, especially if you're a woman of childbearing years.
08:18Years ago, during the Bush administration, and it's only gotten worse, one out of six women had too much mercury in their system to safely give birth to a child without the possibility of neurological damage.
08:31That gets your attention as a consumer.
08:34So, learn what it is you're eating, then you discover that the FBI in this country has said years ago, not long ago, that 60, 70% of what you're eating, depending on where you are, is not the fish that you thought it was when you're in the market.
08:51There's a lot of seafood fraud or restaurants, whether it's the boat that's lying or the restaurant or the, you know.
08:58So, then you don't get to have a vote on what you're eating for your health point of view.
09:06All of these things are a way to get people's attention so that we can manage our oceans correctly.
09:13Because if people are lying and cheating and overfishing areas and then just calling it something else, you can't manage your oceans correctly.
09:20And if you did, you could create a billion fish meals a day sustainably, forever.
09:27That's a big deal when you think about feeding the planet because you're not using any fresh water.
09:32You're not cutting down any rainforest.
09:34It's kind of like the perfect protein.
09:35So, educate yourself as a consumer.
09:38Then give money.
09:40Find an organization.
09:41Go online and start following them and learning about them that's working internationally.
09:47And then, well, go check out Oceana.org, which is I'm on the advisory board of.
09:53If that rings a bell to you, then support it because the work has to be done on an international level.
10:00And right now, vote.
10:03Yes.
10:04You know, because this particular administration wants to open up the entire coastline of the United States to offshore oil drilling.
10:13Unless it's a state that he likes better than other states.
10:16You know, but so vote.
10:18Yeah.
10:18Make sure that you know that that could be harmful to your coastal cities and economy and, you know, tourism and hotels and all of that.
10:28So, educate yourself.
10:30That's my advice.
10:31And one way to do that is to go to Oceana.org.
10:34That's great advice.
10:36Thank you so much, Ted.
10:37Yeah, thank you.
10:37Thanks for asking.
10:38Yeah.
10:38We'll see you on Emmy tonight.
10:40Yes, you will.
10:41I know.
10:42I know.
10:47Thank you, Ted.
10:49Yeah.
10:50Thanks for having me.
10:50Thanks for listening.
10:51You did.
10:55I know.
10:56I know.
10:58Hi.
11:01I know.
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