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00:00Please welcome, creator, writer, director, executive producer, Seth McFarlane, and she plays Susan on Ted, Lana Ubeck.
00:10How am I, am I supposed to work these balls into my seating position?
00:14I don't know what's happening here.
00:16This is a weirdly intimate, brightly lit room.
00:21Yeah, I'm just, should I, do I lean against this? Is that what's...
00:23Yeah, let's get, let's get cozy.
00:25This is fine, yeah.
00:26We're gonna get cozy, we're gonna move balls around.
00:28Does this look remotely human?
00:31Okay, this is, hello, I'm so excited to be here.
00:35This is the only time where I can say strap-on, weed, calling porn lines, you know, things like that.
00:45You could, you could say those things anytime.
00:47Anytime, but I mean in front of my bosses.
00:51With, with, I mean, these are all things from...
00:53It's not like this is the wrap, you're fine.
00:57Okay, this is, this is all from Ted, season two.
01:01I just want to know, how far can you push it before, like, the head honchos are like,
01:06Seth, you've gone too far with that.
01:09Like, what is your, what is the, like, no, we're not doing that.
01:13I mean, on, on Peacock, it, pretty much everything is, I mean, they're, you know, look at their name.
01:19Like, it's, everything is fine.
01:21No, I, you know, it's not like we're on a network.
01:24On streaming, it really is, you know, up to your own judgment.
01:27But there are steps along the way that prevent you from crossing the line.
01:31And there's, you know, the table read, you get as many people as you can together to listen to the
01:37script.
01:38And if there are things that are just too offensive to be funny, you're met with dead silence in the
01:44room.
01:45Right.
01:45And, and if it makes it through that stage, then you do have, I think there is actually a broadcast
01:52standards person at Peacock.
01:55I've, I don't know who it is.
01:56I've never met them.
01:57You've never met them.
01:59I've never had a call.
02:02Uh, so, but I'm assuming they're there.
02:04Right.
02:04But yeah, we've never like, you know, we, we, we do, we do try to be relatively responsible within the,
02:10you know, guidelines that we're given.
02:12Yeah.
02:13Love that.
02:13I want to know, Alana, for you, what is it like when you get these scripts and you're doing that
02:18table read and you're like, oh, I've got to say this out loud.
02:22Oh, it, you know what?
02:23It's, I love Susan so much.
02:26She could say bananas, bananas, bananas, bananas for 30 minutes and I'd be happier than a pig in mud.
02:32Um, Susan to me is very sacred.
02:36She is actually, uh, it was personal, um, set this character to Seth.
02:42Uh, he actually grew up with this character.
02:45So, you know, I always made it a point to, to really, you know, handle her with kitten gloves and,
02:51and, uh, in the best way possible.
02:53It's, it's what Alana says between takes that's more of the issue.
02:56Absolutely.
02:57And, um, and that's, uh, why we're here because that's, that hasn't been recorded or documented.
03:03Well, I want to know what you say between takes.
03:05Give me an example.
03:06Oh gosh, no.
03:08Uh, well, Maddie, I, oh, I fucked up the line.
03:12Can we do that one more time?
03:13Okay.
03:14Let's do it.
03:14And then, and then.
03:15But that's benign compared to.
03:18100%.
03:18Yeah.
03:18We're going to, we're, let's keep it clean.
03:20Yeah.
03:20Let's keep it clean.
03:21Keep it clean for variety.
03:23Okay.
03:24Um, okay.
03:25So one episode that I really loved, aside from the Mrs. Robichak episode, which is episode
03:30one, if you've seen it, do not watch it with kids.
03:33I mean, you can, if you want to explain.
03:35It's episode two.
03:36Sorry.
03:36Episode two.
03:37Um, but, but the Dungeons and Dragons episode was so much fun.
03:42You go full on, you know, John and Ted are looking for weed as, as you do.
03:47And they go on this thing.
03:48How did you even come up with that and be like, we're going to go full on and put you
03:52in costume
03:53and.
03:54Um, oh, that was a lot because first of all, I know nothing about Dungeons and Dragons because
03:59I am a 50 year old, uh, actor and I don't know anything about Dungeons and Dragons.
04:05So when everyone was so excited, Alana, the Dungeons and Dragons episode is coming on.
04:10Oh, okay.
04:13Chat GPT.
04:13What the fuck is Dungeons and Dragons?
04:18And then that's how I learned it.
04:19But I was, uh, I was invited to play a Dungeons and Dragons game before this started filming
04:24and I didn't show up.
04:26I didn't because, uh, yeah, I'm addicted to breathing.
04:29I don't, I did not understand Dungeons and Dragons and I never will.
04:35And I'm damn proud of it.
04:38The writer of the episode, Chelsea Davison, um, is a, is an experienced DM.
04:44Oh, aficionado.
04:46I guess it's called a DM.
04:47I certainly wouldn't know.
04:48Um, but it's, uh, she's a DM, a dungeon master who basically, you know, puts together
04:54the whole, the whole routine and she, um, set one up for, uh, the Ted writers room.
05:01So before we started writing the episode, we just spent a day playing Dungeons and Dragons.
05:06And of course, like two thirds of the room had never played it before.
05:10And then, you know, some of us had, but, uh, but it was, you know, it was a great write
05:15off, I guess.
05:16The whole subculture.
05:17I mean, the fan base to Dungeons and Dragons and then the guest star that we had who was
05:24available, this huge star in the Dungeons and Dragons world.
05:29I didn't know who the kid was.
05:31Spoil it.
05:31You can spoil it.
05:32Yeah.
05:33I have socks older than him and he just walks in, you know, just waving his ego in the air
05:39and, you know, constantly wanted, you know, purified water in between the tanks.
05:43He was a diva.
05:44You're fucking insane.
05:46You know that?
05:46You're just fucking, that's why we love her.
05:49That's why she's so wonderful.
05:50Go ahead.
05:51To have this kind of insanity just below the surface.
05:54I think that's what it takes to make a great actor.
05:56I really do.
05:57I'm actually quite boring in, in, in real life.
05:59But here you go.
06:00Not true.
06:00I swear.
06:01I want to come to your set one day and just observe what, wouldn't you just like to be
06:05like a fly on the wall when these, when they're shooting the show?
06:09Um, but then going to the very serious because you do also tackle abortion.
06:14And when I saw that, I was like, oh my God, what are they going to do?
06:18My favorite episode.
06:19It's one of the best episodes.
06:20It's also really funny too.
06:23Like, how did you find that line of like, we're going to tackle this, but we're going
06:27to keep it in line with Ted and just go.
06:29I think that was the one episode that people were afraid to shoot.
06:33Right.
06:33Was that the one?
06:35Nobody showed up.
06:36No one showed up for it.
06:37Yeah.
06:37The set was empty that day.
06:38We had to, no, we thought maybe this will be our Emmy.
06:46Comedies do still win Emmys, right?
06:47That's still a thing we can, it's possible.
06:49It has bare elements to it.
06:53Uh, no, but yeah, it was, uh, it's ballsy and it's pushing the envelope and, you know,
07:00underneath all the absurdity, there's a message and it's smart and it winks at you and you
07:07either get it or you don't.
07:08The abortion episode winks at you.
07:11It's, um, yeah, I mean, it's like, I always use all in the family as like the North star.
07:17Um, I, I was a huge Norman Lear fan and, and, you know, in writing that episode, that's
07:22kind of what we tried to look to for inspiration that, that however we approach this, every character's
07:29perspective has to be true to their character.
07:32It can't ever be, you know, a writer using a character as a megaphone.
07:37And, and I think hopefully we succeeded in that.
07:39Hopefully each character kind of presents their point of view and, and, uh, and it feels
07:44real as opposed to, you know, anybody on a soapbox.
07:47Take me into your creative space.
07:49Like, I'm curious, what does that look like when you're putting together a season like this?
07:57Uh, let me try, okay.
07:59I'm trying to condense this.
08:00I mean, it's, it's, you just mean the process?
08:02Yeah.
08:02Yeah.
08:03It's, I mean, you, you know, it's the, once the script is written, um, it's, uh, we, we
08:10shoot the, you know, the plates, which, you know, shooting the episode, the actor's performances,
08:15the plates for the bear.
08:16Um, there's a stuff to bear on set that stands in for, um, uh, you know, just to, so the
08:23VFX folks can see how it's lit and how the light catches it and whatnot.
08:29In fact, before the show started filming, we gave each actor a Ted that they were instructed
08:33to carry around in their day-to-day life.
08:36Um, just so they could get comfortable with like where his eyes were and the height that
08:40they were going to be working with.
08:41But of course they weren't allowed to, as Max points out, they weren't allowed to tell
08:46people that they were on Ted.
08:48So these poor actors walking around with a teddy bear and just like looking like lunatics.
08:53Weird.
08:54Um, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's a, what about three and a half months to shoot the
09:00season and then about eight or nine months to put the bear in.
09:05And it's, we have an amazing visual effects team, um, here in LA run by Blair Clark.
09:11And, uh, and, uh, Framestore Melbourne does our, uh, actual visual effects work and they're
09:17just extraordinary.
09:18It's an amazing group of animators who really understand acting, which is such a gift.
09:24How has that technology evolved from season one to season two?
09:29It's evolved.
09:30Well, since the movies, it's evolved a lot.
09:33And, you know, when we did the movies, I had to wear this whole getup with all of these
09:39sensors that were strapped to my body.
09:41And I was like plugged into this mainframe, whatever the hell it was for season one as
09:45well.
09:46Yeah.
09:46Yeah.
09:47And so when I would, I would sometimes forget that I was wearing and I would run to talk
09:50to the actors and this thing would be ripped out of the, you know, whatever hard drive
09:54was, you know, recording my images and my movements.
09:59And, and we didn't have to do that in season two.
10:02There was a, there was a, uh, program called view screen that was developed at fuzzy door
10:07by our, our tech folks.
10:08And it was literally just an iPhone.
10:10I was standing there, you know, doing the gestures, doing the movements.
10:14And, uh, it was just picked up by that program.
10:17And so it, it, it's come a long way even since season one and certainly a long way since
10:21the films.
10:23Um, Alana, I've got to ask you then, what was it like carrying Ted around in your daily
10:29life?
10:30Well, first of all, I thought he was like cousin it.
10:33I thought he would come up to my waist and he came down.
10:37He was, I thought he was this tall.
10:39He's this tall.
10:41He's very little.
10:43And so using that as an eyeline, okay, so that's what I'm having to look down.
10:48Not exactly like this, but like this.
10:50And, uh, and so he was sort of the family pet.
10:53And so I envisioned, I have a dog.
10:55He's just going to be the dog.
10:57And you have fish too, don't you?
10:59I do.
11:00Yeah.
11:00I'm a fish, uh, aficionado.
11:02I'm a fishionado.
11:03A fish.
11:05Hey, see what I did there?
11:07Yeah.
11:08Yes, I did.
11:09But, uh, yes, I, I love my pets.
11:11And so.
11:12Helen Keller could see what you did.
11:13Absolutely.
11:14And, uh, so, and so, uh, yeah, I, that's what I did.
11:20That's how I, uh, I just thought of, I thought of him as the family pet who could talk.
11:25Did you start interacting with that?
11:27Pardon?
11:27Did you interact with that bear?
11:29Were you like talking to him?
11:31Oh, absolutely.
11:32And then finally you're on set and it's nothing like what you practice with.
11:36There are these two eyeballs connected to this, um, pole.
11:40And you're basically looking at those two eyeballs the entire time.
11:44So they don't exactly have the bear there the entire time.
11:47When the bear is there, it's called the stuffy pass.
11:50But to your credit as an actor and to the whole cast, it's like the, the eyeballs are
11:53there when we can, you know, when they're not going to disrupt the shot.
11:56But most of the time you guys are acting to empty space.
11:59Sure.
12:00And we, we can hear, we can hear, uh, Seth's voice in a, from, you know, coming from a
12:06booth to the right.
12:07So it's getting used to, yeah.
12:09So when you'd hear Ted, you'd have to look this way, but then he'd be talking that way.
12:13And so you'd want to, oh gosh, one more time.
12:18It is.
12:18That is interesting.
12:19Like it, I contacted for actors.
12:20Like it's such a, your instinct is always to look at the person who's talking.
12:23Sure.
12:24I am so the opposite, like a table reads, the first time I did a table read with like
12:29actual actors who weren't voiceover actors, I was like, oh my God, they're all looking
12:32at me.
12:33They're looking for a reaction.
12:34I have to react.
12:35What are you doing weirdo?
12:36And it's, but it's like, but it's like how you, how you connect.
12:40Sure.
12:41Yeah.
12:42Got to sell it, baby.
12:47Um, I mean, as I said, this whole season is great.
12:50The, the one, the other scene that we've got to talk about is when they're working in
12:56Dunkin' Donuts and a president walks in and it's Bill Clinton.
13:01Talk about that and how you pulled that off.
13:05Yeah, that was, I mean, you know, we had done, that's something we couldn't have done even
13:09in season one.
13:10I think it's, uh, although I'm not sure.
13:12On, uh, the Orville, we, when we had Dolly Parton on, we did use some AI to, um, or some
13:20deep fake technology rather to essentially create 1990 Dolly Parton.
13:25And it was, it was sort of a similar approach here on family guy.
13:30We had done Bill Clinton a hundred times and with 2d animation, the audience is obviously
13:35very forgiving.
13:35They don't expect it to look exactly like, you know, whoever it is because it's 2d and
13:41here it was, uh, it, it's different because it's a live action show.
13:45So we said, well, if we're going to do this, either we have to, you know, just, uh, do what
13:52they didn't like in Harold and Kumar with George W. Bush, find an actor that looks a lot like
13:56him or it's somehow has to be indistinguishable from, from Bill Clinton.
14:02Um, and so we tried, um, traditional CGI, we tried prosthetics and everything just looked
14:10really terrifying.
14:12Like it just looked all really scary.
14:14And, uh, and so we said, well, what if we just did like a deep fake?
14:18What if we did, you know, actually, you know, used what is essentially AI as a tool?
14:23Um, which I think is, is the future of, of AI used responsibly.
14:30I think this is a great example of that where it's like, there are still craftspeople and
14:33artists who are managing all of it, but the tool they're using is I sort of liken it to,
14:40you know, what Ray Harryhausen used to do with, you know, stop motion dinosaurs compared to
14:45what Jurassic park did the technology changed, but the artists, uh, remained present.
14:51And I think that's, this is a good example of that.
14:53So that's what we did.
14:54We, we, it was a deep fake.
14:55I went in there, I put on a wig and, and just did the scene.
14:59And then when they sent it back to me, it was Bill Clinton.
15:02But I thought you were uncanny.
15:04What's that?
15:04I thought you were uncanny during the shoot day.
15:06Uncanny.
15:07Uncanny.
15:08That's great.
15:09It's a fun episode.
15:11Okay.
15:12To that, like what scene for either of you, um, was the most, like you, you had to do 20
15:18takes
15:19because neither of you could stop laughing.
15:20Like, I had so much fun in Susan is the new black Susan is.
15:25Yes.
15:25It was so much fun working with all of those great character actresses at the detention
15:30center.
15:31Oh my gosh.
15:31In an actual prison.
15:33In an actual prison.
15:35Yeah.
15:35And they were rioting at one point.
15:38We had to shut the, the, the detention center down.
15:41It was so exciting.
15:42Gave me so much life.
15:43Were they rioting?
15:44Oh yeah.
15:44The boys next door.
15:46I think they shield me from those.
15:47They did.
15:48They didn't want to scare you.
15:49I don't want to give you a heart attack, but, uh, yeah, in retrospect, I look back and
15:53think, wow, I, gosh, I, I hope to be that lucky to be performing with these wonderful
16:00character actresses.
16:01A lot of them stand up artists and they're so fun and they improvised at the last minute
16:06and they were just wonderful to work with.
16:08But that speech treat Susan gave was, was really beautiful.
16:11Okay.
16:12Did you write maxi pad slippers?
16:15Like where did that come from?
16:16What?
16:17Maxi pad slippers.
16:18That I got, as much as I wish I could take credit for that line.
16:22Um, no, no, that was, I can't remember who pitched that.
16:25For me, there, there are two moments.
16:27It's nobody's going to think this is as funny as I do, but when, um, uh, Maddie's brother
16:34is wrestling him to the ground and it just gets really heated and violent and Scott Grimes
16:40sits up and goes, Oh, I took a shit that kills me every time.
16:44Um, but those are just my issues.
16:46Um, there was a, there was a scene in the pilot where, uh, John and Ted get stoned for the
16:52first time and they're walking down the, uh, the stairs in slow motion and you hear, what's
16:58the song?
16:58The easy rider song.
17:01What's that called?
17:03What's that called?
17:04Low rider.
17:05Low rider.
17:05Low rider.
17:06Um, but I'm ignorant of anything post 1965, but, um, yeah, low rider.
17:12And so you see the scene where they're in slow motion, they look all cool.
17:15And then you immediately do a hard cut to what they are actually doing.
17:19And it's just them walking down the stairs in slow motion going, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
17:26and I, I, I, Max could not get through that scene.
17:29And so thus I could not get through that scene because he would start laughing and I would
17:33start laughing.
17:34Um, and, uh, and finally, I think after about like 20 takes, we were able to, to generate
17:40what you see on screen.
17:42I love it.
17:42So how's season three coming along?
17:45That's, that's really up to, to universal and to, to peacock.
17:49You know, they're, they're, um, somewhere there's, I've said this before, there's, there's
17:53a Scrooge McDuck vault that somebody is diving into every morning in their pajamas.
18:02And, uh, you know, if they want to scoop up a handful and toss it our way, then we can
18:06maybe do a season three.
18:07All right.
18:08We're going to manifest that right here.
18:11I almost called you Ted.
18:13By the way, give this woman an Emmy for Christ's sake.
18:16Yes.
18:16What the fuck?
18:17So good in this episode.
18:18She's so good in this series.
18:19She's so good.
18:20I'll wear my wedding dress.
18:21This euphoria.
18:22Come on.
18:23Just kidding.
18:24I want to say thank you again, Alana.
18:26Yes.
18:27She's phenomenal.
18:28Bless you.
18:29And Seth, thank you so much.
18:31And thank you all.
18:31Stay seated for the next conversation.
18:33Thank you so much.
18:35Thank you guys.
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