00:00Welcome to Meet Your Nominees. I'm Mariah Goa from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm on the set of The Good
00:05Place with Ted Danson. Hi Ted. How are you? How are you doing? I'm good. End of the day. Excited
00:13about going home. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. We'll make it quick and painless for you. No, no, no. I'm
00:18kind of a mellow. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe this will excite you. Yes, it will. This is your 18th Emmy
00:26nomination. How do you feel about that?
00:29You know what? That's pretty cool. And I've won two, so that means what a loser. Oh, sorry. I remember
00:39driving home, you know, during the Cheers years and my kids who would stay up, but, you know, were like
00:46eight and ten or something or younger. So, did you win? No, no, but it's okay. It was really fun.
00:53And, you know, you have to be philosophical when you lose.
00:58Because you can be relaxed when you win. That's the only difference. Oh, I see. You have to work a
01:03little harder when you lose. And how has the Emmy ceremony changed since then? Don't know. I haven't been for
01:09a while, so I'll let you know.
01:10But I do remember that you brought food. You filled your pockets with little snacks. Yeah.
01:17Because it's a long haul. It's like a four and a half hour deal. Well, you're lucky in this category
01:23because you've already won in for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
01:28Right. So, things are looking good for you. Nice. Good. 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
01:40at the after parties? Will you be doing any of that?
01:43Wow, 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. Okay.
01:53Because The Good Place is obviously a very unique television show. But in your career, what makes it so special
02:00to 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
02:27are 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.
02:45Yeah.
02:46And it's sprinkled with visual magic because we're in the afterlife. We're not on earth.
02:52Mm-hmm.
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.
03:05But he doesn't stop to go, here's a funny thing. Wasn't that funny? It's just, whew.
03:10So, people watch it several times, the same episode.
03:15Kids, 12-year-olds come up. And I love that.
03:18And are glued to it. And families watch it together.
03:22And I just love that because it's about something. And that's pretty neat.
03:26Yeah. And 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 kind of in front of your
03:45eyes.
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
04:05rug right up from under you.
04:06So, it was kind of that season for me where it was sky's the limit, you know.
04:11Yes. And 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? No, I don't.
04:28Then I went and 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.
04:41And it took me like two years to get that kind of arrogant bartender, you know, man about town kind
04:49of thing.
04:52So, going back to that just made me, I was sweating and I was nervous and I felt unsure of
04:58myself, which is basically how I feel in a bar anyway.
05:01Yes.
05:01Yes. And season three, you're filming it right now.
05:06What's it like? What's Michael's character like?
05:10Are you enjoying what he's doing? The new things he gets to do in season three?
05:14Oh, Lord. Yeah. Very much so. Very much so.
05:17I 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. You really tangibly see how much, you know, we love
05:30each other as characters, but also as actors.
05:34So, it's really been a fun year.
05:36Excellent.
05:36Yeah. And it's funny. This year is really, really funny. And they do these outrageous turns and we're all over
05:45the place.
05:46I don't doubt that.
05:47Yeah. You'll love it. My shirt will not disappoint you.
05:51In our roundtables last year, you said you never wanted your fame to exceed your ability to get work.
05:58Yeah.
05:58Did you have to make conscious choices to make sure that didn't happen?
06:03No. I mean, no. The choices that I learned to make as I went along was not to worry about
06:10having something created for you or how big was the part or that, you know.
06:16I learned finally, kind of halfway through. Oh, I was very lucky. I mean, Lord, I had some of the
06:22best 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
06:30most creative people, ask them very nicely if I can be part of whatever it is they're doing and don't
06:36worry about the size of the part and just go be with creativity.
06:40So always, always looking for the creativity, you know, I think stands you in good stead.
06:48Now, Ted, I can't interview you without asking you about your amazing wife, Mary Steve.
06:53Oh, yes. Good. Now 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.
07:02Wow. Sit up straight.
07:07You know, I don't know if she gives me, well, of course she gives me advice, but not really, you
07:12know.
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.
07:23I was totally, you know, starstruck even before I met her.
07:29So 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? Oh, you know, girls, they're very good at winning arguments.
07:46Yeah, that choice made you look old.
07:48Oh, what? No.
07:50No, you're passionate about ocean conservation.
07:54Can you give us 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
08:25in their system to safely give birth to a child without the possibility of neurological damage.
08:31That gets your attention as a consumer.
08:35So learn what it is you're eating.
08:37Then you discover that the FBI in this country has said years ago, not long ago, that 60, 70 percent
08:46of what you're eating, depending on where you are, is not the fish that you thought it was when you're
08:51in 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
08:58know, so then you don't get to have a vote on what you're eating for your health point of view.
09:05All 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
09:19your 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 I'm on the advisory board of.
09:52If that rings a bell to you, then support it because the work has to be done on an international
09:59level.
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
10:12drilling.
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
10:26and 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.
10:37Thanks for asking.
10:38Yeah.
10:38We'll see you on Emmy's night.
10:40Yes, you will.
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