Enough with the Airhorn?
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Visit buyatoyota.com, the official website for deals, to find out more. Toyota, let's go places. Big Time Rush, performing live in concert, playing every song from every episode and more. Big Time Rush, with special guests Caitlin Tarver and Stephen Kramer Glickman. Get tickets now at livenation.com. I like that. Yeah. Yes. Look at that. That's a wrap. That's a wrap. That's what we're talking about. Uh-huh.

Oh, not messing around. Not messing around. Not messing around. Not messing around. Laugh meeting. Laugh meeting, you guys. Hello. I realize, do I always start this with an air horn? Remember I told you guys last week that my mom was like, it feels like your enthusiasm level is going up on laugh meetings. You're getting crazy. And I'm realizing maybe that's because I'm starting every single time going, pew, pew, pew.

Maybe it's a lot. Maybe no one really wants to hear that when they, you know, open up a podcast to listen. I'm sitting here wearing my Ferguson shirt, my mess around Ferguson shirt. I see that. I can't explain. I know I've talked about this before, but I can't explain. I was so excited when New Girl became super popular and I just assumed that

I just assumed there'd be so much like swag and merch around the show that it would be produced by like the show that we would get to wear all the time and just like represent all the time. And there wasn't. I feel like like a weird missed opportunity. Like the studio doesn't like make all this merch and swag and everybody could just go and buy it. So it's funny when we started this podcast, Lamorne and I were like, we need to get some new girl merch out into the world.

specific to the mess around and the Winnie Cece dynamic. But y'all know me, I'm a crazy cat lady. Out and proud. I have a whole account called Have Cats Will Travel. Cats with a Z. I'm so crazy about cats. So I've been waiting for the right opportunity for us to create some Ferguson merch.

And Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect time to drop that love letter to the fans and to myself. And I've been wearing this t-shirt nonstop. This Ferguson t-shirt. And it's so cool being able to wear it out in the world. Because people know. People know Fergie Ferg, man.

You can get yours, of course, at themessaroundpod.com. Go get it. But if you get it, if you get this T-shirt, please. Like I designed this with my bestie Wendy. I feel like please, if you get it, can you just put it on and like tag me so I can see it? Makes me so happy.

It's a loft meeting, which is really y'all's time to shine. You send in your letters, your videos, your voice memos, your thoughts, your conspiracy theories around the show, all this stuff. And then, um,

I get to talk about it and address it, which is my favorite thing to do. So here we go. Let's launch in with Gwyneth. What's up, Gwyneth? Love that name. Hello, Hannah and Lamorne. Firstly, I'd like to thank you both so much for doing this podcast. The specific energy that your friendship brings to the show is authentic and so enjoyable. This podcast has really helped me understand not only how special you are as people, but also just how talented you are as actors.

This is so nice. I know lots of comments say otherwise. Oh, lots of comments. My goodness gracious. Well, I haven't seen those comments. Maybe the algorithm is protecting me from that criticism. But I see a clear difference between Cece and Hannah and Winston and Lamorne. Cece's not going to stay home and do any puzzles. And Winston doesn't have half the riz Lamorne does. Oh, OK.

What prompted me to reach out, though, was a kindred feeling with you, Hannah. Sorry. What prompted me to reach out, though, was a kindred feeling with you, Hannah. My mom calls us third culture kids. Ooh, I know this well. I know this well. Just like you, I spent a great deal of my life overseas. It's awesome hearing you off...

your offhanded mentions of a British mother, an Indian father, Canadian citizenship, an upbringing in Cyprus, et cetera, and so much more. I grew up in a similar way as an American with a parent in the Foreign Service. I rarely lived in any country for longer than three years. I truly have never seen my experience on the screen before. This is my life too. And then I remembered...

Hannah, it wasn't on this podcast when I first felt that shock. It was on the show in the episode Bar Crawl. The characters Coach and May meet for the first time and bond over being third culture kids. All of this background leads me to my very simple question.

Were the stories of coach slash may inspired by Hannah's story or by anyone else working on the show? Or was that just random? Thank you so much to everyone who works on this podcast. You definitely make the experience so much richer for your audience. Gwyneth. Thanks Gwyneth. Yeah, it's funny. Third culture kids, man. It's a whole thing. Uh,

I don't know. My assumption would be for the Coach May thing is that there was someone in the writer's room that had that experience and then built that into the story of their relationship. That would be my guess. I don't think it's inspired by me particularly. But yeah, third culture kids. It's interesting. I always said that I never lived in a place more than three years.

When I lived in Toronto, I think I was there for four. And for me, I was like, wow, that's the longest I lived anywhere. And the irony was it was probably the city that I least connected with. But I spent the most time there until I moved to L.A. And I've been here off and on now for a very long time. So, yeah, interesting. Like it was an interesting thing for me to actually experience

like living in LA for as long as I have now, which is over a decade, feels so strange because I'm much more comfortable in movement and change, which is the nice thing of being a third culture kid is that change is comfortable. And I know change is uncomfortable for a lot of people. So there was a lot of ups and downs, so obviously moving a lot, but that was the one gift of it. It made change very comfortable and traveling very easy and familiar, which was always nice.

All right, here we go. Our next question. Hi, Hannah in the Morn. My name is Amir. Well, it says Mir. Mir. My name is Mir. My best friend Faith and I are from the UK and we're big fans of the new girl. She's definitely the just to my CC. We usually found quoting Schmitz, a white man, no, at each other.

I've just listened to the X's episode of the podcast, and my question is, is there any guests on the show that you wish you could have worked with more, like Tiffany Haddish, Adam Brody, Mary Elizabeth Ellis? They were all in this episode, but you didn't get to work with all of them much, if at all. Thank you. Man, yes. You know what's really crazy is that I watched this show as it aired, so we shot the show, but if people aren't in your scenes, you're probably not working that day often, so you don't even cross paths.

And then I would watch it as it aired. So it aired about three to four weeks later after shooting. But then I've never rewatched the show. So here I am like many, many, many, many, many years later in a weird way, almost watching for the first time, it feels like, because I'm not like in the machine of the whole thing. And I'd forgotten because it wasn't in my core memory. It wasn't like, oh, yeah, that time Tiffany Haddish and I hung out all day. Didn't happen. So I'm rewatching and I'm like, what?

I mean, it's amazing the level of guest stars we had on this show and what they brought to the show. There was like a running joke that New Girl was becoming the Law & Order of L.A. And that means Law & Order is such a long-running show and it shoots in New York.

Every actor, usually at the beginning of their career at some point, got hired and cycled through that show. And I feel like New Girl ran for so long that so many great comedy actors at the beginning of their career came on and they had a line here or a few lines there and

And it was just, it's so interesting that you get to kind of see them at that point. Yeah, so crazy. And I wish I had spent more time with all of them or any time with any of them. I wonder if we ever did a reunion of...

I just watched SNL 50 and you know how they brought everybody back that's ever been a part of it. That'd be so cool to do for New Girl. I wonder if somebody could do that with just like Photoshop is to make like the, like the, all the amazing guest stars and then the cast of New Girl all together in one picture. Someone out there talented, could they do that? So we could actually see.

all the incredible people that have been part of this show just like in one shot that'd be awesome

Okay, so have you ever noticed how we hold back our smiles in awkward situations? Okay, but here's the thing. Sometimes, sometimes a smile can change everything. And Colgate is here to give you the confidence to smile first. Okay, so the other day I walked into a meeting and I just felt like the person I was meeting with was just sizing me up, just staring at me. Super awkward. But I remembered. Super awkward.

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Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now. It pays to discover. Learn more at discover.com slash credit card. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen Report.

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All right, here we go. Next question. Hello, Mess Around crew. Thank you so much for all your time and efforts for the pod. Love listening to you all. I noticed that Saved by the Bell is a common theme on New Girl. Nick at one point says they don't know what Saved by the Bell is and they don't feel pain. When Jess is tripping out during Thanksgiving 3, she references A.C. Slater. And when Cece is about to go on a date with someone named Paul, Schmidt says it's a stupid name, but then Cece references Mark Paul Gosselaar. What do you say his last name?

I don't know. Is the show reference because the characters would have grown up watching this show or the writers just massive fans? Probably both. Probably both. See, By the Bell was iconic. Iconic. That also had like a stellar cast who all went on to do like amazing things. I love that. So I think it's probably both. All right. Vienna.

Hi, Hannah and Lamorne. Hannah, when you said you love Fawlty Towers, I just had to write in. Ooh, I know I'm going to love this letter. I've also watched every episode multiple times because my dad once bought the DVD set and told me and my brother we just had to watch. Your dad introduced you to this show? Gosh, I love that so much. And now to this day, way over a decade later, we still quote it regularly. One of our favorite things is to say is, oh, I know. Oh, I know.

and Prunella Scales' voice, and cute as a shorthand for thank you, and John as a shorthand for thank you, and John Cleese's voice. Do you have a favorite episode or a line you like to quote from Fawlty Towers? Just had to ask. Oh my gosh, all of it. Honestly, so I grew up for a lot of my life in Saudi Arabia, and so there was no TV there, there was no movies, and it was just like the...

tapes and videos my parents kind of brought in with them. And Fawlty Towers was one of them. So it was just something we watched on loop. So I know the words to every single episode. That's not a lie. And so does my brother. My brother and I can quote the entire show. It's only 13 episodes, right? That was it. That's all they ever did on that show. All of it. All of it. There's one called The Builder.

And it's about when John Cleese's character, Basil Fawlty, hires a builder that he knows his wife wouldn't approve of. And the builder, just like the wife had feared, screws the entire thing up. And so Basil is freaking out. And there's some very classic lines that happen between the builder and Basil Fawlty that I quote, very interesting, funny viewing. Some of it, though, I will say on a rewatch of Fawlty Towers does not hold up.

Some of it is like, no, no sir, can't do that anymore. And shouldn't, shouldn't have done it then, you won't do it now.

But a lot of it was very funny. Very, very funny show. P.S. I loved hearing you talk about your auditioning journey as an actor before New Girl when there were very few Indian people on our screens and those that were were often stereotypes. As a half Indian actor from Toronto myself, I totally related to you. I think what you said about being at first being too Indian and

and then suddenly they wanted to cast an Indian actor, wondering if you weren't Indian enough, is something I'm sure a lot of actors of all different races can relate to. I agree. I'm always auditioning for roles that they say is ethnically ambiguous because it's not immediately clear what my background is. Anyway, thank you for talking a bit about it and for being such a great character on our screens in New Girl. All the best.

Vienna. Yeah, that was something I struggled with. Um, trying to get a job when I got here is that if they wanted specifically Indian, I got so excited because I'm like, there's not a lot of us at this point right now. So here's me. And they would look at me and be like, no, you don't look like the stereotype of what we think an Indian is. And so I wouldn't get cast even though I'm Indian. It was so strange. Uh,

Yeah. And then I'd go up for, you know, a role. Usually it was described as exotic at the time. And then they'd be like, no, she looks too like South Asian. And I was like, okay. So it was a struggle, which is why, and I've told this story many times before, when Liz Merriweather cast me in New Girl, I wrote her a thank you letter multiple times.

Because I was like, man, you have no idea. Because I had asked her, like, why did you pick me for the role? And she said, well, you were just the funniest actress.

And that was refreshing. And that is the reason why any actor wants to get hired, because they are the best for the role. And that is how I got cast on the show, not because of what I was or wasn't ethnically. It was just because of how I connected to this character and how I chose to play her was exactly what Liz Merriweather wanted. So that was life-changing for me to be cast for that reason and considered and chosen for that reason.

As always, you guys ask the best questions. Thank you so much. Love these loft meetings. Please, please tag me if you go get this Ferguson shirt so we can be winning out in these streets.

And send us more. Please send us voicemails. I want to hear your voice. So take a voice note and just send it in. Read your own letter and send it in as a voice memo so I can play it and I can hear it. And you can hear yourself here on the podcast. That would be awesome. You can follow us on IG at The Mess Around Pod and send in those voicemails and or voice memos, emails, photos, anything at TheMessAroundPod at gmail.com.

That was The Mess Around, an iHeartMedia production. Our executive producer is Joelle Monique. Our senior producer is Abu Zafar. Bay Wang provided engineering and editing services. Additional production from Daniel Goodman, Wendy Heisler, and Kyle Chevron. Our theme song was written and composed by Ronald Jukebox Jackson. Catch you next time. Bye.

We've all been there. I mean, I've been there. In the line at the grocery store, waiting for your latte at the coffee counter, pick up at your child's school, everyone standing around in silence, eyes down. But what if you smiled first? Colgate is here to give you the confidence to do just that. One smile can break the tension and open the door to a real connection. It's a small gesture with a big reward. Colgate helps you show the world your confident smile.

This is LeVar Arrington from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe. The Toyota Tundra and Tacoma are designed to outlast and outlive, backed by Toyota's legendary reputation for reliability. So get in a Tundra with the available i-Force Max Hybrid engine, delivering exceptional torque and towing capacity, or check out a Tacoma with available off-road features like

We'll be right back.

Get yours today. Visit buyatoyota.com for deals and more. Toyota, let's go places. Big Time Rush, performing live in concert, playing every song from every episode and more. Big Time Rush with special guests Caitlin Tarver and Stephen Kramer Glickman.

Get tickets now at LiveNation.com. During tax season, your sensitive info does a lot of traveling to places you can't control. Stopping off at payroll, your accountant or tax preparer, and countless other data centers on its way to the IRS.

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Don't let identity thieves take you for a ride. Get LifeLock protection for tax season and beyond. Join now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LifeLock and use promo code IHEART or go to LifeLock.com slash IHEART for 40% off. Terms apply.