There are some TV characters who are immediately forgettable. Then again, there are a handful of actors who turn their roles into icons of the small screen with one signature line. There’s the Fonz with his “Aayyyy”. There’s “What you talkin’ bout, Willis” from Gary Coleman on Different Strokes. And there’s one actor who uttered three little words that would make the audience go wild. This is Still Here Hollywood. I’m Steve Kmetko. Join me with today’s guest… Oh. My. God… Janice from “Friends”, Maggie Wheeler.
Maggie played the iconic role of Janice, Chandler's on again - off again, girlfriend on "Friends"
https://maggiewheeler.net/
Maggies Newest Book
https://ebeneezerfindsareason.com/
Maggie on Cameo
https://www.cameo.com/search?q=maggie%20wheeler
Steve Kmetko:
Yes, I'm Still Here Hollywood. And coming up on today's episode, there are some TV characters who are immediately forgettable. Then again, there are a handful of actors who turn their roles into icons of the small screen with one signature line. There's the Fanz with his A. There's what you're talking about Willis from Gary Coleman on different strokes. And there's one actor who uttered three little words that would make the audience go wild. This is Still Here Hollywood. I'm Steve Kmetko. Join me with today's guest. Oh my God, Janice from friends Maggie Wheeler.
If you'd like to be more involved with us at Still Here Hollywood, you definitely can just visit patreon.com/StillHereHollywood. You can support us for as little as $3 a month. You can get our episodes a day before they post anywhere else. You can see what guests will be coming up and submit questions for them. You can even tell us what stars you want us to have on as guests. You'll see what goes on before and after the episode. Plus, exclusive behind the scenes info picks video and more. Again, that's patreon.com/StillHereHollywood.
Hi, Maggie. Nice to meet you. I've been looking forward to doing this interview for some time. First of all, when I looked you up and did some research, one of the very touching things was you, you did a tribute. You felt I suppose, compelled to do a tribute to Matthew. And that's the first time I think I've ever heard you speak normally.
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, my goodness. So that means that you may have seen or heard the tribute that I that I did for the rehab center that Matthew's sister has been spearheading in Canada, which is an extraordinary endeavor and now is open and underway. Yes. that's the real me talking about the real Matthew.
Steve Kmetko:
How many times have you been asked to say, oh my God.
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh my God, Steve, how do I even answer that question? We can't count anymore. We're beyond the numbers.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, that's a good thing.
Maggie Wheeler:
It is a good thing.
Steve Kmetko:
You made a lasting impression. How did you get the friends rule all?
Maggie Wheeler:
How did I get that? You know, like all auditions at that time, we used to get the sides on our fax machines. And so that is how that audition came through. And I just, you know, there were many things that led to that moment, but when I did receive that audition, it was just one scene. It was the scene in the coffee shop where she gives these Bullwinkle socks to Chandler, and I thought it was quite funny on paper, and it said, fast talking New Yorker up at the top. And I thought, yeah, you know, I know exactly who that is, so I'll just go and do that, because that seems to be who she is. So that is what I did. And you know, I have a very, very clear memory of that moment.
I can't remember most of the auditions that I've done, what it felt like to be in the room. I mean, only the ones that really mattered. But in that case, I really was aware that that Marta, and there was one person who wasn't there. So, I think it was Marta and David who were there the first time, and then, or Marta, Marta and Kevin, and then David came the next time. But anyway, whatever happened, whoever was there, they sort of leaned back as I began my audition and in a funny way. And I could see them out of the corner of my eye, and I knew I was not supposed to be paying attention to them, but I could see them, and I saw their body language, and I thought, oh, dear. You know, maybe that's not what they were thinking. But anyway, that, that is the moment that they, that they discovered Janice. And so did I.
Steve Kmetko:
Did base Janice on a specific character or just on the description that they gave you?
Maggie Wheeler:
I think she's an amalgam of many people that I encountered as a New Yorker growing up. Yeah. including, you know, there's one person in particular that I don't know that I've ever said this, but you know, there's somebody who used to be at Bloomingdale's who was like, you know, handing out perfume samples and stuff like that. So, there was a little bit of her in there.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you enjoy that, that working on that show?
Maggie Wheeler:
I absolutely loved working on that show. It was a, it's a highlight of my creative career. The set was extraordinary. The people were extraordinary. The creative, you know, just the ethos of that, that process that they allowed for all of us to participate in, was unlike any other set I'd ever been on. So, I loved being on that set. I loved working with those actors. I loved the writing, and I loved Janice.
Steve Kmetko:
Did everybody get along?
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes. They did.
Steve Kmetko:
Because that's the impression they gave.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes, they did.
Steve Kmetko:
That they were friends.
Maggie Wheeler:
They were friends. And I've been on many ensembles shows, and it's not always the case, but in that case, yes, they were friends and I think obviously those relationships deepened and they went through so many things together. But they were really a unit when I first came on that show. You know, the dressing rooms were not particularly fancy, and there wasn't, there was a green room that was just sort of a ratty little green room, and it had some broken-down couches and a folding table, and everybody used to, you know, sort of dash in there at lunch and play poker, and they really hung together. And, and, you know, there are many shows where your friends on camera and the bell rings and everybody scatters to their dressing rooms, and you never see anybody again until it's time to get back on stage. So, no, they were super close.
Steve Kmetko:
Great camaraderie.
Maggie Wheeler:
Absolutely. And you can feel it.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. Because Janis was such a strong character one of the things I noticed is that the audience would always go crazy when she showed up. How did they keep you hidden from the audience? Did they try to, or did they have to?
Maggie Wheeler:
They did. It was important. It was sort of an important you know, characteristic of my entrances, my first entrances. And so, they would keep me hidden. I wasn't allowed to even really wander around craft services. They made me stay in my dressing room--
Steve Kmetko:
No food!
Maggie Wheeler:
And no food for you. And then I would sort of sneak down, and then they would put up a black scrim to block my entrance to block the doorway so the audience wouldn't see me until the door opened until I walked in. So, they did that in many different ways, depending on the whether I was walking into the apartment or the coffee shop or whatever it might have been. But they would block the audience's view, so they couldn't see me until the door opened. So, it was always a great surprise.
Steve Kmetko:
What kind of a feeling is that?
Maggie Wheeler:
It's a little bit of a rockstar feeling. You know, you don't, I mean, I think Kramer on Seinfeld got that response every time he walks in a door, because he comes in the door tumbling over himself, you know? But to be able to make an entrance each time and have the audience gasp and laugh and kind of howl, I mean, you'd get a kind of a wave of a response. And even more so in the episode where I had spent the night with Ross, because that was a huge buildup, huge secret. Nobody could have imagined what was going on, and the cast kept saying, you know, what, where were you, where were you, where were you? And they really just milked it until the bitter end. And then when I walked in, the audience went nuts.
Steve Kmetko:
That having or created that kind of a strong character does, did that hamper other jobs that you wanted?
Maggie Wheeler:
No, I want to say no. I mean, really, it's like, excuse me. You live out the years of seeking work and of wanting something that touches people or reaches people or has some sort of security or predictability attached to it. I mean, all the things that actor’s kind of yearn for. And I had 10 years of this phenomenal gift that came out of a guest spot that was just meant to be one episode. So, on the tail end of that you know, if I were to walk away from something like that and have casting directors say, well, we don't want to see her because she can only do this, or we think she can only do that, you know, I don't lose sleep over that. I really don't. I mean, if somebody wants me and they want to see what I can do, they'll ask.
Steve Kmetko:
You were on and so closely associated with the show, did you feel as though you became the seventh friend?
Maggie Wheeler:
Well, I would like to think so. You know, I think people see me as that, and I feel like it's sort of an extraordinary role to be carrying. And in part it's because Janice was so bizarre and so different from the rest. And yet she still somehow managed to continue to get into the party, which I think as an audience member, everybody, you know, people really, really connected with, as we all know, with the characters on friends so deeply, they projected themselves into that apartment and to, into every scenario and wanted to be there. And so, I feel like Janice, in a way, was this vehicle for people to imagine that they could actually get there. And that was pretty fabulous.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you watch a lot of television during your formative years?
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, I did.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you?
Maggie Wheeler:
I did. I mean, I grew up on Lucy, Carol Burnett and Milton Berle and Gilligan's Island and The Flying Nun, and get smart. I mean, you know, I just loved the shows I grew up on.
Steve Kmetko:
Mary Tyler Moore?
Maggie Wheeler:
Mary Tyler Moore. Absolutely.
Steve Kmetko:
Because in some ways you remind me of Rhoda.
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, thank you. I loved Rhoda. I saw myself there, and I, and I think she gave me hope. And some people say that to me about, you know, seeing Janice on television, that it made them feel like there was a place for them, and that they could find their way.
Steve Kmetko:
That must be gratifying.
Maggie Wheeler:
It's pretty fabulous. Yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you become close with the rest of the cast?
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes. I mean, we all, I felt like family. They felt like family to me making this thing together felt like this beautiful collective endeavor. I knew Jennifer Aniston before I was on that show. And so, in a way, I had a friend there which was a lovely way to be introduced, because sometimes, especially in those heady times when things are you know, gaining that level of steam, people become super protective of themselves. And, and, you know, and it kind of the doors shut down and a guest, this can happen a lot of people will say this about being a guest on a show. They don't like it because they feel like it's pretty locked down, and they don't, you know, they just have to get there, do their job, get out, and they don't feel welcome. I was there very early, so that was a huge benefit. I think my first episode might be the third or the fourth episode of the show. I don't know. But, you know, I was there very early and I also had someone there who knew me, who we felt very close and very cared about each other a lot. So, it was pretty, pretty great way to be introduced.
Steve Kmetko:
Would you welcome another opportunity like that?
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes. Sure. I would. Yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
It's a dream, isn't it? And you said you were working out here 10 years before that came along.
Maggie Wheeler:
Did I, that sounds about right. I don't know. I mean, I'm very bad with like, the timelines and jelly beans in the jar, but you know, I don't know. How many years I could, oh, I could probably figure it out. I'll tell you how we know this, because I was pregnant with my first daughter. I was three months pregnant with my first daughter when the first season ended, and she's about to be 30 so that you can do the math. That's as much as I can come up with. But yes, I had been here for a while. I'd been on a couple of shows. I'd been fired from a couple of shows. Many things had happened before friends rolled around.
Steve Kmetko:
It's a tough business.
Maggie Wheeler:
That is--
Steve Kmetko:
And you've succeeded in sticking it around.
Maggie Wheeler:
I think that's a big part of it is endurance. If you mean it, if you really, you know, if you mean it and you don't let it knock you out of the, you know, like the little roulette ball that goes flying out of the spinner, whatever that thing is called, you know, I mean, I think that's what it feels like. It's like every time you start a new chapter, you're that little silver ball and that thing gets spun and just have to keep bouncing to see if you land in a slot. And you have to, you have to really fight hard not to get spun out, which is what the industry often tries to do.
Steve Kmetko:
You make it sound like a lottery.
Maggie Wheeler:
I think that's, that's good. That sounds right.
Steve Kmetko:
You've also been in you worked on Seinfeld, you did a Seinfeld, or--
Maggie Wheeler:
I did one. Fabulous. So much fun.
Steve Kmetko:
That's a big, that was a big show.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes.
Steve Kmetko:
And Ellen?
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes.
Steve Kmetko:
A lot of notoriety there. What was it like? Was it different show to show?
Maggie Wheeler:
Absolutely. Different show to show. Seinfeld was my kind of return. I had been in a film called New Year's Day that got some attention. So, I ended up on Johnny Carson and it represented the US in the Venice Film Festival. And it was a moment, I had a moment, I spent a year auditioning for things and getting having some access to things that, that were exciting, but not nec not booking them. And then I had, I had signed with an agency a new agency at, without knowing that they had kind of a hidden policy that at the end of a first year, if you hadn't made them any money, they, that little silver ball got spun out of the roulette wheel. So that happened to me, and suddenly I was without an agent. So that led to a long period of time where I was being looked after by a wonderful young manager named James Maire.
And it was, it was actually a great period in my career because I really felt like I had a partner in my pursuits. And I, he showed me all the breakdowns. He gave me all the feedback. You know, suddenly you know, for people who do this or don't do this or very often feels like you're trying to get an audience with the great and powerful oz, but you can't see behind the curtain. So, with James, I had this kind of blessed period of time where I could see behind the curtain, and it was great for me. It empowered me as an actor. And I, my recollection is that I had auditioned for Seinfeld before and not gotten it. And then this particular one came up. I went to a little store in Hollywood, in a mall.
I'll leave the rest of the descriptors out. And I bought a very cheap white suit, and I wore it to that audition, and I got that job. And I was so excited to be on that show. Comedy is what I grew up loving and wishing for and wanting. I also wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. So, in that year, after that, my movie came out, I was focusing on drama a little bit more than comedy, but here I was. I landed in this comedy royalty--
Steve Kmetko:
Juggernaut!
Maggie Wheeler:
And I had the best time. And then many years later when I was on Curb Your Enthusiasm, I was sitting in the makeup trailer, and Larry David came in to get done. And he was sitting next to me, and he just mumbled me. And he said, top five. And I said, I'm sorry, what? And he said, top five. And I had, I just didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Anyway, apparently, at least he considers that episode of Seinfeld to be in the top five, or some other people consider it to be in the top five. So that was something that I learned sort of many years later. It made me very happy.
Steve Kmetko:
Have you been spoiled?
Maggie Wheeler:
By the shows I've been on?
Steve Kmetko:
Yes.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes. Without a doubt.
Steve Kmetko:
It's nice having an agent or a representative who is that supportive. I had an agent who told me that 20 years ago, you've passed your sell by date. Which is really nice.
Maggie Wheeler:
So nice to hear. And I've been told those things too. I had an agent who said, when I got married, he said, I hope you're not planning to get pregnant. Because I could see a pregnant actress three miles away. And, you know, I mean, crazy stuff. I'm like, okay, okay, thanks. Yeah. But then yeah, this business is full of stuff like that. You just have to.
Steve Kmetko:
How do you deal with it?
Maggie Wheeler:
I don't know. You just keep on trucking. You know, I think how you deal with it is you create a good life. You just keep creating a good life outside of it, because I don't know where I would be if I didn't have that. And I have always had that, and I've always done that. If every breath I took relied on people in Hollywood saying yes to me, I would've been dead long ago.
Steve Kmetko:
And we'll be right back.
What would you have done if you hadn't become an actress?
Maggie Wheeler:
I have no idea. No, I love being an actor. But I also do a lot of other things. And I lead song, I lead large groups of people in kind of group singing, where everyone is welcome. I led a choir here for 18 years. That was a non-auditioned community choir, intergenerational choir with ages two to 80. And that's something that's incredibly meaningful to me. And I can do it without asking permission. It's my work. And I think that that was key, that I had work that I could carry with me into any room that didn't involve this epic game of Mother, may I, because that is what this industry is. You don't get to do it unless somebody says yes. And there's lots of people who have to say yes, and lots of people who get to say no along the way before you get in one door.
Steve Kmetko:
Especially when you're working with a network. There are so many people. There's a pecking order. Definitely a pecking order. Did you know at the beginning of each season how many times you'd be appearing?
Maggie Wheeler:
I never knew, and I never knew if I'd be back. So, each time was just the next one-off. And, you know, they, one of the writers told me later that Janice became this great sort of go-to thing when they would be stuck at two in the morning trying to break a script, and something was missing and it wasn't quite coming together. And somebody would just say, let's get Janice, you know. So, I think that's very useful to be playing a role that helps, helps move things along and helps people out of a pickle. And you know, I was very fortunate in that regard, but no, I never knew. I never knew.
Steve Kmetko:
I read something depending on what I've read so far. I haven't been doing so well here. But something that said, you cry almost every day. Is that true?
Maggie Wheeler:
I said that to David Komie when I was talking to him on his podcast. David and I are very, very old friends. We dated when we were younger. That was a very, you know, it was a great conversation and a very interesting conversation where I inadvertently moved him, and he inadvertently moved me. And no, I don't cry every day.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay. I was worried.
Maggie Wheeler:
But I will say no, no, no. I don't cry every day. But I will say that this chapter of our lives and our world and what the world is going through if you're awake and you're paying attention, there's a lot to cry about. And I will say that in the last year, there's been plenty to cry about. If you're feeling, you know, maybe not where in my home where I'm safe, and you know, I didn't lose my home in the fires, and I have countless blessings. But you know, if you're connected to what's happening and how much suffering there is, it gets a little rough. So, if I had to explain that comment that's how I explain it.
Steve Kmetko:
Good explanation. Is it true that you counted how many times, or someone did? You said, oh my God, on the--
Maggie Wheeler:
I did not count. Somebody knows. The internet knows. The fans know. I don't know the answer again.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, you don't know the answer!
Maggie Wheeler:
Again, no timelines. Jelly bees in the jar. I'm not the girl. I don't remember the numbers, but people do.
Steve Kmetko:
We heard it was 16.
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, is it? And it's been said many more times than I said it. But you know, the way I said it, Steve, that's what we're talking about.
Steve Kmetko:
And the hands have to go with it.
Maggie Wheeler:
That's the hands, it's the thing one, oh my God, from Janice is worth 50 from someone else. That's the!
Steve Kmetko:
How many people have come up to you and said it to you?
Maggie Wheeler:
Many. It usually happens when somebody sees me and they're not sure. And then it clicks for them that it's actually me. And then they come over and they go, oh my God. Oh my God. You just sort of point at me and.
Steve Kmetko:
How many episodes altogether did you do again, Steve?
Maggie Wheeler:
Again, good question. I don't know. Is it 20 something? 7, 6, 3, 4?
Steve Kmetko:
I know it was 10 years.
Maggie Wheeler:
Okay. I don't know.
Steve Kmetko:
I was surprised it was that many.
Maggie Wheeler:
No, It's not that many. I don't know the answer. It's my kids know this about me too. Like how many times this, how many this, that? No, there's a very funny kind of moment, family moment when my eldest daughter was probably about, I don't know how old she was, she's however old you are, when they start giving you word problems in school. So, she was early in elementary school or something, and we're in the car, and I'm driving her from somewhere to somewhere, and she's looking at her homework and she says, mommy, you know what is this? You know, how do you answer this? You know, the truck leaves the station at 3 o'clock. There are four bushels of apples on the truck. The man wants to buy two bushels. How many, whatever. And I begin to laugh. My poor, you know, 6-year-old. I begin to laugh hysterically in the front seat. I have total third grade math trauma. And I'm just crying with laughter, trying to squeeze out the words you need to ask your father. You need to ask your father. And it's the moment at which, you know, the truth is revealed about me. I have many gifts.
Steve Kmetko:
Why do teachers still do those word problems? I think they still do.
Maggie Wheeler:
I have a New Yorker cartoon from, I think it is a New Yorker cartoon from many, many years ago that I've kept forever, where, you know, somebody goes to get to get into the gates of heaven and is asked a word problem, and they tumble to the fires of hell. Well, let's hope that's not how works.
Steve Kmetko:
I'd be with them. I'd like to ask you about Matthew, because you worked so closely with him, and I don't want to dwell on it, but he-- we all lost someone who was a part of our lives. How did it impact you when you heard about his death?
Maggie Wheeler:
I think, as you say, it hit everybody all over the world. People all over the world who loved him as Chandler, who felt, who benefited from the joy that he spread by being a brilliant actor and by being so incredibly funny. So, it was the ripple, the wave was felt by so many for me, I felt just heartbroken and sad that you know, that he couldn't make it out of this incredibly dark tunnel that he was in for so long. And if you read Matthew's book, or if you've read Matthew's book, you know, the level of his addiction was so profound. Addiction, you know, I don't know. It's the great equalizer no matter what it is. But you know, when you read the details of a person like Matthew, who had access to money and the things that he wanted some people have to lose everything in pursuit of the next fix.
And the next high Matthew had access. And then there were people who took great advantage of that. And that's a tragedy. It's a tragedy that he's gone. And it's a tragedy that people participated in that so knowingly. I lost my brother to drug addiction, so I'm no stranger to it. But yes, it, you know, even when, you know, the road somebody is on the day, you know, they're gone still comes as a surprise even when you think you are preparing for it. And in Matthew's case, he seemed to have turned a corner. Things seem to have been going well in certain kinds of ways. So again, you know, there's just that feeling of like the rug being pulled out.
Steve Kmetko:
Do you still miss him?
Maggie Wheeler:
My brother or Matthew?
Steve Kmetko:
Yes, your brother.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. I miss them both. Yep. I do. I do. There was an incredible moment. I haven't talked about this anywhere, but, you know, if you believe in these kinds of things you know, lots of people talk about spirit showing up as birds, and, you know, other things that kind of send a message when someone passes. And after Matthew died, I was in a neighbor's pool, and I was alone, and there was nobody else around. And I was on my back and I was thinking about my brother, and I said, you know, look out for him. And two hawks flew over my head and flew past me, one circled around, and came and got the other one, and it flew past me. So that was a beautiful moment. If you go for that kind of stuff.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, I lost three sisters, and I was just, I'm always curious to see how other people deal with that kind of thing. Because they were all older than me, but not that much older.
Maggie Wheeler:
I'm so sorry.
Steve Kmetko:
And it was a shock.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah, I don't think you ever really get used to it. And I suppose it depends on the circumstances and whether you've had time to prep. Again, it doesn't matter if you've had time to prepare or if you haven--
Steve Kmetko:
No, there's no preparing.
Maggie Wheeler:
You know, there's just no preparing. So yeah, I don't know the answers to those things, but I think I just try to keep people in my thoughts.
Steve Kmetko:
The funny thing is, it's been a long time now. My one sister died when I was just 10 years old.
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, my goodness.
Steve Kmetko:
And I swear I think about them every day. Each of them individually, I think about them, you know, what would they be doing now? My one sister, her daughter has two daughters now. And I just think to myself, she would've been such a great grandmother, you know.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. And I understand that what we're now talking about all the loss. But, you know, my best friend of many, many, many years passed away 10 years ago. And her daughter and I are very, very close, and she just got engaged. So, you know, I just went through with that milestone with her, and with that, with her mother absent, and her mother was an absolute bright light. So, yeah, I don't know. This is some, this life is precious. And--
Steve Kmetko:
Well, I ask you that because you seem like a very empathic person, that your emotions are close to the surface--
Maggie Wheeler:
That they are!
Steve Kmetko:
Are they?
Maggie Wheeler:
They are.
Steve Kmetko:
And you've been with your husband for a long time?
Maggie Wheeler:
We've been together for 30-- it'll be 35 years in October.
Steve Kmetko:
That's a long time. Yeah. My parents were married for 70 years.
Maggie Wheeler:
Ah, that's Incredible.
Steve Kmetko:
Long time. Yeah.
Maggie Wheeler:
That's incredible.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah, I'm proud of that. I feel like if that's something I don't know. Do I say that, that I'm proud of it?
Steve Kmetko:
Why not?
Maggie Wheeler:
I don't know. I feel like it's--
Steve Kmetko:
It's something you've built and something you worked on, and--
Maggie Wheeler:
It is. It's another creative act.
Steve Kmetko:
What drew you to him?
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, so many things. My husband's incredible. He's an amazing, he human being. He's an incredible communicator. The first convers real conversation we had was about music. And I was already sort of doing the work that I've done in the song leading world. And my teacher, my mentor was a woman, is a woman named Ysaye Maria Barnwell, who's sang bass for a group called Sweet Honey in the Rock. And my first conversation with my husband Daniel, we started talking about music and he knew who Sweet Honey was, and he'd seen them in concert. And I was like, or already, I thought, okay, that's a very rare piece at that point, a rare piece of common ground. And we sort of took off from there. But he's an incredible giving, communicative incredible artist, a super creative human being. And I feel like, you know we speak the same language in so many ways, and that just, we kind of, you know, we just took off. There was no turning back. We just were meant to find each other.
Steve Kmetko:
That's good. Not many people who can say that.
Maggie Wheeler:
I know it's rare.
Steve Kmetko:
In this town.
Maggie Wheeler:
In this town, it's pretty rare.
Steve Kmetko:
And how did you become a choir director?
Maggie Wheeler:
Good question.
Steve Kmetko:
How did that come about?
Maggie Wheeler:
As a child, I went to a summer camp that was run by Pete Seeger's brother. So, I grew up singing around a campfire, and I was a New York City kid. But I feel like I, that was where my heart felt most at home. And so, when I left that environment, I feel like that's the thing that I was seeking out. You know, where will I find that? Where will I find that sense of home and community and people making something together and building something together. And one thing led to another, and I had a deep interest in, in gospel music, in African music. Just the harmonies really spoke to me. And I ended up which I'm so grateful for in the classroom of Ysaye Maria Barnwell, the first class that she ever taught at the Omega Institute in upstate New York, where I now teach.
And that was a seven-day workshop with about 60 people in it. And we just sang every day and every night. And it changed me and it changed my life. And I didn't walk away from there thinking I would be a teacher, but I walked away back to the city where a lot of people in that class were looking for a way to gather. And I ended up sort of walking backwards into that leadership role. And out of that, we formed a small acapella group, which Dr. Barnwell mentored for a while in New York. And then my acting career brought me here, and I was really happy to be here, but very sad not to have that. And so, when I started dating my husband, he said, well, maybe his gallerist would loan us the space, and I could get people together there. And that seemed a little crazy, but it also seemed like I should try it. And so, for many years before I had my first child, I did it once a month, and we went from 30 people to 80 people in a pretty short amount of time. And then and then when my kids were 6 and 10, I started the choir here in LA, the Golden Bridge Community Choir.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, you know, it's kind of fuddy to read your resume and actress you know, this, that, and the other thing. And then you go choir director.
Maggie Wheeler:
Well, I mean, it is a particular kind of choir, and I feel choir is maybe not the right word, because it's all taught orally, all call and response, no sheet music, everybody can come. There's no audition. It's about kind of re enchanting the world through singing in community, which is something that exists in many cultures and has always existed, but in our culture is very separate between, you know, the people who sort of call themselves singers or the people who belong to a church or audition for a choir. And so, so many people won't allow themselves to sing, and there is no place that they can go and sing with other people. And it's insanely healing. I mean, it's just, you know, you go in and spend two hours sing with a bunch of strangers, and you walk out and you feel changed for the next three days.
And then you think, I need to do that again. So, you look forward to the next time that you can do it. And post Pandemic? I haven't, I didn't resurrect the choir because I did it for so many years, and I worked very hard during the pandemic with programming online. And by the time things kind of loosened up, I, I needed a break. But I am very much involved in doing it in more kind of intensive formats. So, I'm working at retreat centers, and I just did a three-day event here in LA That was brilliant. And yeah, and I'll be at the Omega Institute in July, and then again in September. And many more places that I go to do that work.
Steve Kmetko:
This morning, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning, which is my favorite news show with Jane Pauley, and they happened to do a piece on, did you see that the World Health Organization saying entertainment music, be it music, be it comedy whatever. Has real healing qualities?
Maggie Wheeler:
It does. There's just no question about it. I mean, everybody says, you know, laughter is the best medicine. And of course, we know, you know, it has carried people, friends have carried people through dark times. I mean, as a person who, you know, is in touch with fans and hears from them, and I do cameos for people. So, I really, I get the stories and people tell me what that, what the laughter has meant to them. And the same thing goes for music and singing. And there's one thing to, it's one thing to put on a pair of headphones and be changed and be moved by what you're listening to. But it's another thing to be moving sound through your own body, and to be sitting in the vibrations of other people moving sound, and to be affected by the creation of harmony. It's magic.
Steve Kmetko:
We'll be back for more in a moment.
Is there any role you really wanted that you didn't get?
Maggie Wheeler:
That's a good question. Is there any role I really wanted that I didn't get? Well, there were roles that I thought I wanted. You know, I mean, I auditioned to play Debra on Raymond, and, and that was something that for one moment in time looked like it might go my way. That was very exciting. In the end, that's not what happened. But thanks to Phil Rosenthal, I was on that show in another role, which was so much fun. I was just telling my daughter, my actress daughter Gemma about to watch my cousin Vinny, because she had a role at to play in a reading that was an Italian American, New York, little Italy character. And she hadn't seen that movie and I addition--
Steve Kmetko:
Marisa Tomei. Kind of--
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes. And I auditioned for that movie, and I did want that movie very badly. I also auditioned for broadcast news, and I knew that Joan Cusack was going to get it when I saw her in the lobby. I thought, she's going to get it. So, there were times where I got close to things that would've been changed the trajectory of my life, because they were, they were huge successes. But I'm also very, very grateful for, for my story and the way my life has unfolded. So, it's hard to say in retrospect that I really wish that would've happened at the moment. Yes, I had, I did wish it.
Steve Kmetko:
I think Joan Cusack was nominated for an Oscar for that part.
Maggie Wheeler:
Correct!
Steve Kmetko:
That was such a good movie. So, well-cast. Nothing against you.
Maggie Wheeler:
No absolutely.
Maggie Wheeler:
The right thing happened.
Steve Kmetko:
And is it terribly disappointing when those happened?
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, I think I was mightily crushed many times over.
Steve Kmetko:
Is Crestfallen?
Maggie Wheeler:
Crestfallen--
Steve Kmetko:
Too hard?
Maggie Wheeler:
Not at all.
Steve Kmetko:
Too harsh?
Maggie Wheeler:
No. No. Because I think as an actor, if you get close, and I got close many times to many things that didn't go my way. And that's part of the job description. I mean, you have to be, you know, you have to be a super ball. You just have to be able to bounce back and do it again. And sometimes it's really challenging to do that because you end up, you know, going into these sort of question spirals about why, you know, why didn't this happen and what is it about me? What all that crazy? So, you know it doesn't help, but it does happen.
Steve Kmetko:
So, have you explained that to Gemma, your actress's daughter or did she see it firsthand?
Maggie Wheeler:
I think she saw it firsthand. I think she knows, she knows what she's up against.
Steve Kmetko:
Have you had conversations though with her about?
Maggie Wheeler:
Definitely, definitely. Absolutely. And we'll have more.
Steve Kmetko:
Do you read scripts with her?
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. If she asks me. Yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, that's pretty neat.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. It's fun.
Steve Kmetko:
We went through a rough year here with the strikes and all. How did that affect you?
Maggie Wheeler:
It affected me because the industry was hurting so deeply and so many people in every role across the spectrum were struggling in and in need of work. But you know, my acting career, although I just shot two short films that I'm really excited about and I'll tell you about them, they're really fun. But at that particular moment in time, it didn't, it wasn't like my career came to a screeching halt because of the strike. So just in the way that it affected everybody, it affected me, but not in that kind of, you know, I mean, I had friends who were in the middle of shooting shows and in the middle of shooting movies, and you know, who really felt that?
Steve Kmetko:
It just shut down.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. Everything shut down. But in recent times, I recently shot a film called Teen Mary, a short film that's directed by a young director named Ali Rosenthal. Very, very writer director. Very funny about it's the retelling of the Nativity story with Mary not being a Virgin, and her and Joseph as her gay best friend. And they have to figure it out so they don't get stoned to death in five months, BC and Nazareth. And I am Mary's Jewish mother and opposite the wonderful John Rothman. And it just won best comedy at a film festival in London. So that's a wonderful project. And then just last week, I finished a film called being Dead Should Be Easy written by Claire Matson, and directed by Drew Brandon Jones, co-directed by Claire and, and Drew which takes place at a Shiva.
And my daughter played by Olivia Macklin, another Chicago actress, wonderful is just falling apart because she finds out that there's no room in the family mausoleum for her, and that all these people at the Shiva have already planned for their death, and that she's just being spun out. So, she's having a crisis of life and death and wonderful Chicago actors. Kevin Dorff, Alan Barinholtz such a really fun cast and a big Chicago crew is super fun. So yeah, things are picking up a little bit here and there.
Steve Kmetko:
You watch some great shows. Now, what does do that, does that include?
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh my God, there's so much good television right now. I mean, that is so exciting to me. Okay. But I'm not going to remember all the titles, so it's just awful. I'm watching The Pit, I'm watching 1923 or whatever, eight, whatever, whatever year it is--
Steve Kmetko:
Whatever year!
Maggie Wheeler:
It's 1823, whatever that one is. I've watched that whole series. I'm watching the current season of White Lotus. I started last night dying for Sex, which is absolutely brilliant. I mean, every, every moment of it is just brilliant. So, yeah, there's a lot of exciting television
Steve Kmetko:
Right now. Did you like White Lotus?
Maggie Wheeler:
This season or in general?
Steve Kmetko:
This season.
Maggie Wheeler:
I'm not finished.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, okay.
Maggie Wheeler:
I know there's a lot of controversy about this season, and I'm just yeah, I don't know. I haven't made up my mind yet.
Steve Kmetko:
It seemed to have hooked people.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. I'm in!
Steve Kmetko:
Number one and number. Yes, number one and number two, season three. And I'm backtracking here too. Excuse me. Your facial expressions and Matthews in scenes you had together were so dependent the humor was so dependent on your expressions. Did you rehearse those ahead of time?
Maggie Wheeler:
Well, we rehearsed, but I don't think we'd ever thought about that you just.
Steve Kmetko:
You do this, I'll do that.
Maggie Wheeler:
No. We just looked into each other's eyes and did what we wanted to do. I mean, there, it was very hard to stay, to keep a straight face when Matthew was across from me. So that was fun and also nerve wracking.
Steve Kmetko:
In an interview I saw with you, you, you described him as one of the funniest people on the face of the earth. Indeed. Was he really that funny?
Maggie Wheeler:
He was that funny. He was that funny. I mean, he had such a unique sense of timing and his, you know, and I mean, he had his physical comedy, his intonation, his cadence, he was just always on fire. He loved the work and he was always creating all the way through. And, you know, there's stories and people obviously have seen it. And there, you know, what happens when you're working on a set like that where people are rewriting jokes and everybody's huddling around a video village and coming up with new ideas. And Matthew was frequently over there pitching, you know, pitching great ideas. And that was another thing about that show was that there was room for that. And, you know, there's nothing more exciting as an actor to know that if you have a good idea that there's room for it to be heard.
Steve Kmetko:
Are all sitcoms like that?
Maggie Wheeler:
No. No. I used to joke, and maybe I've already said it, I don't know if I have, but I and maybe I shouldn't, but on the first season of Ellen, there was very little room for that kind of thing, and I used to privately joke to my friends and family that they should change my name in the credits to Clay Pigeon, because, you know, it's like a SKET. Just shoot it out, shoot it out of the air. Excuse me. You know, can I, so yeah. It's not always like that.
Steve Kmetko:
Were you around when they discussed the gay storyline and whether or not she should come out or no?
Maggie Wheeler:
No, I was long gone.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, okay. Because I was curious about how that, how that worked.
Maggie Wheeler:
Well, I mean, in that, in the first season of the show, I mean, they knew Ellen was gay. But the whole trajectory of the show was just dating, dating, dating, dating, dating boys, girls, boys’ girls, you know. And it got a little heavy handed just trying to cover for what might have been revealed behind the scenes. So, but I was gone by the time they, they changed history.
Steve Kmetko:
I was looking for juicy gossip.
Maggie Wheeler:
Sorry, I don't have it.
Steve Kmetko:
You know, I always was surprised. I went to see right across the street here several episodes of Will and Grace. And it always amazed me because you sit through what seems like one whole episode, and then they come back and they're changing things. And I don't know how very talented cast, I guess how you would remember and not automatically be triggered to say the line you were going to say.
Maggie Wheeler:
I think, it happens and then, you know, they have to do it again. But I also think when your adrenaline's running that high your neuroplasticity is available to you because the pressure's on--
Steve Kmetko:
Not anymore!
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. The time clock is running, the audience is there. So sometimes, you know, your, you know, the brain will just open up and allow that, and then don't ask later what the joke was, because that'll be gone.
Steve Kmetko:
We'll be right back.
What's your take on the downturn in Hollywood? The different ways that the industry works now as opposed to 10 years ago?
Maggie Wheeler:
That's a little too broad for me to know how to answer except to say that having a daughter who's coming up in the business, who's here at a very different time, I often think about what it was like when I was her age, and all the meetings I went on, and all the people I met, and all the general meetings and all of the kind of seeds that were planted in by having relationships, by creating relationships. Even if it was just a meeting for 15 minutes or 10 minutes, that I got to look in someone's eyes and they got to look in mine. And I feel like that is a great loss. And I get emails from sag, and yesterday I happened to click on something, this is probably controversial, but anyway, yesterday I happened to click on this video that came in the current email about the five new things that are, you know, that have been enacted for self-tapes of what you can do and what you can't do and what you will do and what you shouldn't do, and all the rest.
And somewhere in the midst of that, there was a mention of the fact that you could request an in-person meeting, which was news to me. I don't know where that came from, but anyway, you could request an in-person meeting, but you had to do it very quickly because there were only limited spots available. So suddenly it's like trying to get to it's suddenly, it's like whether or not your carry-on bag is going to get on the airplane, if you, you know, I mean, to add that to the stress of trying to audition for something that you have to figure out how to, you know, it's the lottery of whether or not you can meet a person. Anyway, don't get me started. I don't think it's good. I think there are pluses to it, I think is as an actor, if you're home and you're, you're self-taping, you can do it as many times as you want until you get the take you want. And that, of course, is a lot of control for an artist, unlike going into a room and being overtaken by your nerves or feeling like you didn't do as well as you should, or you would, or you could have, but also you're in the room and somebody can say, if they're interested in you in any way, they can say, you know, could you do that again? And could you this or that? And so, I feel like it's a, that's a disadvantage for people coming up in the industry.
Steve Kmetko:
I saw that same email, did you? But this is crazy.
Maggie Wheeler:
I was curious. I'm like, I'm going to click on that and say they can't ask you to do more than 12 pages. Well, 12 pages is a lot.
Steve Kmetko:
Something else I saw you described it as a workshop facilitator.
Maggie Wheeler:
I am a workshop facilitator. I'm a vocal workshop facilitator. That is what I do. So, my vocal workshop is called, well, I have two. One is called Singing in the Stream. I teach that every July in at the Omega Institute. And songs of Sustenance, which is another one that I I'll be doing in The Bahamas next December at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram. And I also have been kind of helping to produce these gatherings. I did the first LA Song Fest about 10 years ago. I just did the second one here. I did one, I did one in Ojai this year. I'll be doing one at the Omega Institute in September. At those are very exciting because I put together five really, really gifted incredible song leaders. And people come and you just get fed and you just, you learn so much. It's just a spectacular thing.
Steve Kmetko:
And it helps your neuroplasticity.
Maggie Wheeler:
It does help your neuroplasticity quite a lot. In fact, my friend Ali Blakey, who's doing incredible work in the song leading world, and she'll be with me in September at Omega, has a song called The Neuroplasticity Song. So, yep.
Steve Kmetko:
Just don't ask me to spell it.
Maggie Wheeler:
It's real. Yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
You've done a lot of voice work.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yes.
Steve Kmetko:
When did you discover that you could do these voices?
Maggie Wheeler:
Oh, my goodness. That I discovered as a child, that was my great joy as a child, was entertaining my family and imitating people. And so I was really, really thrilled what some people do or don't know about me is that when I was about 24 or five, I want to say, I was cast in a show called The New Show that Lorne Michaels directed, that was, he stepped away from Saturday Night Live for a year, and he created a prime, a primetime sketch comedy show, during which I got to work with the most incredible people from Kevin Kline to Raul Julia, and Gilda and Catherine O'Hara and Dave, I mean, the most incredible people, everybody, all his friends.
Steve Kmetko:
Name Dropper!
Maggie Wheeler:
And was, it was wild. I was young, and I was just pinching myself, like, how did I get here? Anyway, I stepped away. I mean, that ended. I came out here. That's when I first came out here in a serious way. And I stayed for a year. And during that time, Rankin Bass, the animation company that gave us all the Anna Magic Christmas specials of our childhood, if you grew up, when we did reach out to Lorne to ask if he had any suggestions for an actress to fulfill this new role in a superhero cartoon. And he recommended me. He gave them my audition tape. So, they called me in la and said, we'd like you to audition for this, but we can't fly you in. But New York was my home, so I know Yeah, it's crazy. So, I went back and I auditioned and I got the job, and I worked for Rank and Bass for a-- we did 65 episodes of Silver Hawks.
And, I did another show for them called Comic Strip. It was, I don't know, it was the happiest time. I absolutely loved going to work, playing multiple characters. And then when, when we went on to do Comic Strip, I was given so much free reign. I played so many different characters. I loved everything about it. When I came out here, I assumed that I would work in animation. I thought that's how I would make my living. And especially because I had all these credits and I had all, you know, but I came out here and it was there.
Steve Kmetko:
And you were recommended by Lorne Michaels.
Maggie Wheeler:
I was recommended, well, to rank and mass, I was. But anyway, I came out here and discovered that it was a very, very tight industry. And it was much more difficult to break into it in la. And so, I kind of, I let it go a little bit for a while, and that's when Friends happened and all the rest. But I have been doing quite a bit of work in animation and nothing makes me happier. So, you know, I have a recurring role on Archer for people who watched Archer as Ternate, the neighborhood friendly sex worker. And I know I've done so many cartoons, I can't even tell you what they are, but I just did an really, really fun episode of Bob's Burgers. I'm so excited. It'll come out soon. And I'm in Dog Man, which is you know, was like number one in the box office for a couple weeks there. I don't know how it's doing now. I hope it's doing great. Directed and written by my friend Peter Hastings. So that was tons of fun. And yeah, I love that work. I would, if I, what role would I like to do? I would, that's what I would like to be doing. More of it.
Steve Kmetko:
Anything animated.
Maggie Wheeler:
I love. It makes me so happy.
Steve Kmetko:
And you write children's books.
Maggie Wheeler:
I have, I self-published a children's book this past year called Ebenezer Finds a Reason. And I love it. I'm so proud of it. My friend Kyle Hollingsworth, who's an incredible artist, did all the illustrations. And there's an audio book attached with me reading all the characters and singing a song. And I'm now probably in the next month going to start going to print on the next Ebenezer book, which is called Ebenezer helps a friend, also illustrated by Kyle Hollingsworth. And I'm going into the studio to record the audio book for that too. And I've had so much fun reading with kids and sort of traveling around with it. And my friend Meredith Scott Lynn, who many folks will know from her acting work, has an incredible company called Write Brain Books, that is an education company, and she created curriculum for Ebenezer.
So, it's also in classrooms all over the United States. And so that's exciting too. And yeah, I really, really enjoy that when my children were little. I, you know, I'm, I mean, I guess I'm a storyteller in all the ways that I'm a storyteller. And this is another way that I've really enjoyed kind of finding a way to share story. It's a story about a funny little shrew who lives in a forest full of creatures, forest creatures, and he has a sneezing problem, and his mother cannot figure out for the life of her why he can't stop sneezing. So, they have to go sort of all through the process of trying to find, you know, the solution to his problem. And I'm not going to say what it is.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay.
Maggie Wheeler:
But you can go to Ebenezer finds her reason.com and that's where they're live now. I can I send them out from there, but it will be on Amazon in the next year.
Steve Kmetko:
Good for you.
Maggie Wheeler:
I will be recording the audio book for book two. I did the audio book for book one, and I read all the character voices. And, you know, Ebenezer has a terrible problem. He can't stop sneezing and... So, he just sneezes very loudly throughout the book, which is a lot of fun when I'm reading to children, because once they figure it out, they do it with me. And I've gotten really, really wonderful letters from people about how much their kids love the book. And it's tons of fun.
Steve Kmetko:
Good. I'd really like to see that movie about Mary and Joseph. And…
Maggie Wheeler:
It's so funny. I mean, that movie is so funny.
Steve Kmetko:
What's the title?
Maggie Wheeler:
It's called Teen Mary, and you can follow--
Steve Kmetko:
Teen Mary
Maggie Wheeler:
Along at I think it's at Teen Mary Film dot on, on Instagram follow the Journey. And there'll be some screenings in LA soon. And yeah, it's as it, I'm happy that it just won this festival.
Steve Kmetko:
Is It going to be released? Is it a feature film?
Maggie Wheeler:
It's a short film.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, It's a short film.
Maggie Wheeler:
It's short film. Yeah, it's a short film.
Steve Kmetko:
Will it be released to theaters?
Maggie Wheeler:
I have, I don't know. I don't know what Ali Rosenthal writer director has planned, but I know that it's going to be in a bunch of other fest festivals. It will be at, at the Miami Film Festival on April 12th. And I don't know what happens beyond that, but it is very, very funny. Nazareth whatever that is, five months BC but with contemporary language and all this kind of authentic, antiquated, environment. It's hilarious. Very Mel Brooks kind of sensibility.
Steve Kmetko:
I'd love to see it. I'll be looking for it.
Maggie Wheeler:
Teen Mary!
Steve Kmetko:
How do you feel about the way-- you know, when I was a kid growing up and I'm not that much older than you. It you, the only place to see a movie was in a theater now. I mean wicked is on my TV set a Nora is on tv everything. How do you feel? How do you like that? How at least you don't have to tell your family, you have to go see this in the theater.
Maggie Wheeler:
That's true. I mean, you know, I don't know. I miss the movie theaters. I miss that. I miss, you know, just the experience,
Steve Kmetko:
The popcorn!
Maggie Wheeler:
The popcorn, and being in a room full of people and all the rest. But I feel like, you know, the whole world is so traumatized by the pandemic and everything that happened. And so, yeah, I don't know. Look, I don't have a home theater. All I have is a television set haven't invested in a screening room. Yeah. But you know, I know there are a lot of people who have and feel perfectly good about it. I like to go to the movie theater. I went to see what, oh my God, what's the name of the fabulous Bob Dylan movie? Movie with Timothy Shellman? Sorry, I just forgot the title.
Steve Kmetko:
I forgot the title too.
Maggie Wheeler:
I was going to say a complete Unknown. A complete Unknown. I went to the movie theater to see a complete unknown, unknown because I really wanted to see it in the theater. And so, you know, if I can I still do.
Steve Kmetko:
When you were pregnant on Friends, did they have to write around that?
Maggie Wheeler:
I'm actually pregnant on friends, and then I'm fake pregnant on friends. So, they did write around it. They I told Marta and David at the wrap party on season one, very reluctantly, especially since I had that agent in my head saying, you better not get pregnant. I told them I was pregnant. I told them that if they wanted to write Chandler's Love Child into the next season, that I was totally open to it. And that's where we left it. And I thought I'd never see them again. And that's what I thought would happen. And then when I was eight months pregnant, they called me. And so, I am on an episode in that season, eight months pregnant with my first child. And my husband was in the audience, and there was a woman next to him and said, oh my God, that's, she said, that's so fake. That is so fake. And he said, no, it's real. And she's like, no, no, it's not. It's so fake. It's like all in the front that blah, blah, blah, you know, all the description. And he said, no, I know, I know. It's not fake.
Steve Kmetko:
I know for a fact I did that. I was there.
Maggie Wheeler:
Yeah. So, and then later on in the fantastic epic Rachel has a baby episode that was a fake belly, very convincing fake belly, by the way, man, they, the prosthetic was just wild. And I think one of my children came to visit me at work, and I was a little nervous for her to see me because it looked so real. But anyway, yeah, that time, no baby. First time, yes, baby.
Steve Kmetko:
What happened since this morning Mom? I could go on just talking about blah, blah…
Maggie Wheeler:
All the things!
Steve Kmetko:
But we've kept you long enough.
Maggie Wheeler:
Thank you.
Steve Kmetko:
I've really enjoyed it.
Maggie Wheeler:
Thank you. Great to talk to you.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank You.
Maggie Wheeler:
Great to meet you.
Steve Kmetko:
Still Here Hollywood is a production of the Still Here Network, all things technical run by Justin Zangerle. Theme music by Brian Sanyshyn and executive producer is Jim Lichtenstein.