From 'Designing Women' to 'Hacks', Jean Smart's career remains strong (2021 interview) | Fresh Air

What this episode is about

Jean Smart discusses her dynamic and varied career in television, highlighting her roles in shows like *Fargo*, *Watchmen*, and the upcoming HBO series *Hacks*. In *Hacks*, Smart portrays Deborah Vance, a veteran comedian whose career is facing challenges, and explores the complexities of evolving in the comedy world alongside a younger writer who has her own struggles.

Key takeaways

• Jean Smart’s versatility proves that age is no barrier to breaking new ground in entertainment.
• Generational conflicts in comedy highlight that shock value often trumps cleverness in humor today.
• Ava’s disdain for Deborah’s style reveals a broader cultural disdain for traditional comedic structures.
• Smart's character illustrates that even washed-up comics can have timeless wisdom and relevance.
• Comedy’s evolution shows that today's 'cutting edge' often overlooks the nuances of skilled storytelling.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Terry Gross (Host) · 15 min speaking
• Jean Smart (Guest) · 22 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Jean Smart, HBO Max, Mayor of Easttown, Designing Women
2. 5:00 – 10:00: HBO, HBO Max
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Delaware County
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Frasier, Entertainment Weekly
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Frasier
6. 25:00 – 30:00: Jean Smart, Mayor of Easttown
7. 30:00 – 35:00: Designing Women

Notable quotes from "From 'Designing Women' to 'Hacks', Jean Smart's career remains strong (2021 interview) | Fresh Air"

• This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Jean Smart, has been getting roles that really show off what she can do. And as was recently noted in Entertainment Weekly, she excels at absolutely everything. In the TV series.

  about Jean Smart · at 0:00

• I'm close. I'm close to getting a buzz cut, a flannel shirt, and finally accepting Melissa Ethridge's dinner invite. I love that joke.

  about Melissa Etheridge · at 4:11

• Effective when they're left to the imagination. So, so your new series Hacks, the comedy series, starts on HBO Max on Thursday. Meanwhile, there's, I think, three episodes left…

  about HBO · at 6:56

• A life together and find moments of humor and moments of happiness. so Maravetown is set in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. And Delaware County has…

  about Delaware County · at 9:57

• This isn't fair. So, I'm going to squeeze in one more clip. This is from Frraasier. This is the role that you won two Emmys for, and you're hilarious in this. So, for people who don't know the sitcom Frraasier, Frraasier is a psychiatrist.

  about Frasier · at 19:34

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jean Smart — Person · Main guest · 3 mentions · first at 0:03
  Primary interview subject; discussed her roles in Hacks, Mare of Easttown, Fargo, Watchmen, and Frasier, plus career longevity and personal loss.
• Melissa Etheridge — Person · Referenced celebrity (joke subject) · 2 mentions
  Named in a punchline from Hacks that Jean Smart quotes as an example of Deborah Vance's risqué-but-mainstream joke style.

Companies & orgs

• HBO — Company · 1 mention · first at 7:00
• HBO Max — Company · 2 mentions · first at 0:42
  Won two Emmys for her guest starring role in Frraasier. This week she returns to comedy in the new series Hacks which premieres Thursday on HBO Max. In Hacks, she plays Deborah…

Places & events

• Delaware County — Place · 1 mention · first at 10:05

Media & podcasts

• Mayor of Easttown — Media · 2 mentions · first at 0:25
  Imagination. So, so your new series Hacks, the comedy series, starts on HBO Max on Thursday. Meanwhile, there's, I think, three episodes left of Mayor of East Town, the series…
• Frasier — Media · 2 mentions · first at 19:38
• Fargo — Media · 1 mention
  I played the matriarch of a crime family in Fargo.
• Entertainment Weekly — Media · 2 mentions · first at 0:07
  Guest, Jean Smart, has been getting roles that really show off what she can do. And as was recently noted in Entertainment Weekly, she excels at absolutely everything. In the…
• Designing Women — Media · 2 mentions · first at 0:33
  As the mother of Kate Winslett's character. Her comedic timing was obvious in the 80s sitcom Designing Women and in the early 2000s when she won two Emmys for her guest…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Jean Smart, has been getting roles that really show off what she can do. And as was recently noted in Entertainment Weekly, she excels at absolutely everything. In the TV series Fargo, she played the hardened matriarch of a crime family. Last year, in the HBO series Watchmen, she played an FBI agent. Now she's co-starring in the HBO crime and family drama Mayor of Easttown as the mother of Kate Winslett's character. Her comedic timing was obvious in the 80s sitcom Designing Women and in the early 2000s when she won two Emmys for her guest starring role in Frraasier. This week she returns to comedy in the new series Hacks which premieres Thursday on HBO Max. In Hacks, she plays Deborah Vance, a comic who overcame a lot of the obstacles women comics of her generation faced and became a top act in Vegas, where she regularly performs at one of the big

1:00 casinos. When the series begins, her career is in decline. Her jokes are kind of funny, but way past their expiration dates. The casino is cutting back her dates and is trying to book an act that can draw a younger crowd. In an attempt to save Deborah's career, her manager pairs her with a young woman comedy writer, Ava Daniels, who he also manages to write material for Deborah that will sound more upto-date. Ava, played by Hannah Einbinder, thinks of herself as cutting edge and cringes at the idea of writing for a comic she considers washed up and too show busy. But Ava desperately needs work because she was cancelled after tweeting a joke about a closeted senator who sent his gay son to conversion therapy. So Ava reluctantly flies to Vegas to meet with Deborah and Deborah grudgingly hires her. At one of their first meetings, Deborah tells Ava that the jokes she's written for her aren't funny. Then Deborah asks Ava if

1:59 she's a lesbian, to which Ava responds that Deborah is her employer, which makes it inappropriate for her to ask that. And then Ava goes on to describe in graphic detail her sexual experiences with women and men, and concludes by telling Deborah this. So anyway, I'm by Jesus Christ. I was just wondering why you were dressed like Rachel Madau's mechanic. Great. So, the jokes, you didn't like any? They're not jokes. I mean, like, they're like thought poems. I had a horrible nightmare that I got a voicemail. What? It's funny because voicemails are annoying. It's like just text. First of all, if you start a sentence with it's funny because, it's probably not. And second, jokes need a punchline. Well, in my opinion, traditional joke structure is very male. It's so focused on the ending. It's all about the climax. Oh, look who's talking. I just got a TED talk about yours.

3:06 Jean Smart, welcome to Fresh Air. It's a pleasure to have you on the show. You're terrific in this as we've been. Thank you. Yeah. For so long. Um, so you know, you've done a lot of comedy, but this is the first time you've played a comic. Do you have any favorite jokes of the bad jokes that your character tells? Um, cuz they're they're both funny and bad at the same time. Uh, oh, sure. You know, I mean, I don't think of her jokes as bad necessarily. is just that, you know, she's sort of got her stock style of jokes and that she knows she knows her audience really well and she knows what they expect and what they don't want to hear from her and she gives them what they what they pay for, you know. I mean, as risque as she gets is probably the first joke we hear out of her mouth at the very beginning of the show where you can just kind of hear her before we even see her face where she talks

4:05 about being in bed with a guy who keeps saying, you know, are you close? Are you close? And she says, yeah, I'm close. I'm close. I'm close to getting a buzz cut, a flannel shirt, and finally accepting Melissa Ethridge's dinner invite. I love that joke. Um, are there things you related to about the gener generational conflict uh in this? You know, because you know, the young comic who starts writing for your character thinks of herself as so like, you know, cutting edge and a little transgressive and she really has um kind of contempt for your character because it it represents everything that she that the younger comic doesn't want to be.

4:46 Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. you know, she she thinks I'm a dinosaur, which I am in a way. Um, but Deborah's attitude, I think, is a little bit that that uh AA's generation has thrown the baby out with the bathwater and that um all they want to do is shock people into laughing. And that's much easier to do than to come up with something kind of clever that actually makes people laugh. Um, not just out of shock. And so, you know, she it's just sort of funny to watch them, you know, navigate this com they come from completely different worlds or at least seemingly at first. And uh Hannah actually is a stand-up comic. So, I was a little bit intimidated at first. I'm thinking, she's playing the writer, I'm playing the comic, and she's an actual stand-up comic. Yeah, that's been the fun the fun part. It's just their conflict. That's just and the fact that I just get to abuse her horribly. I Is there a generational

5:51 conflict that's similar for for actors either about the material that's acceptable in a play or movie or TV show or how standards have changed for the language you can use and what you can talk about and how sexual you can get? Oh, sure. Oh, sure. Yes. Um, I used to make a joke to friends. I'd say I I would I would never do any kind of nudity while my parents were still alive, but they lived so long that now I'm at the age where no one asks me to do a nude scene, you know, so that kind of took care of it right there. Um, but certainly uh obviously things have changed dramatically. I guess part of that's just natural evolution of of anything. You know, when you look at um television and movies and what's considered just kind of normal entertainment and what would have been considered x-rated um few decades ago, I'm not sure it's a good evolution.

6:50 Um I still think there's some things better left to the imagination. Sometimes I think they're actually more effective when they're left to the imagination. So, so your new series Hacks, the comedy series, starts on HBO Max on Thursday. Meanwhile, there's, I think, three episodes left of Mayor of East Town, the series that you're co-starring in on HBO. That's part crime drama and part family drama. Uh, Kate Winslett plays Mayor Sheen, who's a police detective trying to solve a murder, but there's a lot going on in her personal life. her son died by suicide, leaving behind his young son who Mara is raising because the boy's mother has been in rehab. You've moved in. You're mayor's mother and you've moved in with Mara to help her raise the grandson, your greatgrandson. But you and Mayor are afraid that you're about to lose custody because the boy's mother is getting out of rehab. You've been

7:44 trying to prepare him for the likelihood he'll be returning to his mother. And that's made mayor very angry with you because she wants to keep custody. And let's hear a clip in which she's showing how angry she is that you're trying to prepare him to go back to his mother. The clip starts with Kate Winslett as mayor. Why are you telling him you might have to go live with his mom? Cuz he might have to go live with his mom. He's four years old. Mom, we don't know what's going to happen. All right. Don't be telling him stuff like that. He's lived in this house his entire life. Mom, that's why we need to prepare him.

8:20 Otherwise, he'll feel like the ground has just fallen out beneath him. I called Kathy Dryers today. You did what? She works over the child and youth services. I know where Kathy Dryers works. Why the hell are you calling her? Because I want to find out how this whole custody thing works. Is not your place. All right. Has a a place to stay. Got a line for you to be telling stuff like that. She is his mother. She's the mother. She'll get custody and there's not a damn thing you or I can do about it. I'll figure something out. What's her figure out? Hello. You're not his guardian. I know that. You have to say that. Stay out of it. Understand me.

9:04 Well, that's you're really good in this. Um, how did you get how did you get the part? Uh, they offered it to me. Um, it was lovely. Uh, and I said, uh, HBO, Kate Winslett. Um, unless I really hate the part, I I'll say yes right now. Um, but I love their relationship because I mean, even though it's it's bit dysfunctional, I hope that there is that it comes across to the audiences they still there is still love and respect there between them. Um, they've been through so much. Um, and like a lot of families who go through suicide and divorce and things that that there's a lot of blame, there's a lot of regret and and um but they still manage to, you know, ek out a a life together and and find moments of humor and moments of happiness. Uh so so Maravetown is set in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. And Delaware County has some uh pretty wealthy neighborhoods and

10:13 some workingclass uh suburbs. Um and you probably saw this or at least heard about it that Saturday Night Live did a parody of the accents. Um did you see it of the accents on May? Kate said it to me. Yeah. and she she's she's the one who who got the brunt of the uh it was hilarious of the satire in this. And it the premise of the show is that instead of saying murder and daughter because of the the um perhaps overly exaggerated Philadelphia accents, it's like m I can't even do it right. Mortar and border. Yeah, you do it. You do it.

10:56 Well, they I don't know quite where they were going with some of it, but yes, they called it murder der murder daughter. Um um but yes, like there one of the examples of that accent is the way they say water. Uh it's water like almost like w o d e r you know you you give me a glass of water. Water. So, did you have like an accent coach? Oh, yes. Now, we had a couple wonderful dialect coaches. Mine was a native from the area and she was extremely helpful. Extremely helpful. And I would put my lines on a loop tape and just on my phone and just uh fall asleep listening to it. I'd sometimes I'd use my right ear so it would get in the left side of my brain and sometimes I'd listen with my left ear so it would get in the right side of my brain and I'd listen to it on the way to work and because you want it to be as automatic as possible because if you're thinking about it while you're doing your lines and you're not thinking about

12:02 the right things what you're supposed to be thinking about what your character is supposed to be thinking about that's um the hard part of doing accent but it's always fun to do to do accents. Philadelphia has a pretty distinctive O. Um, what were you told about saying O? Oh, that was that was the hardest one. I I I said to Brad the writer one time, I said, "Really, Brad? I think this sentence has seven O's in it. You're killing me here." You know, um, that's a that's a tough one. I mean, like, for instance, um, I think Kate had a line where she says where she says to her ex-husband, "Go home, Frank."

12:41 And you wouldn't instead of saying go home, you'd say gah Frank gah. Um, but it's interesting because the dialect coach told me that she said the thing that's interesting about that that accent from that that area is that it's very inconsistent. Some of it is different between the generations. Different members of the same family will pronounce a word differently from each other. Uh, sometimes the same person will pronounce the same word differently in one sentence than they will in another sentence depending on emphasis, mood, the context. So, she said it can seem very inconsistent. I thought, "Oh, great. That's sort of a recipe for making you look like a bad actor." When things shut down because of co um you were like 85% done with your part for the series. What happened to the other 15%?

13:38 Well, um, then I started was in talks about doing hacks and as it turned out, I was able to go back to Philly, finish my scenes. Um, just in time to come back in into town, back to LA and start hacks. Last, I think November we started, I think. So, you shot hacks during the pandemic. Oh, yeah. How did you make sure? How did they make sure everybody was going to be safe? Well, uh, they were as careful as could be humanly possible, but of course there had to be a certain amount of trust among the actors and we didn't really know each other from Adam. I mean, the only actor that I had worked with before was was Chris McDonald. Um, because we were the only people on the set who had to work without masks. So, uh, and it's risky because obviously if one of the actors gets sick, you pretty much have to close, you know, production down if if a crew member gets sick, god forbid that they can be replaced with that. The show

14:45 can continue, but um the you know, you're doing scenes with actors right in their right in their faces close up and you're thinking, I don't really know your habits. I don't know who you live with. I don't know who those people's habits are. I don't know how careful they're being and people that they interact with. And at a certain point, you just have to say, "I trust you." You know, that we're all looking out for each other and we want the show to continue. And um but you get used to it. You've played like brassy, cynical, sarcastic women in comedies and in dramas. In Entertainment Weekly, you were described as the reigning Merryill Streep of tough broad types.

15:27 Um, so I want to play an example of that, and this is from your role in Fargo when you played the matriarch of a crime family that controls Fargo. And you've taken over from your husband after he had a debilitating stroke. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Mafia made an offer to take over your operation. And in this scene, you meet the gangster representing the Kansas City family, and you make a counter offer, uh, an offer for a partnership between their family and your crime family. So, in this scene, you're laying out the terms of your deal and then warn him not to underestimate you. And the mobster from Kansas City is played by Brad Garrett.

16:08 You speak first. Now, I don't know. Maybe when you look at me, you see an old woman and I am 61. I've six children, had three miscarriages. Two of my sons are here today. Two were still born. My firstborn, Ian, killed in Korea. Sniper took off at his head. The point is, don't assume just because I'm an old woman that my back is weak and my stomach's not strong. I make this counter because the deal is always better in war. But no mistake, we'll fight to keep what's ours to the last man. You're a good woman. I wish I'd known your husband.

17:12 No, my husband would have killed you where you stood the first time you met. So be glad you're talking to his wife. You must have loved that speech when you read it. I Oh, I did. That was the speech they gave me to audition with for Noah and I and I said that tells me so much about this person. Um, so I read that initially when you got the part and the wardrobe came out and the hairdresser came out that you you looked at yourself in the mirror and you actually burst into tears. What was what was the problem? What were you seeing in the mirror? Well, I mean, I was very much um it was very much a collaboration.

17:53 um uh the the costume designer and I had great fun coming up with the sort of less less than attractive but very practical wardrobe. Um but and then I I suggested with the hair that they give me one of those kind of poodle perms that women of a certain age wore, especially back then. I know my mother did for a while because they're just less maintenance. Um, so I said, "Let's just get the blonde out of my hair and cut it shorter and give it a little give it a perm." And the first time I But I first I looked at it, I just my eyes started welling up. I thought, "Oh my god." But I said, "It's perfect. There she is. There's Floyd. There she is."

18:41 What about the clothes? Oh, the clothes. Well, it was so great to be physically comfortable and not have to worry about It's kind of like the same with Helen in Maytown. such a relief when you don't have to worry about, you know, holding in your stomach and, you know, looking looking good. You can just be physically relaxed. And I remember the first time I played a character like that where there was no makeup and kind of nondescript clothing. And I thought, this is how the guys get to feel all the time, the men. This is so unfair. My job is so much easier. It's so much more I'm thinking about the scene completely. I'm not worried about, oh, how am I being shot or how am I being lit or how am I being I'm not thinking about anything like that. I'm just thinking about what I'm supposed to be thinking about. And it was such a pleasure and I thought this isn't fair. So, I'm going to squeeze in one

19:38 more clip. This is from Frraasier. This is the role that you won two Emmys for, and you're hilarious in this. So, for people who don't know the sitcom Frraasier, Frraasier is a psychiatrist who has a radio advice callin show and um you played Lana Lley who was one of the most popular and pretty girls in high school and Frasier had a crush on you and now years later you run into each other at a cafe and you're a fan of his radio show. You hit it off and you end up spending the night together and this is like Frasier's high school dream come true. And in the morning, you wake up in his bed. You still have a glass of wine on the night table next to you, which you use in the scene I'm about to play to swallow some pills later in the scene. You'll hear a reference to that, but you won't be able to see it. And so, you wake up in the morning together.

20:26 Things are still dreamy between the two of you until Okay, here is the scene. You speak first. Oh, I had a wonderful time last night. Me, too. It was like being back in high school, but with sex. Don't want this to end. Must warn you, now that I've learned to finally ask you out, I'll be doing a lot more of it. Are you free this evening? See, there I go already. How about tomorrow night? Somebody stop me. Not me. I wonder what time it is. Oh, 10:00. Oh crap, I'm late. Is there something I can do? Oh, yeah. Make this lousy hangover go away. Where the hell are those aspirin?

21:21 You know, perhaps I should get you a glass of water for those. Uh, would you prefer sparkling or still or not? I see you're fine. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want to finish this? No. No. You're the guest. Yeah, it's me. I'm running late. Move my 10:30 to 11:30. Just move it to 11:30. I didn't realize you smoked. Oh yeah. I'm always trying to quit, but my weight just balloons up. I mean, trust me, you don't want to see my ass when I'm off these things. You know, I hate to be a fuss pot, but I'd prefer Yeah. Well, who let the dog in?

22:10 Put your brother on. Put your brother on. Put your brother on. Oh, will you be a sweetie? Make me some coffee. Okay. Well, you know that mess better be cleaned up by the time I get home. Both of you. Put your brother on. Put your brother on. Put your brother on the phone. Oh, this is nice. Oh, you're so good in that. Uh, what do you think about when you hear that back? Oh, it was so much fun. That was the first episode I did as that character and it was my favorite one. Did it say in the script, get louder every time you say put your brother on or was that something you just figured out you should do? I think I just assumed that that's what it would be, right? I had women coming up to me in supermarkets saying, "Oh my god, that's me. That's me. Oh my god." What? Oh dear. Okay. You know, people still come up and say, "Put your brother on the phone."

23:18 You were so good in that scene. They brought you back for another season. And that was the second season that you won an Emmy for that role. Um, so you grew up in Seattle, right, where Frraasier was set. How did you get interested in acting? I had a terrific drama teacher my last year in high school. His name was Earl Kelly. He was kind of locally famous because he put on particularly good shows and musicals and things at at our high school. And so then I I took the class my senior year and he was great. He was tough. I mean, he taught us he treated us like we were, you know, a professional acting troop. He expected a lot from us. He hated the fact that I was a cheerleader. He thought that was just appalling.

24:02 But but he liked me. Um and so I really got bitten by the bug. So I told my parents that I wanted to major in theater in college and my mother was not too happy with me. But uh after I started doing some plays at the University of Washington, um she became my biggest fan, my biggest supporter. When you were getting started, what were some of your day jobs? You mean um after I got out of college? Mhm. I'm embarrassed to say I never had another day job. You you never you were make able to make um a living acting right from the start? Yeah, it wasn't much of a living, but yeah. How did you do that?

24:46 Well, there's a lot of professional theater in Seattle and between Seattle and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, where I would do summers, I managed to just get by. You know, you you'd always think, "Oh, geez, I don't know if I have next month's rent, but something would come along." Did you go through any fow periods where you thought, "I'm never going to get a role again." The only time that springs to mind that that happened, ironically, was after Fargo. I, you know, got great reviews. The show was a big hit. Uh, I think I won the Critics's Choice Award for the for that role.

25:29 And crickets. Why? I I shouldn't say this, but I think I think it was it was because of the way I looked and that all of a sudden it was sort of like, oh dear, now she's an older woman and now what do we do with her? And uh I don't know. I mean, literally not a meeting, not an audition, not an offer for a long time. But once it started again, it's just been, you know, a steady uh climb towards, you know, wonderful roles. I mean, I mean, I just can't. I'm extremely grateful. So, you have two series now, a comedy and a drama, Hacks and Mayor of Easttown. And that's coming off HBO series Watchmen and Wish You Played a Tough FBI agent.

26:21 And so, you're having this really huge success in your late60s. I mean, you'll be turning 70 soon. Is that a sign that things are changing a little for women? I think earlier in your career, you thought there there was nothing for women over 35 unless you were Meryill Stre. And um these are like three great roles. Oh, I know. I I I've been um pinching myself. I I've been offered such wonderful opportunities last several years. I I um I do think uh part of it is a changing climate in television. Certainly, they're writing more stories about women than they used to. And since I'm not leaning on, you know, a background of being an aenu, um, I'm benefiting from I'm reaping the rewards.

27:14 When you were younger, did you wish you were an aenu? No. I I mean, because I knew that there wasn't longevity there. Very rarely could someone who was a classic anenu sort of make the uh transition. Well, Jean Smart, I want to thank you so much for talking with us and and and I want to say I'm I'm very sorry because you're you're I know you lost your husband in March and I know you must still be grieving and um I I appreciate that you're you're trying to carry on and I appreciate you coming to our show and talking about your work and and and your life.

27:55 Um, I I know from my own life and from other people who I'm close to that there are times when the career seems to be going so well, but there's something that's so awful or tragic that's happened in one's personal life. And I I I feel like that's the situation that you're in now. Yeah. I was I was talking about a friend with that the other night who said, "Oh, no, no, no. Don't go And I said, I don't I really don't think that way that the other shoe has to drop or I mean I've like I said I've always been a very optimistic person. Um always felt like a lucky person. I mean I've had loss in my life. I lost my my beloved sister uh 11 years ago. Still miss her terribly. But I don't believe that if one part of your life is going well that means that something bad is going to happen necessarily. But it did it did kind of feel that way at first because it was very unexpected. It was his heart. We

28:57 had no reason to believe whatsoever that he had any issues with his heart. Um, so it was very shocking. Um, and and it was it was right when we just both gotten vaccinated, we there was this wonderful kind of giddy sense of relief. Uh, I was doing my dream job and I just was feeling very very positive about everything. Just feeling like there's so much ahead of us and so many things we have, you know, we can do and and um so there was a part of me in in dark moments where I thought this is the universe looking down and saying, "Oh, you thought you could have it all, huh? Not so fast."

29:44 Um, I don't like to think that that's true. I I I I hope not. Um, that would sort of prevent you from ever enjoying anything in your life. You be looking over your shoulder all the time. Um, and I and I don't want my children to be, you know, cynical at all. They're they're having enough, you know, on their shoulders, although they I think they're handling this better than I am. Uh, Mother's Day was was rough and I didn't necessarily expect that, but that was that was very very hard. Um, but you know he just he really kind of put his own career on the back burner so that I could take advantage of these amazing opportunities I've gotten these last several years. And I wouldn't be here, you know, without him, you know, and I just wish I could enjoy it with him, you know. He was an actor. You you you met on the set of Designing Women. Yes. A wonderful actor. It must have been strange because

30:48 he played Annie Potts's boyfriend, so you had to we had to watch him being somebody else's boyfriend. Was that strange? No, it was funny because I mean I mean well it was the first we had just met and we worked together that first we were never apart after the day we met. Um and I' I'd watch scenes where he was kissing Annie, you know, and I thought, "Oh, he's so cute." Uh and uh I invited him into my trailer to play Scrabble and he invited me to come and see a play that he was doing. It was a horrible play, but he was absolutely hilarious in it. And I went like three or four or five six times. And then his producers kept begging me to come back when there were reviewers in the audience cuz I would always laugh and I would get the audience laughing. I don't know. I guess something about my laugh.

31:38 Don't know. But um yeah, we were never apart. It was that it's actually a great way to meet somebody at work when you have to be together but it's not a date. It's great because you're getting to know each other with no pressure of feeling like, "Oh god, we're on a date." You know, just like, "Well, we're together all day because we have to be together all day." But but but then you have to ask yourself, "Am I supposed to keep this a secret from the other people who I'm working with?" Uh, no. I don't remember I don't remember feeling that way because I remember I I I found out that um Delta had worked with him on Loveboat once. So I I said, "Go find out if he's married or has a girlfriend or something." So she marched up to him and said, "Gee wants to know if you're married or have a girlfriend." So yeah, thanks Delta.

32:26 So So no secrets there. She was in on it at the beginning. Yes. It's strange, you know, like during the epidemic, I've known so many people who've gotten sick, who've had surgery, who've died, who've, you know, like some horrible health crisis not related to CO more than usual. I don't and I don't know. I don't know if you've experienced that, too. I mean, certainly with your husband, but it just I I I don't know. I don't know what to make of it. I know. I have two friends who lost their husbands in the last six months. Yeah.

33:02 It it it you know I mean obviously my husband didn't have CO but I still feel like he was a victim of of the pandemic because I took him when he started not feeling well. I thought it was a delayed reaction to the im immunization cuz he'd gotten very sick from the second one. So I I took him to urgent care because he hated hospitals and doctors and he didn't want to go to the hospital. took him to urgent care and even though he was 71 and complaining of tightness in his chest, they didn't do an EKG and the hospital later was shocked that they didn't and but he just started getting worse. And I said, you know, this is crazy. I'm taking him to the hospital. And that was when they realized how sick he was.

33:50 I'm just so sorry. And um I appreciate your strength in um in continuing to work and to move forward. And I I'll just add one thing about that. When I was growing up um and I lived in a apartment building and the neighbor right upstairs from me, her husband died and I felt like well I know what it's like for women to lose their husband. That means it's the end of their life. Because most women then they didn't work. Their identity had so much to do with their marriage. Their income was completely tied up with their marriage.

34:27 And you know I thought like what is left for somebody after their husband dies. Um but I you know I um I don't know if you grew up thinking that too. I I don't remember thinking that exactly, but for some reason, even though my mom was a housewife, I didn't ever expect that a man would support me or take care of me. And I don't know why I thought that. Um I really don't I can't base that on anything. But with Hacks, uh when when Richard passed, I I had to finish the show. I had I had a week's left a week's worth of work left to shoot and that was very very scary and distressing.

35:14 Um, but I had to I mean we had to finish the show and I being the lead of the show I mean I I feel a huge responsibility you know for the success of the show and feel a responsibility to the crew and the cast and and but they they could not have been more accommodating and more wonderful to me. Well, I I I just want to end by saying that, you know, I love your acting and thank you. I admire your strength and and I I I wish you well during this period. Um, thank you. And, you know, thank you for coming on our show in spite of the fact that I I'm sure you're still grieving and um I I apologize if I'm sounding clumsy in expressing all these things, but but no, it's hard. I mean, I I you know, I have two friends who lost their husbands this year and and I sympathized and everything, but I I didn't have a clue what they were going through. It not a clue. It It's It's Yeah. It's indescribable.

36:25 Yeah. Well, what can I say? Thank you. And and and I wish you well. Well, thank you. Thank you.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "From 'Designing Women' to 'Hacks', Jean Smart's career remains strong (2021 interview) | Fresh Air"?

Terry Gross (Host), Jean Smart (Guest).

What is "From 'Designing Women' to 'Hacks', Jean Smart's career remains strong (2021 interview) | Fresh Air" about?

Jean Smart discusses her dynamic and varied career in television, highlighting her roles in shows like *Fargo*, *Watchmen*, and the upcoming HBO series *Hacks*. In *Hacks*, Smart portrays Deborah Vance, a veteran comedian whose career is facing challenges, and explores the complexities of evolving in the comedy world alongside a younger writer who has her own struggles.

What is mentioned in this Fresh Air episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Jean Smart, HBO, HBO Max, Mayor of Easttown, Frasier, Fargo. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "From 'Designing Women' to 'Hacks', Jean Smart's career remains strong (2021 interview) | Fresh Air"?

The episode runs 37 min; the transcript is about 6,021 words in 43 timestamped sections.

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