-Our first guest tonight is a talented musician
and actress you know from her work
on shows like "Younger" and "Lizzie McGuire."
She both stars in and produces "How I Met Your Father."
The second season begins streaming on Hulu tomorrow,
with new episodes available on Tuesdays.
Let's take a look.
-Why don't you go grab us some drinks
and snag us a table? -Oh, sure.
Uh, what do you want to drink? -Just surprise me.
Listen, everyone, I don't want Ian to know
that I've burned through two different guys
in the past day.
So everyone be cool and chill, just like me.
Cool and chill, yeah? Let me hear you say it.
What am I? -Cool and chill.
-Alright. Now let's do me. I am tall and curious.
-Please welcome back to the show Hilary Duff, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Mid-tempo music plays ]
♪♪
Welcome back! I'm so happy to have you.
-Thank you so much. -Hi, Hilary!
-Ah! -There you go. Look at that.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Ah.
-Last time, you were here on Zoom.
The audience couldn't react with the same enthusiasm.
-You didn't give me that on Zoom.
-No, I didn't. -No.
-I think I was like, "Couldn't make the trip, huh, Hilary?"
[ Laughter ] I do want to check in with you
because you were saying, last time we spoke,
that you had taught yourself to play guitar a little bit.
You taught yourself a couple songs
people always really ask for at parties --
the "Batman" theme and the "Mission: Impossible" theme.
-I'm really popular at parties. [ Laughter ]
-She goes, "Who wants to hear the 'Batman' theme?"
-Yeah, you know what's really, really --
I knew were gonna ask me this, and if you
put a guitar in my lap, I couldn't do it anymore.
I decided to have another child. -Okay. Gotcha.
-Crushed all my personal dreams. -So you actually had two kids.
You were like, "Am I gonna be a professional guitarist
or have a third child?" -Yeah. We chose --
-That's lovely that you chose family.
That's really sweet. [ Laughter ]
We also -- I wanted to check in because your middle --
your daughter, wild child. -Yeah.
-Is she still? -You know what?
She's -- I don't want to say she's a wild child,
because she's not bad. She's just, like,
the things that come out of her mouth
and the way that her brain thinks,
she's like a unicorn. She's just --
-Which is wonderful. -She surprises us all the time.
-Our middle one is the same way. -Is that a middle-child thing?
-Maybe it's a middle child. Our youngest --
and I think your youngest is the same way --
it's a little too early to tell exactly.
-Yeah. -But we feel like
our youngest is wired the way our oldest is,
and the one in the middle is just on his own frequency.
-I feel the same way. I feel the same way.
The first and the third are just, like, a little calmer.
Like, they can just -- just be,
and Banks is, like, on the couch like, existing.
And actually, we're all just existing around her orbit.
You know? -My middle one is doing
a thing recently where he'll scream "Daddy,"
and I'll run in, and then -- -That never happens
in my household. -Oh, really?
Nobody -- They just have, like, given up on the dad showing up?
-Well, it's not -- He's there. -He's there,
but he's not a problem solver? -And he's like, "I'm
perfectly willing and able." It's just they all want me.
-Oh, really? -Yeah.
-Well, look at me. -I mean, look at me.
[ Laughter ]
-He'll say "Daddy," and then I'll run in,
and he'll be playing with, like, toy men.
And he'll be like, "No, not you. His daddy."
So he's, like, play-acting with toy daddies.
And then there's only so many times
you can hear him scream "Daddy," and, like, you're sitting there,
and you're like, "It's not me. It's the toy."
-Meanwhile, he's, like, bleeding in the room next door.
-I went in one time, and he had a massive head injury.
No. -Oh, my God.
[ Laughter ] Oh, my God.
-You did -- This is --
Again, having three kids, I know the feeling.
And your holiday card, you really leaned in
to how chaotic the three kids can be.
Here, you guys are basically wrapped up like hostages.
-Yeah. -With Christmas tree lights.
Now, do the kids enjoy -- I mean, obviously
they understand what the staging here is,
is that they are basically -- you're captives to their whims.
-I mean isn't that the generic theme
running through our whole entire life?
-I guess so, but do the kids know?
Like, when you're like, "Hey, we're gonna take a picture
where you guys look like maniacs,
and we're, like, living as your prisoners,
and they're like, "Yeah, that sounds right."
-Yeah, Luca was aware, and he was really into
tying us up in the Christmas lights.
Banks was just thrilled to have a cupcake.
And same with Mae. Sorry.
Mae was happy to have a cupcake, and Banks was like,
"Do I get a treat after this? Great."
-I will say, that is very smart to actually have
eatable cupcakes on-set. -Yeah.
I mean, the rug went to [Bleep] afterwards.
-Yeah. You didn't think the --
I really enjoy "All is not calm".
-Yeah. Did you see the top of --
I was really proud of the top. We have a blended family,
so you've got to kind of just make light of it.
-Uh-huh. -Duffs and Bairs and a Comrie.
There's lots of last names in our household, so...
[ Laughter ]
-You -- This is Banks outed you.
-Oh, Seth, are you gonna do this to me?
-Well, you put it -- You can't put it on social media
and then be like, "Oh, that was a secret I told everyone."
[ Laughter ]
-I do that sometimes, yeah. [ Laughter ]
I'm actually excited to say "diarrhea" on your show
as many times as possible. -Okay, gotcha.
-I'm gonna start right now. -That was the first one.
-You share the story. -You did say
Banks told a story at camp. "My mom made bad chicken,
and now she has..." -Diarrhea.
[ Laughter ]
-That's what happens when you make bad chicken.
What I like is, what happened at soccer camp
that she thought, "I actually have something
that will add to the conversation"?
-I don't think she was prompted at all.
I think she just walked up -- By the way, her soccer coach,
very good-looking man. -Okay. Gotcha.
-Very good-looking man. And I was at work.
Thank God I was at work. But my nanny called
and said, "Well, now, the whole entire soccer class
and coach knows that you ate bad chicken.
You made the bad chicken, and now you're
paying for the bad chicken." -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -Like, not cool, Banks.
And she was like, "My mom has diarrhea."
[ Laughter ]
-To be honest, it's really a double burn,
because, one, you have diarrhea. You don't want people --
-I wasn't having a great day. -But also it's like,
"My mom has diarrhea, and it's her fault."
-Yeah, yeah, and, "She undercooked the chicken
and almost poisoned us all." No one ate it but me.
[ Laughter ] -Congratulations on the show.
A really cool thing happens -- happened, I should say --
which I feel like doesn't happen in TV anymore.
You did a 10-episode first season,
and it went so well and people liked it so much,
you're doing a 20-episode season now.
That's very old-school, the 20-episode sitcom season.
Was it really rewarding when you all got the news,
"Hey, we're gonna do twice as much"?
-Oh, gosh. I mean, you know how this business is.
You get a phone call, and you're just like...
-Yeah. -"Are we getting picked up?
Are we getting fired? Are we getting hired again?"
I don't know what the -- you know, you're kind of always
on the edge of your seat. And to get that news,
it was really exciting. You know?
We knew the numbers were really good
from the first season, but to double-order the show
and just give us that extra creative space
for the story lines to just, you know, dive deeper
into each character and get to have
a little bit more fun and bring on, you know, more people,
it was -- it was really, like, just --
you just sign on to something, hoping it works.
And it was working. -It's really nice.
It's really exciting to be on the upswing.
You mentioned adding new people. Uh, John Corbett.
-John Corbett, yeah. There he is.
-John Corbett, love interest now.
Also played your music teacher a long time ago.
-He sure did. And now we are smooching it up.
-This would have been very bad if that happened --
-Very, very bad. It did not happen then.
-A lot of time passed, and then it's an age difference
that everybody has got to be cool with.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, she's 35 now.
-Yeah, it's totally fine. -Cool.
-Are you a "Sex and the City" fan?
-I mean, yes. Aren't we all?
-Yeah. I should say -- [ Cheers and applause ]
I'll be honest -- late convert.
I sort of missed it when it happened.
You know, my wife, Alexi, made me watch it all,
and totally bought it. Loved it.
-I mean, happy wife, happy life, right?
-Yeah, exactly. But I should note,
I was also happy when I watched it.
I wasn't just like -- -No, it's a forever goody.
But also, like, in my mind, he's Aidan, so...
-Yeah. -I did call him John on-set,
but I have to suffer -- not suffer through.
But, you know, a lot of my life, like, I'm called Lizzie.
So he's Aidan. That's what it is.
-If he complained about it,
you're like, "Buddy, get in line."
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-What a delight to have you back.
Thank you so much for being here, and do come back anytime.
You guys, give it up for Hilary Duff.
The second season of "How I Met Your Father"
begins streaming tomorrow on Hulu.
We'll be right back with Kim Petras.