- Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome
the wonderful, Ryan Michelle Bathe!
- (laughs) Oh, thank you. (audience cheers)
Hi, guys, hi. (laughs) (audience applauds)
- Okay, I'm freaking 'cause you're here.
- I'm so...
I've been like...
You know how you dress for a date?
Like I've been dressing for...
I was like, she will, do you think she'll like this?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. (laughs)
- [Drew] I'll be your date.
- Please do. Please do.
I'm doing nothing after this.
What are you doing? Let's go. (laughs)
(audience laughs)
- Well, you are married to like
the most special guy ever- - Eh.
- Sterling K. Brown! - He's very special.
He's very special. (audience cheers)
He's very special. (audience applauds)
(Ryan laughs)
- Now is it true?
He told me a story about when you guys first met,
and then you got back together.
Is that...
What's your side of the story?
- No, we did.
My husband and I met
and we have gotten back together several times (laughs)
over the course of like I don't know how many years.
There was a lot of breakups to make ups.
So it got to the point where we both had to be like,
"You know what?
We should just try being adults about this."
And that worked, funny enough. (laughs)
(audience applauds)
Being adults, being adults.
And that's actually the thing that he said that when one of,
the last time that we found our way back to each other,
he said, "I think the reason why I've been dating all
of these other girls is because I keep looking for you
and they're not you." - Ah.
- Exactly, and that was the thing that made me go, "Okay.
(audience laughs)
You could say a little bit more about that.
(audience laughs)
They're not me?
(audience laughs)
Say it again. (laughs) Little louder."
You know?
But it was very, very sweet,
and that was the moment that I was like,
"Okay, we can, let's talk like adults."
- And I mean, it's so interesting
because you grow up so much.
I'm so different than I was a decade ago, five years ago.
- I know, I know, I know, I know.
- And then it's a matter
of how do we learn to grow together?
- Yes. - I suppose.
And you did. You figured it out.
- Yeah, well, there's a little secret to my success
as trying to be married and the kids and all this stuff.
And it's a little movie called "Irreconcilable Differences."
- [Drew] Oh, my God! I'm in that!
- Really? (laughs)
- Yes!
I play a seven-year-old girl
who tries to divorce her parents.
- And chapter and verse, that movie.
And I'm an only child and you were an only child.
And I would look at that movie, and I'd be like,
she's speaking to me.
You're like the most incredible child in that movie.
You're so good, and you're so well-behaved,
and all you want is your parents to notice.
And I just remember thinking
like I have to be a better parent. (laughs)
This movie is teaching me how to be a good parent,
so thank you. - I'm so glad it did that.
- It did. It really did.
I swear to God.
Go watch that movie.
But it teaches you that like little kids are watching
and they're not as dumb as,
they're innocent, but they're not dumb.
And there's a difference,
you know what I mean? - Watching everything.
- They're watching everything.
- And your mom was a disco queen?
- [Ryan] And my mom...
In all of this, my mother's a disco queen. (laughs)
- And she had a song that was on the top 100
for like 10 weeks in a row.
- Which they just told me today. I didn't even know that.
I didn't even, yeah, 10 weeks in a row.
Isn't that crazy?
I didn't even know that. - That's crazy.
What was it like growing up with a disco mama?
'Cause I love disco.
- I love disco, too.
Maybe that's why I love disco 'cause it's truly in my blood.
It's in my bones.
As a matter of fact,
we lived across the street from Studio 54.
- Oh, my God!
I used to go to Studio 54 when I was like seven through 10.
- Oh, I know! (audience laughs)
I know!
I had used that argument to get my mom
to take me to Studio...
I was like, "Drew Barrymore is there."
- That's right. - And she's like,
"Well, with Drew Barrymore's parents."
And I was like, "Oh, okay, nevermind."
And she was also in a Broadway show
called "Lena Horne Show: The Lady and Her Music."
- [Drew] Yeah, of course.
- And yeah, and so I grew up backstage on Broadway.
I mean, that's all I knew.
And so backstages and the backstage mic,
and I would sing on the backstage mic.
I was like this high, and I would...
So that's all I knew.
And I think the good part is that I never attached myself
to the glamour of what it was like to be on stage.
I always attached myself to the glamour
of what it like to be off stage, you know?
Oh, thank you. (laughs) - I did, too.
I did, too. - Right?
- Yeah. - You know?
And like the idea that you are a part of a company.
- Yes. - That you're responsible
to these other people.
- Yes. - You're responsible
to these other women that...
And I've seen women like give each other bras
and chicken cut,
you know, the little things you put in your,
and fix each other's, "Girl, your eyelash is falling down."
"Thank you, girl."
I saw that-
- Yes. - Part of it,
and that's what I fell in love with,
the community, the camaraderie, and the work.
I knew that it was work.
I knew that you had to stretch
and warm up before you got on that stage.
And so that's the part that I think I remember the most,
and not the glamour of it.
- I love that.
That's such a good fundamental for life.
(upbeat pop music)