-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy-nominated actress
and producer you know from such shows as "8 Simple Rules"
and "The Big Bang Theory."
She's both starring in and executive producing
the second season of "The Flight Attendant,"
which returns to HBO Max tomorrow.
Let's take a look.
-Well, well, well.
Hello, gorgeous. -Hello, beauty.
-You know, I have been seeing you a lot at LAX lately.
Are you stalking me?
-I took a transpacific route.
I am seeing all of the sights. I'm eating all of the fish.
-Mm-hmm. -Yeah.
-And doing the secret work that's a secret job
that we can't talk about because I'm doing it, too,
'cause it's so much fun! -If I knew what you were
talking about, I would tell you that what you do and what I do
are two very different things. -Right.
-And we're not gonna talk about it.
-...talk about it.
-Please welcome back to the show Kaley Cuoco, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-I'm so happy to have you back here in the studio!
-Hi, Seth! Oh, it's so nice to be
in person and see you. -Isn't it great to be in person?
-Yes. -We've done in-person before.
We've done Zoom. And this is -- let's be honest,
this is the better of the two. -This is so much better.
I can high-five you. -There you go.
-We can touch. -There you go.
-Yes, I like it. I like it.
-And do not take this the wrong way.
I just -- -Okay, yeah, me too.
-You can't be too safe with new variants.
-You're right. -You travel a lot.
There we go. -You're so right about that.
-Hey, so I want to talk -- The last time we talked --
You have a rescue dog. -Yes.
-With a great name for a rescue dog.
I feel like if I say it, it might even come off as mean,
so why don't you say it? -Dump Truck?
-Dump Truck. -Yeah, Dump Truck, yeah.
Dumpy. -Dumpy?
-Yeah, known as -- he answers to Dumpy.
-He answers to Dumpy. -Obviously.
-And did you -- was this something,
the minute you saw Dumpy, you knew that this was the name?
-You know, he came with that name.
I don't think you can take that name away from someone.
-No, you can't, yeah. -No.
-You can't be like, "Sebastian!" -No.
-Yeah. -No.
He is a Dump Truck, all the way. -Yeah.
-And he really answers to Dumpy.
-Although, he's a little guy. -He's a little guy.
-I think when you hear Dump Truck,
you might think a bigger dog. -Very small and old.
-Now, I should note -- Well, hold on, 'cause this is --
I want to note that there's a reason Dumpy
in this photo is getting makeup. -So, Dumpy is --
-Dumpy doesn't always get makeup.
-No, Dumpy got to do a scene in "The Flight Attendant."
-Okay. Gotcha. -And he got a very big head
and brought his glam squad for this scene.
-Yeah. -If you look closely
in the first episode, you will spot him.
So there is his -- -I do feel like that this is --
[ Laughter ]
This is only the kind of treatment a dog
who is like -- belongs to the executive producer
and star of the show gets.
-Yes, that's my chair right there, Dumps.
Yeah. -Okay.
Now, did -- did Dumpy have to audition, or is this --
Did you pull strings? -So here's what was interesting.
We were looking for a dog
for this opening sequence in the episode.
We were thinking, like, a big dog, a small dog.
I'm like, "Guys, we should just offer this to Dumpy."
-Right. -Full offer.
-Gotcha. -He did not have to audition.
-Got it. -But he did --
You know, he wanted his whole team to come.
He wanted a trailer. -Be honest.
Was -- because I would be very nervous if I --
Like, I, for real, had my dog come on this show once,
and it was -- -Did it make you nervous?
-Yeah, and she was a huge dud.
[ Laughter ]
But it was my fault. Like, she scares easily.
She did not like being out here. It was a huge mistake.
-It was just a bad idea. -But how did Dumpy do?
-I was like a stage mom.
So he -- I wasn't actually
in the scene with him at the beginning.
I was off camera like, "Look over here!"
I was crazy. I was like one of those
stage moms people talk about. -Yeah.
-But he really performed. -Yeah.
-He actually yawned on cue. We got it on camera.
-That's shocking. -It was incredible.
-Yeah. -It was like he prepped
his whole life. All he does is yawn.
So it was perfect.
-Well, he also is famously bored by your work.
-Famously bored, like everybody else.
-But this is -- Let me just say --
That is not true, but let me just say,
this, again, is some strings pulled.
You got -- now people should know, in credits,
in closing credits of a show... -Yes.
-...it's a big deal to not have to share the credit page.
-Yes. So -- yes, exactly what he's saying.
So you get a single card. That means you are really --
It takes a lot of negotiating.
Teams negotiate that for their actors to get a single card,
their only name on the card in the credits.
So, Dumpy, since he is related to the executive producer --
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-This is what you will see in the first episode.
-And I mean, it's also very hard.
Your agent really has to negotiate...
-Two lines. -...to get your a.k.a.
in there, as well. -Yeah! Exactly!
There were a lot of unhappy guest actors.
But Dumpy was very pleased with this.
-Hey, this show just took off like a rocket ship
when it came out, now, I guess, two years ago, right?
-Yes. -And it got nominated
for a ton of awards. I think people were so thrilled
to see you doing something differently
after they had learned to love you in another thing.
-Thank you. -But do you get a little nervous
when you do a second season of a show that was so embraced?
-Oh, my God, I did not want to do a second season.
I'm like, "Guys, we got away with it."
-Right. -"Let's go.
Let's just walk out of here, leave it.
It was really good."
I was so shocked that it did so well.
I hate to say that, but I was so nervous
about doing something so new. -Yeah.
-And then it did really well,
and I kind of thought we should leave it alone.
But then they came up with some great ideas
and more international travel.
We went to Iceland and Berlin, and I had to dive in.
And then they wrote me -- I played five Cassies this year.
-Which is -- I mean -- -Insane.
-As an actor, it's both thrilling, I would imagine,
to play five different characters,
versions of yourself, but also, I mean, it must be --
it just must feel so burdensome at times.
-Well, do you know who I don't want to work with anymore?
-Who's that? -Me.
-Yeah, I would imagine. -It's a lot of me.
That was a lot of me, all day long.
-Right.
-And now I know how everyone else feels.
-Well, there you go. That's some empathy now.
-It was a lot of empathy. -[ Laughs ]
-I worked with a lot of tennis balls,
but it was just a lot of myself
and it was a very wild experience, actually.
Very similar to "Orphan Black." -Yeah.
-We actually talked to their team
and learned a lot from how they did it.
It was a crazy, crazy time. Crazy.
-That's great. You mentioned you went to Berlin and Iceland.
Iceland is one of the most beautiful countries
I've ever been to. When did you go?
-Over Christmas. -Okay. Gotcha.
-Which I thought was insane. -Yes.
-I'm like, "You guys, we're gonna shoot there in December.
It's like 20 degrees."
It ended up being incredible.
-Also, that time of year, I went for New Year's once.
It was amazing, but it's like bright for like 90 minutes.
-Literally three hours. -Yeah.
-We have three hours of sunshine.
-The sun doesn't go, like --
I feel like the sun goes like this.
-Yes. -It, like, goes like...
-Yeah. -Just like --
-There's nothing. -It just, like, comes out.
It's like, "Hi, bye!" -"Hi, bye!
We're done now!" [ Laughter ]
And you're like, "Wait a minute!"
And then -- yeah, exactly. It was crazy.
But what I loved about it,
I'm kind of an elf during the holidays.
-And it's like Christmas just threw up.
-Yeah. -It's like you're at
the North Pole. Everyone's singing,
there's Santas in the street, Christmas music playing.
-There's a lot of, like, blood relations to Santa
that live there, I think. -You're probably --
-Yeah, a lot of people that know him.
-That is right. -Is it -- it's trolls or elves.
I feel like Iceland -- I get this wrong.
-Trolls! -Yeah, they have --
-They're big on trolls there.
-Yeah, they're, like, big on trolls.
And not like, "ha ha" -- it's like, "No, this is
where trolls live," yeah. -Real trolls.
Yeah, it's really bizarre, actually.
-It's really bizarre. -They have a lot of billboards
of trolls. -Uh-huh.
-I didn't really understand that.
-No. -It was bizarre.
-It's weird that they think that would be, like,
magnetic to people. -I don't understand that.
-Yeah, like, "I wanna go where the trolls are."
-Where the trolls are.
-It's one of the most beautiful places in the world.
-I -- I loved it. -You know what?
I'm not gonna tell them how to run their tourism board.
They're obviously doing very well.
-I know! They are doing amazing.
And there's no COVID there, by the way.
-There you go. -You're just in, like,
this little bubble. -That's great.
-I know. -On set --
Now, historically, are you a prank person on set?
-Okay. I love pranks.
-Okay. I do not.
-You don't like being pranked? -No.
-Do you like pranking people? -No.
-No? Okay. I love pranking people.
-Yeah. -I'm obsessed.
I think I'm really good at it,
but I learned this season that I'm not.
-Okay. -I tried to prank everyone
on our show, and I never pranked anyone.
They just pranked me. -This is a really good --
I mean, I don't -- this is like less of a prank.
It's just a very impressive piece of, like, crafting.
-This is insane. This is insane.
-Because this is what -- This is your car.
-They covered my car in like 3,000 Post-It notes on wrap day.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-And filled it with stuffed animals.
That's -- Those are Post-It notes.
-Yeah. -The entire crew was gone
one afternoon. I didn't even notice.
And they were out covering my car in this stuff.
-Yeah. -Can you believe that?
-This one is -- Can I just say this one --
Is this -- this one's, like, less impressive.
I hope this happened before, because after that one,
you'd be like -- -Oh, just "Stupid face"?
-Yeah, just "Stupid face." -They put things on my --
"Stupid face." -Yeah. I feel like you
wouldn't be like -- if somebody came in and was like,
"I did this," and you were like, "Oh, I did this."
-"Stupid face!" [ Laughter ]
-They'd be like, "Wait. Is it made out of Post-Its?"
It's like, "No, I just wrote it on one piece of paper."
-They always put a different stupid name on my --
on my chair, every single day that I came in.
-We have a video of you failing. -Oh, my God.
In the dino outfit? Yes. -Yeah.
So explain what you wanted to have happen.
-So, one of my co-stars told me that he doesn't get scared.
-Okay. -Which is the t--
Now, of course, I want to scare him, right?
I'm like, "Okay, now that he told me this,
I got to figure something out." So I ordered a dinosaur costume.
-Okay. -And I waited outside
his trailer, which I thought he was coming out.
I ended up sitting in this thing for like 20 minutes
waiting for him to come out. And I had my team over there,
and they were giving me the thumbs-up.
So he came out, and I leaped at him.
This man is made of stone. He didn't even flinch.
-Yeah. -I looked really scary.
-All right.
-I thought I looked really scary.
-Okay. I wish you hadn't said that,
because we do have a clip that will disprove
that theory immediately. [ Laughter ]
-Okay. -Well, because I feel like
you're talking about --like, everybody is picturing, like,
"Jurassic Park." -T. Rex. Yeah.
-You're wearing an inflatable dinosaur suit.
-It was inf-- [ Laughter ]
I thought it was terrifying if this was jumping out at you.
-All right, well, let's take a look, and then we will judge
whether or not you -- if you would have been terrified
if Kaley did this to you. [ Laughs ]
-[ Screaming ]
[ Laughter ]
-He's just talking to me. -It's really funny --
-Wouldn't that scare you? -The best -- The best part
is watching the kind of disappointed dinosaur
talking to him. -Like he's -- just with
my hands like -- -Like, a dinosaur being like,
"Oh, I thought you'd be scared." [ Laughter ]
-How about that I stood back there for 20 minutes?
-20 minutes? -In that thing, sweating.
-Yeah, I was going to say. -I was shooting.
I told them I was going to the bathroom, and I went
and got in that thing and waited till he came out of his trailer.
-So you were -- the better prank might have been on
the rest of your crew that just sat around waiting for you.
-For three extra hours? Yeah. Yeah.
That was the worst prank that I did.
Yes, they didn't laugh. -Is it exciting,
now that you finished shooting it, to know
that people are gonna see it again?
-Oh, my gosh. -It's been a bit of a lay off,
right? -Yes. Yes.
And, you know, shooting through COVID
and all these different things, it's just so different now.
And I just can't believe we even finished it.
But I'm thrilled for people to see it.
It is time to land this plane. -Yeah.
-But I'm super proud of it. You know, it came from a book
so many years ago, and I -- I don't know.
I can't believe we're here even talking about it.
-Well, congratulations. -Thank you.
-It's really an amazing show. -Thank you.
-I'm so happy it's back for a second season.
I'm so happy to have you back here with us in the studio.
-Thank you, Seth. -You guys, that's Kaley Cuoco!
Second season of "The Flight Attendant"
returns to HBO Max tomorrow.