-Betty, welcome back to the show.
-Thanks for having me. -Oh, please. I appreciate this.
We just had Ice-T on, and we were talking --
It's kind of a rite of passage for New York actors
to be on "Law & Order."
-Yes, yeah. Yeah.
For, like, the first couple of years of my career,
it was only theater and "Law & Order."
So I did an order of "SVU."
I was a pedophile with vocal fry.
-Congratulations. -Thank you.
And I was a lesbian --
-No spinoff -- No spinoff from that one.
-I can't believe it. I'm still waiting on that call.
-Yeah. -And I was a lesbian with acne
on "the mothership," we called it,
just the normal "Law & Order." -Oh, interesting.
You were multiple different -- Were you ever a dead body?
-I was a dead body on "Criminal Intent."
And then, within the same year, I was an alive person.
-Same season? -Yes, same season.
They were like, "No one cares. No one remembers you."
[ Laughter ]
Excellent. But I was --
The dead body, I was Fran Drescher's daughter,
which is an honor, but I don't know about that casting.
-Yeah. Interesting. -But, yeah, I was found --
True fans will know.
I was found naked in an oil drum.
Vincent D'Onofrio, like, found my naked dead body.
-So sorry to hear that. -Yeah.
And we filmed it where --
I don't know if they still film "SVU" there,
but we filmed it outside Chelsea Piers.
-Yep. -And they had all these
modesty screens because I was going to be naked
and crumpled up in this oil barrel.
So they had all these screens
protecting me from the crew on the Chelsea Piers side.
And then as I was taking off my robe, I was like,
"Oh, the West Side Highway."
Like -- vroom!
-Every human being, that's -- Yeah.
-"Wait! What's happening?"
-This was the time before, you know, intimacy coordinators.
They were like, "We're losing light. Take the robe off."
-Yeah. And then you just had to be --
-And then -- So, we filmed the scene of them
zipping up the body bag at a different location
at, like, a remote beach.
And this is my first job ever.
And I remember them zipping up the body bag.
Vincent D'Onofrio had, like,
a grumbly scene over my body bag.
And I just had to sort of be in there.
And then they called cut.
They're like, "That's lunch, guys! Great day!"
And I hear, like, footsteps on gravel
getting farther and farther away,
van doors closing.
And then, like, 10 seconds goes by.
I hear one far-away P.A. being like, "Oh, my God."
And footsteps coming towards me.
Like, unzips. Sunlight in my face. Yeah.
"Let's get you out of there!"
-That's really funny. Like, "Hello! Help! Hello?"
-No, I didn't want to be high-maintenance.
I wanted to work again in the same season.
-It's your first job.
You don't want to ruin the scene, of course.
-No. -You've been on our show before,
but I just heard you have a -- we met each other before that
I might not have known about.
Back in this building in the '90s.
-In this building in 1998. What a time it was.
I was 12 years old,
and my brain was a castle of delusions
because I was so angry that I wasn't a child star.
My parents wouldn't let me be a child actor.
But we got tickets to "SNL."
And I was like, "Well, maybe fate will have it
that I get discovered in the audience of 'SNL.'"
-Lorne Michaels might just see you in the audience and be like,
"You have something."
-Really anyone. -Anyone.
-Time would stop, and I'd become
Millie Bobby Brown meets Daniel Day Lewis at once.
You know, finally. -Yes.
-And Jennifer Love Hewitt was the host,
who I was obsessed with.
She had everything I didn't -- IMDb page and cleavage.
[ Laughter ]
I was praying for both.
And she was dating Carson Daly at the time.
-Of course.
-They were, like, the hottest couple.
He hosted "TRL." -Oh, it's massive.
They were the it couple.
-Yeah, like the Tom Holland and Zendaya of the day.
-Yes. -It was remarkable.
And I sat right behind him.
And I was like, "This is fate. I'm behind Carson Daly."
He's going to turn around --
'Cause, I guess, in my head he was the --
Like, "TRL" and "Guys and Dolls" was my world,
so I was like, "Carson Daly probably runs MGM.
He'll turn around and see me and make me a star."
-Yeah. "You got something, kid."
-Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I'd have the contract by Monday.
-Yeah. -Didn't happen.
My strategy was to -- This was, you know, before COVID.
I was like, "I'll just cough on the back of his neck."
[ Laughter ]
Like... -I'm sorry.
So your plan is to cough on the back of Carson Daly's neck.
-Yeah.
-To the point where it would annoy him maybe?
-Well, he'd be like, "Who is -- who IS that?"
[ Laughter ]
-That's such a great delivery.
"Hey, who is -- Hey, who IS that?"
-"Oh, my God. Yeah.
Can we get the house lights up? This is a star."
-I'm so happy to hear that. That's a very fun story.
And look at what you've done now. Oh, my gosh.
Nominated for Emmys, and you're just crushing it.
I want to talk about "Roar" quickly.
"Roar" is -- It's on apple TV Plus.
And every episode tells a different woman's story.
-Yeah.
-This story -- They're all super interesting.
This one is called "The Woman Who Was Kept on a Shelf."
-Yeah.
-And you literally are up on a shelf.
-Yes, so this was created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch,
who created "Glow" and we worked together on "Nurse Jackie."
So they kind of know that my personal brand
is playing woman who are not okay.
And this is no exception.
It's kind of like a fantastical allegory for the trophy wife,
and I play a woman who lives on her husband's shelf
and goes slowly insane. -Yeah, I love it.
I think the whole season, the whole idea --
every single episode is a different story of a woman.
-Yeah, yeah. -And it's -- it's well done.
-Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Alison Brie.
The love of my life. -Alison Brie!
Yeah, she was here talking about it. It was great.
I want to talk about "Gaslit" now.
This is your other show. This show is --
Basically everyone's saying it's Julia Roberts' return,
kind of. We haven't seen Julia in a while.
-Her performance is insane. She's incredible.
-She is incredible. -Incredible.
-Yeah, and --
have you ever worked with Julia before or met her?
-I had never -- No. I'd never worked with her.
It's so unfortunate.
I, in this series, play Mo Dean, who was a real person,
wife of John Dean, who was in the White House Counsel.
And Mo Dean had -- -We have a picture of her.
-Yeah, so she has white blonde hair.
And I do not, against all odds.
And I wore this wig that was this platinum blond,
almost like Daenerys Targaryen wig.
And the process was -- It wasn't just like you pop the wig on.
Like, they had to put a bald cap
and paint it white and then put the wig on.
And I was like, "Please, Lord, don't let the first time
I meet Julia Roberts be halfway through
when I look like a White Walker in a nursing home."
Like, with two tendrils coming.
It looked insane, insane, insane.
I once FaceTimed my husband in that bald cap,
and he was like, "Never do this again."
And, of course, I met her when I was in that exact phase.
Like, "Hi, girl-legend. I normally don't look like this.
I'm so sorry. This is terrifying."
-And she's just the most fun. -Yeah, she's incredible.
-Yeah, and then knocks it out of the park.
-I want to show everyone a clip. Here's Betty Gilpin in "Gaslit."
Take a look.
-Wait, please. -John.
-Please. -You seem very nice.
Do you know what it is? I am looking for a man.
And I can't waste my time with little boys anymore.
-I know I was a [bleep] the other night.
-Mm-hmm. -But I wanna make it up to you.
There's this fundraiser next weekend,
and everyone who's anyone in D.C. is going to be there.
-You want to take me to a Republican fundraiser?
-It'll be great material for your novel.
And, besides, we don't have to talk to anybody.
We can just sit in the corner all night,
drinking John Mitchell's Scotch.
-Uh, John Mitchell? Martha Mitchell's husband?
-Yeah, why? You like him?
-She's completely insane. I love her.
-Ooh! Betty Gilpin!
"Gaslit" premieres this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. on Starz.
I love you, bud. Come back whenever you want.