-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy- and Academy Award-winning
actress you know from her work on films such as "I, Tonya"
and shows such as "The West Wing" and "Mom."
She stars next in "Breaking News in Yuba County,"
which is on digital and in select theaters
on February 12th. Let's take a look.
-Next number.
-$23.50.
-Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, excuse me.
I think someone forgot to finish the "E."
[ Chuckles ]
It should say "Happy Birthday, Sue," not..."Suc."
[ Chuckles ]
-Cash or credit?
-Please welcome back to the show Allison Janney.
How are you, Allison? -Seth, I am so happy to see you.
I wish I were there with you. But I'm --
It feels like it's been years since I've seen you.
-It's been a very long time, and I also wish
you were here in person, but I feel like
if you were here in person, I wouldn't be able to see
this incredible room that you're in right now.
What is going on? -Well, I tell you,
I made a simple request of the set dec crew
at the "Mom" program to zhuzh up my dressing room.
I thought maybe a plant or something,
'cause I've been getting very high ratings on Room Rater.
And I thought, "well, let's just get me a plant or something."
And I walk in here today, and I got a throne
and this guy and there's just all sorts of things --
all sorts of things going on. -well, I will say,
all of it sort of brings out the best in you.
You look fantastic, so they know what they're doing.
-Well, thank you. -Tell me, are you enjoying --
you know, because I know people are of two minds of it.
Do you like doing press via Zoom,
or do you miss being live in a studio?
-I feel less nervous when I'm at home.
Because when you're there in your studio
and there are all these people and the audience and the energy,
I get terrified, so I feel much more relaxed,
and that feels good to me.
But, I do, I mean, you know, it's a love-hate thing.
I would love to be there with you and see you,
because I always have a good time with you.
So I'm kind of of both minds. I wonder if people will go back
to -- you know, because it's a lot of money
productions are saving not having to fly me to New York
to do your show and put me up in a fancy hotel
and all my fancy requests I need to do, you know, to do things.
-Right, because you would need, like, a second plane ticket
for your crash test dummy.
That'd be a whole thing. -Exactly, I have to take him.
He's my emotional needs crash test dummy.
-How has the COVID-19 protocol life been
on set of a show that obviously you're so many seasons into it.
It must be jarring to be so different.
-It was, you know, incredibly strange as actor
to have to cover your face to rehearse,
because it's sort of counterintuitive
to everything that an actor needs to communicate.
So that part is weird. It wasn't easy in the beginning.
But now we know we just do it and we get tested.
I get tested two times a day. And for the rehearsals --
I mean, the run-throughs, we're allowed
to take off the masks and show everyone.
And they're so great, the way they've done it here.
We all have different zones.
Now I have to wear a tracking thing
so they can tell if I've been in contact
with someone longer than five minutes
who was outside my zone.
So there's a lot more things going on now,
and the thing's still up the nose,
which I enjoy for some reason. And I'm just grateful
that we're actually able to work during this time.
Not too many people have been that lucky.
-I feel lucky, as well, to both be back to work
and also I think I enjoy the thing up the nose, as well.
-You do? -I think I do.
I first dreaded it, and now it's like a really nice way
to sort of start the day. -[ Chuckles ]
I do look forward to it.
Some of them don't do it hard enough.
I'm like, "Can you do it a little harder?"
-Right, yeah.
I mean, I do have a safe word with the people here.
[ Laughter ] Which I highly recommend having.
-What's your safe word? -[ Laughs ]
"No! Oh, God!" [ Laughter ]
I guess it's three. It's three safe words.
Hey, so, this is a fantastic film
with just a wonderful comedic cast.
You play a woman, who we saw in the clip,
who sort of resorts to self-help books and daily affirmations.
Is that something that you've ever tried in your regular life?
-Are you kidding me?
Seth, if you could see the library of books
that I've gotten from my mother, from myself,
one even from a boyfriend's mother,
which was slightly disturbing. -[ Laughs ]
-You know, I was like, "Geez, am I that --"
you know, so I have delved a lot into self-help.
I always loved looking under my own rock
and seeing what's going on there and why I act the way I act.
But I don't do the affirmations.
I don't know, ever since Stuart Smalley,
I just think they're funny.
So, you know, the only one I do is I try to look in the mirror
in the morning and say, "I love you,"
and say it until I really mean it.
And sometimes, you know, some days are better than others.
-You have -- We talked before about how
after "The West Wing," you actually went
and saw a psychic to find out what was going to be next.
I'm wondering if you've returned because you didn't necessarily
think you got the best advice.
But that did not turn you off of the idea completely, right?
-I love going to psychics.
I really love the whole experience.
I don't know why. I feel like sometimes
it just puts a seed of hope in your mind
when you hear something good.
I mean, this one woman I went to after I filmed "I, Tonya,"
but before any award thing started happening,
she said, "I see a lot of gold in your life.
I see a lot of gold." And so but she also said
she saw a man -- a very handsome man --
that was coming into my life and "you are going to have --"
it was going to be a very sexual relationship.
And she kept going on about him.
She said, "I think I'm going to call him Hot Pants."
And so I was so excited. I would go, you know --
if I didn't want to go out to dinner,
I'd go, "I gotta go, because maybe Hot Pants
is going to be there." And he hasn't shown up yet.
So she was right about one thing, but no Hot Pants yet.
-She might not have seen COVID coming,
which obviously makes it very hard
for Hot Pants to meet anybody. -That's true.
So he could be as soon as he gets his vaccine.
Maybe he'll show up. Surely it can't be this guy.
-That would be heartbreaking if that's who she meant.
[ Both laugh ] Hey, it is always a delight
to see you. Congrats on the film.
Please do continue to stay safe while you're filming.
-I will. And you too, Seth. It's really good to see you.
Thank you. -You're very welcome.
"Mom" airs Thursday at 9:00 p.m. on CBS,
and "Breaking News in Yuba County" is
on digital and in select theaters on February 12th.