Today Show Interview
TODAY: Last year on a really memorable episode of Frasier, Kelsey Grammer summons up the courage to ask his high school heartthrob out on a date, but much to his horror, his dream girl turns into a nightmare. Tonight, former Designing Woman Jean Smart returns in her Emmy Award winning role in NBC's Frasier. Jean Smart, good to see you. JEAN SMART: Thank you very much. TODAY: When you played this role last year, it was a frightening moment for Frasier. I think it's everybody's nightmare. You have such an ideal, your high school sweetheart, the person you wanted to see, and you run into them years later, and it just doesn't quite work out. Was this something you were looking forward to playing? JEAN: Oh, when they described it to me, I said "I'm there! Just tell me when to show up." Um, and I loved Kelsey's line where he's talking to Roz and he says "I went to bed with Carrie"....um, "I went to bed with the prom queen and I woke up with Carrie." Of course my husband said, "I don't get it. I live with this every day." TODAY: "No big whoop to me!" JEAN: "What's the joke?" TODAY: So how do you return tonight? JEAN: Well, we run into each other -- we haven't seen each other in a while. We're pleasant to each other, and he meets my girlfriend. He's quite taken with her, and so I sort of blackmail him -- sort of match-make for him. I say I'll put in a good word for him if he does something for me. TODAY: He ends up escorting you to your surprise birthday party. We've got a clip of that, let's take a look. (They play clip) TODAY: It's got to be a kick to be on a show like this. JEAN: It's just a ball. I did four back to back and really felt like part of the -- part of the family. And all of a sudden it was the end, and I said 'oh gee, I'm gonna miss this.' TODAY: It's an hour long episode tonight, and next week's is an hour long, and you're on both of those. JEAN: Yep. TODAY: In a way, you're on like a fifth of the season. JEAN: I like that. I hadn't thought of that. TODAY: Yeah! You're a regular on the show. JEAN: There you go! TODAY: You're just all bunched up in the end. JEAN: I want more money! TODAY: Do you miss doing episodic television? JEAN: Well, I started to remember when I was doing the show how much fun it was. And it's such a great schedule, especially if you're a mom. I'd definitely do it again. TODAY: You would come back to another series. What about next year, do you think you'll be asked back to Frasier? Have they talked to you about that? JEAN: Well, it's a little bit of a....cliffhanger at the end, so, yes, I'm hopeful that there'll be something we have to deal with next year. And there's a surprise guest in the very last episode that will really tickle people. TODAY: Really? Can you give us a hint? JEAN: No. TODAY: No? Can you whisper it? JEAN: No. TODAY: Well, I figured I gotta try! What is it about this show, about Frasier that everyone seems to adore working on it? JEAN: It's the best set I've ever been on. The cast's still absolutely crazy about each other after eight seasons. The writers and the actors are so respectful to each other, and they've got it down to a science -- they can do it like this (snaps fingers), but they are still so true to the show. That's why it's still such a great show. The actors will give up a great laugh line if it's not true to their character or doesn't help the scene. And that's why the show is still so great. It's amazing. TODAY: That's great. You're here in New York talking about this Frasier episode that airs tonight, but you also were nominated for a Tony, and you're going to the lunch! JEAN: Yes. TODAY: What were you nominated for? JEAN: The Man Who Came to Dinner with Nathan Lane. TODAY: Do you like theater? Do you like live? JEAN: That's how I started making my living, in theater, years ago after school. TODAY: After doing something like that, working with Nathan Lane, does that kind of get the juices flowing, maybe thinking "Maybe I should do a little more Broadway"? JEAN: Yeah, it's just....I've done, um.....It had been three years since I'd done a play in New York. I was very pleased to be back. It's just it's a tough schedule with a young child I think because you're gone at night. If you're gone during the day they don't mind, but when you're gone six nights out of seven, they don't like it. TODAY: They're such different animals. How does acting on stage compare -- what does it do for you, as opposed to acting in front of a camera on an episodic show? JEAN: When you're on stage it's just you and the audience. No one can mess with you. No one can cut out your favorite scene or say "Let's go back and try it this way." It's just you and the audience and the writer and his words. When it's going well, and it's a good piece, there's nothing like it. Of course there's nothing more horrifying when it's not going well. TODAY: That's pretty bad. JEAN: It's terrifying. TODAY: When we were talking earlier, Katie mentioned how much we all loved Designing Women. Does is surprise you that people still respond to you in that role and still talk about that program? JEAN: It does actually, although I guess it's on so much still. It's on actually more now than when we were actually doing the show. It'll be on when I'm a hundred, and they'll say "Boy she doesn't look so good off camera. On TV she looks much younger." TODAY: Well, you look great tonight on Frasier, and we'll all be watching Jean Smart. You can catch her on one special hour-long episode of Frasier right here tonight at 9 on NBC. |