I'll seeks all that's okay, becaus no one here.

It is hello, and welcome to another week of teen Beat.

I'm Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director, celebrity ballroom dancer, mother of two, and one half of Coryantopanga dot Com, a website made by ABC when I was eighteen years old for viewers to RSVP to my fictional televised wedding, and, in addition to the website, my entire teenage existence from twelve to nineteen years old unfolded in front of a live studio audience and millions of viewers at home.

Whether it was my first kiss or my first haircut, pop culture saw it all, So now thirty years later, it's time to turn the tables.

My goal here on Teenbeat is to sit down with interesting people who have accomplished interesting things, in hopes that learning about their untelevised upbringings will help us understand who they've become.

Since their journey through puberty wasn't detailed in issues of TV Guide, the least they can do is share it with me.

Now I gave you my childhood, it's time we hear yours.

And this week I think I've found the perfect guest, like those little gold necklaces that say your name incursive.

She was first seen on Sex in the City, but since that debut, this youngest of five children has never stopped working.

Whether it was a scene stealing turn in The Forty year Old Virgin or the charming rom com lead in Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, she quickly became the actress everyone noticed, so Hollywood responded.

She'd appear on TV sets for six seasons as Max Black on the hit CBS sitcom Two Broke Girls.

Then, thanks to the Thor Movies and WandaVision, she became my favorite part of the Marvel universe, only behind Babygroot.

Shouts to Babygroot, throw in the house, Bunny, Dollface, big Mouth, and her current gig starring alongside the grunting genius of Tim Allen on ABC's Shifting Gears, a show that just returned to its second season and features more cars than all of the Fast and Furious movies combined, And you've got a bona fide star.

Sure, she is effortlessly cool and has the complexion of an eighteenth century portrait of a Nepo baby.

But I have the feeling that deep down somewhere inside is a cringe friendly teenager ready to break out and reminisce.

Please welcome to the podcast one of my absolute favorite human beings, because keep in mind, Babygroot is an alien tree.

Cat Dennings.

Wow, I when I die, will you please?

You'll drive me?

I will, I will, but I hope I die before you.

No, I refuse.

Wow.

Thank you?

Was that made me feel very accomplished.

Well you are.

You are spectacular.

And when we first worked together, I had the honor of directing an episode of Shifting Gears during the first season and I literally came home to my husband and thought, it's going to be awkward to tell him that I have fallen in love with Cat Dennings.

It's just it's going to be awkward.

I'm not going to be And I felt so like scary.

I was like, no, you don't understand.

I want to be her friend for life, Like I just I want to spend all my time with her.

And then at some point during the week, I just told you that story and you were like, I had the same conversation with my husband.

I the love was instant.

Look, there are multiple soulmates in this world.

Uh huh, you are one of them.

For me, Okay, like, yes, you're you for those listening and watching.

You know, Danielle already.

But the light and the beauty emanating from all when you stand in Forever, it is crazy.

You're so I mean, you're more than just beautiful, but like the beauty is annoyingly intense.

It's so unfair that.

Oh my gosh, look who's talking.

No, seriously, love.

And may I say, what a director, what a director you are?

Thank you.

You obviously grew up doing multiicam, but not everyone absorbs yea, and not everybody can take like the best version of multiicam and execute it like that.

You're just You're wonderful.

You're wonderful, wonderful person, gorgeous.

It's very unfair, very listen, I feel all those exact same ways about you, except you are also an incredibly talented actor, and I don't have that you.

I mean, I watch you.

No, I really don't you think.

No, this isn't about me, but I know you are.

Everyone.

By the way, everyone coming into the show, coming into direct shifting gears, literally every person on set says, oh, just wait till you meet kat oh boy and just says everyone feels about you the way I feel about you.

So it's not shocking that I feel this way about you.

You're just You're a remarkable human being.

And it's one of the main reasons why I wanted to sit down here, and one of the main reasons why I created this podcast so that we could hang out.

Good.

I'll create any podcasts you want to hang out with you.

I mean, we need to just get lunch.

I mean, you know that would be nice.

We we This is how Hollywood is.

You meet someone you really want to hang out and then life jobs this that, or in my case, you get the fluent Bronchite is fifty times exactly.

Okay, But I'm going to be hanging out with you and get prepare yourself.

Okay, I'm prepared.

We also we both love bread too, so we did talk about having a pajama bread cheese hangout.

You know what, never gave me food poisoning bread.

No, exactly, thank you, You're right.

Let us Okay.

I want to talk about the fact that you are the baby of five kids.

This must come with its own set of creating personality traits and hang ups.

What is the best thing, and what is the worst thing about being the youngest of five?

Well, the interesting situation with my siblings is that both my parents were married before okay, they got together, so there's a big age gap between me and my siblings.

And my dad was eighteen years older than my mom.

Okay, so standal.

So my oldest sister, Claudia is in her sixties.

Oh okay.

So so my older siblings are in their fifties and early sixties.

So you're talking twenty to thirty plus year age difference.

Yes, So I really grew up just me and my older brother Jeff, who's seven years older.

We share the same two parents.

It's confusing, But so my older siblings were more of like aunts and uncle vibes because they were so much older, and so I saw them a lot, but not like in growing up in the same house.

So I really never felt like I was the youngest of five in the way that maybe someone would think in the same house as their siblings.

That makes sense, So it's probably probably wasn't as easy to get away with things.

I was imagining.

I have children under one roof and you being the youngest, and by the time the parents get to you they're just exhausted.

Oh well that was true.

That was true.

They okay, they once I came along.

You know, my brother's seven years older than me, so he's seven and out comes this little girl who's a nightmare.

I mean, like from what I have been told and what I remember, I was a real tough baby.

Like really yeah, so you know you think, oh, we've done this a lot of times before.

We've got a lot of kids in our life.

I'm sure this one will be great.

No.

I mean I didn't sleep through the night till I was very old.

Okay, okay.

I couldn't eat solid food.

My my soft head thing.

What are the fontinell collapsed emergency?

I got like the flu as an infant.

My head collapsed inward and I almost died.

My fine dies, I'm fine.

So like there was a lot of like baby drama.

Never slept, how did nurse all the time, couldn't eat food?

Just nightmare person, Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

And my mom said she was nauseous and barfing every single day of her pregnancy and she could only eat vanilla Hogandaw's ice cream.

Which the joke is that this is why I look like this.

That's where you got that gorgeous porcelain skin.

It's actually Hogandaw's ice cream.

Because both my parents are very dark really and brown eyes like black hair, both of them very opposite.

Like, I don't know, no one knows what happened, but it could be the ice cream.

Could be the ice cream.

My mom also ate a lot of ice cream when she was pregnant with me.

She used to she would eat the only thing she could stomach was Hormel chili from the can and ice and ice cream, So she would eat like family size Hormel chilly and then two giant scoops of ice cream that she would walk to the pharmacy together.

Well, all the protein is why her hair is so good.

There you go, that's probably what it is.

Probably Okay, what were you When did you kind of grow out?

Would you say?

When did you grow out of being maybe a troublesome baby?

Oh?

Maybe in my twenties?

I yeah, I really like absorbed all of the attention and resources from my parents until I was in my twelve really till I moved out.

I'm really serious.

I was a mess.

My brother then became like a super intellectual and went to like an Ivy League College, went to Brown University, and like a very smart person and I'm like the dumb one who like got all the attention.

It's true.

I mean just a fact, just staying now.

For him also, but but yeah, I really like popped out knowing that I wanted to do whatever it was that like movies are, like, wanted to be in that.

How did you know did you watch a lot of movies as a young kid.

Well, the weird thing is I was not allowed to watch TV unless it was like PBS, unless it was like Sherry Lewis and Plant, Tessme Treet or whatever.

But like and then we could rent movies from the library back then.

Kids, let me tell you about a library.

Yeah, you could rent films really weird, weird, old, strange films that I was like obsessed with these random things and whatever.

It was like I've thought about this a lot because I've seen this with like my little nieces and nephews and stuff.

It's like that natural thing for babies and children to want to imagine and yes, like make believe in dream and things like that.

And I think I just wanted to I wanted to live in that because that was like and then a movie was like the ultimate make believe dreamy thing that I was like, I don't know what this is, but I gotta do it.

I'm not sure why it happened so young, but I was like, this is it.

You just knew you fell to calling.

Yeah.

Well, I want to get to the fact that you were somehow able to convince your family to move to Hollywood.

I want to get to that and how that what magic you used in order to do that.

But before we do, I want to talk about that you grew up like we all did, in a historically protected house constructed in sixteen ninety five rural Pennsylvania.

Or if I had a penny for every time I've heard that, can you tell our listeners a little something about penn Cottage?

Oh my god, I would love to.

First of all, it was haunted, as as is anything else in the way it was so haunted.

It's it's a beautiful It still is there today because it's it's not legal to ever demolish it.

A protected home.

I love it the.

Historical society because I remember that we moved in and it's just a very lovely old home.

But in on the East Coast, it's not very it's not like a big deal to live in an old house.

You don't really, right, But there is a stone carved thing that says like sixteen ninety five or ninety whatever insane here that could be on it.

And every year the Historical Society would do a tour through the house.

So but I we lived there.

So I'd be like eating my like Barbera's flakes or whatever and reading Calvin and hobbson and would come like fifteen little old ladies like with pamphlets like what like looking at our house like as if it were like.

Like look at this relic.

Yeah.

So they did that every year, and it was just hilarious.

And you know it.

The walls were like five feet thick, these stones, like they don't make them like that anymore.

Nope.

And it was it was haunted.

It was haunted.

There were the classics, like you know, lights turning on and off, doors opening and closing.

Did you see the door opening closer?

Just hear it?

No, I saw that shit.

There were like places on the stairs that were ice cold.

There were I of course lived.

In the attic.

As if the Omen and all these movies.

I mean, I don't know if there's an attic at the omen, but there's all these movies.

There's an attic for a reason.

Yea like heat the ghost rise to the top.

Wait, you were like Lydia deep, Yes, like a real life Lydia dats Yeah, I.

Well listen now, I did find a photo.

You can tell me when the right time to show.

This photo was photo that encapsulates my awkward teen Please let's see it now.

I lived in the attic and it was very creepy.

But speaking of teen beat, yeah.

Every time i'd go to New York for an audition, I would go to the what's it called Hudson News.

Hudson News up a teen beat, tiger beat.

Most of what you were in.

I would tear out the Jonathan Taylor Thomases, and I would tear out the Hansens, and I would paper my room with these things and your attic.

Yeah, this is my room and this is me.

Oh my goodness.

Perhaps you see the hands in standy do standy?

Yeah?

Somebody?

Perhaps the children don't know what that is, but I know you do.

Of course I do music, and I.

Can send you a better res photo of this.

Yes, so we will need to post that.

And I went there and they had like CDs on that thing and I was like, hey, hey, listen, were you what happens to the standy when you're done?

They were like, I don't know.

I was like, I am gonna need it, and they were like all right, and I.

Got did they just give it to you?

Or did they charge you for it?

Now?

They gave it to me.

I think they took pity on me or they were scared, which I wouldn't understand.

You're like, I need to take this handsOn hand standing to.

I don't know how I got to this but from the house.

But yeah, so I made this terrifying haunted house my own.

Let's just say that.

How did you then end up in a Hansen music video later on?

And what what must have that been like for your little brain in your heart?

To this day?

It is probably my best, my biggest accomplishment in my career.

And I'm not joking, right, it's a that's a true statement for you.

This is called manifestation folk.

You're right, you were doing the secret before anyone had heard of the secret.

Sincroting that shit since I was he old what is this eleven?

Yeah?

I don't know.

Okay, I was Pinteresting before Pinterest.

I was vision boarding my life, my ceiling.

Isaac's on my ceiling.

I love that, Okay, I love that.

So look, I don't know how this happened, but once Twitter rip came along, you could follow these people that you never could have access to.

I mean, this is good and bad, as we know, it's very bad, but you could suddenly you could have access to the thoughts of these people.

So I followed Hanson, Zack and Isaac or whoever was on there.

And I think I had been quite vocal ever since I was doing interviews about how much I loved Hansen.

Okay, I still listen.

They're great, Yes they are.

Oh look, So I had been vocal about how much I loved them many times, and I think Two Very Girls was was was popular or something at that time.

So they they they saw something about it, and I straight up gotta gott a d m yes, Taylor Hanson, and he was like, hey you ever.

I was like, yeah, mhm, I'll do it for I will pay you.

Yeah, yeah, I will do anything you want.

I will clear the calendar.

I was whatever, Yes, So I got to be in a handsome music video with my friend Nikki Reid, and it was one of the best days of my life.

It was so sal it was it was so surreal, and I know that you know this, but like when you're a teen, I'm just a say girl, because I don't know what it's like to not be that You're like, your obsessions are so important, Like my love for Hanson at that time was was so like important to me and they were a part of my daily existence in a really pure, precious, like sweet way.

Where you know, so as an adult, you kind of like your brain finally like closes up or whatever and you like being insane or maybe not in my case, less a little less demented, not not completely, but like you know, I don't have obsessions and I don't feel the obsessions that I did as a young kid.

But something like opened up in that day where I was fully able to like close the circle and like reck how like magical and and crazy.

It was that like this person got to like be in a music video with them.

That's just it's just nuts.

And the fact that I'm sitting here talking to you is also crazy.

Because I watched Boy mus World religiously.

I mean it was.

It's just so weird how these things happen.

I mean, it's just it's it's weird.

Do you think I thinking back to your The Haunted House and you talked about the fact that the ghosts were you saw, you saw doors opening and closing, and you were up in the attic and they rise.

Do you think that Do you have like like a guardian angel ghost who helped you manifest all of your dreams?

Oh my god, that's so interesting.

I wonder.

I mean I felt like specifically, and this is very wooloo everyone, but yeah, in that attic, I felt very much like there was a little boy living up there.

And I know it sounds creepy, but it wasn't.

It was like a sweet thing because I was a little kid and I felt like it was somebody my age up there because I had all my toys and stuff, and I would see, I don't lock me up, put me in the padded room.

I would see like I had a dollhouse, and I would see like out of my peripheral, like somebody kneeling like looking into it, like playing with it.

Yeah, And it didn't feel creepy.

It didn't feel like scared.

You weren't scared.

You were just like, oh, there's someone looking in the docks.

Yeah.

So I felt like the presence of this little boy up there at all times.

I don't know what that means.

But at a house that old, lots of people died, so it was just a sweet thing.

And I always I think I named him.

I don't remember what it was, but it was just like that was like a constant presence.

Yeah, exactly.

So I don't know that would be very that would be so what if it was like Ralph, my ghost Ralph?

Like, well, that's what I'm saying, Like, have you ever now Here's sorry, this is this is a wo too woo woo for everyone.

Then you can just go listen to another podcast.

But I love this stuff.

It was his name Ralph.

No, okay, I thought, I'm going, okay, have you ever felt his presence ever again?

Since after leaving the house, did you ever feel anything like his presence again?

No?

No, I stayed with that very much like the house was contained in itself when we left.

I did.

However, I did feel when we were moving out or when we were leave because my mom I would leave to go to La for my work.

And come back.

And one of the last times we left, I felt I felt aggression towards me or leaving.

And maybe I'm reading into it, but like little kids are really tuned into young people are tuned into like the veil or whatever.

Huh, And so I felt like there was anger at me for like leaving for long period, right, yeah, I don't.

Unfortunately, like I missed that house, the wonderful house, and I've my brother and his now wife, my sister in law one who I love.

They went to look at it and found out that it is now an airbnb really so you too can experience the hauntings.

I don't know if it still is.

I haven't looked it up, but they went and stayed in it, Danielle.

And what did they think.

Duh hated it.

Left in the middle of the night, really.

Left undercover of darkness.

They were so and they were staying in the attic.

This is so funny.

They were staying in the attic.

No ten o shade about the person who owns the house now, but like they were so creeped out and the feeling was so weird in there that they were like, you gotta leave, you gotta get out and they in the middle of the night.

D So that house if it came on the market, would you buy it and go and think about living there?

Yeah?

I would feel very much like I could heal.

I could heal.

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

I think.

I think that aggression you felt that last one of the last times you left was probably what your brother and sister in law were feeling, which is like, not it's not you, it's not you.

Where is she?

Where is she?

She was my friend?

Yeah, I mean listen, I sound like an insane person, and I probably am.

So it's fine.

But anyone who's like I mean, I feel like a lot of people have felt a something weird in building.

Yes, just that it's just that expanded you know, who knows totally.

Were friends ever afraid to sleep over?

No?

I didn't tell them anything.

I mean, well, you know all sleepovers where we didn't sleep at all.

The lights were on, blazing, like yeah, playing died at like three in the morning.

Of course, out to dido.

Uh.

Yes, let's talk about little cat.

Did you have any kid hobbies?

Oh my god?

Yes, Well did you ever read?

I feel like we're very close in age and we're very similar.

So did you ever read Harrie at the Spy?

Yes, and all the Nancy Drew books, which is probably a little too old for you.

No, no, no, because I inherited my sister's whole Nancy drews aunts.

Yes, so absolutely so.

When I read Harriet the Spy, I became obsessed with notebooks.

Obsessed and now still am.

This is my office, but it's beautiful.

I don't have any work to do, but like I have like notebooks, and I still like every day I come in here and iatious book.

That was a gift.

I write in my little notebook and I hope no one ever sees them.

They're pathetic.

I'm like today, I don't know.

Hey bye.

But that's like my diary from being a kid.

I for I first of all, felt like I had to everyone started with dear diary, like just the more you, how are you sorry?

It's been so long since I've written who?

Who?

What?

What is that you're anthropomorphizing?

You're feeling guilt?

It's yea, so it can go very it could go too far, yeah.

And then it would just be like a real quick recap of like, oh I got.

I know, well, welcome to welcome to adult life, kids.

So I love to do that.

I love to like you know.

I mean, look, we grew up without the internet, yep, and it was a beautiful experience.

I mean I was born with anxiety, so to me it was also like, well, how are my parents going to know where I How am I gonna know what?

They're gonna pick me up?

Like?

I didn't like that.

There was no like sys.

So like when cell phones and deepers and whatever happened, I was happy about that.

But without the Internet, I would, you know, go outside.

Oh here's something I like to do.

What a weird kid?

You know how Cicadas?

Oh gosh, where is this going?

Well, cicadas shit their skins, uh huh.

And they gave these translucentinch did you collect cicada skins?

Well, one of my favorite things to do was to get the circada skins and attach them to my hair and body and scare my mom, Oh my god, that's hilarious.

What's wrong with me?

I don't know, but it's the black silence of the lambs, so it's just insane.

I would do that.

I would there was a platform next to the garage that I would do stand up for the ferns.

I mean I would do like a tight ten, a.

Tight ten for the ferns.

Man, Do you have any of that on video?

No course, videok.

Video cameras back then are like this big yeah.

Yeah.

I would hang out with the neighbor's cat all day.

I was homeschool.

I was you know, yeah, there's we could we could we could diagnose me easily from from this podcast.

But you know I was I started acting.

Young, yeah, and it was just my life.

It was my life, and I was I was not cool.

I was not pretty according to the industry I had.

You know, I was an awkward kid who was very very confident.

I love that, very absurdly confident in myself, and I think that is part of why things worked out in the way that they did.

If someone was like, she's not pretty enough.

It was like a year, yeah, you obviously don't have eyes.

Yeah, I was like, what is it?

Yeah?

I mean, I boy, I love that.

I think I think, uh, that is just generally the way every kid should be raised, and the feeling every kid should have is like, if you don't like something about me, that's a you problem, that's your fault.

Has nothing to do with me and i'd so therefore don't need to know that opinion.

Keep it to yourself, Thank you very much.

Really, like my mom I mean and my dad, I mean, they thought I was great, and I know not that is not everybody's experience, and some people have a real tough parental situation and it will expect you for the rest of your life, which is what therapy and yours were.

Yes, but my mom thought I was still does thought I was the best.

Yeah, the most talented kid in the world, the cutest kid in the world.

She told me.

She was like, you're so beautiful, You're so special, you're so smart.

They don't know what they're talking about.

And I was like, yeah, and it really worked, but it works right, Like I really felt.

I felt like I was awesome and they didn't know what they were talking about.

And I think it's funny to think about like a tiny little girl with like enormous buff teeth and like huge frizzy hair like hermione, like real deal her mind.

Yeah, my teeth were huge.

Just the front, just the front ones, and my hair was huge, and I wore like my brother's clothes.

We didn't have any money, so I wore like thrift store stuff and my brother's.

I'd be cool now, yeah, exactly, because yeah, thrift store stuff and upcycling and vintage is very cool.

Were your parents good at juggling homeschooling?

This is a true story.

I can barely handle my first grader's homework.

They're doing new math now, and there's things called like factor families, and I'm in awe of homeschool parents.

No.

No, my dad, well, my dad had a.

Job, so he wasn't he wasn't involved.

Okay, he was a scientist, so he had like curing cancer to worry about.

My goodness, my mom tried.

I mean, I went to a program like twice a week for homeschooled kids, which was actually fantastic.

It still exists.

It's called Open Connections.

Are that now?

It's called Cupola Academy and it's in Pennsylvania.

It was wonderful.

It was run by my parents' friends.

It sounds it.

Sounds a little culty, uh huh okay.

But it was just it was like Montessori for homeschool kids.

It was like on their beautiful property.

They were like sort of like teachers there to supervise and it was just like open play and like it was great.

It really was fantastic, and there was a wonderful dog there named.

Biscuit, Ah Biscuit.

It was just a nice environment and it was helpful for kids who like, didn't didn't like or could really function.

Like I tried to go to school and I couldn't.

I don't know what's wrong with me.

When you tried to go to like a regular school, traditional school.

I wanted to go to school in my like preteen time, like I wanted the school experience, and I struggle with the structure.

I mean, surprise, I struggle with authority okay, authority problem okay, and it's haunted me my whole life.

But but yeah, I mean I had a time where I wanted to do that.

But the homeschooling thing was was great and the program was good.

But when it came to like, okay, now you're gonna do math and English and history and this and that, my mom tried with me for a long time, and it just there was a point where I was like, listen, lady, get out of the room.

I got the textbooks, I have the thing.

Yeah, let's say our relationship.

Yeah, because you, I mean I'm.

I'm thirty nine when my four year old five year old old, she's six year old niece is like, blah blah blah blah blah, this is what I'm learning at school.

I was like, what, She's like, I have no idea, what's going on?

I have Appa bearra.

The other day she was like, it's Kapa bara Okay.

I say, I have a six and a half year old and he comes home with his homework and I'm trying to help him with it, and I'm like I cannot.

I thought I had many more years before I felt like the homework was a problem for me.

I don't know how you do it.

Yeah, it's the kids on.

Well Little Barrett on Shifting Gears, who plays my daughter, who's not so anymore Barrett Margolaz is wonderful.

She was telling me about what she was doing in school.

She was like, I just feel like, I'm not going to use any of this.

My girl, like, you're not.

I'm you know, I mean you should pay attention because it's a word.

But I was like, I don't know anything.

No, And that's why the school you were talking about where it was like open play and even the idea that you had a problem with authority.

Like, I love that your parents and basically raised you instead of being like this is how you raised children?

Like children are they They have different ways of expressing, they have different ways of learning.

And yeah, if you had spent years forcing yourself to every day go to traditional schooling following the same structure, there's not a soul who meets you and thinks what an uneducated lady you are?

Like credit to my parents.

They they worked with me.

Yeah, and my mom was a stay at home mom, so it was like I think if they both worked, it wouldn't have been possible.

Yeah, what do you do so she could stay.

Home with me and indulge my every whim or whatever.

But like I learned then to love reading mm hmmm because I wasn't forced, yeah to read, And nothing against school.

I really think like school is amazing for lots of like personalities.

Really, and now as an adult, I liked structure a lot.

When I was a kid, I was it was just not I couldn't learn that way.

It was too hard for me.

And I think my mom My mom was a speech therapist and worked with kids, and I think she also knew that I just wouldn't do well and I would suffer mentally.

Yeah, he was absolutely right, So credit to her for that.

But I did learn then to love I loved math.

I felt like I was good at math.

I loved math.

I went past the graduate level in math before I like after I needed to.

I just went past it.

And I just loved reading.

I loved Shakespeare, I loved under Alan Poe, and I could like pursue those interests, you know.

So that was nice.

So it did cultivate like a lot of passion for me.

Even though you were homeschooled.

Was there ever a time where you were boy crazy?

Did you?

Oh, other than the Hanson and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, I was.

And by the way, readers, readers did official bed my dreams come true on the Shifting Gears set because Jonathanaylor Thomas came to visit you.

He did well, Yeah, he came to visit me, and of course it helped that Tim was there.

Yeah, but it was another like closed circle thing, which was so crazy.

Yeah, So I was insane boy crazy, so just to the point where it was really embarrassing.

Like I kept so many notebooks and I read them.

I'm like good lord, what.

Is wrong with you?

Do all of them end with like, ps, I love whoever you loved at that time?

That's how much is this?

Miss?

Is that?

Yeah?

So embarrassing?

I mean I was like the kid who I waited in line at like Macy's for like three hours to do a meet and greet with one of the guys from Roswell.

And he was lovely, good, good Brenden Fair.

I don't know where he is now.

I haven't checked in.

I'm sure he's doing great.

I don't know, but I waited in line at that store to meet him and I got a picture with him and I blew it up.

Did you know that you can blow photos up to be like four by two feet?

I did that.

I found out and that's what I did, and I hung it in my room.

Was it in the attic?

Oh my gosh, Brendan.

Fair haunted the attic along with the actual ghosts.

Poor guy.

Do you remember who your first in real life crush was?

I sure do?

And you know what?

We are friends on Instagram to the vie and I hope he's okay with me shouting him out.

I'll he's he's listen.

This is a childhood thing.

I think that we were both like four.

His name was Paul is he's a lie Paul, I won't say it's that's name for his bribes.

Yeah, he works in fashion now he's married to a beautiful woman who's a lawyer, who's like very smart.

And he turned out.

I still have like a little jewelry box he gave me for my birthday.

Our moms were friends.

We took French class together and my mom told me later that Paul was a prince in Thailand.

What so my.

First love was a prince.

Wow?

Because Paul's mom is from Thailand and apparently she's a princess.

She's royalty there.

So I had no idea.

I mean, this kid was the He was so sweet and so cute, and we loved each other so much, and I had the biggest crush on him.

And he grew up to be a very handsome man who works in fashion and he's lovely.

I love that.

I love that.

My first crush and I are also friends on Instagram.

And his name was Eric, and Eric was the cutest boy I had ever seen in my entire life.

And he had he had kind of like Zach Morris hair, before there was ever before Zach Morris existed, but the blonde.

He had blonde hair that was like in a wave in the front.

It was very popular in nineteen eighty six, and oh my gosh, it was beautiful.

And my mom came to school one day to help with like you know, it was around Valentine's Day and they were asking for parent volunteers to help pass out the Valentines.

And so my mom knew that I had this crush on Eric, and one of her responsibilities in the classroom was to take photos, and so I told her before she came, I was like, just please get a picture of Eric alone, because I wanted to print it out and put it in a frame in my room.

And then I remember my mom, like, I have very few memories of being this young, but the memory I have of watching her go to take the photo of him, and you know that feeling when you're like everyone knows it's too obvious.

I like, may I caused a huge seat.

I was like, mom, and she like turned and looked at me, like what And I was like, I mean you over here and she was like but I'm and I was like, no one was suspecting of anything.

She was just walking around taking pictures.

But I was so worried that he was gonna know that she was like my personal paparazzo that it panicked me.

But she ended up getting one and when she printed the photo out, I used to walk home from school and she taped it to the door that led into the house, so that the minute I arrived at the door, his picture was on the door.

And I had a white ceramic heart picture frame, and you did let his little face fit in.

Oh my god.

And years later, I mean, this is Jensen and I are married, and somehow it comes up like our first crushes, and I say, oh, mine was Eric, And I go, I wonder what he's up to now, and I find him on Instagram and he was in a speedo with his husband at at burning Man and I was like oh.

And so then I reached out to my mom and I said, Mom, I found Eric on Instagram and he's married to a man.

And my home said, of course he is.

That was very obvious.

Ah, yes, Eric.

And then we went to go see Paw Patrol.

Jensen and I with our kids, and Eric was the choreographer of Pop Patrol Live, and we ran into him with his husband, and we got to reunite and we followed each other and now we're friends again.

That's insane, isn't that crazy?

That is Wow?

What a hero's journey.

Yeah really, I've just the Paw Patrol line.

Did all the choreography for Paw Patrol Life.

What a success.

I'm so proud of him.

So yeah, so awesome.

Both became like.

I know, we had good taste, like you know, like that's yeah, I'm proud of us me too.

God, how beautiful.

So one of the things that when I saw you on the Shifting Gear set that we talked about was because one of the Shifting Gears writers, Miss Morgan Murphy, incredibly talented.

She is completely obsessed with baseball cards, collects she looks through all of them.

And Morgan has an Alan and Ginter Tops card.

I have an Alan and Ginter Tops card, and Morgan and I decided we wanted to bring each other one and sign them for one another.

And so you saw us doing this and you said, what what is this?

Where?

How did you get these cards?

And I said, do you would you want one?

Would you want to have a card made?

And you said I sure would, And it ended up happening.

You now have your very own Alan and Ginter Tops card.

You are my manager because you made this happen because I didn't.

I mean, it blew my mind.

First of all, I don't know anything about like baseball cards and stuff.

My brother's huge into that.

When I saw that, I was like, wait, how is this possible?

Huh?

And then you made the magic happen because they got in touch with me and they were.

I reached out to them.

I was like, listen, I'm with Katkat needs a card.

You're my rep.

You should get fifteen percent, to be honest.

Then they paid me.

Yeah, I was because you signed him right.

Yeah.

I was like, you're gonna pay me for this, Okay, I'm not gonna argue.

And I did it all like just I'm I wanted my brother to think I was cool.

Yeah that and it worked, I think.

A little bit.

He thinks it's hilarious.

It is the coolest thing maybe that I've ever seen.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing.

And it's gotten me into baseball cards and my sons are into baseball cards.

We like to open packs together.

It's been very fun.

But I bring it up because I stumbled upon a guy on Instagram actually who opened a pack of cards live on Instagram and he had your one of one.

So they're all they're all numbered, and this is one of one.

There's only one of these and he got it and I reached out to him and I said, I need to buy that from you.

So I bought your one of one.

It's my gift to you.

The next time I see you, I'm going to gift this to you.

Money I did.

I had you need to have your own one of one.

Look how beautiful this card is.

Oh my god.

So shout out to Jason, who was so like the minute the minute.

We reached out and said can we buy this?

And he was like yeah, why but you know why what do you what do you want with it?

And I said I would actually like to gift it to cat and he said it's all hers, it's so he he easily handed it over.

Shout out, yeah, so I have this for you the next time I see you.

Well stop, I can't mind blowing.

Okay, Well what do I do with it?

It's going it's going on at I'm going to wear it like on a little lanyard around.

I recommend you get it graded.

Get it p s A graded, so you send it off, we can actually bring it.

I think it's down Orange County.

Maybe I'll get graded for you.

I right, I might do some more work, but I want to have it graded because you want to.

You want it to be like a nine or a ten.

You you got to get it graded.

But it's a very cool thing for you to own forever and to have in your family.

And yeah, it's it's very cool.

God, thank you so much.

Thank you to you and Jason go.

You are welcome.

Now on Shifting Gears, you are famously around some of the most gorgeous cars of all time.

Has it made you want to buy a car from when you were a teenager?

And if so, what do you think you'd get?

It's like you're in my brain, it really is.

Yeah.

First of all, I've always liked vintage cars, like because they're beautiful.

Every time I asked him Alan about a specific car, he's like a tone might He's like, they're so difficult.

So you see, if you go on the set of Shifting Gears or I mean any day, there's like four immaculate, beautiful, like mint condition vintage cars that belong to smalon and if you ask about any of them, he just goesugh, because what you learned is they require he has a staff.

Uh huh.

Correct, he has a staff just for the cars.

Yeah, okay, because he has a lot.

Of that, a lot of cars.

They require a full time maintenance staff.

So he has people who shammy the.

Car, ye drive and start the engines, change the oil they die yep.

Okay.

So so he's got a full time nanny staff for these cars, and they seem to be a huge pain in the ass.

However, the one I'll give to answers the one there that I was very struck actually too that I was very struck by of tims.

One is the FOURD F one fifty from the from the fifties.

It's like beautiful, like a cartoon of a car, like bubbly, like rounded, like a toy, like a toy come to life.

Like every kid's dream is this car.

So that one, yes, he said it's difficult to drive, yep.

So a vintage Bronco that's the dream as.

An adult too.

It's sick.

He's got the orange.

He's got like a crazy one in there that sometimes in the set.

But the vintage Bronco is my like dream, and I found this company who does like beautifully restore vintage Ronnie.

Like, how much could they be that?

Like two hundred thousand dollars?

Huh?

I think I know that place that you're talking about because I also have found that.

Yeah.

And then there's also a land Rover one because I also love a vintage land Rover.

Those are hopefully two hundred thousand dollars like squeeze me.

I know, I know that's.

Not happening, but I mean maybe what hey, listen, if we get ten seasons, maybe I'll.

Buy, Yes, manifest that I will.

But then the car from my childhood that my mom had that I've forever thought about was a Mitsubishi Montero.

Oh.

It was a black Mitsubishi Montero and it was boxy.

It had no uh safety things at all, like no bags forget.

It was just it looks Unfortunately the only thing that looks like it and is the g Wagon, which I don't have.

I mean, I would like to get a g Wagon and take off the branding and like put a Mitsubishi thing on my dreams.

I love like a boxy vehicle.

So the Mitsubishi Montero.

I don't think they're they don't exist anymore.

But that was that was like my childhood car that I just loved.

She also had a minivan with like the wood the wood siding on the front.

Oh yeah, that's great.

A minivan with the woodside.

Yeah, that that seems wonderful.

How do you think Tim sources his cars?

I bet if you told him you wanted a Mitsubishi Montero, one of those staff members might be able to find one for you.

I think they can do anything.

I mean, yeah, I wonder if it was it might have been after your episode.

But there's a storyline where my son Carter played by Maxwell Simpkins once is going to fix up a car with Tim in the show, and they didn't have the specific car, so Tim got one.

T Tim got it for the show.

I'm sure it was right off, but he found and purchased this car for the show.

I mean he's very like, he's very detail oriented.

I think he can find anything.

I don't know how these people do it.

I don't either, I really don't, but I mean I guess when you are that experienced in that field and you know as many people as you do, because you know, over the years he's had to I mean he knows every This is not just like he has a purchasing problem.

This man knows every single thing about cars.

He's it is his passion.

Yes, it really is.

It's not a vanity thing.

It's like a compulsion.

Mm hmmm.

Yeah, he has to do it.

He has to do it.

And his daughter Katie is on set all the time.

Also an absolute expert.

She's so awesome and she loves her car.

I don't know her exact title, but she's like the car handler supervisor, and she knows everything about cars, the engine, she knows, whatever the thing is.

You can ask any questions she knows.

The answer is.

She's really unbelievable.

Yeah she is.

And she also dresses really cute and she gets she's like in cute high heel boots and jeans and it looks adorable.

And then she gets down on the floor and is underneath working on car parts and working on a.

Hood I don't know, on tinker.

I mean, it's amazing.

Yeah, it's pretty.

It's pretty incredible.

If I were going to get a car, I'm torn because I also love a vintage Bronco is probably my number one, But for like, just because I love the way they look and I think they're so beautiful and they're so classic.

But like nostalgia wise, for me, all I wanted the minute I turned sixteen in the car I really wanted to buy.

I wanted a red Toyota celica convertible.

What and my mom was like, absolutely not, absolutely not, You're not driving a convertible.

I ended up getting a Toyota fore Runner because that's that she was more comfortable with me driving.

Was it red?

It was not?

It was black?

Okay, very cool?

Very cool?

Oh, very cool.

And I loved that car.

I totaled it immediately, but very very cool.

So I think I think I might have to like fulfill because, like you said, the vintage Broncos we want, we cannot afford currently.

Oh could you?

Yeah, could you just have to choose?

Exactly?

Were you really to give up?

I did ask him about a vintage Bronco and he did exactly what you said.

He was like, he was like, don't do it.

You have seven of them?

Yeah exactly.

He's like, yeah, I know, but that's me.

If you really imagine you in a in a in a car with the thing down with the hair blowing.

You've got to live that truth.

I do.

I have to have I really do have to.

I don't know that I would need to buy it.

Maybe I could find one one is there like a luxury like not that that's a luxury car, but like is there like it's very maybe a vintage car.

Rental that's what That's what somebody should make, is a rental car company just for cool older cars.

And then this might.

Because well maybe like one of our outings together can be a convertible like ride along.

Wouldn't that be fun?

I would I would love that.

I also would love that.

Okay, looking back, if you could go back in time and tell young Kat anything, what would you tell her?

Start zoleof sooner?

Oh listen, I could laugh, But I also know how true that feeling is.

My husband is medicated for OCD and was in and out of therapy for his life for a very long time, and nothing was working, and he just thought he was going to be in shambles for the rest of his life until he found the right medication.

And had he not been on fluvoxamen, which is the medication that works for him, if he did not have fluvoxamene.

We would not be able to be married, he would not be able to have children.

His entire life would was and would be different until he found the right medication.

So as much as I'm with you, baby, yeah.

It's and I'm not I'm not joking.

I know.

As I said earlier, I've like I have had anxiety my whole life.

Yeah, And I was listening to the Boy Meets World podcast Pod meets World shout Out, thank you, So I wanted to start from the beginning because there's so hundreds of episodes and I know I was listening to uh Will talking about his struggles and stuff, and I really identify with that, and I've it it.

I thought I'd grow out of it.

Yeah, and I did not, And it only like intensified and changed shape as I grew up.

And I decided to, like, you know what, why not?

And it is great?

Yeah, life changing changing.

I tried.

I tried changing diet.

I tried a lot of actually exercise, like strenuous regular exercise helped a lot.

Yeah, but who has the time exactly.

I know for Jensen, it was running like he would have to aggressively run like fast, long runs, helped when before he had medications to children.

He has a wife, he has, I presume other.

Things, multiple jobs.

Yeah yeah, I mean in order to exercise for your mental health that much you got it's your whole day.

Yeah.

And some people can do Kim Kardashian can do it.

I can't.

Yep.

So yeah, that's my answer.

It's it's not a depressing thing.

It's like a great it's a great thing that these things yes available to help.

So yeah, that's my answer.

Start sooner and keep being the confident little weirdo that you are.

Because it's going to definitely pay off.

You have such a beautiful life that you have manifested for yourself, and you work with such wonderful people who speak so highly of you, And no matter what job you go to, you leave that job and people go, when can I work with her again?

Like this?

There are people, me included, who would jump into a project without knowing a single other thing about it other than just knowing you were involved.

I don't.

I would just be like, yes, I'm there, dang, hey, you and me.

I watched that.

Hey, honestly about dancing, I can't dance, don't.

Okay, we won't do a show together about dancing.

But I would chop off an arm to act alongside you in something I would.

I don't know that that would be good for the career.

Don't do that.

Listen.

If I couldn't make this happen, Yeah, we can make that happen.

I think it'd be pretty easy.

Okay, okay, ten years of shifting gears.

Then then you buy your vintage Bronco.

Maybe you buy me one two.

You know, we'll buy us matching vintage Broncos when you get ten years of shifting gears, and then we'll go into you know, our sitcom together where we're living together.

We're basically the Golden Girls.

It's basically two road girls.

Except also except not broke.

I'm it, okay, I love it.

There may be a better pitch, and we have some time.

We have some time to come up with it.

We have some time to figure it out.

Yeah, maybe we're just two old girls.

Yes, no, listen, if if you haven't aged eight.

Day, no no, no, no, tell that to my grace.

Don't.

Oh yeah, well you know what.

You don't even want to don't even get into it with the Grays.

I mean I can't.

I literally just didn't.

I washed my hair and as I was blow during it, I'm like, I, I mean, look at this hand.

Those are all gray.

Nope, those are all gray.

You can't see.

If you're a dark blonde, you're good.

This is you can't see because we're on the zoom.

But there's they've decided to be right in the front and then under here.

Yep.

I would like to like, if I went all gray, I'd go with the That'd be sick.

That's how I feel.

It's not a little bit is just what it just looks like I'm balding.

Yep.

That's exactly how exactly how I feel.

But I have when when's the time when do we go all gray?

I don't know.

I'm not sure when that is only have sprinklings, But when it happens, I'm.

Gonna embrace it.

Yeah, guys, Kat Dennings is just the best.

Right.

You can catch her on Shifting Gears on ABC Wednesday nights at eight seven Central and streaming on Hulu the next day.

And this Friday, we have a bonus episode with Kat.

We'll listen to one of our listener's personal stories of childhood embarrassment and learn a bit more about one of my favorite people around.

So make sure to subscribe now to the dedicated teen Beat podcast feed by just searching for teen Beat on your favorite streaming service and you can share your own embarrassing stories.

Just send a voice memo to teenbeatpod at gmail dot com and you might just hear yourself on an upcoming episode.

Teen Beat is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.

Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Subosch.

The theme song is by mar Coppus.

Yes that Mark Coppus.

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