"The Today Show" Transcript

Interviewer: Matt Lauer
Guest Stars: Malcolm Gets and Lea Thompson
ML: When the NBC sitcom "Caroline in the City" debuted in the Fall of 1995, viewers were introduced to Caroline Duffy, a cartoonist with a moody assistant. (Footage from one of the "Caroline's" episodes.) Now, as the series wraps up its second season, Caroline and Richard have moved from combative co-workers to close friends. And maybe even more. (More footage is shown.) Lea Thompson and Malcolm Gets, good to see you. Good morning. So...
MG: Who's that fat guy in the first clip?
ML: Yeah, a little difference there.
MG: (unintelligible)...trainer.
LT: Different hair.
ML: So are you--what is with you two first of all? Are you to become lumbers, as I said?
LT: Yeah.
MG: Well, Al's the one carrying the axe outside.
ML: But seriously, you two--for those people who haven't seen the show a lot, you two do feel great affection for one another, you tell everybody else that, except each other.
LT: Right.
ML: When are you going to take the next step?
LT: I--I don't know. I don't...
MG: I feel like Luke and Laura or something.
LT: I know.
MG: Maybe Christopher Cross will write a song about us.
LT: I did get to kiss him though. He's a great kisser.
ML: Right there.
LT: No. Yeah, no, a real kiss. In one of those season ending shows.
ML: So...(unintelligible)...okay. So what you're telling me is we have a cliffhanger coming up?
LT: Yes. Yes.
ML: Was a kiss agreed on by both parties?
LT: Well, you know...
ML: Are you--are you at all concerned that if you do take the next step that it's going to damage the chemistry? I mean, that it's a dicey situation when these things happen.
MG: Right. Well, "I Dream of Jeanie," went off the air when they got together. Right?
LT: Really?
MG: I don't know.
LT: Well, you know what? We've done a couple shows where we've been like a couple. And they work really--I mean, we work well as a couple.
MG: Right.
LT: So I don't know.
MG: I don't know.
LT: I don't know.
MG: I mean, obviously, the tension comes from keeping us apart.
LT: Mm-mmm.
MG: And I think they're going to try to do that for as long as they can.
ML: Because once you two get together, bascially there are two options. You break up or stay together.
LT: Mm-mmm.
ML: And therein lies the story line. But, here, you can constantly be kind of shocking at the door and just missing by an inch or two.
LT: Yeah.
MG: You gotta tune in.
LT: Yeah.
ML: All this mystery is killing me. We just saw a little bit of a clip where--where you have to pretend that you're husband and wife, at least once. And that requires some quick thinking. So let me show another clip. (Both actors agreed and more footage is shown.) This--this show is--is filmed or taped in front of a live audience, right?
LT: Mm-hmm.
ML: If you blow a take, a scene...
LT: Mm-hmm.
ML: Which I know you probably never do.
LT: No, no, only him.
ML: If you do, that means you've got to come up with the same jokes again in front of the same audience. How do they react to that?
MG: Well...
LT: Malcolm's always thinking of new jokes. He's really good at that. But they--they're pretty good.
MG: Mm-hmm.
LT: And we--you know what? Our writers are so quick that they come in-- they run in even when the cameras are--are still rolling and give us new stuff.
ML: So you'll change the scene a second time?
MG: Completely. They always rewrite.
LT: Yeah, yeah.
MG: I mean, trying to memorize the script for "Caroline in the City" is a--futile effort.
LT: Yeah.
MG: But it's good. It keeps us--well, it keeps us on our toes.
LT: Mm-hmm.
MG: And they're really good at gauging the audience. And if a joke doesn't fly, or something is not clear in the story, then you have people there to tell you right away, and the writers are just like right on that.
LT: Yeah. It's really exciting.
MG: Yeah.
LT: But when people come in they're not used to...
MG: Yeah.
LT: ...they get really scared. They'll hand us 20 pages that, you know, five minutes before the show.
ML: But--but I heard a little rumor--that of course it is difficult to memorize a script. And you hide copies of the script along the set and actually look down at them during the scene?
MG: Well, what do you think the draft board is there for? I mean, I'm over there drawing...
ML: (unintelligible).
LT: That drawing board--we always have little lines on the drawing board.
MG: Exactly. And the problem is sometimes you'll hide like lines on the set. And then right before the cameras roll, the prop guys will be cleaning up, and they'll be like, oh, here's a piece of paper, and they'll throw it away.
LT: And you'll get there and go, ah...
ML: So, as you're pretending to be coloring these cartoons...
LT: Uh-huh.
MG: Well...
ML: You can actually be reading a script?
MG: Well.
LT: Yeah.
ML: This is easy, this job then.
LT: Yeah.
MG: Yeah, it's real easy.
LT: Yeah. No.
ML: I also heard another rumor. You flashed the audience.
LT: Twice.
MG: Oh, my poor mother.
ML: You were--you were in a scene. You were wearing a towel for the scene, and you took the towel off in front of a live audience?
MG: The last...
LT: The very last show. The very last show.
MG: The last scene of the last show of the season was a dramatic scene. And the audience did what we wanted them to do, which was they responded like, oh no, a big cliffhanger. And they had me come out of the bathroom in a towel.
LT: Yeah.
MG: And those guys who know me. I mean, they should've known. So the last take--right before the last take, someone said to me--they said, isn't it kind of sad that the last scene tonight is so--so dramatic. I was like, well...So the last take, I just like said my line and before I went back in the bathroom my towel just fell off. It just sort of like blew away.
ML: I'm going to try to get a clear picture. But you had already turned and were heading back towards the bathroom, though, right?
MG: Well, I guess it depends on where you were sitting in the audience. Would you care to comment?
LT: Well, I didn't see it. I was on the other set. And you know, I'm very upset.
ML: You want to see pictures?
MG: No!!
LT: I'm very upset. Yeah.
ML: Okay.
LT: "Caroline in the City", we've got a big cliffhanger coming up. It airs Tuesday nights right here on NBC.
ML: Lea Thompson, Malcolm Gets, good to see you both.
LT: Thanks.
MG: Thanks Matt.

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