A Mother’s Day Special with Pamela Adlon (‘Better Things’)

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2024

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This Mother’s Day, our very special episode with actor, writer, and director Pamela Adlon.

We discuss her new movie Babes (7:27), directing a comedy about reproductive rights in 2024 (12:38), and her creative upbringing between New York City and Los Angeles (17:55). Then, we dive into her early roles as a child actor, including appearances on The Facts of Life and The Redd Foxx Show (19:06), her foray into voice acting (23:15), and the MTV Madonna music video contest that made her want to become a filmmaker (34:16).

On the back-half, Pamela describes how motherhood shaped her career (41:50), including her semi-autobiographical show Better Things (44:30) and her newfound mission to mentor women in the industry through her production company, Slam Book Inc. (1:00:40). To close, a tribute to Pamela’s mother (1:04:30).

For questions, comments, or to join our mailing list, reach me at [email protected]. This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Smart journalism, fascinating topics.
0:03.0	Words that describe CNN's podcast, The Assignment with Audie Cornish.
0:07.0	Last year, the Army missed its recruitment goal.
0:10.0	It had 65,000 spots to fill and came up 10,000 short of that target.
0:16.0	Why is it so hard to recruit?
0:18.0	How's the Pentagon responding?
0:19.0	And how are the voices of service members on social media shifting the balance?
0:24.7	Listen to the assignment with Audie Cornish wherever you get your podcasts. Pushkin. The This is talk easy. I'm standing by writer, director, and actor Pamela Adlon. For the past four decades, Adlon has
1:19.7	been a staple on American television. As a child actor, she appeared on programs like The Facts of Life, Night Court, and The Red Fox
1:27.3	Show.
1:28.3	Then in the 90s, Adlon emerged as a voice-over artist, which she became widely known for her iconic
1:34.4	portrayal of Bobby Hill, a wide-eyed pre-teen on the animated series, King of the Hill.
1:40.1	In the show's 13-season run, she voiced over 250 episodes, winning a prime time Emmy in 2002.
1:48.8	By then, Adlon had come to terms with her career as a sought-after voiceover actor bouncing from one
1:54.6	animated show to the next. But then something unusual happened. A second act. As a
2:00.8	40-year-old mother to three, Adlon returned to the screen. She was a series regular on
2:06.2	Californication alongside David Acovny and a recurring feature in Louis, where she also served as a producer.
2:13.4	She then parlayed that success into her own semi-autobiographical FX series, Better Things.
2:19.9	The show, which Adlon starred and often directed, was beloved for its messy unvarnished portrait of single motherhood, which also happens to be the subject of her latest project, Babes, starring Alana Glazer and Michelle Bhutto as best friends and
2:34.9	potentially soon-to-be mothers. Here's a clip from the trailer.
2:38.9	You all need to get out of France.
2:40.9	Wait, hold up.
	...

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