Kyle Chandler on... Rosie O'Donnell
12/08/1997

The Rosie O’Donnell Show
December 8, 1997
Host: Rosie O’Donnell (RO)
Guest: Kyle Chandler (KC)

Opening of show: {Rosie sings over the opening theme song....}

RO: Well, what could be grander than Mister Kyle Chandler?

{coming back from commercial}

RO: Hi, and our next guest can be seen every Saturday night as Gary on the hit CBS show, Early Edition. Please welcome *back* to the show, the delightful (and one of my sister’s favorites) Kyle Chandler.

{Kyle walks on wearing black pants, shiny black shoes, white dress shirt under a very well-tailored double-breasted black jacket. Hug and kiss for Rosie. Assists her to her seat as he heads for the guest chair.}

RO: How are you?

KC: Very good. How are you?

RO: Good to see you.

KC: Good to see *you,* thank you.

RO: Happy holidays.

KC: Happy holidays to you, *and* your sister.

RO: Thank you.

KC: Yeah.

RO: I have a new baby girl, did you know?

KC: Yes, congratulations.

RO: I do. Thank you so much.

KC: Congratulations.

RO: Big holiday celebrations goin’ on.

KC: How was your Thanksgiving? {drinks some coffee}

RO: Pretty good. I had my friend Linda Richmond, my friend Robin’s mother came over and cooked.

KC: Mm-hmm.

RO: I did nothing. I sat around goin’, “It’s my house, I don’t have to do anything.”

KC: Yeah?

RO: What’d you do?

KC: I went down to...Florida, and my brother had everyone at his house.

RO: Yeah.

KC: And, ah, we had, ah, it was, it was crazy. Just all of these kids - I mean, there were nine kids runnin’ around.

RO: Right.

KC: And, ah, ah, we had lobster races, and the, ah, the younger ones....

RO: Really?

KC: Instead of turkey, we got a few lobsters in, {Kyle starts to get really animated here while describing the lobster races} and the kids grabbed the lobsters, they took ‘em outside, put ‘em on the deck, and they were all ready for these lobsters to take off and start runnin’. And the kids just sat there, {begins stomping feet} “Come on! Go! Go! Go!” Well, the lobsters didn’t do anything, obviously. So they sat there, and...

RO: They didn’t go!

KC: Yeah, so...

RO: Did you take the rubber bands off the claws?

KC: My brother *wanted* to do that for ‘em...

RO: He wanted...

KC: but no one else would go for that.

RO: When I was a little kid, my Mom would take us to the A&P, and like once a year she’d get lobsters for her and my Dad...

KC: Yeah.

RO: And she’d make me and my sister hold them in the bags, and they were alive.

KC: {laughs}

RO: And it was like the scariest day of my life.

KC: {laughs again}

RO: Because you always were afraid they were gonna get you.

KC: Oh, yeah.

RO: You know?

KC: They’ll climb out and get you.

RO: Did you have turkey too? Or just lobster?

KC: No, just lobster.

RO: Really?

KC: {nods yes as he drinks some more coffee}

RO: Now, how many siblings in your family? You’re one of how many?

KC: Four. One of four.

RO: One of four. And you grew up in...?

KC: I grew up in...Illinois.

RO: Yeah?

KC: Until I was eleven, then moved down to Georgia, and so I’ve got family down in the south still, and then ah, I’ve got a sister out in California, where I’ve also got a home.

RO: Was that, was that a tough transition from Chicago to Georgia?

KC: It was, it was *very* interesting because I, I grew up in a suburb outside of, outside of Chicago and it, it... going from *there* to Loganville, Georgia, was, ah... it was quite different. I remember pulling up, ah, my father pulled up ah, to the house up above the street from us. It was this big grand white house, but... dilapidated. An engine hangin’ from the tree, and the outhouse still had a path going to it, I mean it was a used outhouse. He says, “Well, here we are!” And I said, “Oh God!” and then, “Boo hoo hoo,” {rubs fists at eyes to demonstrate} I started cryin’...

RO: Did you cry?

KC: Oh, yeah.

RO: Yeah.

KC: But we went down the street and, ah, it was really interesting growing up down there because it was a different world. It was, it was rural, and it was, ah, it was, it was enchanting, now that I look back on it. It was, it was probably the, the most beautiful thing that happened to me, ah, growing up. It was such a, a different world, and I was out in the country, and all of a sudden all these new, new things came to me that I had never, I had never been a part of before.

RO: Do you think you’d like to do that with your family? Maybe have a more rural kind of a setting?

KC: I would. I would.

RO: Yeah, that’d be nice.

KC: I’ve got a 21 month old daughter...

RO: Yeah? Great.

KC: And ah, and I think quite often, ah, you know, “where am I gonna raise her?” and “how do I give her the things that *I* had?” and, ah, I would definitely like to be able to share all those things that, that meant so much to *me* growing up.

RO: Yeah.

KC: So, it’s a matter of... workin’ it out.

RO: It’s true. It’s funny, cause those things that, when you’re growing up, you don’t know, you think “ugh,” like my - I remember the mall. I’d be like, “oh, I have to go to the *mall*.” Now I *love* the mall. I bring my son to the mall, I’m like, “Oh this is the *ma:::ll*”

KC: {laughing} You gotta move by a mall.

RO: There’s Santa Claus near the *mall*

KC: {laughing}

RO: Now, how’s the show going? Good?

KC: {attempting to get a drink of coffee} The show’s going great. Ah, yeah, we’re holding our, our time slot very well. Ah, we’ve got some, ah...

RO: You got Fisher on. Fisher Stevens.

KC: Fisher. Fisher the nut.

RO: Great guy.

KC: The crazy nut, ah...

RO: He *is* a nutty guy. His mom’s real nice, too. Do you know his mom?

KC: I’ve never met his mom.

RO: His mom’s great.

KC: I’ve heard wonderful things about her. Umm, I know his father. He lives down the street from his father’s in Chicago.

RO: Yeah.

KC: His father’s a great guy, but he, he’s very, they’re very similar.

RO: Yeah.

KC: They’re like two peas in a pod.

RO: I never met the dad. I know his mom well.

KC: {trying to demonstrate how much Fisher and Fisher’s dad are alike} Oh, they’re arguing - quick, quick - “rarr” “rarr” they go, you know?

RO: Right.

KC: You gotta, you gotta, you gotta sit and catch up with them.

RO: I’m glad this season that your character seems to be more *into* the fact that he’s able to help people. ‘Cause remember the first season, he was sorta like, didn’t know what to do with this newspaper...

KC: Right. Right.

RO: And should he be involved...

KC: Yeah. Yeah. No, its, its, ah, yeah, I was complaining a little bit....

RO: Yeah.

KC: ...ah, last year, so this year, ah, more resigned to the fact. And ah, we’ve got some new writers on the show, and I, I really like the way the show’s going. We’re ah, we, we’ve got some shows ah, that we’ve done, that are, they’re sorta Capraesque, and I, I like that, ah...

RO: It’s got a great warm feeling, you know?

KC: Yeah, it’s got the warm feeling, we still hit the drama, but we’ve got a nice line of comedy that rolls through that I think holds the ah, the, the, suspended believability of the whole deal, and it, it keeps it together.

RO: We got a clip. Take a look. The very handsome Mister Kyle Chandler. Right here.

{show clip from “A Regular Joe” - Gary talks to Mrs. Damski about people in love}

{coming back from the clip, Kyle is speaking privately to Rosie}

KC: ...figure out something.

RO: Right. {noticing the clip is over} Ah...

KC: Ahh...

RO: That is the attractive Kyle Chandler, which is Saturday nights at nine. Early Edition on CBS. Lovely to see you. I’m glad the show’s doing well, because....

KC: Thank you very much.

RO: ...as you know, little crush on you during “Homefront”

KC: {Aw, shucks} Thank you very much.

RO: Enjoy you on CBS.

KC: Thank you very much.

RO: There you go. Mister Kyle Chandler. And happy holidays.

{shake hands}

KC: Thank you very much.

{Rosie announces the upcoming guests and as they go into commercial, Kyle and Rosie have some more private conversation}

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