Obviously we’re fans of “Cougar Town” around here (seriously, if you’re not watching it yet you should be). And my love for supporting actress Busy Philipps dates back to her role as bad-girl Kim on the greatest sitcom ever canceled, “Freaks and Geeks.” The real Busy is a devoted mom, whose phone conversation with me is peppered with asides to her 3-year-old daughter, Birdie, of the “Oh, what pretty glitter!” variety. In fact, I would have further explored that “faking an orgasm” question if Birdie (cuuuute name!) hadn’t literally ended the interview by yanking the phone out of her mother’s hand. Don’t worry, I’d already asked her about making out with James Franco.
I’m really excited to be talking to you especially because your co-star is a columnist for us.
Busy: It’s so funny because Courteney [Cox] had mentioned at some point something about Jane Pratt and I was like, “Not Jane Pratt from Sassy and Jane Magazine” and she gave me this look and was like “Yeah, THAT Jane Pratt.” I was like, she was only my idol! She was responsible for every fashion decision I made from 12 to 19 to whenever Jane magazine disappeared.
Before I got on with you, I shouted out to some readers to ask if they had any questions for you. Somebody wanted to know “What did James Franco’s mouth taste like?”
Busy: God, I don’t even remember, but I’m sure I tasted like cigarettes, which is gross. I LOVED making out with James; it was super fun. Also we were kids, and I don’t think we understood the idea of movie kissing yet, so we were just full on French kissing. Especially if you are on TV, you don’t really have to do super duper frenching and you kind of just get away with open mouth, no tongue kissing. Especially when you become an adult and people are married and they have kids, you don’t want it to be weird.
But I remember not knowing that that was something you needed to talk about, so we would just make out. We weren’t really into each other. We really didn’t like each other at the time, but we have since become friends.
They also wanted to know about Josh Jackson.
I’ve made out with a lot of cute guys! Kissing Josh Jackson, those were some fond memories. I’m sure him and his girlfriend appreciate me saying that. I’m sure my husband enjoys that, too. Him and I are friends now. But it’s part of the business, its what we do.
I made out with Josh Radnor because I did one episode of “How I Met Your Mother” and we saw him at the Muppets premiere the other day, and my husband and Josh are really good friends. I was introducing the three-year-old to Josh and said, “This is one of daddy’s friends, Josh” and he said “We are friends, too. And I said, “Yeah, and we totally made out on TV,” not even noticing that my three year old was right there. Poor thing.
What is the grossest thing in your purse?
Busy: Well, let’s look…there’s a “smooth move” tea bag. That’s a little gross, but its practical. Usually there’s a little piece of gum in a tiny wrap of paper. Today it’s very typical, mostly crayons and stuff. Oh, here’s a little piece of popcorn!
That’s a mom purse. Jane actually told me that you made an amazing cake for your daughter’s birthday? [She was showing my and Courteney's daughters pictures of the cake when we were all on the Cougartown set and both girls were just so enamored of her/her character -- she has some sparkly thing going on that kids just LOVE. ]
Busy: Oh yeah, I’m a bit of a cake artist. It’s my favorite thing in the world. This year I made a Rapunzel tower cake. It was three feet tall. It was pretty spectacular.
My mom did cakes. When she was first married to my dad, he was in the Navy and he was stationed for many months at a time and they had moved to Hawaii. I think she was just lonely, so she started taking a cake decorating class and she was really good at it, and she shared that world with me and my sister, too. She always made really great cakes for us growing up.
In my early 20s, I started doing creative narrative cakes, and around age 20 or 21 I got into stand-up cakes. Once I started doing that, it was just all trial and error. And then a couple of years ago, all these cake shows got very popular and then I got so many tips from watching them.
I only do like two or three a year. I could never do it as a business. I always get weirdly insulted when people are like, “You should do that as a business!” because then I feel like they are saying my acting isn’t good.
Have you ever made a dirty cake?
Busy: Yeah , I made a boob cake, for our first AD on Cougar Town for his birthday. Of course it was the day that my executive producer and his wife brought their three young children.
Oh no! But they’ve seen boobs probably.
Busy: Yeah, but not in cake form. I was a little mortified, I have to say.
What pills do you take every day?
Busy: Well I take my Chinese herbs that I get from my acupuncturist for general well being and health. Which Josh Hopkins, from the show, refers to as my phen phen. And then I take my birth control pills. And my antidepressants, you know.
Oh, I hear you girl. What is the closest you have ever come to being arrested?
Busy: Well, this is super embarrassing but it was the 90s, so I think I’m excused. I was at a rave in the desert when I was 17, I think that was the closest I have ever come. I’m not sure why I didn’t get arrested, except they gave us Breathalyzer tests and none of us had been drinking.
What’s the weirdest thing you do when you are alone?
Busy: I’m never alone anymore since having a child! When I was younger, I used to practice late night interviews with myself which is really embarrassing and is a fairly good insight into me. Just weird stories that I thought I could tell. It was always Letterman or Conan, it was never Carson or Leno.
I am from Arizona, but I went to college in Los Angeles, and because I didn’t have a ton of money in college I would drive home for holidays which is for like six hours, generally alone. Pretending I was on TV or the movies and I would be doing interviews in the car to David Letterman.
Have you ever faked an orgasm?
Busy: Uh yeah, I mean is there anyone that hasn’t?
Some people say they haven’t.
Busy: Really? I think they are lying.
Or people say, “I have but I wouldn’t now.”
Busy: What?!
Would you?
Busy: Yeah!! I’m married.
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