Rosalee Mayeux | From "Magnum, P.I." to "Model Mom"

[00:00:00] Rosalee Mayeux: I will have you know that in Beverly Hills, California one afternoon, I got a standing ovation from the nearby construction workers 'cause I could parallel park better than anybody on the street.

[00:00:13] Announcer: Welcome to Story and Craft. Now, here's your host, Marc Preston.

[00:00:18] Marc Preston: Okay, here we go. Back again, another episode of Story and Craft.

[00:00:21] Marc Preston: Welcome, welcome, welcome. Uh, my name is Marc. If you haven't been here before, I, I do welcome you to the show. If you have been here before, well, thanks for stopping back by. Uh, today, having a great conversation with actor, comedian, and former model Rosalee Mayeux. She has a really interesting story, kind of a really interesting life arc, uh, that, that has taken her kinda all over the place.

[00:00:45] Marc Preston: And, uh, it was a great conversation. And you can check out her latest comedy special. It is called Model Mom. It is, uh, kind of everywhere. You know, Apple, uh, YouTube, I think. It is, uh, just do a search for Model Mom. You'll find it. And [00:01:00] a quick reminder, jump on over to storyandcraftpod.com. All the stuff you could possibly wanna know about the show, it is all right there.

[00:01:07] Marc Preston: And don't forget to follow and like Story and Craft on your podcast app. It's greatly appreciated. Okay, so let's go and get after it. Today is Rosalee Mayeux day right here on Story and Craft.

[00:01:23] Rosalee Mayeux: What's up, Hawaii Island?

[00:01:24] Marc Preston: Things are going great down here. You're in, uh, you're, you're in LA, right?

[00:01:28] Rosalee Mayeux: I am in LA. I am.

[00:01:30] Marc Preston: It's toward the end of y- of your day here today, huh?

[00:01:33] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah, yeah. And you too?

[00:01:35] Marc Preston: You know, after this, uh, it's, it's a trip to the grocery and cooking for the, uh, for the youngin', uh, the 20-year-old. Uh, actually I'm gonna put her to work tonight. You know, sh- I'm gonna have her do- Oh, good idea ... I'm have, gonna have her cook for me.

[00:01:46] Marc Preston: No, she does a really g- she's really good at it too, so.

[00:01:49] Rosalee Mayeux: Never, never get sick and then leave the kids in charge of feeding you. We'll have to come get you, Marc. You'll die. You'll die. They seem like they could do these things, but nope, [00:02:00] not really.

[00:02:01] Marc Preston: But- No, I will, I will say this. I raised my kids not to be chicken nugget kids.

[00:02:05] Marc Preston: I wanted them to, you know- Right ... they shopped with me, they cooked, they have the skills, and then they come up with good ideas. I'm just kinda like, "I've had a long day." I'm like, "You know, I, I, I'm gonna go and hand this over to her." I don't care if it's something fancy or she decides to make frozen corn dogs, who knows?

[00:02:19] Marc Preston: You know, it could be anything. Right. You know, but, you know, I, I just saw, I, I caught I think snippets of a couple of your shows and I noticed that you were from Louisiana, but I didn't catch where in Louisiana you were from.

[00:02:31] Rosalee Mayeux: Uh, I'm from Southwest Louisiana, uh, in Rayne- Oh, okay ... which is between Lafayette and Crowley on the I-10.

[00:02:39] Marc Preston: You know, I logged, uh, uh, uh, I did my tour of duty in, uh, Metairie, in New Orleans for 20, little over 20 years, and, uh, my ex-wife's from there. Oh,

[00:02:48] Rosalee Mayeux: wow. So

[00:02:49] Marc Preston: I did it-

[00:02:50] Rosalee Mayeux: Thank you. Thank you- Uh, y- ... for your service.

[00:02:53] Marc Preston: Yeah. I enjoyed it, uh, to a degree. Uh, it's just one of those things that, uh... I, I, I've used this quote [00:03:00] before.

[00:03:00] Marc Preston: My aunt gave this to me, rest her soul, before I moved to New Orleans in '98, and she said she knew somebody in New Orleans who had this phrase. They said, "They don't expect their politicians to be corrupt, they demand it." And it's just- ... you know, it, it- Now you're getting- ... I

[00:03:13] Rosalee Mayeux: thought that was- ... into my material.

[00:03:15] Marc Preston: Yeah.

[00:03:16] Rosalee Mayeux: We are the only state in the United States, uh, who, uh, put our governor in jail. He, we sent him to the penitentiary, which is a great word. Is this Ed- Edwin, Edwin Edwards?

[00:03:27] Marc Preston: Edwin. Oh.

[00:03:27] Rosalee Mayeux: And then when he got out, we reelected him. So that's us. I

[00:03:32] Marc Preston: tell you what, there, there was a mayor of New Orleans, I forg- uh, uh- His name is escaping me.

[00:03:38] Marc Preston: Um, but uh, uh, he was the former president of one of the cable companies, one that I always had a trou- had trouble with. And then he became mayor, and then he got popped for corruption and went to jail. I was happy that there was justice served. A part of it was that they never responded to all the overcharges I got from this cable company, so that was kind of like I was vindicated, I felt, you know.

[00:03:59] Marc Preston: But, uh, but [00:04:00] no, that's- but so that's- Wouldn't it be

[00:04:01] Rosalee Mayeux: nice if we could send them to jail for bad, uh, internet service? I mean, you know, I'm just saying. It's just an idea. Just one of my many- Yeah ... good thoughts.

[00:04:11] Marc Preston: What's it like growing up in Rain? I think I used to g- if it's along I-10, I'm from Dallas, so we would...

[00:04:16] Marc Preston: Oh, no, no, that's pa- we would, we would go up north on 49. I think it was 49. Yeah,

[00:04:20] Rosalee Mayeux: you take 49 and then come on down if you wanted to. I mean, it was always a choice whether you're gonna go up north to Dallas or down to Houston or San Antonio or anything like that. Uh-huh. Galveston for vacations. That's where I was.

[00:04:32] Rosalee Mayeux: Um, but yeah, the I-10, when you come from Dallas, you come on down to 49 and then you cut across, and there was... The, the joke back home was we would build 10 miles of the I-10 and then we would run out of money, and by the time we appropriated new money, the swamp had eaten the 10 miles that we had done. So it took us about 95 years- Yeah

[00:04:56] Rosalee Mayeux: to build the

[00:04:56] Marc Preston: I-10. Yeah. Uh, you know, [00:05:00] when I saw your name, I was like, "Mayeaux." I was like, "Well, you know, that's, that's a very Louisiana thing. I wonder if she's from Louisiana." Boom, there you go. So what, what did your, what did your folks do, uh, down there?

[00:05:09] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh my gosh. You know, Mom and Dad were too old to, um, adopt kids by the time we came along, and so they bribed a priest for $500.

[00:05:23] Rosalee Mayeux: It's back when you could buy children, and, uh, they got my brother, and then a few years later they went and, uh, paid the priest some more money and got me. And we were brought from Shreveport in a little adoption home on Hope Street, which later burned down, so not too much hope there anymore, but they got us.

[00:05:43] Rosalee Mayeux: And they did every job there was. I mean, during World War II, my dad, uh, um, had had polio as a little kid, and so when he tried to join the Army, they would tell him, "Drop trou," and they would see his spindly polio legs and [00:06:00] say, "We can't take you."

[00:06:01] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:01] Rosalee Mayeux: So he tried three times. He would go from station to station trying to get in to fight the war.

[00:06:07] Rosalee Mayeux: Mom was, uh, she ran, she headed up a series of canning factories that did all the food for the GIs.

[00:06:17] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:17] Rosalee Mayeux: And then what Dad ended up doing was he went around to the men who, who were off serving. So he went to those families and gathered up, oh, it still makes me cry, uh, all those young boys- And took Reign to state football championships with 11 players in World War II.

[00:06:40] Rosalee Mayeux: Da- that's how he served. He went and collected boys whose dads were serving and taught them football, and was their coach.

[00:06:49] Marc Preston: Well, so was your dad kind of a more of a service-minded kind of a guy?

[00:06:52] Rosalee Mayeux: Um- Yeah, he's the one who taught me all about charity work. I mean, he would go back to town, he would bring food on Sundays.

[00:06:59] Rosalee Mayeux: If [00:07:00] we had too much, it would make him cry that other people were hungry. He couldn't take it. He's a big softie. Uh-huh. I mean, and he sold cars to chickens, and I- he did everything there was. Um- Wait,

[00:07:13] Marc Preston: he sold cars and chickens- I don't know that ... or sold cars to chickens?

[00:07:16] Rosalee Mayeux: Well, on- 'Cause this is getting- ... when we were on the farm, he would-

[00:07:19] Rosalee Mayeux: raise chickens, and he would put me on street corners with little baby chicks at Easter time- Oh ... to sell chickens. And then later he became a used car salesman, which all the stories are true about.

[00:07:32] Marc Preston: Oh, I grew up in the same... My father was, did the same... Well, he, he used new cars, but you know, the old car salesman-

[00:07:38] Marc Preston: whether it's new or used, they're the same, they're the same DNA, you know? So- Yeah. Yeah ... I still get PTSD going on a car lot. I remember, I remember they, they... The- my title was, uh, 'cause I worked, when I was old enough to drive at a Ford dealership, they gave me a title of, uh, inventory control supervisor. So my job was- Oh

[00:07:55] Marc Preston: making sure the inv- all the cars were positioned, you know, for the best marketing. [00:08:00] But the salesman referred to me as lot lizard, you know? So it was- Yeah ... there was no- You were a

[00:08:03] Rosalee Mayeux: lot lizard. Absolutely. I know that

[00:08:06] Marc Preston: term. Oh, and

[00:08:06] Rosalee Mayeux: it,

[00:08:07] Marc Preston: it was in Dallas. Come August, they parked the cars on the, you know, it was a blacktop r- uh, streets with, or whatever, he rode, r- uh- Yep

[00:08:14] Marc Preston: paving, whatever. And, uh, it was crazy because the cars were all, well, they're metal, they absorb heat- Yeah ... and you had the blacktop. Yeah. Uh, it was just so oppressive. I, that was like the, everybody has those building character jobs. That was one of mine, and I was getting inside of, like, sports cars and stuff, and moving them around and, you know, had way more responsibility than probably a 16-year-old these days would be given, you know, considering the- Yeah

[00:08:36] Marc Preston: the price of the cars I was moving. But growing up around a car dealership, you, did you pick up on those, call them savvy negotiation skills?

[00:08:44] Rosalee Mayeux: Um- Well, let's put it this way. I wasn't afraid to walk in and buy my first car, because I had already heard it all from my dad on the phone with his customers. So when I went in as a young lady to go buy my first car, I wouldn't put up with any of the stuff that the, the poor salesman in California went, "Who is [00:09:00] this girl?

[00:09:00] Rosalee Mayeux: She's not supposed to know all this." Mm-hmm. Um, I don't know. I just learned- You do what you have to do to- Mm-hmm ... uh, to earn a living. You have to put pride aside. He, he sold shrimp out of a truck, you know? He did anything- Oh, yeah ... there was. He built houses. He did construction. He did, you know, he did it all, and, uh, to his credit, I mean, Mom was the one...

[00:09:29] Rosalee Mayeux: They both went to college, but the war interrupted all that. So, um, he, they were just the, the real American pull yourself up by the bootstraps, do what you need to do, and worked hard all their lives, and it was always a big deal that they could pay their mortgage. You know, that was, that was a big deal.

[00:09:52] Marc Preston: Did you feel like you kinda jumped out into the world with a sense of independence, or you felt capable, you know? Did you, did you get that from them, or was it-

[00:09:59] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh, no, [00:10:00] no ... was it- I flunked out of college and had to go.

[00:10:03] Marc Preston: Oh.

[00:10:03] Rosalee Mayeux: Well, I mean, Dad, you know, they, they eventually did very well. Dad had two furniture stores eventually, and the mob came to him.

[00:10:12] Rosalee Mayeux: And you come from where I come from. You know how that goes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. They come knocking on your door and they say, "Mr. Lee, we would like to park some inventory in your warehouse." And Dad said, "Oh, that's okay. I, I'm all full up. I can't help you." And they came back a few months later and said, "Mr. Lee, I'm afraid we must insist."

[00:10:36] Rosalee Mayeux: And he said, "No, no. I'm good. I just have so much furn- I just can't help you boys out." And they came back and burned them out.

[00:10:43] Marc Preston: Really?

[00:10:44] Rosalee Mayeux: Really. And the w- the way you can prove it is the warehouses were on opposite ends of town, and they both burned down at the same time, so.

[00:10:55] Marc Preston: So wh- when did you, when did you head out of Louisiana?

[00:10:57] Marc Preston: When did you make your way... Did you, was your first [00:11:00] journey off to LA or were you, it kinda, kinda wa- Well, no ... where did you go?

[00:11:04] Rosalee Mayeux: Your first, the first thing you're supposed to do is get married, 'cause you're 19 and that's the law. And then you move to Texas, and then you get your divorce, and then you get discovered on a runway and got taken to New York, and then you lived in Paris, and then you got a contract to move to Los Angeles.

[00:11:20] Marc Preston: That's a very specific path, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Where'd you live in Texas when you moved? W- was it just like Houston

[00:11:26] Rosalee Mayeux: or Beaumont or- So I was, so when I got married and I was 19, we moved to Austin- Okay ... where I learned how to parallel park, and I will have you know that in Beverly Hills, California one afternoon, I got a standing ovation from the nearby construction workers, could I, 'cause I could parallel park better than anybody on the street, my 22-foot green Cadillac-

[00:11:48] Rosalee Mayeux: that I had learned. I learned to park at the courthouse in Austin. That's, you had to fight for a parking spot there. And so that's where I learned to really drive was Texas, and I would, I would go [00:12:00] from Austin to Dallas for modeling. Do you remember Kim Dawson?

[00:12:04] Marc Preston: Uh, yeah, no, we're very, right off I-35 and the, uh, yeah.

[00:12:07] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah, Kim Dawson Agency. Oh, oh- So that's who took me in first ...

[00:12:12] Marc Preston: did you remember, my grandfather, rest his soul, was in the, uh, ladies fashion and millinery and all that, and he had something at the Dallas Apparel Mart. I don't know if you remember.

[00:12:20] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes. Yes, that's where her offices were not far from that. Yep.

[00:12:23] Rosalee Mayeux: So your first jobs as a model was to see how you did on runway, how you did, I mean, you did the photography. And so there was this wonderful guy named Marlon who did all of our shots, and, uh- Back then they're all black

[00:12:37] Marc Preston: and white

[00:12:38] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah, all black and white.

[00:12:40] Marc Preston: Yeah

[00:12:40] Rosalee Mayeux: And very- Which I still love, black and white

[00:12:43] Rosalee Mayeux: beautiful, beautiful. My first portfolio was a piece of art. And, and from there I got seen on the runway by a kid named Steven Schatz, who was a bright young designer who had f- had his first showing at Barneys in New York, which [00:13:00] was, that was the coolest store, the it store. It's where everybody wanted their designs to end up.

[00:13:09] Marc Preston: How did you get i- introduced to the, the Kinderson Agency? Were you... Was somebody saying, "You should try this out," or was this- Yeah ... always an aspiration for you, or? Yeah.

[00:13:18] Rosalee Mayeux: No. I was, uh, I was just a kid married in Austin, and, uh, this is so terrible. Uh, so my husband got struck by lightning on the golf course, and, uh, I didn't do it.

[00:13:32] Rosalee Mayeux: He's dead. I didn't do it. He's dead, but he's dead now. He did dive in. So I stayed and took care of him-

[00:13:38] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm ...

[00:13:38] Rosalee Mayeux: for, I don't know, two years in rehab and stuff. And one of his friends was trying to be a, um, realtor, and he said, "Rosalee, you're pretty. Come stand in front of this house. We'll sell it." Oh. And it worked.

[00:13:50] Rosalee Mayeux: I was just in front of the house, and a house that hadn't sold in a minute, uh, was instantly sold, and he said, "See? You should be doing this." Mm-hmm. And so [00:14:00] Foxy was his l- his, uh, wife's name, and Foxy came over and said, "You have to go to Dallas and cut that long blonde hair." And so, so I went. I just knocked on their door and said, "Hey."

[00:14:12] Marc Preston: What year are we talking about here? Uh, 'cause it gives me a little frame of reference into my- It

[00:14:16] Rosalee Mayeux: had to be, like, it had to be, like '76 or something like that, because-

[00:14:21] Marc Preston: Okay. Okay ...

[00:14:22] Rosalee Mayeux: about, uh, and I went back and forth while we were figuring out to separate and all that stuff, I went back and forth, and so the year I got discovered was '79.

[00:14:33] Rosalee Mayeux: That

[00:14:33] Marc Preston: was high time in Dallas. There was a lot-

[00:14:35] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah ...

[00:14:36] Marc Preston: there was,

[00:14:36] Rosalee Mayeux: uh- Yeah, there was a lot of cool stuff going on. And, and that's where I got discovered, and I got, uh, taken to New York by a small agent who said, "You really don't belong with us. I'll set up an appointment with you to go meet Eileen Ford." And-

[00:14:51] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm

[00:14:51] Rosalee Mayeux: you know, that was the height of the '80s. That was it. It was 12 years of- God,

[00:14:57] Marc Preston: wasn't that kind of the precursor to [00:15:00] the whole concept of supermodels? 'Cause that didn't come in- Mm-hmm ... until, like, r- early '80s, you know, Kathy Ireland and all. Well,

[00:15:06] Rosalee Mayeux: yeah, all that, all that came right smack in the middle. But it was, you know, it's a, it's a career that, um, really some girls spark to and just love the glamour and stuff.

[00:15:19] Rosalee Mayeux: And look, it, I liked staying at the Ritz in Paris. It's nice. But, uh, you know, if you come from the country, what, what I valued was every three months I would disappear for a month and I would go back to Louisiana and spend a month with my mom and dad. And I would go plant, you know, resod the front yard or go out and, you know, get a bunch of cloth and cook with my aunts and make a new dress.

[00:15:47] Rosalee Mayeux: I mean, that still held more value to me than anything. Okay. So then I would go back to Paris and they would complain because you just get going and then you disappear. [00:16:00] Um, but you know, I would go to model at this, you know, like a Givenchy or a Chanel or something, and I would see the seamstresses sewing silk linings into fine linens and I would go, "Oh, I watched the ladies in Grandma's back room do that."

[00:16:17] Rosalee Mayeux: So I was very into the, like, your grandpa, the milliner side of it, the... I loved fabrics and brocades and velvets and all of the, you know, the workmanship of it to me was exquisite. And I, I didn't realize that these ladies back in the country five miles outside of town on a rice farm had that craft that you saw in the fashion houses in Paris, and I, I just loved it.

[00:16:45] Rosalee Mayeux: I'm a very tactile artist and so I, I, I liked all that. So the allure to me was play. It was a lot of fun to play.

[00:16:56] Marc Preston: Well, do you think that the, the, the foundation of [00:17:00] modeling as a, you know, high, high-profile thing was really coming into being right about then, but, but leading up to that, I, I don't think modeling was thought of quite as this big...

[00:17:11] Marc Preston: It was, it was something you could do, but it wasn't like the level of a supermodel thing. Yeah. I'm just remembering, you know, the, uh, the guys I went to high school with had the, uh, Kathy Ireland poster- Yeah ... and, uh, like Cindy Crawford and all,

[00:17:23] Rosalee Mayeux: you know- Kathy was cool. Kathy was cool 'cause she refused to shave her legs.

[00:17:26] Rosalee Mayeux: You know, these were all, uh- Really? When I came up it was Cheryl Tiegs that was in the magazines. Cheryl

[00:17:31] Marc Preston: Tiegs, yes.

[00:17:32] Rosalee Mayeux: Remember her? And, uh, by the time I got to Europe, it had started, like you say, to change. It had started to get so rarefied. Uh- It was wild ... Victoria's Secret came in, and Eileen Ford wasn't in Paris.

[00:17:45] Rosalee Mayeux: She... What happened was a dude by the name of Johnny Casablancas made really good friends with Eileen and Jerry, and he convinced them that he would be their European liaison. They all made friends, and it turned out [00:18:00] he was a horrible human being. And, and they- Oh ... it was like all of... We just trusted, you know?

[00:18:10] Rosalee Mayeux: And it's way over there in Paris, you know? W- there was, there wasn't the level of communication. I mean, today we watch the Gulf War on the television for the first time. There wasn't this education. I was in the bowels of something called La Coupole. You know this place, Marc? Mm-mm. In Paris, La Coupole. It's the mo- it's one of the most famous eateries in the world, and it's...

[00:18:36] Rosalee Mayeux: The tables are so tiny, seated next to these giant marble columns. It's, it's like, like what a food court thinks it should look like, you know? Yeah. Okay. And it- Okay.

[00:18:49] Marc Preston: You say no more.

[00:18:51] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah ... it, it's one as... It's one giant restaurant, and the waiters rushed over to... We were six models sitting together. They rushed over and spoke to [00:19:00] us in French and said, "If you're American, come with us."

[00:19:03] Rosalee Mayeux: And they took us down into the bowels of the restaurant where they had an illegal radio And we're listening to Ronald Reagan getting shot.

[00:19:13] Marc Preston: Oh, really? Okay. That's in '81, right? I don't know. '80, '81? Yeah. Okay.

[00:19:17] Rosalee Mayeux: I don't, I don't know anymore. I don't remember anymore.

[00:19:21] Marc Preston: Well, you know, ballpark, yeah.

[00:19:22] Rosalee Mayeux: Um, but, but that's what it was like.

[00:19:24] Rosalee Mayeux: You know, we had to call our parents with coins on the weekends from a payphone on a street. So communications was not what it is today. You weren't immediately alerted if somebody was a bad guy. Eileen had no idea. I had no idea that they were all of these bad guys. It was only being there and in the industry for 12 years that I began to see things around me, and the choices that I made were so, you know, country Louisiana in comparison to what was really going on.

[00:19:58] Rosalee Mayeux: And I didn't [00:20:00] know, you know? And then when I came back, Eileen was very smart. She said, "You will make a fortune if you just marry a cattle man and go have a nice family." And that's that- Yeah. I mean, that's not gonna happen. I have too much foolishness in my soul. And she said, "Oh, God, what do you wanna do?"

[00:20:18] Rosalee Mayeux: And I said, "Well, I'm pregnant." And she said, "Oh, God. Are you gonna keep it?" And I said, "Well, I guess so." And she said, "Oh, God. Now everybody's gonna want one." And so, so we started with a bunch of models. We're now parents, and I went to Carnegie Hall and started studying acting, and that's how I got my whole career, which was my next career, was acting, was, uh, she put me in

[00:20:43] Marc Preston: a- Was th- was that something you, you...

[00:20:43] Marc Preston: Did you have, like, a target? Was it like, "Okay, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stair-step this thing into other things," or was it just like, "What else do I wanna do?" And was that always something that was on your mind? Like acting, that is.

[00:20:55] Rosalee Mayeux: I think acting was since I was a little girl and would cut cheerleading [00:21:00] practice to go watch the 4:00 movie.

[00:21:02] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:03] Rosalee Mayeux: I just, you know... And my cousins would say, "But you can't sing and dance. What are you, what are you gonna do?" Because real acting and theater acting and English, you know, on the boards in the West End in London was not a part of our world. We just saw, like, the 4:00 movie. And, um, and so when I got into it, Eileen first put me in commercials, where I learned about cameras and lighting and stuff, and I actually became much more comfortable, because of the modeling years, in front of cameras than live audiences.

[00:21:46] Rosalee Mayeux: To segue now into shooting a comedy special, which is called Model Mom, by the way, in honor of all my stupid years. But it, uh, it, that's, you know, it, it's so, so, so different working with cameras and working with stand-up live audiences.

[00:21:58] Marc Preston: Oh, yeah,

[00:21:58] Rosalee Mayeux: yeah.

[00:21:59] Marc Preston: It's,

[00:21:59] Rosalee Mayeux: it's [00:22:00] just ... And the, the challenges on movie sets was another thing that was, um, that was so much fun to learn.

[00:22:06] Rosalee Mayeux: You know, I thought I was headed toward being an actor, Marc. I mean, uh, be- being a director. Transitioning from acting into directing, 'cause I've always written and wr- written short stories, and some of them won awards, and I wanted to direct them. Um, but was there a plan? I don't know. I think, I think the plan is always art, whether you're Just being a poet or a painter or a, a director, uh, or sewing gowns, it's, it's all art.

[00:22:41] Rosalee Mayeux: I don't think I could ever do anything else. I was never any good to hire as a with a resume. Well,

[00:22:46] Marc Preston: it's kind of a storytelling and expression as well, you know? Yeah. It seems like, you know, that's kind of... When you were modeling, did you find, uh, was it all pretty much straightforward, you know, photography and, um, like you said, [00:23:00] runway?

[00:23:00] Marc Preston: I mean, was that, was it kind of like a hodgepodge of a lot of different things, or did you find yourself going to-

[00:23:04] Rosalee Mayeux: It, it was a lot of different things. A lot of the girls did runway. I wasn't often selected for runway because I have a curvaceous body. Mm. And really what looks good to the designer eye is you need a coat hanger, something to, like, hang gowns on so that they have a flow and a drape and a movement.

[00:23:22] Rosalee Mayeux: I mean, I got caught chewing gum, and they didn't like me on the runway. So-

[00:23:27] Marc Preston: So is

[00:23:28] Rosalee Mayeux: the gum thing- I was whistling and my, and Eileen called me and said, "Were you whistling on the runway?" And I said, "Well, I was getting rid of my gum, and I was just kind of depressed, and so I was whistling to cheer myself up 'cause..."

[00:23:37] Rosalee Mayeux: She said, "No. No, Rosalee, no. These are high fashion people. They do not want you from the country." And so, uh, I... They said, "Well, she has a pretty face." And so I ended up doing a lot of makeup ads and, uh, fashion that was just photography. Uh, a lot of photography, a lot of fashion, but a lot of face.

[00:23:56] Marc Preston: Did you ever have a moment where you walked into the mall, uh, went into, [00:24:00] let's say, the, the makeup area?

[00:24:01] Marc Preston: Yeah. Was it ever a surreal moment when you saw yourself published somewhere or a picture hanging or something like that?

[00:24:07] Rosalee Mayeux: I remember coming home, and I had done a huge magazine spread. I think it was Brazilian Vogue or something, and I brought it home to my mom and dad. And I showed my dad, and he said, "Now who's that?"

[00:24:21] Rosalee Mayeux: And I said, "Well, Daddy, that's me." And he said, "No." I said, "Daddy, that's me with makeup on." He said, "Pfft. Doesn't look like you." So it was like, always had a very down-to-earth kind of a, you know, reality check.

[00:24:36] Marc Preston: Got some of that Bayou sensibility going on,

[00:24:38] Rosalee Mayeux: yeah.

[00:24:39] Marc Preston: Yeah. So wh- when you transitioned or, uh, you made the move into, to acting, was there, like- I don't think you can

[00:24:45] Rosalee Mayeux: use that word anymore, Marc.

[00:24:47] Marc Preston: Trans... Oh, gotta be careful. Yeah. That's why I clarified, yeah. Um, but the, the, the thing that, you know, as a, as an actor, you said you want to direct, but what was, what was kind of getting you, getting your juices flowing when it came to acting? Did you en- you [00:25:00] know, was it film, TV? Was there a specific project where you're like- Always film

[00:25:03] Marc Preston: "Oh, I'm doing the thing now." You know?

[00:25:05] Rosalee Mayeux: Always film. Always film. Television is, um... And I know this from my improv friends, uh Television is like doing a play.

[00:25:15] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:15] Rosalee Mayeux: And you have to do it every week, all day long. I've done... In fact, there was a director, a female director from, I believe, South Padre, uh, and she directed soap operas.

[00:25:26] Rosalee Mayeux: And they wouldn't let me do soap operas because I would crack everybody up, and it was supposed to be- ... you're supposed to be serious when you say, "I'm in love with your son, Jeff. I know. I know. I'm so sorry to disappoint you, but we won't be having a, a wedding ceremony tonight." You know? That, I can't say that straight.

[00:25:42] Rosalee Mayeux: I can't. And, um, so for me, they would put me in, in film because film is such a quiet, still art. As much as you can be in Mad Max, you also have to be able to [00:26:00] sit in who you are. And that always pleased me a lot more. And there's my goofy side that shoots commercials where I can just, you know, uh, be in the moment and, and lick an ice cream cone and find it delicious.

[00:26:16] Rosalee Mayeux: And I'm trying to write a book right now called Smell the Cookie: My Life in Advertising, because it's, uh- Oh

[00:26:21] Marc Preston: my God, I re- I remember doing a, uh, uh, so I was very young, I think I was like 12, something like that. Did I, uh- And they wanted somebody to play a, a, it was- Did you act? Did you act in- Well, I was in- What?

[00:26:33] Marc Preston: I, I was in, I, no, I was in, okay, prepare yourself, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders movie, the sequel with John Davidson when I was like eight. Yay. Oh, that's, that's a grid. Uh, I was in, remember going to, do you remember, uh, Texie Waterman? Uh, she was the one who had the studio where all the cheerleaders trained at.

[00:26:52] Marc Preston: Yeah. It was just a storefront. Yeah. And I went there, and one of the cheerleaders had a birthday, and they had a, uh, it was in between shots, but they were there in the [00:27:00] studio doing their thing, but they saw me. They thought I was a cute, adorable little kid. I guess I was. And they all said, "Oh, come have some birthday cake with us."

[00:27:06] Marc Preston: There's all these cheerleaders sitting in a circle. I'm their like little pet. Oh my gosh. And eight-year-old me didn't appreciate that nearly as much as 14-year-old me would've. Um, but it was- But the... And of course, I had to do, uh, I did something in Dallas, uh, with Larry Hagman. I remember that. And, uh- Oh my

[00:27:23] Rosalee Mayeux: gosh

[00:27:25] Marc Preston: and I was in a Pepsi commercial, uh, that was, uh, I thought it was really cool 'cause it was, it was kind of an iconic commercial for the time because it, they had a sky- it was on a farm, and they had a skywriter writing, "Will you marry me?" Or something. And it's kind of an iconic- Oh, wow ... Pepsi commercial for the day.

[00:27:39] Marc Preston: And all I remember is the donuts were really good, and I was introduced to coffee at a very young age. So I was amped, you know. So it was like craft service was like, I- That's the thing I loved. But, yeah-

[00:27:49] Rosalee Mayeux: That's the, that's why we all work, Marc. It's just for craft service. That's it.

[00:27:53] Marc Preston: Oh, some of it's so- That's all we're here for

[00:27:54] Marc Preston: oh, so good. And I remember shooting a, I was on a TV show, I was on a m- m- you know, one of my adult years, [00:28:00] uh, uh, they were shooting an ABC miniseries, and the craft service was like étouffée and pasta, uh, uh jambalaya. Oh. I'm like- Oh ... that's way too heavy to, you know, 'cause you can't eat- Yeah ... that and feel like- No, you can't

[00:28:13] Marc Preston: 'cause I was like, "Okay, I, uh, this is gonna mess with my memorizing my lines," which I'm not terribly great at doing. So film for you, what, what was, what was, uh, kind of the first project where you went, "This is ideal for me," you know, "This is awesome." What was that first film or project you worked on that was, uh, really memorable for you?

[00:28:31] Rosalee Mayeux: I don't... There's, there's so many, um, moments that you have that are s- There was, remember Lee Grant?

[00:28:40] Marc Preston: Oh, of

[00:28:40] Rosalee Mayeux: course. Yeah She was wearing a hair in a, in a page boy. I was on a made-for-TV movie with Judd Hirsch, and he was playing a bad guy, and I was supposed to get on stage, or on the witness stand and, uh, 'cause he had, and I had had a regular date [00:29:00] before he d- had done all these horrible things.

[00:29:02] Rosalee Mayeux: And I remember I had had a bad hair appointment. For a girl that's an actor, that's a big thing. I had a bad hair appointment. Oh, yeah And it was kind of orangey-red and fried a little bit, and I thought, "Oh, great." But when I read, read it, I knew I could make something out of it, and it wasn't on the page so much as this character that had, had evolved while studying the lines.

[00:29:26] Rosalee Mayeux: And I give this speech and interaction being, being on a witness stand, and I got a standing ovation

[00:29:35] Marc Preston: Really?

[00:29:36] Rosalee Mayeux: On the, on the sound stage. And Lee Grant came up and shook my hand, and she said, "You're terrific." And I thought, "Oh, man."

[00:29:44] Marc Preston: Oh, that's, that's, that's, that's a feeling, like, you know, especially when you, not necessarily...

[00:29:48] Marc Preston: it's not idolize, but you appreciate somebody's in the zone. They're good at what

[00:29:51] Rosalee Mayeux: they do.

[00:29:52] Marc Preston: Oh,

[00:29:52] Rosalee Mayeux: she- And they acknowledge

[00:29:53] Marc Preston: you, you

[00:29:53] Rosalee Mayeux: know? She is so... I al- I never could take my eyes off her anyway. And then, and then I got to work with Carol Burnett and Tom Selleck [00:30:00] and Shirley MacLaine, and some of the people, uh, told me afterwards, they said, "You actually like working with stars better than you do.

[00:30:10] Rosalee Mayeux: We're gonna keep you for that." Because it's true. I, because I adore them so much, and I don't fawn over them, but I just wanna be at my be- it brings the best, the breast- you know, brings the best out of you. Um-

[00:30:23] Marc Preston: Well, I gotta, I gotta know the Carol Burnett experience, though, because that was, like, one of

[00:30:27] Rosalee Mayeux: my fondest memories as a kid.

[00:30:27] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh, it's adorable. In fact, I have, I have a note, uh, write her a letter, uh, on my desk right now because I met somebody who actually knows her. Um, I was in Hawaii with Tom Selleck doing his Hawaii Five-O. Is that... No, it was called- Or

[00:30:41] Marc Preston: was it Mag- Magnum, P.I.?

[00:30:43] Rosalee Mayeux: No, Magnum, P.I.

[00:30:44] Marc Preston: Yeah, yeah.

[00:30:44] Rosalee Mayeux: Um, and, uh, and I didn't know she was the one who was gonna be with us in the scene, and they announced it right before the scene.

[00:30:53] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh, how cool is that? And I was just... And she walks up, and I had this, this scene, and it was a very [00:31:00] difficult line or two with a lot of S's in it. And Tom kept hearing me say it wrong, and I couldn't hear that I was saying it wrong. And we kept going back, and this was not in the script, and we just, he just kept correcting me, and I kept laughing.

[00:31:15] Rosalee Mayeux: He said, "The, the trip..." So I said it right, right? And so that was what I was doing with it. She was standing right here between us and said, "Is there a fire hose somewhere we could put this fire out with?" Yeah. They kept all of it. It was so... It was the best experience. It was the best.

[00:31:36] Marc Preston: And we- Well, Magnum, P.I.

[00:31:37] Marc Preston: for a kid, uh, for a kid of the '80s, that was like, yeah, that was Tom Selleck- Yeah ... making short shorts, like, a thing. My kids' generation now would see him doing was reverse mortgage commercials. But back in the day, he wa- he was- Yeah ... he was the guy. He was the

[00:31:51] Rosalee Mayeux: mustache. He was the guy. And

[00:31:52] Marc Preston: he was, you know.

[00:31:52] Rosalee Mayeux: He was the mustache.

[00:31:53] Rosalee Mayeux: He was the guy. And, and, you know, what a gracious, um, host, and it, it [00:32:00] was, it was a terrific experience. I, I, at that same time, the '80s were, '80s and '90s is when I got, you know, all these magnificent breaks. And, uh, ABC put me under a comedy contract- Um, because apparently I can't be serious on a runway. Anyway, so they Well,

[00:32:18] Marc Preston: no, there, you, you were finding, you were finding your people.

[00:32:20] Marc Preston: You were finding your zone finally.

[00:32:21] Rosalee Mayeux: I was. I did. I, I, I was finally able to talk. I say all the time, you know, I, I was quiet for 12 years because your opinion did not matter on a set, and, uh, it was, it was so lovely to be writing and performing stand-up where people want to hear what you have to say. But that, that experience really taught me, uh, I learned a lot from all those guys, all those guys in the '80s, uh, on how to write stuff.

[00:32:50] Rosalee Mayeux: And once I began writing, that also gives you a voice, right? And I started submitting- Yeah, yeah ... and yeah, that's when, um,

[00:32:57] Marc Preston: in the '90s- Uh, it gives you insight into the process, you know, [00:33:00] most certainly, you know.

[00:33:01] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah. And the writers, uh, at least when I was coming up, what the writer said went. That was, you respect the written word.

[00:33:10] Rosalee Mayeux: You don't change anything. You don't anything. So when I started ad-libbing at the end of commercials, a commercial has been vetted by at least 100

[00:33:22] Rosalee Mayeux: people- Oh, God, yeah, yeah, yeah ... by the time you ever see. That's corporate, right? And for them to keep an ad lib or two that I offer them, and they kept it and aired it I knew that I was in my zone. I knew that I was finding my comedic voice if I could tag their scripts and they

[00:33:37] Marc Preston: would keep it in That's, that, that, that is something because I, in coaching voiceover for many, many years, I tell my students, like, uh, when I work with actors, especially out of LA, they want, they start im- improvising something.

[00:33:48] Marc Preston: Like, "No, no, no, no." You know? You understand how many hands have touched- No ... this, and you've got basically the Bible in front of you, and it ain't gonna change. You gotta, you gotta- Exactly ... you gotta find your space between the lines maybe, but as

[00:33:59] Rosalee Mayeux: far as- I was [00:34:00] wondering about your voice, Marc, because you have such a marvelous voice.

[00:34:03] Rosalee Mayeux: I was wondering if you were a voiceover king.

[00:34:06] Marc Preston: Oh, you're, you're ver- you're very kind. Yeah. In fact, it's funny, down here, uh, uh, I do a, a lot of stuff, a lot of what I do is, uh, voice of TV stations around the country, and one of 'em- Oh, nice ... it's so funny, one of 'em down here, I'm the voice of the ABC station and, and it cracks me up 'cause my kids are so unimpressed by what I do.

[00:34:21] Marc Preston: It's so funny because- True ... one of my commercials will come on and, and I'll, I'll mention, I'll say, "Hey, who is that guy?" The, my dog recognizes my voice sometimes on TV, which is

[00:34:36] Rosalee Mayeux: kind of fun. Oh, that's so funny. It's confusing for him. My dog used to re- my dog used to react to my commercials on the television. That's true. I forgot about that.

[00:34:38] Marc Preston: You know, it's a lot of fun, and I, I, you know, it's allowed me to do a lot of other things 'cause to some degree I like the anonymity of it. I came up in radio in Dallas, and, um- Ah

[00:34:48] Marc Preston: but, uh, but yeah, it's kind of like the anonymity. You can kind of go, nobody knows who you are. And then I got in acting, and they still didn't know who I was, so that's a thing. Um, but so now y- you got- Well, your voice is amazing, so ... your comedy voice happening. Well, you're [00:35:00] very kind. You're very kind. Um, but I'm curious how you made the transition because going and, and deciding to do stand-up, I've interviewed, actually the very first interview I did on my s- my series with a fella, a good dude named, uh, Craig Shoemaker.

[00:35:12] Marc Preston: I don't know if you know him. Oh, yes. Um, you know, he is, uh, he's a, he's a, just a good dude. I've known him from, uh, I think back in like '96 or something. And, uh- Yeah ... you know, so I wanted to have a comedian on, and intermittently I will have some, you know, comedians on, and it's such an interesting, not just the work itself, but the lifestyle.

[00:35:30] Marc Preston: Because that's, if you decide you wanna go on the road, that's a whole different life. So how did you- Yeah, it is ... make that transition and decision to do that?

[00:35:40] Rosalee Mayeux: Well, the, uh, I got sick. I got di- I, Tarantino had taken me on as one of the only two female directors on his roster of young directors.

[00:35:54] Marc Preston: Really?

[00:35:54] Rosalee Mayeux: Um, yeah.

[00:35:56] Rosalee Mayeux: Um, I was fully ready to transition [00:36:00] into directing. I was very excited. I wrote and pitched, guess what? Guess what kind of commercial, Marc? Uh- What would it be about?

[00:36:09] Marc Preston: Automotive?

[00:36:10] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes. Okay. I wrote a series of car commercials- Okay ... and sent it in blind to Tarantino's commercial production house. And they called me and said, "Who are you?"

[00:36:22] Rosalee Mayeux: And I said, "Hi, I'm nobody. Uh, I've just been doing this 30 years and, uh, and I, I'd like to see if you guys like this." And they said, "Ugh, we better take a meeting. Come in." They were so adorable to me. I came in with my cardboard pitch and a pitch book, and I put it in front of them and put the board up, and they went, "Pitch us."

[00:36:41] Rosalee Mayeux: And I said, "No, no, it's right there." And they went, "Ugh," and they start turning the pages, and before they were done they offered me a deal.

[00:36:50] Marc Preston: And- So he had a commercial production-

[00:36:51] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes ... like, a, an arm of- Yeah, A Band

[00:36:53] Marc Preston: Okay.

[00:36:53] Rosalee Mayeux: A Band Apart. And they said, "How did you pick us?" And I said, "You, the name of your company starts with A and I only had money for three [00:37:00] books, and so I started with A."

[00:37:03] Marc Preston: Did you know it was Tarantino's company before you submitted, or-

[00:37:06] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm an actor, so I know who the production houses are. Oh, true. I've worked for them for years.

[00:37:11] Marc Preston: They brought you on as a director to direct commercials. They brought me, yeah. And so y- so your goals are kind of gelling together, your, your

[00:37:18] Rosalee Mayeux: director a- aspiration.

[00:37:18] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes. And now I ... Yeah. And Dan Lauria, you know who Dan is? He was the dad- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... on Wonder Years. So Dan had always said to me, "You know, Ro, you're gonna end up being a director. You're so bossy." And I thought, "Oh, that'll never happen. How could I?" And then I started getting offers of movies and commercials to direct.

[00:37:35] Rosalee Mayeux: And then I was in the editing bay one night and I got the phone call from my doctor that, um, it was an emergency. He needed to see me right away. And when I went in, they told me that I didn't have any time and I had to get my affairs in order- And that was gonna be it. And, um, my Dallas girlfriend, Janice Tomlin, [00:38:00] producer of 60 Minutes, 20/20, Fame, all that.

[00:38:04] Rosalee Mayeux: My best girlfriend in San Antonio, who I had grown up with and reigned, who was, uh, connected to a healer. And my other best girlfriend, who's a writer, pretty famous writer named Sandra Weinschob in LA. And the three of those women got together and said, "I don't think so." So they got on it. They found- Really?

[00:38:25] Rosalee Mayeux: the latest, greatest, most innovative, crazy, new hypothetical save-your-life treatments, and that's what I did. And I found- So,

[00:38:36] Marc Preston: so you had ladies with chutzpah as your angels there, so

[00:38:39] Rosalee Mayeux: I, I have the most kickass friends. And so they weren't gonna let me go. They had more torture for me in mind. They had more fun to be had.

[00:38:49] Rosalee Mayeux: And, uh, and my two boys moved home and stayed with me that year and never left my side. That's why I was saying don't let them cook for you. The cancer won't kill you, Marc. Your [00:39:00] children's cooking might. It's pretty, pretty rough, two boys. Anyway, um, they all take, took amazing care of me, and I survived. But then I was weak, you know?

[00:39:13] Rosalee Mayeux: Mm-hmm. What people don't talk about is after that much chemo, that much radiation, that much surgery, how weak you are. And I didn't- Yeah ... I, I knew I wouldn't be able to direct because, uh, I, I'm sure you realize, um, better than most people-

[00:39:27] Marc Preston: It d- it takes stamina- ... it's grueling ... you know, to be a director.

[00:39:30] Marc Preston: Grueling. You marry it. Y- Grueling ... yeah, you marry that project for a long time before it shoots- Yeah ... and then after- Yeah ... and you basically are... It's a ca- uh, it's, it's like a cat rodeo, you know? It's like you're just kind of- It, it is ... trying to get it all together.

[00:39:41] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah. It's, it's, it... You are... It's your vision.

[00:39:45] Rosalee Mayeux: Otherwise, people don't know where to go and what to do. Uh, it's your vision. You have a vision for any project, and that is all-consuming, and I knew it would kill me if I tried to, y- you know, do 18-hour days. So I thought, [00:40:00] "Okay, well now what?" And, uh, some of the girls I had worked with in commercials, um, also came, rallied around me, and took me to their improv troupe to have fun, a night of fun.

[00:40:12] Rosalee Mayeux: Mm-hmm. And I spent about a year with them, and then I left town.

[00:40:15] Marc Preston: Which, uh, was it a, one of, one of the kinda

[00:40:17] Rosalee Mayeux: like- You know Andy ... uh, I'm not certain ... Andy, is it Group, uh, Greenberg? It's, um, it's, uh, Off the Wall. Okay,

[00:40:24] Marc Preston: okay.

[00:40:25] Rosalee Mayeux: The famous group, Off the Wall. So Andy, uh, runs that still. And, um- And after about a year I said, "I love you guys so much, and I hate this.

[00:40:34] Rosalee Mayeux: I hate this so much. I don't like it." It's, I do improv when I'm not supposed to. On a commercial, I'm not supposed to. I'm not used to having to perform like a little-

[00:40:46] Marc Preston: Y- w- would you, would you say that improv for some people that already... Okay, people that have it as a life, like, survival skill, Yes ... you know?

[00:40:55] Marc Preston: Yes. It's kind of like you already kind of get it, it's just I think the, the classes [00:41:00] maybe help you convert it to on-camera-ishness. But some people just already have that, you know?

[00:41:06] Rosalee Mayeux: Uh, like- Yeah, they already have it, and they, they have to be... This is my theory. I think you can be dumb as a doorknob to be an actor.

[00:41:13] Rosalee Mayeux: As an improvisational artist, you have to be immensely educated, 'cause you have to pull from all the points of life to have everyone be able to relate to what you're building, this wacky world.

[00:41:28] Marc Preston: You have to listen and react. And- So, uh, I,

[00:41:30] Rosalee Mayeux: I, you know ... you have, it, it's, it's... I was too busy writing, 'cause my natural thing is storytelling and writing, so I was always in control.

[00:41:37] Rosalee Mayeux: So that was never gonna work. But that n- the last night I did it, my, uh, dear friend who's a producer in, in Los Angeles came to me and he said, "You know why you're miserable, right?" And I said, "No." And he said, "Because you should be doing stand-up with me." And I thought No. See, stand-up is for Dave Chappelle at 18 years old in the back of a [00:42:00] club being a star before he was even born.

[00:42:02] Rosalee Mayeux: This is not for some old lady crashing out after cancer. And he said, "No, no, you're a storyteller. This is gonna work."

[00:42:09] Marc Preston: Well, I mean, I know it's, you know, to bring Bill Cosby up, I mean, for the era, I mean, Bill Cosby was- It's hard to bring him up now, but you know. I, I

[00:42:21] Rosalee Mayeux: will say- Oh, let's just bring them all up.

[00:42:22] Rosalee Mayeux: Louis C.K., let's just go through all of the guys that are now canceled.

[00:42:27] Marc Preston: Yeah. Well, I w- I will say one of, one of my, one of my favorite quotes is, uh, f- f- from... I always have to preface, like, o- came from Bill Cosby, but it's still relevant, is like he said, "I don't know the key to success, but I know the key to failure is trying to make everybody happy all the time."

[00:42:43] Marc Preston: Oh. I was like, "Well, that, that, that, that tracks." You know? But I remember how big he was and then, and then I remember being in junior high and then Eddie Murphy, and then-

[00:42:51] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh my gosh ...

[00:42:51] Marc Preston: it's

[00:42:51] Rosalee Mayeux: like- That's, that's who I listened to growing up, right? Eddie Murphy.

[00:42:56] Marc Preston: Do you remember back when- Richard Pryor ... HBO, uh, like when HBO used to have [00:43:00] their specials- Yes

[00:43:00] Marc Preston: and everybody, like George Carlin- Yes ... was just like- Yes ... George Carlin would be the most relevant comedian right now if he was-

[00:43:06] Rosalee Mayeux: I think, I think so, and I miss him dearly, and there's a couple of other people that I miss. Phyllis Diller, you know, uh, uh, uh, and where is, um, uh, our favorite insult, uh, comedian?

[00:43:18] Rosalee Mayeux: Where i- where is, uh... Or, or,

[00:43:22] Marc Preston: or,

[00:43:22] Rosalee Mayeux: Don Rickles. Um- Don Rickles, Don Rickles, Don Rickles.

[00:43:24] Marc Preston: Oh, Don Rickles.

[00:43:25] Rosalee Mayeux: Where is

[00:43:26] Marc Preston: Don? I heard he was this, I heard he was a sweetheart of a guy, but everybody- Yeah ... he was one of those guys that if he lit into you, people wanted him to, uh, annihilate, be annihilated by him.

[00:43:37] Marc Preston: Annihilate you? Yeah. Yeah. But you know one of the ones that's like, I love some of the comedians and the, a humor that was blue that I was too young to realize it was blue is Paul Lynde. Remember him on the-

[00:43:47] Rosalee Mayeux: Paul

[00:43:47] Marc Preston: Lynde ... uh, what was it? The, um, Hollywood Squares. Hollywood Squares?

[00:43:51] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh, Hollywood Squares maybe.

[00:43:52] Marc Preston: There was a lot of blue humor, a lot of stuff that was, uh, people were, they understood- Layered ... satire. There was satire. It was cool, and I- Yes ... you [00:44:00] know.

[00:44:00] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes. This is why robots can't do it.

[00:44:03] Marc Preston: Ex- see? Sarcasm. You got an AI, you have an AI-proof job now.

[00:44:07] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes, yes. Sardonic, uh, all that kind of stuff. They'll learn it.

[00:44:12] Rosalee Mayeux: They'll learn it.

[00:44:13] Marc Preston: Who was your, um, on your Mount Rushmore comedians? The ones that you s- were like they re-

[00:44:18] Rosalee Mayeux: Wanda Sykes, and, uh, oh my gosh, Sarah Silverman, uh, still to me, um, if she can make my sons laugh, you know, like, that- She's a

[00:44:31] Marc Preston: great storyteller. You know, she's, she's

[00:44:33] Rosalee Mayeux: kind of dry, but- She's a great storyteller.

[00:44:35] Rosalee Mayeux: She's also a master of left turns and... I'm trying to think of the name of There's some British comedians I find very interesting right now. But of the Americans, um, probably there's, there's-- Do you know the Canadian, uh, Stef Tolev?

[00:44:55] Marc Preston: No, not yet. I don't think so. No.

[00:44:57] Rosalee Mayeux: She's, um, just a cut [00:45:00] above. She is the most raucous, raw, um Well, yeah, I, just she'll take out anybody.

[00:45:10] Rosalee Mayeux: I, I love to tell this story about Steph. She let me open for her in Florida, so she's gonna be my, um, honey boo-boo for the rest of my life. It's that there's nobody, big comedians letting anybody fairly new get up. It's just such a gift, right? Um, and she's the one who introduced me to Roy Lee. Well,

[00:45:30] Marc Preston: that's what used to be is you, you would have a comedian who was- Yeah

[00:45:33] Marc Preston: on the ball who just would find someone that they're like, "All right, you know, you're, you're with me," and that's- Yeah ... there was a, there was almost like a, a, not an apprenticeship, but there was a-

[00:45:44] Rosalee Mayeux: But there was ... something kind of like that You know? And y- I don't think anybody understands how much love there is in this particular art form- Mm-hmm

[00:45:52] Rosalee Mayeux: for each other. And I don't know if it's because of the enormous nerve it takes to do it every night, but we are out [00:46:00] there in the trenches trying to say things that provoke, excite, destroy, anything to connect with people. Because right now especially, Marc, it's so- Mm-hmm ... important. It's, um- I,

[00:46:16] Marc Preston: I think, I think, uh, as they say, now more than ever.

[00:46:19] Marc Preston: You know? The, it's, it's- Yes, yes ... it's one of those deals where you have to acknowledge that right now, th- the, the forces that be, I think, are kind of pulling and on the frayed edges of soci- you know. And you got AI, and you got, uh, whole generations growing up with staring at their phones, which I think Gen X might save us.

[00:46:37] Marc Preston: Or Gen Z, sorry. Gen X, you know- Yeah ... we were awesome. Yeah. But Gen Z because the, the Gen Z kids are really, they're really down with the authenticity. They're getting more, uh, they, they find the things that aren't on their screen to be more intriguing. I've read a couple things recently and it's like-

[00:46:50] Rosalee Mayeux: That's nice to hear

[00:46:51] Rosalee Mayeux: okay, please. Which- Well, you know, Steph Tulep did something that I've never seen on stage. We were, uh, watching... And, and, [00:47:00] uh, Bill Burr did the same thing, and I, uh, it's two of the things I can't even imagine being great enough to be able to get there, but these two people did the same thing. Steph went out and there she starts playing with the audience, and she finds out that they happen to all be there on the good graces of their boss who took them all out for this evening.

[00:47:21] Rosalee Mayeux: Mm-hmm. But the boss had called her a man. Yeah. She's- Really? ... very aggressive and he said, "Uh, you look like a man." So the guy who was responsible for this whole group of people being in the audience was this guy who had insulted Steph, and she just pulled the stool up, put her leg up on it, and went, "You and me, babe."

[00:47:47] Rosalee Mayeux: He got up and left. Really? And she went, "Oh, he couldn't take it. Oh, what a little baby. Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Right? So he leaves. She finishes playing with the audience. She has a great set. People are [00:48:00] screaming. She leaves. The next comedian comes out The guy comes back to his seat. Steptoe Liv comes out from behind the curtains, pushes the curtains back, moves the comedian out of the way and says, "Oh, he's back."

[00:48:20] Rosalee Mayeux: And it starts again all over. It's this... Oh my God. Oh, my God. And she tore into him again. I've never seen anybody do that. Bill Burr was at a giant arena in, I don't know, Toronto. I don't know where. I don't know where they were. Missouri, somewhere north of here. And, uh, and comedian after comedian, he had a hard time.

[00:48:45] Rosalee Mayeux: That audience was giving them nothing. No love, no applause. Oh, I think I

[00:48:51] Marc Preston: know this story.

[00:48:52] Rosalee Mayeux: It wasn't, it wasn't... You know the story? I watched the replay on YouTube, let me tell you. Bill Burr's turn comes up. He comes out and [00:49:00] goes, "What a piece of S you guys are. What a piece of- "Who do you think you are? You lowlifes with jobs making beer on the weekends.

[00:49:14] Rosalee Mayeux: You're gonna judge these guys?" And-

[00:49:16] Marc Preston: I remember watching him. I, I, maybe it's an interview I heard where he was talking about- He rolled out and there was a crowd he knew was just dead set on just not loving him. Yeah, just dying.

[00:49:26] Rosalee Mayeux: He's like, "

[00:49:26] Marc Preston: Fuck y'all. All right, I'm gonna go." He just tore into them and they seemed to like that.

[00:49:30] Marc Preston: He just tore into them. You know? But-

[00:49:31] Rosalee Mayeux: It, they did. They, it finally got them to be gracious and really themselves. I don't know who had their arms crossed, but somebody had decided it was gonna be a bad night, and he broke them all. That's real talent.

[00:49:43] Marc Preston: That's being in the moment. Bill Burr is fast. The, one of the things I love is he's one of those guys that had that natural ability to just size up the moment and do...

[00:49:50] Marc Preston: I, I always, I'm like, "I don't know how you do it." 'Cause I'll always think about a comeback the day after or something like that. Yes. He's in the moment. But-

[00:49:57] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes ...

[00:49:57] Marc Preston: um, are, are you on your [00:50:00] tour right now or are you, are you... What, what, what's your touring schedule looking like? I am blessedly home.

[00:50:05] Rosalee Mayeux: I am blessedly home.

[00:50:06] Rosalee Mayeux: Not gonna go back on the road until July, uh, through September. So July I'm gonna do, uh, the mid coast of California. I've never done all of the mid cities. I'm really looking forward to that. A lot of them i- are in these gorgeous wineries. Mm-hmm. And people come from miles because they're separated.

[00:50:24] Rosalee Mayeux: They're not in a big city. So that's gonna be really fun. And then I'll do Texas and Louisiana, and then I have to end up in North Carolina in September for a- Well, very. Well, well- ... comedy festival. Yeah ...

[00:50:35] Marc Preston: I really appreciated what Marc Maron did for this medium. Mm-hmm. And I remember listening to him and his...

[00:50:39] Marc Preston: You know, I like hearing the stories about the road, you know, and like the, the hotels and then the, he would talk about the, the, the venues who would have their own condo or something like that, and he said they- Yes ... would always like, "I'm scared." You know, there's a whole world for comedians and touring- They were scary.

[00:50:53] Marc Preston: They

[00:50:54] Rosalee Mayeux: were like, there's things on the walls. No, you don't wanna stay there. That's It's b- it's had nothing but [00:51:00] 72 male comedians before us. Oh, yeah. And so us girls get, "No, we go somewhere else."

[00:51:05] Marc Preston: We go- Well, did you ever hear Tom Segura's bit that he did about Louisiana? About, uh, about how, how he- Mm-hmm ... he said, and then he would say, "A whole state got pissed off at me."

[00:51:16] Rosalee Mayeux: He went there and made... I heard about it. I didn't see the set, but all I know is when I went they said, "Oh yeah, your friend Tom, he was here. We didn't like him." I, I, I- Well, there's a different kind of humor everywhere you go, right? Yeah. And you, you have no idea. Y- listen, you have worked your fingers to the bone until 2:00 AM in the clubs here in LA, but it is a very sophisticated audience.

[00:51:39] Rosalee Mayeux: They've seen everything from movie stars and TV stars, um, to singers try stand-up. They've seen the people at the height of their career on any given Wednesday night. It is the proving ground of the art form, just like New York is. Mm-hmm. And Chicago is to me, uh, as well. [00:52:00] I'll-

[00:52:00] Marc Preston: I've got a soft spot in my heart for all the people who came through and out of Chicago.

[00:52:04] Marc Preston: You know, that's, uh-

[00:52:05] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes ...

[00:52:05] Marc Preston: you know, that's,

[00:52:06] Rosalee Mayeux: uh- Yes. And I don't know why. It's 'cause we feel bad they have snow. I don't know. Something.

[00:52:10] Marc Preston: Probably.

[00:52:10] Rosalee Mayeux: But I love them. They're, they're, uh, they're just good so- New Yorkers come... When I know I'm putting up a New Yorker on a show in Los Angeles, I know I'm gonna get somebody who's been through the trenches and can handle anything that's gonna get thrown at him.

[00:52:24] Rosalee Mayeux: He's a professional if he comes out here from New York. I can trust he's gonna be great. Chicago, same thing. Most of them come out of improv and pizza, and so they are naturally good. Also, the Pope is from there, and his father was born in New- Yeah ... in Louisiana, so it's all good with Chicago. But LA, if you're on the grind in LA, and like me, if you started in the worst place in the world to start is Los Angeles, because they cut you no quarter.

[00:52:50] Rosalee Mayeux: Mm-hmm. This is where I started. You will be good. Whether you want to be or not, uh, they're not gonna put you up. So you have to work and work and work and [00:53:00] grind and grind and grind. When you're on the road and you're bringing comedy, like back home to Rayne, Louisiana, it was, it was the most fun night. We had 250 people and in, uh, um, a, uh, uh, not armory, but like one of those, uh, posts

[00:53:19] Marc Preston: where- Like VFW kind of things

[00:53:21] Rosalee Mayeux: or?

[00:53:21] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes, yes, exactly. And so, uh, and, uh, on the police station they had put Rosalee Mailloux adult comedy. What? I said, "You guys, you do know, guys, that that sounds like porn." It's supposed to be over 21, not adult. So, but, you know, you go to these places that don't always get the LA, New York, Chicago, um, comedy, uh, stand-up performances, and they've, they haven't heard your kind of comedy.

[00:53:50] Rosalee Mayeux: They're very excited to hear something new and different. Even if you come at it as a storyteller, it's got that LA spin on having to be concise. You [00:54:00] can't take advantage of your audience here. You better be giving, giving, giving. It's, it's a little bit different. I wanna say one thing about the difference between acting and stand-up that I don't hear people talk about.

[00:54:11] Rosalee Mayeux: Maybe they just haven't had the experiences I have. But acting can get hard because it is the most giving profession there is in the arts. You give and give and give and give, and if you are not performing for live audiences, you have no feedback. You're working with a camera. Right. So it's, sometimes you go home a little empty.

[00:54:34] Rosalee Mayeux: Whereas stand-up and plays, um, Dan Laurie and I got a standing ovation at The Carnet, you know? It's like, it's just a different reward system. So if you're thinking about stand-up, it's, you are amongst the people, and you better handle yourself, but still, um, you get that live love. It's marvelous[00:55:00]

[00:55:03] Marc Preston: One of the things I love to do is what I call my seven questions when I'm kind of wrapping up. It's a little fun, a little extra get to know you, and I talk food at least once on every episode 'cause, you know- ... especially, especially when I'm hungry. But coming from Louisiana, this might be a good one. But the first question I ask is, what is your favorite comfort food?

[00:55:20] Marc Preston: If you're having an amazing day, it adds to it, or crap day, it just, it kind of sets you right. What would that be for you?

[00:55:27] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh my gosh. There's just so much, you know. I made, I made a big old catfish the other night. I think southern cooking, just whether it's shrimp and okra, or, uh... Uh, I think that's it. Cajun cooking.

[00:55:43] Rosalee Mayeux: You know, the stuff that I made growing up is once you start with onion and celery and green pepper, you can put anything in it, Marc, and I will eat it. Once you,

[00:55:55] Marc Preston: once you, once you've got the trinity down. Yeah, absolutely. Um-

[00:55:58] Rosalee Mayeux: Once you have the trinity, [00:56:00] anything you put in it is great.

[00:56:02] Marc Preston: Yeah, I remember Justin Wilson, the, uh, the great, the great cook.

[00:56:05] Marc Preston: I was... Him and Yan Can Cook on PBS, that's how I first started watching- Oh ... the cooking shows. But Justin Wilson also, he had this joke. He said that, uh, he had these, these, uh, little ducks that were following the mother and then they saw, you know, they saw like a tractor or something. Ducks took off, ducklings took off running.

[00:56:22] Marc Preston: Mother's like, "What are you doing?" And they said, "Well, what is that thing?" "Well, it's a tractor. It's, it's not gonna do anything to you." And so the ducklings are kind of moving along and, and then they see an alligator. The ducklings take off. Mother's like, "He's not gonna mess with you. Just don't go near him.

[00:56:35] Marc Preston: He's... Not, not an issue." And then they go and they keep on going and like, they, they see a man, and the mother takes off running. And- ... the duckling's like, "What's wrong?" She's like, "That's a Cajun. He'll eat anything." You know, so. That's true. That's, that's a joke I remember and so I, I was kind of like, when I made my way to Louisiana I was like, "Yeah, that, that's pretty true, and they'll make it taste good."

[00:56:53] Marc Preston: You know, that's, that's one- And they'll make it

[00:56:54] Rosalee Mayeux: taste good.

[00:56:55] Marc Preston: Now the next question, if you're gonna sit down and talk story a few hours, maybe a whole afternoon, you're gonna have [00:57:00] coffee with three people, living or not, who would those three people be- Oh ... you would love to have at your table with you?

[00:57:06] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh, my mom, my dad, and my grandpa.

[00:57:09] Rosalee Mayeux: Those are the, those are the people. The, the... Because by the time I came along, my mom's dad, who lived with us, um, was sweet and nice. He had softened. But she said when she was growing up he was mean as hell. Yeah. So I want to hear all the stories of mama's biggest sister who ran off with a cousin and got married, and then mama's middle sister who c- could cook anybody under the table.

[00:57:35] Rosalee Mayeux: Just she out-cooked everybody. And then Mom who was, you know, the brainiac of the whole group and, and that's why Grandpa came to live with us. He figured he was safe.

[00:57:46] Marc Preston: Yeah. When you get to that age, you're going, "You know what? I would love to be able to ask this question about life, about being a parent or career or just..."

[00:57:54] Marc Preston: You know, it's like, it's kind of like you wish you had some of those folks back to just kind of bounce things off of and like- I want

[00:57:59] Rosalee Mayeux: to know [00:58:00] what they were doing when they were young.

[00:58:02] Marc Preston: Yes, yes. Because

[00:58:03] Rosalee Mayeux: we, we don't know our parents at 16. I want to know the dirt. My dad must have gotten into something. I'm absolutely sure of it.

[00:58:13] Rosalee Mayeux: I'm sure of it. Yeah,

[00:58:14] Marc Preston: well, well, I, I know our generation's kind of like, "Thank goodness we didn't have cell phones back when we were young," 'cause nothing was

[00:58:19] Rosalee Mayeux: getting documented. Oh, no, we would have been caught. Yeah. We would have gotten caught- Yeah, oh yeah ... for all the stuff we were... Toilet papering houses and...

[00:58:25] Rosalee Mayeux: We'd be in jail- The good

[00:58:26] Marc Preston: stuff ...

[00:58:26] Rosalee Mayeux: Marc. Yeah.

[00:58:27] Marc Preston: Well, the next question, going back to when you were young, who was your first celebrity crush when you were young?

[00:58:33] Rosalee Mayeux: Troy Donahue.

[00:58:34] Marc Preston: Troy Donahue. You're

[00:58:35] Rosalee Mayeux: too young. You don't know who that is. Surfer boys.

[00:58:39] Marc Preston: Oh,

[00:58:39] Rosalee Mayeux: okay. On the,

[00:58:40] Marc Preston: on

[00:58:40] Rosalee Mayeux: the... Yeah, we would have surfer, s- Gidget-

[00:58:44] Marc Preston: Ah,

[00:58:45] Rosalee Mayeux: okay.

[00:58:45] Rosalee Mayeux: I pull- ... and all these surfer boys that liked her ...

[00:58:47] Marc Preston: that era, I'm a big s- surf nerd who doesn't really surf, you know, but, uh, but in fact, I got a big poster here from the movie Riding Giants. It was autographed by Laird Hamilton and, and, uh, but they were talking about the, the Gidget turn, and all the movies that [00:59:00] cranked out sub, uh, uh, post-Gidget, you know, or- Yeah.

[00:59:03] Marc Preston: Yeah ... and all those stars. Yeah. I... Some of those are just so much fun to watch.

[00:59:07] Rosalee Mayeux: Gidget and James Bond. Oh,

[00:59:08] Marc Preston: yeah.

[00:59:08] Rosalee Mayeux: I mean, James Bond to me was... I thought that was it. Yeah. I thought they had finally, they was talking my kind of storytelling. I wanted to hear all about... I still, when I was a model in Europe, all I read was spy novels.

[00:59:20] Rosalee Mayeux: I still love it.

[00:59:22] Marc Preston: I l- I love James because you... Al- always was a journey. And my, I gotta tell you, my favorite, I talked about this a couple episodes ago, is, uh, Daniel Craig. Yeah, I gotta say I was a fan of all of them- You've seen him? ... but Daniel

[00:59:34] Rosalee Mayeux: Craig to me- He's

[00:59:34] Marc Preston: great ... he is, it's, it's, it's the most real. It's not cartoonish.

[00:59:39] Marc Preston: It's very- No. Exactly ... you would imagine that, that he... You saw him as a, especially the last one, man. It's, it's, uh, it was heartbreaking. Tearjerker. You know, it was like- Yeah. Now, the next question I got for you, y- you're, let's say you're on an exotic island for a whole year, no streaming. You wanna be there.

[00:59:52] Marc Preston: It's beautiful. It's great, but you have no streaming, so you can only bring one CD or a box set if you wanna listen to music, but only one, and the same thing for a movie. [01:00:00] What's the DVD and what's the CD gonna bring, uh, you're gonna bring for the whole year to this island?

[01:00:05] Rosalee Mayeux: Well, I get, you know, Fats Domino and, uh, all the, all the old, um, New Orleans jazz men.

[01:00:15] Rosalee Mayeux: The, uh, and Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin. You know, that's the kind of music that I grew up on that, um, I don't think you can do without. Mm-hmm. They're like, you know, Billy Ray Vaughn. The, that's the essentials. Rock and roll essentials. Is there a CD that has the rock and roll essentials?

[01:00:38] Marc Preston: Well, didn't they have those, like, you know, this is the '80s or whatever CD?

[01:00:41] Marc Preston: The box set. So- Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:00:44] Rosalee Mayeux: That's it. Okay. That's it. That's what I want.

[01:00:45] Marc Preston: So, so what would the movie be for you?

[01:00:48] Rosalee Mayeux: Oh man, that is, that is so hard Yeah, I think, I think since I've seen all my old movies so many times, I've had the luxury of having a life [01:01:00] of movies- Mm-hmm ... I would go with some new movies.

[01:01:04] Rosalee Mayeux: I don't know if you saw Hamlet, Hamnet-

[01:01:09] Marc Preston: No, have not yet,

[01:01:09] Rosalee Mayeux: no ... this year. That and the foreign, um, Oscar nominee, which was called The Agent or The Secret Agent, which was a misnomer. That's not what the movie is about at all. Those are the two most beautiful movies I've seen in decades.

[01:01:27] Marc Preston: Yeah. Hamlet is- It, it's wonderful when you can see a movie and it actually, like, oh, you know, I, I was just talking with, uh, Rob Corddry not too long ago, and I was talking about a few movies he was in.

[01:01:36] Marc Preston: He's like, "Man, you like the dark horses." I was like, "I like those independent ones where you're seeing something." Like, there was one- Oh ... we talked about that was called The Way Way Back, something I could watch with my kids, and they enjoy, enjoyed it as a k- but as an adult, you w- I mean, watch Steve Carell being a jerk, which you don't normally see, you know?

[01:01:50] Rosalee Mayeux: Yeah.

[01:01:51] Marc Preston: Yeah. Because sometimes some movies just land, and some of the g- I, I'm, I'm wanting a return to, uh, independent stuff and, uh, you know, that kind of a thing.

[01:01:58] Rosalee Mayeux: There, there's a, there's a [01:02:00] feeling that you get in your body when you know a movie is being super truthful.

[01:02:05] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:06] Rosalee Mayeux: There's a f- it's like I can feel my feet with no shoes on in the dirt.

[01:02:11] Rosalee Mayeux: That, and that feeling of nakedness when, when a director ... P.T. Anderson does it, and yet he does it highly stylistically, like Budapest. Yeah. You know? Yeah, yeah. Highly styl- and I can't stop watching that. Budapest just, you know, is the, hmm, I d- I, I don't wanna give it a, a name. I hate when people claim to understand my stuff.

[01:02:36] Rosalee Mayeux: I think there's so much more to be gotten from leaving some questions unanswered-

[01:02:42] Marc Preston: Yeah ...

[01:02:43] Rosalee Mayeux: by the art- just leave it to the au- I didn't finish, um, the end of my special with a button I ended it with a joke, but that story, Coyote Nights, that won the Columbine Award, that is at the end of Model Mom, I tell that story.

[01:02:59] Rosalee Mayeux: That [01:03:00] story ended with the two sentences, "What now? What now?" And that's how I like movies. Leave something to the imagination. Leave

[01:03:10] Marc Preston: the- Yeah, 'cause l- it, uh, because life doesn't have bookends. It ha- No ... it's a constant rolling wave. Yeah. No. I, I kinda like, I like that. Now, if we're to say from the time you get up to the time you go to bed, what would you say are the, are the ingredients, the component parts where you said, "Ah, that was a perfect day"?

[01:03:24] Marc Preston: What would those component parts be for you?

[01:03:26] Rosalee Mayeux: Well, if I don't do postings, then my PR lady comes to my house and knocks on my door. So I have to do that every day. And then once that... I feel like, like she's my task master, my PR, my promotions people, um, uh, really just keep drumming into me, "You have a special.

[01:03:48] Rosalee Mayeux: People don't know who you are." Which thanks to you, Marc, I'll have some people in your area that- We, we

[01:03:54] Marc Preston: like make, we like making noise for you. Yeah. Absolutely.

[01:03:56] Rosalee Mayeux: I love it. I'm so, so [01:04:00] grateful. So if I don't do my posts I'm not happy. The next thing I have to do is get into a bathtub and write new jokes.

[01:04:08] Rosalee Mayeux: That's where it always occurs to me, is the bathtub work. As an actor, I did it, uh, called it my shower work, where I would memorize my lines. But writing I can do in the tub, and that's usually where I come up with a few new good premises that the rest of the day have to work through my brain. And the rest of the day, if it's a perfect day, then I'm eating outside with iced coffee and digging in the dirt for something that's growing where it's not supposed to be growing in the yard.

[01:04:39] Rosalee Mayeux: That's it. '

[01:04:40] Marc Preston: Cause sorta ties in, eating outside. I remember Anthony Bourdain always used to say that- Yes ... food tastes better with sand between your toes.

[01:04:47] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes. You

[01:04:47] Marc Preston: know?

[01:04:48] Rosalee Mayeux: It does. And then if you end up in the night and you're sitting there at 7:00 and you go like, "I really should go out and see some comedy tonight," if you don't have a show of your own, and I can make myself put [01:05:00] on shoes and get in the car, I stay out until 2:00 a.m.

[01:05:03] Rosalee Mayeux: in the back of a comedy store or the improv or the Laugh Factory just watching the art form. And I come home and I put the top down on my ancient car and roll up the canyons. I, I don't know. Life doesn't get better than that.

[01:05:19] Marc Preston: Uh, you know, we find our peace and our joy and, you know, you just embrace it.

[01:05:23] Marc Preston: Made, uh, you know, uh, uh, when I got a little bit older, I, I started realizing I don't really care if anybody understands my thing, you know? Yeah. I- No. This is, this is- No ... zen for me. I love that. Now- Yeah,

[01:05:33] Rosalee Mayeux: yeah ...

[01:05:33] Marc Preston: now if you weren't doing this, if somebody said to you, uh, but no, if, if that was not available, what would the other option be for you?

[01:05:39] Marc Preston: What would the other, uh, vocation be that you're like, "That would bring me joy"? What do you think that would be?

[01:05:45] Rosalee Mayeux: Well, when I'm, when I'm physically unable to do things, and that has happened to me a few times in my life, is I paint.

[01:05:52] Marc Preston: Mm-hmm.

[01:05:53] Rosalee Mayeux: And I'm pretty sure if I was in a cave and the apop- apocalypse had come, I would find some kind of acorn to write [01:06:00] on a rock and draw something on the rock And, uh, that's, I'm for sure.

[01:06:05] Rosalee Mayeux: I'm for sure about that. I remember taking one of my mom's discarded kitchen chairs, and I wrapped it in the tendrils of a big flowering plant, and I wrote a psalm on the back of the chair, and I put it just off the driveway in the median. And she walked, "Is that my chair?" And I said, "Yeah, Mama, it's, it's b- it's been in the garage for five years.

[01:06:32] Rosalee Mayeux: Can I use it?" She said, "Huh. What is that?" I said, "Mom, it's art." And she went, "Hmm." And she turned around and walked in the house. So I don't think I've changed.

[01:06:44] Marc Preston: No, I think kids, once we see something sit in the garage for a long time, we, it becomes, uh, it becomes- Yeah ... our domain. You know, I think all kids- Fair game

[01:06:50] Marc Preston: think like that.

[01:06:51] Rosalee Mayeux: It's fair.

[01:06:52] Marc Preston: The last question I got for you is if you had that DeLorean and you can go back when you were 16 years old- Mm. Mm ... and you got a few minutes with yourself to either take- Mm ... that [01:07:00] moment and somehow make it a little bit better or get a different, get onto a j- different trajectory, what would that piece of advice be- Oh

[01:07:07] Marc Preston: from you to 16-year-old you be?

[01:07:10] Rosalee Mayeux: I don't know, but I, I was always super tall and lanky, and just felt like I was Bigfoot, ugly duckling kind of person. And I was taught so much of the time that who you are is more important than what you look like, that I didn't have any self-confidence. I didn't know what other people saw when they looked at me.

[01:07:34] Rosalee Mayeux: That- Didn't seem to impress anybody at all. And I had no confidence. And, you know, Cajun people, French people are very practical by necessity. Um, there's a lot of poverty down there, so people don't ha- easily have a lot of aspirations. And I think I would tell that 16-year-old girl, [01:08:00] "You know, run. Run as fast as you can toward the fun stuff.

[01:08:05] Rosalee Mayeux: Go believe in yourself. Go do everything. Run for president. Do anything you want. Doesn't matter. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. You have permission to be yourself. Nobody's gonna stop you but you. Go, girl. Go."

[01:08:20] Marc Preston: And isn't it wild when you get older you start realizing how little people actually think about you compared to what you think-

[01:08:25] Rosalee Mayeux: Yes

[01:08:26] Marc Preston: the people you know. Uh, it's- Nobody cares ... it's, I think even now more than ever they're in their own heads, you know? So it's like- Yeah ... no- nobody's even, or they quickly forget. No, that's wonderful. I, I hear that s- uh, uh, shadings of that from different folks, kind of the just go for it, you know? Just- Yeah

[01:08:42] Marc Preston: it's one of those things now that I g- I try to impress upon my kids, is like, "I don't care what your business card says, just, it, it, it should bring you joy," you know? Yes. Uh, and, uh- Yeah ... hopefully keep a roof over your head. But, you know, that's, that's, that's the thing. Yeah. I'm, I'm jazzed to see your full, uh, your full sh- uh, the [01:09:00] full show, The Model Mom.

[01:09:01] Marc Preston: Now that's, like, we're, that's kind of everywhere now. It's, it's on, I think I saw it was on Apple Plus. And, uh- Yeah ... we're, we're, it's-

[01:09:08] Rosalee Mayeux: It's on Apple, it's on Spotify as an album, it's on SiriusXM, it's on Google TV and YouTube TV, and a bunch of stuff in Europe because I really wanted to get it to France. I wanna see if that, they get that, those model years like I did.

[01:09:25] Marc Preston: I appreciate you taking time out. I appreciate it, uh, greatly and, uh, you know, I'm hoping we have a chance to catch up down the line sometime.

[01:09:32] Rosalee Mayeux: Thank you so much, Marc. I wanna come back to Padre and see you guys in person. I would love that.

[01:09:40] Marc Preston: Well, there you go. Rosalee Mayeux. Fun story. Took us on a little journey.

[01:09:44] Marc Preston: Went to a lot of places and, you know, actor, comedian, former model. Just kind of a big, interesting life arc. Uh, don't forget Model Mom, name of her special. You can find it. It's streaming all over the place, a thing like Apple, uh, YouTube. J- Just do a search. You'll [01:10:00] find it. Okay, so, uh, real quick, don't forget to go to storyandcraftpod.com.

[01:10:04] Marc Preston: That's where you can find out everything about the show. And remember to follow and like Story and Craft on whatever podcast app you use. It is greatly appreciated. Okay, so I'm gonna get on out of here. Time to grab a bite to eat, and I want you to have an absolutely wonderful weekend, uh, 'cause it is Friday when we're recording.

[01:10:21] Marc Preston: And, uh, I wanted to thank you, as I always do, uh, for making what I got going on here part of whatever you've got going on. It is appreciated, and I look forward to catching you next time right here on Story and Craft.

[01:10:33] Announcer: That's it for this episode of Story and Craft. Join Marc next week for more conversation right here on Story and Craft.

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