If You Ain't Dead, You Ain't Done | with Mary Catherine Garrison

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Zac Miller: [00:00:00] Do we acknowledge like that we're doing something a little different or do we just think you just did. Alright, here we go.

Kim Gravel: Hey, y'all and welcome to LOL with Kim Gravel. This is a comedy podcast where we laugh about the messiness of life, and we turn that mess into our message of confidence and hope. And my mission is to encourage and lift women up everywhere. And this show is about how you can. How we can embrace our real selves and laugh about it along the way.

You know what life throws us a lot of stuff. So it's what we do with it that matters. So let's live out loud, laugh out loud and love out loud together on today's show. We have an amazing guest, Mary Catherine Garrison, she's a Southern girl from Mississippi and she's the CoStar of this fantastic new HBO show [00:01:00] somebody somewhere.

But first, I'm excited to start something new this week. We're going to answer some questions, some questions from you. And I don't know the questions. I don't know what they're going to be. Only my producer, Zac knows, which is always a scary thing. When Zac has the control of the show. Zac, how many questions do we have in?

Are they tough? I'm not trying to think so hard today.

Zac Miller: For the record. I always have the control of the show.

Kim Gravel: Oh, do you?

Zac Miller: We have some questions and today's questions. We're going to start off easy. We're just going to be talking about relationships.

Kim Gravel: Oh yeah. Cause that's such an easy subject to talk about like, oh yeah.

That's the easiest subject to talk about in the whole entire world.

Zac Miller: Super easy Kim, do you feel confident giving relationship advice?

Kim Gravel: I've had a lot of relationships.

Okay.

Does this qualify me to some level? I mean, you have to have it. I always say this. You have to have some kind of experience. So I have had [00:02:00] relationships to have experience.

I don't know how much advice I can give, but I am. I'm game.

Zac Miller: Right. So we asked your followers on Instagram to tell us if they needed a relationship advice. So this is straight from the Instagram folks. Thank you for everyone that replied and sent us messages. So I actually got a lot of questions that were similar to this one.

Can a woman in her fifties find a decent man to date who's in capitals, not just looking for eye candy?

Kim Gravel: There was a lot of people that ask that question.

Zac Miller: Well, there were a lot of people that asked about dating in your like fifties and sixties.

Kim Gravel: You know what I think that's the new, like single again. Type thing.

 In look, the answer to that, in my opinion, from my humble opinion, who've had a lot of relationships is yes. I definitely think you can. Now I hate to throw my best friend under the bus right now because she's probably going to kill [00:03:00] me, but this would be a question that actually we have been talking about over the last few weeks and she was just saying.

She was coming at it from a negative point of view. Meaning just like how that question is. Is it possible to find a man fill in the blank? It's it's not impossible to find a man, but I think a man should find you. Oh, okay. All right. Tell me more about that. Okay. And we might not have all day to talk about this.

Maybe we need to have this as a separate podcast, but it's all in how you are perceiving yourself. The Mar on the market. Does that make sense? Like, how is that, how does that look for you today? Because when you're younger and you're not really cognizant of all that, you're just living life and just going to go, oh my God, she's stuck kid and pop up, pop up upon me.

He likes me and I can, will you date me? Yes or no. Now as grown women and grown men, we, we there's stakes to. You know, there's a lot of [00:04:00] things that are attached to it. People call that baggage. I don't call it baggage. I call it just experience stuff now that you have to consider. So when you are out there finding, and I'm doing the air quotes here on the video, a man it's, it's not so much about what you're finding is how you're presenting yourself for someone to find you.

Does that make sense? And can I just say you can be 50 and 60 and still be some eye candy? You still can be eye candy. Now you got to really get into you. Does that make sense?

Zac Miller: A little bit, so here's my question though.

Do you mean that like you still can be active, right?

Like you can still be actively like trying to find someone it's not like you're sitting back.

Kim Gravel: I said put yourself out there, put yourself out there. But when you, when you try to find something, you it's like your keys, when you misplace your keys and you go to find them, you never find them [00:05:00] when you just go and live and, and, and even just kind of just, they find you.

Do you know what I'm saying? So that's my, that's my point. Like, I'm not saying don't work on yourself, don't put yourself out there. I'm just saying don't try. Just be. And, and what does that look like? Like, I love Amy, my BFF. She's, she's becoming her best self. She's getting in shape for herself.

She's working out for herself. She's dressing up in living her best life and putting herself together for herself. So. When she puts herself out there, the right one will find her. You are the only, in your best relationship with yourself is the best relationship you're ever going to have in your entire life.

I mean, God forbid, if something happened to Travis, he left or whatever. I really like being with myself. I don't need Travis to complete me. He compliments me [00:06:00] and he drives me crazy. But I don't need him to complete me. It took me a long time to get to that place. But as a 50 or 60 year old woman, you're good.

So what you want is companionship. You want somebody to travel with, share your life with, have grandkids with have the Christmases Thanksgivings you want, you want that companion, that family experience that's quite different than I need a man. So look at it from the point of view of like, does he have.

Well, I say this, can he handle what I have to offer?

Zac Miller: Oh, that's cool.

Kim Gravel: Don't look at it. Like I'm trying to find once I can, is there a man out there that can really handle what I have to offer? It's all in how you're looking at it. Does that make any sense?

Zac Miller: But I'm worried. I don't know if I can handle what you have to offer literally right now.

Kim Gravel: No, that is, that is very hard because I have a lot to offer.

Zac Miller: It's a lot going on. [00:07:00] Okay. You ready for the next question? This is actually, let me, let me build on this. Cause I think this question builds off the last one. Okay. I see this really cute guy at my gym and I want to talk to him, but I'm scared to okay.

So she's asking, like, how can she approach this guy? Like, what's the best way to approach a guy out in the world?

Kim Gravel: Well, I mean, I get, I don't, I don't, you're just talking. I, you don't have to be scared. You're afraid that he won't talk back. I think that's what you're saying. The rejection, but don't look at it like, oh, this is a cute guy I'm trying to hook up with, or me look at it like, oh, this is just a nice person.

You know, at the gym, we put a lot of expectations on relationships and men and women and meeting people. Y'all, you're just meeting somebody. Right. Okay. You just going up saying, hello? How are you? Or you're walking by always get that eye contact going to like, Amy always says this to me. So does my husband.

We go out and he's like, please, don't my contact [00:08:00] eye contact please. Oh my God. He knows what I'm going to start chit chat.

Zac Miller: Oh my gosh.

Kim Gravel: Because especially me, because I love to talk to people and meet new people. So, so you've got to make that eye contact. You've got to do those. You got to give off the signals that you're open to meet new people.

Okay. Now with that, you're going to meet people you don't want to meet. That's just, that's how it goes too, but it's that openness. So you, you, you don't necessarily have to go to him and say, hi, my name is Samantha. You can just smile and, and make eye contact and be open and available. You would be so prized.

How many women in men closed themselves off to new experiences of meeting new people by their body language alone. Oh, cool. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, even my husband knows, please don't make eye contact because your body language says, come meet me. I'm very nice. I'd like to talk to you.

Zac Miller: But here's the other side of that.

[00:09:00] Men are morons and we're bad at reading the body language. So we might know we

Kim Gravel: You're not morons, please. Men, man, y'all play moron half the time, just so you can get out of doing stuff.

Zac Miller: I actually like you can read the body language, but you don't actually know how to act on it because men are

Kim Gravel: I think about men are ego driven period.

End of story. Men think about this is the ugly truth. Y'all men think about themselves. First, they date with their eyes. First, I'm telling you, but I will tell you. If you put off the open vibe, like you're fun. You're lighthearted. You just trying to meet someone. There's no strings attached. Yeah. I don't know a man, a man that doesn't want to chit chat.

I have never met a man. And look, I'm a size. I'm a tight 12 and a loose 14 and I'm 50 years old and I was at a tennis match the other day. And two young men in their 15 and 16 year olds. I couldn't shake them. Couldn't get rid of them. They were up my crawl. There [00:10:00] was like Ms. Kim, Ms. Kim, I'm telling you, men are very, you're not more on your simple.

And I'll give you on a man not wanting to have fun and chit-chat and have light conversation. Men like the fit, like their egos built. They like to be heard. They like to be talked to be open. Girl. I love that men aren't complicated. Trust me. They're not sitting there going, is she talking to me? This is she's hitting on me.

They're not doing any of that. They're thinking all this girl, this girl thinks I'm hot in the gym. They're thinking about themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Am I right? You're totally right. You're totally right. Men are all into themselves.

Zac Miller: You're like I know. I know. That's what you get to say on your

Kim Gravel: podcast, Kim.

That's what God made. If you trying to change a man you've wasted your time, right?

Yeah. That's a that's wasted time.

Zac Miller: Okay. Kim it's time for a quick commercial break, but first I want to let everyone know that we're going to start answering these questions. Every week. So we want to hear from you and we'd love [00:11:00] to get some longer, more detailed questions. We'd love to hear like funny stories, basically, whatever you have to tell us, that's entertaining.

That would be fun to talk about on the podcast. We're down for it. We have a number it's 4 0 4 9 1 3 6 4 6. Oh. And we have an email address lolwithkimgravel@gmail.com. You can send us your stories, leave us a voicemail. We love to get your voicemails. I'd love to hear your voice in the podcast. We'll keep it anonymous.

We'll just use first names, right? LOL with Kim Gravel is a safe space, right? It's just it's you and us. And like a few thousand listeners. That's all I'm worried about. That's all be cool. And when we get back from this break, we're going to bring in Mary Catherine Garrison.

LOL

Kim Gravel: Hey, y'all have y'all told anybody about the LOL podcast. The thing I hear most from [00:12:00] listeners is I needed to hear that today. So if you can think of anybody that may need to hear this uplifting message of hope and laughter, please tell them about LOL with Kim Gravel, it may help them. It'll help us for sure.

And we can all empower each other together Let's do it.

All right on today's show. We have Mary Catherine Garrison is an incredible talented actor, but I'm going to say she has done so much. I was reading her bio, lots of Broadway. She's been on some of your favorite TV shows, including Veep, the good wife, which was my personal favorite 30 rock. Come on now. And now she's the CoStar of the new HBO series.

Somebody Somewhere, everybody welcome Mary Catherine Garrison. [00:13:00] Listen, I took right when we started, I said, okay, this girl's hair is on point. She said, she put on some makeup. We put on our bras today, Mary Catherine, we're ready. We are ready for this podcast.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Kim, I am ready to give you, this is my A game.

This is actually as good as it gets.

Kim Gravel: I knew you were going to be, I mean, you've done so much. So you know, the, A world very, very well. Okay. You're such a creative person though. Like when I was researching you, like you're my kind of girl, you're a girl's girl. You know, you have a son. I have boys. Okay. That's a whole nother podcast.

I can talk about that for later. Never sit on clean toilet seat doing never. You act, you paint, you make ceramic, you're kind of an entrepreneur as well with your jewelry. What's the thing that most inspires you because you do a lot of stuff.

In the moment what's what, what, what are you feeling there?

Mary Catherine Garrison: Oh, well, I, well, actually I can answer the bigger version of that question if you [00:14:00] want, which is what gets me, my juices flowing and my insides rolling is, freedom. So to me, like I know, I know. So when. I feel like when you're making something, when you're painting something, if you're like, let's say karaoke is your jam.

When you're free is when all the brakes are off. And you're, you're just rolling with whatever moment you're in. And I can happen. I think, doing just about anything. So for me, I am always sort of chasing that and not chase it in the acting world. And I chase it with any kind of art that I make and, and any, any kind, anything I paint.

Does that makes sense.

Kim Gravel: Yeah, it does. And you've, you've you've now you've taken me in a hole. I'm like squirrel. Now I'm going to a whole different direction because what, what you what's you're saying, I think is such a. Big get in the world today, especially women of a certain age. I just turned 50 this year and I'm really digging it.

I mean, most people like, oh 50, but [00:15:00] I'm really getting into this, this new awakening of sorts. Like you're talking about that freedom. I hear so many women, Mary Catherine telling me, asking me, Kim. Can I live a full life at this point in my life. You know, your kids, we've got kids there at least, you know, bathing hopefully by themselves and wiping themselves, you know, w w we're getting ahead of that.

 A lot of women are going back and doing their own thing, entrepreneurially in business. Would you, how do you think us as women at our, you know, in our season of life kidnapped freedom,

Mary Catherine Garrison: So I'm 48. I'll be 49 in December. So I've only been 48 a few months. I,

I like, that thing that everyone's saying, like every year I get better, I feel every year I have more to offer, I feel like I have sent deeper into this thing that I am I've. I enjoy myself. I love being alone. I love my girlfriends. I love my family. Of course also, [00:16:00] I. I feel like the more time I've given to the things that I love and they get my motor revved up and that make me see.

The most me there is to me, that's the path of freedom and that's the path of self-realization, which is freedom. So it's, that's, those are sort of vague, ways to say it, I think, but yeah, and I feel like the word. Kind of tends to feel like my talk to my mother-in-law like this before she just had said in a very modest way, you just want to stay relevant.

And you notice that the world, the older you get the world is a little less interested, a little less interested, a little less interested sometimes. It's the most ironic thing that I feel like I have never had more to offer. I know my mother-in-law has probably never had more to offer as well. Wow. And you just want to, I want to stay in the conversation at large because I feel, and I think all women, our age and up deserve to have.[00:17:00]

A huge part of the conversation still. So it's, to me, it's all about youth and never really was. But now that I'm outside that, you know, really, really young stage, it's just, it's a visceral thing to feel as good as I do.

Kim Gravel: But don't you think it's not that we have a right to have a voice, but it's like, they're stupid if they're not listening.

Yeah. I mean, I hate to be that like Frank with it, but I'm a straight talker. I mean, I'm a no chaser, you know what I'm saying? I'm going to shoot it straight. You need to dig it or not was up to you, but I like your bourbon. You know what I'm saying? Like we really have a lot to offer, especially to young women now in your world.

Acting in an artistry and Broadway have such a rich background in Broadway as a performer. I see so many young girls going, I want to be this. I want to be this don't be an actress. I'm like, can you speak to what that journey has been like for you? Because let me tell you something, Hollywood, it ain't [00:18:00] cheap and it ain't easy.

IT can be vicious.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Yeah. I mean, I heard so many times, like we loved you. You're the best actor in the room, but we want more of a model type. Look, I've heard that.

Kim Gravel: Too many times. I can relate.

Mary Catherine Garrison: So let us laugh. Let us, and I know I'm not here to, I. Well, but it's not a crime to not be beautiful.

You know, it's fine to be regular looking person and still be incredibly valuable and interesting.

Kim Gravel: But define beauty. I mean, like, what does that mean? We want a more model look a model of what it is and there's your, there's your dog's i love it so how many dogs you have? Three dogs and two men?

Mary Catherine Garrison: Three dogs, two men, and two cats.

Kim Gravel: Okay. [00:19:00] How many of the cats and dogs or girl with a female?

Mary Catherine Garrison: They're all ladies except for one boy loud. One that you hear. Well, you've got, you've got some, you got some people got you back.

Kim Gravel: It's true. I don't. I agree with you. How do you navigate this Hollywood? How have you found your niche.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Well, I, I would argue that I really never did. I feel like I've found a niche in the Broadway world and I feel like I got a really kind of great run at some really. Profoundly wonderful projects that I got to be a part of.

 And I would do the little odd bits of TV and film here and there, but I always felt like I have other friends who are quite quite famous, who I felt like were always sort of doing more. I'm doing better than I wasn't. I think probably most actors feel that way, but, I just sort of never really had a really super strong foothold in TV and film, which I really very much wanted because you know, that's where the money is and that word.[00:20:00]

Yeah. Yeah. And then you can do more mountain more stage if you've got a nice, you know, a known presence in the film TV world, but, this, you know, this job, the VP job was extraordinary also, but thank you. But this job was, like a borderline miracle for me. I mean, it was really unexpected out of the blue and.

It's the best job I've ever had. Wow. It means the most to me. And I think it's, for many reasons, one is that I'm a 48 year old woman who, as I've already stated, I am not a model. And I, you know, you, you get the very clear message that your, their jobs are fewer and far between the older you get, which I think might be changing a little bit.

 And also Bridget, who is a star of it. She and I were lived together for nearly 10 years. And so she's wonderful. And she was always that funny. And this show is so her and to play sisters with her has [00:21:00] been profound. And then I've known Marie for a million years too. So Murray Hills and it, and, it was just a special mix and it was exactly the perfect.

I dreamed up and back. I manifested it.

I wrote down in a journal entry and this was when, like I hadn't worked for years and I said, I want. I was doing art, you know, when I was very, very busy, but in the course, my mother, but I wanted a certain kind of job.

I wanted to be part of an ensemble of a very, well-written very naturalistic, deep kind of acting. And I wanted something that played to the things that I feel like I'm good at as an actor. And it's every, it checked every box there's I listed more things, but it, this job has checked all those boxes.

And I just put that entry away, kind of forgot about it. And then however many months later, I got a call.

Kim Gravel: Yeah. Cause you never know when something's coming. You're never over. I always say this. If you're not six feet under, you're not done. Okay. Listen, I want to hear a clip of [00:22:00] this show. This show is so different and unique.

I think it's fresh. I think it's, not the typical is called somebody somewhere. Can we listen to a clip? Zac hits with a clip because I want to talk about the show.

Zac Miller: I got the clip. Mary Catherine, do you want to set this up at all? This is the scene from the first episode, uh, the confrontation in the basement.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I don't want to ruin anything. I don't think you will, but you know, already that our, we are, uh, our third sister, our third sisters passed away. Bridgette's moved back to town to take care of her. She passed away and she, and I have never resolved all of our quote unquote issues. I've stayed home in the town.

I've married, had a kid. I did everything I was supposed to do. Bridget has done her own thing. And. I think that's a pretty good setup right there.

Zac Miller: Here's a clip.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Really? Actually, I'm asking, like, I want to know what are you doing with your life? [00:23:00] Well, I came home so I could take care of Holly because nobody else wanted. Okay. That's right. So that was one year, right? One. And so then what were you doing for the a, is it 10 or 15 years before that? And Lawrence, what were you doing then? And then what have you been doing since. I mean, you're coming at me really hard right now. I don't understand what this is all about. It was always you and Holly.

Zac Miller: All right. That's all I got.

Kim Gravel: It was always you and Holly. You know what, to me, that scene right there just speaks to not just bridge show, but to every woman across the world really? I was gonna say, just this country, but honestly, what are you doing with your life? Right?

Mary Catherine Garrison: I did everything I was supposed to do.

What are you doing? Why are you doing it that way? When I did it this way, but yeah.

Kim Gravel: It's just about doing [00:24:00] it your way.

Mary Catherine Garrison: And that's what I would argue. That's what I would argue. I think that's what the show would argue too,

Kim Gravel: Yeah. It's a brilliant ensemble cast in the fact that it's not the typical Hollywood slick type show.

It really has a lot of heart in a lot of realness in laughter and lightheartedness. I mean, how do you get the ups and the downs? Right. As an actress, how do you put yourself in this character? Mary Kay.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Well, I would say, I mean, I'm not, not tense as a person. I think I have a little bit of tension I can dip into as the needle.

Kim Gravel: Right. I get it.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Tightly wound is as Tricia. The thing is it's. So well-written, you're not filling in a lot of gaps because you can just sort of get on the rollercoaster and it takes you where you need to go. And from my experience, really good writing does that. [00:25:00] And so it felt, you know, and I was doing it with one of my best friends and favorite people, and it was a relationship that we, you know, had a version of and our real life.

And so all I had to do was imagine. What if my sister had died, what if I had taken care of her? What if I didn't have support? I felt like I deserved from another sister. And you know, then your imagination just has to do the rest.

Kim Gravel: Where do you see yourself going over the next, you know, five to 10 years?

As far as I know I asked this because I'm telling you I am in a dated with people, in our station of life who are saying. I want more. I want more, I want more. And you know what? I don't think it's greedy to want more. Do you? Hell no. Come on now. Don't you think like you get to start night tonight. Just take what you can get.

Okay. Here, get down. I think, I think it's, there's so much [00:26:00] life to be had for up for all of us.

I feel like 50 is the new 30. I mean, I've, I feel I've, I've never been a person who was like, oh, that's enough. I guess I've always felt good for you. Yeah, I really have, and I don't know. I never knew what that was until now that we're talking about it, but I've never been like, oh, what if there's not enough of that to go around?

Mary Catherine Garrison: I'll be applying with this. I want everything. And I want it yesterday, but I'll wait a few months if I got it. But I feel, I mean, I'll play along with the game of the universe, but I very much, at all, and I don't know exactly what's going to happen. I have made some journal entries where I've listed out some things that I would like to have.

Kim Gravel: That's important to write it down. Don't you think Mary Catherine, I just want to everybody listening right now, they're like, what are some action items I can do to live Mary Catherine's? I mean, like you're 48, you said 48 and you're got the dream job of your life at 48. [00:27:00] Like it happened all, because talk about that manifestation just a little bit.

We don't have long, but let's give people.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I think the only thing you have to do is decide what you want. Write it down. And then don't stress about it, not being there and just very calmly, put it away and let it go. And you, then you have to allow it to show up and it's about being calm and open. And so that's what I've been practicing, a lot of calmness and a lot of openness.

And I feel like that's made me a better mom and maybe. Wife and friend and all of it. And I think that opens doors, little tiny things that are good. I focus on those. Like I grab onto them and just suck and drive the smallest little thing

Kim Gravel: Give us a small thing. Give us I'm the same way.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Okay. Well, this isn't small.

This is huge, but I have been, I really wanted a Chihuahua because my Chihuahua died for about five or six years ago. And I have a thing for that breed and knew exactly what I wanted. I needed the color. I knew that the disposition I wanted, I knew. [00:28:00] And I, my birthday looked at Tet finder. We always adopt and I found this dog and his name is bean and I use right.

Oh, he's here somewhere. But, he's everything, except he was a boy. I wanted a girl, but he's everything else, you know, he's a boy, but I was focused on him and like, I wanted you so much.

Kim Gravel: Mary Catherine though. But I just think, no, I'm getting excited listening. You're not now I want to throw out what, but I'm getting excited watching you because, because that is so true. It's like the little things, like, honestly, I sent myself some flowers the other day and I thought this is so fantastic. And I just think as women, I mean, my grandma, I always say, honey, ain't nobody going, courage you and you're from the south. So, you know, these old saying, ain't nobody gonna encourage you in. And that is exactly what you're talking about. It's the little things that you celebrate that opens the door. Is that what you're saying?

Mary Catherine Garrison: That's exactly what I'm saying. I think you, all you do is have, if you focus on the [00:29:00] little things and the things you don't like, they kind of fall away. They're not the center of your focus. You put those on the next good little thing next to the little thing. I think you started to find that there are more good things to focus on and those things get bigger.

Cause you're in a state of mind, it's different. You're in a state of mind, that's open and excited and great. And that's the last place to live. It also just feels good. It just feels good to be grateful.

Kim Gravel: And I like to be petty. Like, I don't mean penny in a bad way. Just like, like I just sit around like talking about your show with other people and we're just talking about, oh my God, you see, but I'll get into it.

Just like I will, I will be the fourth sister. I will be your fourth sister. I've got the hair color for it. Y'all right in the high-end I'm that? Or I can be that weirdo cousin from Georgia.

That comes to visit. I mean, you know, I'm saying like it's all those little small things and they're not petty, but they're just, they seem small, but people would say, oh, why are you doing that? But we get into it like me and my girlfriends, we just sit and talk and get that.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Get into it. I have [00:30:00] some girlfriends here and west started this thing where every Thursday we have, you don't, you don't have to come, you can come some or one of us will be at this one bar and we come and you drop in as you're available, if you're available.

And we just talk about. Just nothing terribly.

You know, it's a bunch of women's, they're picking it like salads and burrata. Come on, we'll get a pizza.

Kim Gravel: I mean, partly what do you drink and grow? And that just lets you know, I'll be there next Thursday. Thank you. I'll be there next.

Mary Catherine Garrison: My work here is done.

Zac Miller: I'm breaking into this conversation with one of my patents. Yeah. You're going downhill fast. It's funny because I'm picturing like a bar that would be in somebody somewhere. So it's kind of like, I'm picturing you Mary Catherine, and like a dive bar. Like there's just like a guy in the corner and his underwear or something weird.

Kim Gravel: That's fun to talk about that. That's the little thing. [00:31:00]

Zac Miller: Just let me have this. I breaking in with a Zac Attack.

Kim Gravel: Oh, here we go.

Zac Miller: Just looking around like what? Mary Catherine a Zac Attack is this fun segment where we play a game with our guests, but the thing is that Kim has no idea what's coming. All right. So she's basically playing along with you.

I'm calling today's game. Boy mama drama.

Kim Gravel: No. Okay.

Mary Catherine Garrison: All right.

Kim Gravel: We're girding our loins.

Zac Miller: Settling in. Okay. I love it. You know, after looking at your Instagram, I saw you have this adorable kid. Kim has two boys. How old is your son?

Kim Gravel: 13 just turned 13 and 14. So I'm there. The throes of, you know, Wow. Wow. Yeah, we need each other SIS. We need alright, that, go ahead. I'm sorry.

Zac Miller: Okay. So I'm going to ask you a few questions [00:32:00] about what it's like raising boys and sharing a home and being locked at home for the last couple of years with these lovely boys.

All right, let's do it. We'll have you answer Mary Catherine first. And then Kim, I want to hear what both of you have to say. We'll start at easy. Name one food your kids refuse to eat.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I'm sorry. I'm just shaking my head because my son eats four things. So all the other things besides the four is what he wants.

Okay.

Kim Gravel: Let's do that.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Pasta, but it has to be a very specific way pizza, but poems, one artisanal pizza place here in town. He's so, so high dollar bougie. I don't know where this came from. This one cheeseburger from this one place in town and, a hot dog that's cooked over the fire in the backyard.

Kim Gravel: Oh gosh. But you know what? I appreciate him. He knows exactly what he wants.[00:33:00]

Mary Catherine Garrison: I'm glad you appreciate him.

Kim Gravel: Well, my kids eat everything, everything like it's garbage disposal. No, I'm in, and I have gained every 50 pounds with some honey. I am just sitting there going, okay, let's go burger king. Let's go to dairy queen. And we do go to the artisanal pizza place too.

I mean, like they just eat their garbage.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Is it because they are in a huge growth spirt or where they always like that. Or is this teenage time?

Kim Gravel: I think it's their growth spirt, but Mary Catherine, I'm in a growth spirt too.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I think you look great.

Kim Gravel: Well, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. We come in next Thursday.

Zac Miller: Alright. I love that. Wait, so I actually the follow up question about this because. If you serve your son a hotdog, but like a boiled hot dog will not eat. It has to be over a fire in the backyard.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Yeah. He'll say something like this. Isn't my, why is he saying this? Isn't my finest delight. I don't I do. [00:34:00] The texture feels wrong.

Kim Gravel: Oh, he's a texture eater.

I am too.

Mary Catherine Garrison: It's texture and flavor and color. He needs to be delighted. He wants to be pleased.

Kim Gravel: This is not my finest delight. I'm stealing that. That will pop up.

Mary Catherine Garrison: So take it away. Please take away from this house.

Zac Miller: Oh, my gosh. That's what I can someone leave a review of this podcast where this podcast is my finest delight.

Okay.

What is the TV show or video game your kids love, but you can't stand?

Mary Catherine Garrison: That is a long list. He does this thing called Friday night functions, which is, there is nothing more obnoxious. There is there. Isn't like, I think it's designed to be the worst sounding thing in the world. And it's, it's exceeded it's awful.

So friday night functions FNF and, 150 TV shows. Know what though, when he was little, that Mickey mouse club, do you remember that? That's the worst thing. Oh, [00:35:00] Zac. That's the worst show that I've ever had to live through.

Kim Gravel: It's just, wasn't funny Backyardigans for you. It wasn't backyard against it was the main

Mary Catherine Garrison: no, no, that one, it was Mickey mouse club.

Maybe I just want to start crying when it came on. I really hated that show.

Kim Gravel: Well, my kids aren't watching shows anymore. It's all this YouTube like little tube. I'm like where girl, we need to get on YouTube. You and I.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I know, I think that we're missing out on something.

Kim Gravel: My kids aren't watching watching shows anymore.

Mary Catherine Garrison: My husband showed my son, our son, my show.

And he was like, isn't that cool? Mommy's on that show. And he's like, I guess.

Kim Gravel: Thank you.

Zac Miller: That's funny.

Kim Gravel: It's ridiculous. I mean,

Mary Catherine Garrison: And it's other people playing video games. That's what they like to watch.

Kim Gravel: Girl doesn't make any sense. I am like, are we in the wrong business or what? I mean, it's just them playing. [00:36:00] And my, my son's into like trading, like baseball and basketball cards. So he just watches people open packs of cards and I'm thinking.

Oh, my gosh. Do I know I need to move on because we're getting on our soap box.

Zac Miller: This is it. I love this. What's the funniest thing your kids have hidden around the house.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Am I going first

Kim Gravel: You go first because you, you, you complete me.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I wouldn't say they're hidden, but like right now I can see a right here and I can see the match and the match, I think, is over there in the other room.

And then I know there's another set of socks on the steps, and then there's three pairs of socks and I was actually stopped picking them up because. Tired of it. Just leave it on.

Kim Gravel: Do they just take off Mary Kay, do this? I don't understand. Cause massive kids with someone. I found a pair of underwear, honest to God.

A pair of underwear in my makeup drawer with skid [00:37:00] marks. So this is coming up your way. Okay. I'm just telling you. And then last week I post them on social media. I open the toilet was clogged. I opened the door where the plunger is underneath the sink. There's a whole full box of opened honeycomb. Like under the same, like what's why.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I found a bottle of ketchup in the downstairs bathroom.

Kim Gravel: Okay, good. It's not just me.

Mary Catherine Garrison: It's not just you Kim.

Kim Gravel: Was it unopened

Zac Miller: You guys to don't have bathroom ketch-up.

Mary Catherine Garrison: The top was open. So I think he had taken it from, you know, doesn't matter it was in the bathroom. And I don't worry. I closed it and put it back in the fridge. Don't worry. I got it.

Kim Gravel: I would toss it in the trash. I'd been afraid when my kids, what they've were doing with the ketchup.

Zac Miller: Okay. Here's another one. [00:38:00] What are some of the slang words that your kids are using that you do not understand? Or, I mean, maybe do understand, but are like what?

Mary Catherine Garrison: Well, everything is sus, so I'll say you guys are sus. Everything is cringe.

Kim Gravel: Ooh, cringe. I haven't heard.

Thank you.

Mary Catherine Garrison: When people kiss you can't, you know, no one should be kissing mom and dad shouldn't kiss. Nobody should kiss it's cringe.

Kim Gravel: Let's keep that, that way. We want him to stay there. That's actually a good one.

Mary Catherine Garrison: He also speaks in texts and he'll say IDK for i don't know.

Kim Gravel: I google it.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I mean, how else do you stay on top of it all it's too. It's like the entire English language is changed.

Kim Gravel: Well, there was a, there was a young guy I saw cause I'm like life 360 on my teenagers phones, [00:39:00] especially my oldest one. Cause I, you know, he has a burner. What does he call it? Spam account. Like they know how to do all this stuff and they do have a burner phone, but he has a spam and you know, I am on it, girl, come on, like adults, like who's Angela, you know, I'm all that.

Yeah. So this was a, this is a new one. You might not have heard this either. So bus S uh, sup, uh, in, what was the last one? Uh, bay bay. Yeah, that like, bet like, like this cool bet. I guess that's what that means. And then I heard this brand new and like two days ago when I was stalking my son's texts, one of his dude goes, man, if he gives you any more, if he comes chirping up on you again, let me know I got your back.

And I was like chirping. So I guess. Someone like talking smack chirping, I'm going to start using chirping.

I haven't heard that either, but I'm gonna start using that one.

What was [00:40:00] the other one you said Mary Catherine? I want to use that one too.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Cringe.

Kim Gravel: Cringe and chirping are my new ones. It's cringe that you're looking at his phone is what he would say. Well, you need to deal with the cringe brother. I am Mrs. Kravitz all up in there.

Zac Miller: Okay. I can't help myself. I have one more. This is a nice one. What's your favorite part about being a mom?

Kim Gravel: Don't ask me that today. Go ahead. You take it. This is trying to make you, you know, this is on that cheese. Yeah. That's two cringe for me.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I think just very sus, Zac very sus. You know, He, and I have a really tight relationship and we sometimes he'll, you know, he's, he's in the phase now he's pushing me away again or kiss on him to the way I got the chihuahuas.

So I can finally kiss somebody again. Yes, please. And it's working by the way. But you know, he still has times he'll say, mom, I want to talk and he'll lay beside me. And he'll just, we come up with just [00:41:00] different things to talk about and I just love, Talking with him and connecting with him and hearing, you know, this person that got built in my belly somehow out of tacos.

I mean, it's all I ate when I was pregnant with him was tacos. I love it. And now he's got these ideas about things it's just most one, it's a miracle thing. It's a miracle. Just unspeakably. Beautiful. Yes.

Kim Gravel: I would have to ditto what you said.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I'll share it. We both, we can both use it.

Kim Gravel: All right. Well, we come back from this break. We've got more with Garrett, Mary Catherine. I've got some rapid fire questions. I'm not gonna let you off the hot seat just yet. Girl.

All right. We're back with Mary Catherine Garrison, the actress, the artist, the co-star of her brand new HBO show. I can't, I love that show [00:42:00] so much. You gotta binge it. You gotta watch it. Okay. I, we end every show with what we call a rapid fire question. So these are just questions, Mary Catherine. I'm going to ask you, I don't want you to think about it.

First thing that comes to your mind just comes out. Okay. Who was your ever hottest onstage kiss?

Mary Catherine Garrison: I didn't do a lot of onstage kisses actually. I guess Justin Bartha.

Kim Gravel: Ooh, good one.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I know, I haven't had very many. It was like a farse, so it was a comedy.

And so we had one big kiss at the end and I just was nuts about him. I thought he's the best guy. And so it wasn't like a sexy kiss.

Kim Gravel: Yeah.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Like somebody that's very good point. And you really like somebody it's fun to kiss them. So, yeah.

Kim Gravel: Yeah. Yes. Oh, I love that though. Good one. That's a good one. Who is your spirit animal? Your power animal.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Black [00:43:00] Crow

Kim Gravel: girl, you gotta tell me more on that

Mary Catherine Garrison: I just have always paid attention to them and I've always noticed when they're around and they seem to be kind of always around anyway, but I think people just don't notice that and they're very, very intelligent and, they like shiny things and there's just something about the way they are in the world and interact with each other that I feel like I've gotten a few messages and fun things.

Kim Gravel: Crows people need to research this there, like you said, highly intelligent, intuitive. What is your acting dream, a dream role acting

Mary Catherine Garrison: I'm doing it.

Kim Gravel: I knew you were going to say that I am doing it.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I actually am writing a couple of scripts at the moment. And these stories I'm sort of writing the exact thing I would love to do, but until then, I'm doing the job that I've done.

Kim Gravel: Okay. From one Southern girl to another, what is the most Southern thing you own?

Mary Catherine Garrison: Oh, girl, you're [00:44:00] going to love this.

Kim Gravel: That was the Southern coming out right there.

Mary Catherine Garrison: I, own my great-grandmother's cast iron steel.

Kim Gravel: Stop. And you grease it and everything.

Mary Catherine Garrison: You know, I take care of that, baby. If this house would've started catching on fire, the cast, iron is going.

Kim Gravel: All right. So let me ask you this for all. You don't know what she's talking about.

Cast iron, you never wash it, so you've never washed it. You just seasoned it and seasoned it and seize it because people always say, Kim, that's gross. How do you clean it. It's a weird thing.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Pick it out, wipe it down. And then you, and then you put it over the thing, but you can't sit in water.

Kim Gravel: Okay. Can't sit in water. Oh, the honey. That's a cherish thing right there. Yeah. Okay. What is the one thing that you're looking most forward to?

Mary Catherine Garrison: I feel like I am so ready to be surprised by [00:45:00] life right now that I, I looking forward to just everything. I've got a great group of friends. Like I have amazing girlfriends, that's it?

That's it. And I feel like w you know, the season two is coming up for me feeling that.

Kim Gravel: I love it. My last question. Cause being as I had it, and this is probably the most important one, Mary Catherine, because it's near and dear to my heart. Oh, oh. He looks like a baby. He looks like, oh yeah, I'm going to get me a dog too. I need to kiss on something myself. Right here we go. What is your favorite go-to junk food?

Okay. And you can, you can have several, I'm not judging.

Mary Catherine Garrison: So, you know, those Fritos that are twisting, I think their honey barbecue, you know,

and put some [00:46:00] veggie chili, Hormel veggie chili over those two light lens is not the 7,000 hours, but who's counting.

Kim Gravel: Yes, but if you do it, make sure you, you, you follow your son's lead and grill a hot dog and slice it up over the fire over the fire.

All right, Mary Catherine, I love you so much. You've got to come back and be with us and y'all, you've got to tune into her season two, your y'all started typing yet of the, uh, of your show. Somebody something.

Mary Catherine Garrison: Yeah, I think we're gonna start this summer.

Kim Gravel: Wow. You can stream it on HBO max right now, the full first season.

So you can be caught up. Will you come back and be with us one second. All right. Thank you girls so much.

Mary Catherine Garrison: We love you.

Kim Gravel: You to keep doing your thing, girl.

Oh, Zac, Mary Catherine was so lovely. I love how smart she [00:47:00] is. How you know, be so focused. She is like, she's so ready to live this part of her life. It's exciting to see people coming into their destiny, stepping into their dreams, at this age it's beautiful. It's and it's so. It can happen for everybody.

You know what I mean?

Zac Miller: Yeah, totally. And it's so cool that she's like, this is my dream role. Like that's so just that makes me really happy. Yeah.

Kim Gravel: Oh look. Life is short and it's, it's never over. We always think time is not our friend, but it's so our friend, we just, we just, we just don't take advantage of it.

You know, we don't live it. We don't, when we get older, we think, well, it's, I'm too old or I'm too, this I'm too this, and now you're just right on to. Right on time.

Zac Miller: Right? There's no such thing as that winding down or whatever, right. Like just, yeah.

Kim Gravel: I'm going to quote my I'm going to quote my grandmother. If you ain't dead, you ain't done.

I'm telling you.

Zac Miller: Yep. Yeah. And she, you know, I have started really [00:48:00] paying attention to all the people that talk about manifesting. Yeah.

Kim Gravel: We should do a show on that. Yeah. And a lot of people think is, Ooh, it's not, it's really, it's, it's, there's a lot to it. That is there's real. Not only scientifically, but spiritually, you know, emotionally, you, you bring about what you think about what you put out there comes back, just does.

And, she's dead dog, right. About the manifesting. And I loved how simple she put it. You write it down and you put it away and you don't worry about it.

Zac Miller: That's such good advice. And I'm always so caught up with like, trying to get to the next thing. And then if I get there, it's like, I don't feel necessarily fulfilled, but the fun part is getting there.

Kim Gravel: The fun part is getting there because you know, once you get there, you're onto the next. But that's how you should live your life. You should always be growing in, in, in, I loved when she [00:49:00] said it's the little things, it's those petty little small things. Like, I mean, Amy and I talked about what we, what we talked about the other day.

That was so great. It was a pair of shoes. It was just, oh my God, the shoes are so great. Well, like we got into it and we were just breaking it down and you say, oh, Kim, that's so simple and petty, but it, it, it was so fulfilling because not only is it as it's an escape, but it's, it's a. Appreciate and have gratitude for the small things, because those really do add up.

They really did. She was dead on with that great show today. Bye y'all.

So many great people help make this show. LOL with Kim Gravel is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant at Brunette Exec. Production help from Emily Braeden. Our cover art is designed by Sara Noto and Taco Pella performs our theme music, make sure to follow and subscribe to the show and head over to lolkim.com to [00:50:00] sign up for our mailing list.

Thanks for listening. We love you and remember, live out loud.