The Date That Went Very, Very Wrong with Wallace Langham... (S6 E1 "To Market, To Market")

Are You A Charlotte?

Kristin Davis hosts Wallace Langham to reminisce about his memorable guest appearance on Sex and the City involving a chaotic date with a pi

Key takeaways

• Wallace Langham used bobby pins to create a platform in his hair so a pigeon could land on his head.
• The specific scene with the pigeon required approximately 10 to 12 takes to get right.
• Langham's audition for Sex and the City was done via video cassette at his manager's office.
• The duo discusses how the Meatpacking District in New York has transformed significantly since the show's filming.
• They note the shift from traditional in-person auditions to modern self-tapes using iPhones and ring lights.

Notable quotes

They built a platform in my hair for the pigeon to kind of grab onto.

Conclusion

A nostalgic exploration of television history that highlights how much

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Speaker 1 (0:05) Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, and I want to know, are you a Charlotte? Speaker 1 (0:11) Hi, hi everyone. Welcome back to Are You a Charlotte? Today we have a lovely, lovely guest. His name is Wallace Langham and you're going to remember him because he goes on a date with Carrie and a pigeon lands on his head. And we're going to hear all about what he had to do to film that. And the episode is called To Market, To Market and the air date was June 22nd, 2003. Please enjoy. It's fun, fun talking to him about all actorly stuff. I remember you originally myself because I guest starred on Larry Sanders. Speaker 2 (0:44) Okay, tell me what you did. I don't think we worked together. No, we Speaker 1 (0:47) did not. I was on a date with Gary. Speaker 2 (0:49) It Speaker 1 (0:50) was a double date with Hank and another girl who I don't remember. Did Speaker 2 (0:53) you go to the Look Around Cafe? Hank's Cafe? It was something. Speaker 1 (0:57) Yeah, I think it was. But it was pretend, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. On a soundstage. He Speaker 2 (1:01) had Speaker 1 (1:01) this Speaker 2 (1:01) revolving restaurant. Yes, Speaker 1 (1:03) it was Speaker 2 (1:03) that. Speaker 1 (1:03) It revolved. Yes, exactly. Yes! It was so trippy. But I was a massive fan of the show. You know, of course, because I mean, it was so, so unbelievably brilliant. And HBO. And HBO. And it was like the only show that I really knew from HBO, right? So, because it was like you guys and Dream On. Speaker 2 (1:21) That's correct. Right? Yeah, we were like the first two. Yeah, right? And then you guys came along. Yeah, and Speaker 1 (1:26) Sopranos kind of at the same time. That's right. So, what do you remember of like the early days of HBO? What was it like over there? Speaker 2 (1:33) Well, gosh, I mean, Sanders was its own. kind of island. Yeah. So, um, and I say that in the best way because it was Gary, it was Brillstein Gray. It was the genius of, uh, like Peter Tolan and Paul Sims and John and, and, uh, Steve Levitan and all these, like everybody who went on to do amazing television. Right. So, um, I'm, I'm sure I'm leaving out hundreds of people. Um, Speaker 1 (2:02) Right, but Paul wrote my episode and Paul, you know, works. I mean, everyone there. Like everyone there literally just fanned out into the industry. No, Speaker 2 (2:12) it's like, it's like Larry, Gary, Gary. I know it's hard. I think Dana Carvey called him Galary just to get it all into one. But Gary like basically had this kind of farm team where he just made great writers and they all came from comedy. And so at any rate. So when I say that, it's like we were kind of like our own little thing. We'd have a table read on Monday, which was like Christmas to me because I'm like, oh boy, what's going to happen? And then, you know, maybe someone from HBO was there, maybe one or Speaker 1 (2:50) two people. And Speaker 2 (2:51) then everybody would leave and the writers would rewrite. And then we'd just shoot it. And it's like, and then within that, it's like you're encouraged improv and let's make this better. Or Speaker 1 (3:04) Gary Speaker 2 (3:04) was such a genius that he could gut and rework a scene in half an hour. Speaker 1 (3:09) Wow. So Speaker 2 (3:10) it was, you know, a remarkable experience for somebody like me because I didn't, I loved comedy, but I didn't come from, wasn't a comic or anything like that. And to be encouraged to do that. So in answer to your question, the early days of HBO were very hands-off, I thought. Right, us Speaker 1 (3:32) too, us too. Very hands-off. Just let you do your thing. Yeah, I mean, it was like unlike any other place that Speaker 2 (3:38) I've been. Speaker 1 (3:39) I Speaker 2 (3:39) did a Showtime movie with Brian Benben. Oh, Speaker 1 (3:44) wow. And Speaker 2 (3:44) Diane Keaton. Ooh. And Jennifer Tilly and Laura San Giacomo. Speaker 1 (3:49) Wow. Yeah, Speaker 2 (3:49) it was great. And I'm like, why am I here? Speaker 2 (3:55) Brian said he had the same kind of thing with Dream On. It was just like, Speaker 1 (3:58) you know, Speaker 2 (3:59) we're doing what we do. And I think they were just happy to have it. Speaker 1 (4:03) Yeah, definitely. You felt that way. You did feel that way. And it's so interesting because like, you never know over time what's going to kind of last and have, like for me, Larry Sanders at the time, industry wise, everyone was obsessed with it, right? Whether people were watching or not, you didn't, it wasn't about that. Speaker 2 (4:22) No, it wasn't. But the funny thing was, and I don't know whether you experienced this or not, but it really had that kind of bracket of East Coast, West Coast. Speaker 1 (4:29) Yes. Speaker 2 (4:30) People who, you know, like the first time I went to New York was in 95 and I saw a production. Yeah, like my first Broadway show. Speaker 1 (4:40) Right. Speaker 2 (4:40) And I went backstage and Megan Mullally was in it and I went backstage and somebody recognized me from Sanders. And I was like. No, I'm here to see her. No, I want to say hi to you. That's really weird. You know, that Speaker 1 (4:54) was unusual. That was different. It was unusual. I like that Speaker 2 (4:57) because I was just, you know, I always felt like I was doing things that were the one hit wonder, the guest star, what have you. And then it's like. then I'm on a series that is on cable. Right. Speaker 1 (5:10) That Speaker 2 (5:10) you had to pay for. You can either afford or steal. Right, right. Totally, totally. People Speaker 1 (5:14) forget that part of it all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Speaker 2 (5:17) taking the coax and just kind of jacking it in the back of the TV. Speaker 1 (5:20) Right. Speaker 2 (5:21) And so it wasn't getting like the audience that you can get today with streaming and the internet and, you know. Is Speaker 1 (5:29) Larry Sanders on HBO Max? It must be. It Speaker 2 (5:32) is. And Speaker 1 (5:33) do people still talk to you about it? Like what's the? Speaker 2 (5:36) Well, here's a crazy thing, which I didn't know because, well, a couple of crazy things, I'll tell you. We still live in Studio City, and I was walking home one day, and this woman came out with her dog from the veterinarian and Speaker 1 (5:54) said, Speaker 2 (5:55) hi, my husband is obsessed with you. And this is right after my wife and I, she turned to me and goes, look at this thing. And it was a license plate holder about the Larry Sanders show. And I was like, okay, that's bizarre. This is like Speaker 1 (6:09) five years Speaker 2 (6:11) ago, four or five years ago, something like that. And so we got put in touch with this guy and he was just a super great guy. He's a TV writer and a fan. And so I had an old, Letterman's jacket and old Larry Sanders Letterman's jacket. And so I ended up giving it to him because I'm like, it's sitting in mothballs collecting dust. And I thought this guy could, you know, he might like it. So sweet. Speaker 1 (6:34) So Speaker 2 (6:34) that's the first interesting thing that people still, well, he was an old fan. Now here's the really interesting thing that I didn't know about. When I got to do Perry Mason, I did a few of those in the second season. Again, HBO. So good. So great. Speaker 2 (6:52) The showrunner, who I'm blinking on at the moment, said his son in college said there is a huge Sanders resurgence. Speaker 1 (7:04) Amazing. Among Speaker 2 (7:05) young people. Speaker 1 (7:06) Love it. Speaker 2 (7:07) And so there's like this thing he said, yeah, if you walked onto a college campus, you would be mauled because people are really into the show. So it still has legs. Speaker 1 (7:16) I love that so much. And that Speaker 2 (7:17) must be the same for you and Sex and the City, I would imagine. For sure, for Speaker 1 (7:21) sure. I mean, at one point HBO decided to license us out, which was interesting because, you know, for a long time. In the original thing, you know, we were held because they wanted people to pay, you know, the price to subscribe, right? Yes. Then when we ended, they were like, oh yeah, we're going to put you on the WB or whatever. So we were like, okay. So they cut about half of it out, right? Right. To put it on the networks. We were like, this is very, very strange, right? But Speaker 2 (7:47) did you feel a kind of a groundswell of people watching at that point? I Speaker 1 (7:51) mean, the Speaker 2 (7:51) groundswell Speaker 1 (7:51) I think was so big at that point from. the original show, right? Because it was like a cultural thing. Didn't notice a change with the WB. Then somehow it gets on to E, where it lived for quite some time. Oh, for Speaker 2 (8:06) sure. That's a perfect audience for the show. But Speaker 1 (8:08) also a little weird for us, right? It's not really what we made it for, but whatever. Speaker 2 (8:13) And that went Speaker 1 (8:13) on for a while, but I also think largely edited, right? Yes. You had to. Right. Then... Netflix comes along, the world changes, streaming, et cetera. HBO was like, well, let's make some money. Let's license our stuff out, which has also been just not, whatever. Streaming has changed everything, of course, as you know. And so then we were on Netflix, which that was a huge shift in terms of who the audience was, right? So the younger ladies are now, you know, on board, which is fantastic. And because of social media, you can. collect and discuss, you Speaker 2 (8:46) know, which Speaker 1 (8:47) is really nice. As people who want to Speaker 2 (8:48) do. Absolutely. And Speaker 1 (8:50) it's so nice to have, I mean, that's part of the reason I did the podcast was because kind of obvious that like. it has legs in a way that you wouldn't have expected and that people are still discussing the actual substance of, you know, the show, like the central questions that Carrie asks, you know, they're still relevant. It's crazy. I agree. Speaker 2 (9:10) And the funny thing was when I watched, rewatched the episode was, um, uh, Kim controls. Is it Amanda? Samantha. Speaker 1 (9:18) Oh my God. Speaker 2 (9:20) Oh, fired. Speaker 1 (9:22) No, it's okay. It's okay. Speaker 2 (9:25) Samantha. Yes. Is complaining about a pottery barn going into Hell's Kitchen. Oh Speaker 1 (9:31) my God. Yes. Which is funny. And you're like, okay, Speaker 2 (9:34) boy, that's, you know, that's terrible because it's old New York. But, you know, I was there recently and it's even worse now. So it's like, it's the same. Same kind of themes happening. Speaker 1 (9:45) Absolutely. And it's also, isn't this where we're at the, in the meatpacking district and she, she's talking about the designers shouldn't be in the meatpacking district. I mean, have you been to the meatpacking district lately? It's