Greta Lee

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

In this episode of *Good Hang with Amy Poehler*, actress Greta Lee shares her journey from growing up in Brooklyn with a 'Korean Brooklyn accent' to becoming a celebrated performer in films like *Past Lives* and *Russian Doll*. She reflects on her early days working in high-pressure New York restaurants, the discipline that shaped her acting career, and her candid thoughts on aging, parenting, and

Key takeaways

• Restaurant work instilled a strong work ethic and discipline that directly influenced her acting career.
• Greta Lee emphasizes the importance of presence and stillness in her role in *Past Lives*, a departure from her natural improvisational instincts.
• She finds emotional resonance in both *Past Lives* and *Toy Story 5*, describing how both films moved her to tears.

Transcript preview

Hello everyone welcome to another episode of Good Hang very excited to talk to my buddy today Greta Lee. Greta is an incredible actress you may have seen her film past lives you may have seen her in the morning show she's been in girls in Broad City and in Russian doll and she's so talented and beautiful and we're gonna talk about a lot of fun things we're gonna talk about um being a waitress we're gonna talk about how to drown on camera We're going to talk about all the fun we had making Russian doll together and she's also going to explain her new part in Toy Story 5 in which she plays the villain and that villain is an iPad. But before we get into talking to Greta we're going to speak to somebody who knows her who wants to speak well behind her back and give me a question to ask her and that is Celebrity Chef Allison Roman. Allison Roman and author, a podcaster. a food expert, hostess with the mostest. And Allison is going to join us. I believe she has a cat that's also going to join as well. So let's hear from Allison and get a question. Hi, Allison. in a store. Shop their big summer beauty sale through July 11th and get up to 40% off summer essentials with new deals every week. Shop Ulta Beauty on Uber Eats and get your summer glow on. I can't tell you how nice it is to meet you. Is this your personal kitchen? It is, yeah, I live here. It's like, this big guy is here. This is Leonard. He's just such a big guy. Leonard! Yeah, he loves to be in the mix. Well, first of all, we're going to talk about Greta today, the great, Greta Lee. But I do want to talk to you about First Bloom, which is your brick and mortar store that you open in the cat skills and you're opening, perhaps other places and you're Perhaps. Yeah, I started a little grocery store in 2023 we opened. Sort of like a and I didn't I didn't really have like a full plan. I was like I'm gonna open a grocery store and that was it and then I did and I was like okay well now what but it went really well and I love doing it and yeah we're gonna open one in Brooklyn later this year. I listen to podcast while I grocery shop or listen to music because I like the I don't like the I don't want to chat. No I don't want to chat although I do and part of I mean I guess it makes sense because I did open a grocery store but you don't like the like the co-ops I don't know LA doesn't really have this is very Brooklyn this is very Brooklyn yeah I don't fuck with the co-ops it's so stressful to me who is the time exactly it's my worst nightmare to walk into a place and people are already disappointed oh yeah like hey nice to see you said I did determine that like I thought if there was a job that I would would do at a co-op which doesn't exist but I would stand in the aisles and effectively like tell people what to do like if people were like what do I do with like red lentils I'd be like oh well here are some great things and then I just stand there I don't have to do anything else that's really smart you'd just be like you'd be like the cruise director like let's talk about ramps. are you're going to compose them. But like the number of times I'm in a butcher shop and I hear like a person most often a man who doesn't know what they're doing and they ask the butcher and the butcher like gives them kind of vague advice I sometimes pipe up and I'm like oh you don't want to grill that that's gonna be a nightmare or you know like sometimes I actually like to sear it briefly you know like and I'd say eight times out of ten they are so uninterested in what I have to say. Like they're like thanks thanks. Yeah, and I'm like, some people would kill for this. You're like, babe, I'm, this is, I'm a professional. Also, it's like, you're like a doctor on an airplane and they're like, is there a doctor on board? And it's like, oh, I guess I gotta, I guess I gotta go save a life. Yeah, exactly. And imagine having a medical issue, and the doctor, and the doctor, you know, that's sort of what it feels like to me. Okay, so speaking of Brooklyn, I feel like that is where Greta? It is where I met Greta. Yeah. Didn't you work together at a restaurant? So we did and I think like I was working at Milk Bar at the time which was like that we shared a kitchen with Sambar which is where Greta worked and but we were like in the basement we were very separate it was like milk bar people and some bar people did not necessarily co-mingle and so I knew of her I think I saw her like the hot person that worked at Sam bar. Yeah like the most beautiful person. Exactly. seems fun. Like I can't be friends with them. I was talking to somebody about this the other day like how hard it is to be well dressed now because of the homogenous culture and everybody sees everything and but she so manages to like carry through. I mean her style is the envy of every person with the with you know awareness of the internet that has like seen all of her appearances over the last few years but like she's always had it she's always had individuality that like really comes through. Let's talk well behind her back. I love that she is one of the hardest working and also kindest people that I've ever met and I also in this isn't really like you know a virtue but she is hilarious she's so funny and so funny so funny and like has a great sense of humor and is just like such a bright light in the world and no matter where she goes and like how she shows up like just existing she is as fabulous as you might think she is if you're never matter. And I have seen it with her kids and her family and her friends and with like a random server at a restaurant and with basically any human on the planet. She's just like exceedingly kind and generous but and like hospitable. She has like a real like hospitality vibe around her and I feel like she was always the person hosting she was always the person inviting people over. It was like the more than merrier energy every time. And that is such a rare. And that is such a rarer. personality trait I think. Yeah, I mean you you are a great example of this but it does feel like host so much of hosting is the vibe you give off when you're hosting. Yeah. So I love hosting however I'll just say that I realize that at times I was a little bit of a stressy host. Mm. You feel like you've outgrown that like you've moved on into a different era. I've worked on it. Well you also you realize that like no one has a good time when you're stressed out. Like everyone actually has a bad time when you're but like we all know these things but you know when you're you're when something comes out of your mouth and you're like oh fuck I said that out loud like I still do it I'll be like oh it's fine no it's really fine like it's not fine it's not fine at all totally or like I'm you can eat that but we're not not yet you know like whatever stupid shit you say and then there's like the apology part where it's like I even have to check myself and because I'm so good at I'm like well I'm a bad student of myself like I have to like practice what I preach here but yeah it's very hard but I'm really happy to hear that you're on the other side of that or at least on your journey I'm working on it with professionals day and night yeah day and night day and night okay so we always start our episodes with the question for our guest do you have a question that you think Greta would like to answer or I should ask her yeah absolutely I was thinking I was thinking about what people don't know don't ask her often or like I wonder how much they get into like that restaurant part of her because I have a belief that like once you're a restaurant person you're always a restaurant person and it teaches you a lot so I kind of want to know like how in this iteration of her life in this career does like what from restaurant days has she held on to or like how has working in restaurants made her a better actor or you know multi hyphen it as it was. Allison I love that question I also was. and for many many years in New York and wanted to ask just that because I do think it is incredible training for life. Yeah, it's like the work ethic is unparalleled and I think that like she has so much of that and maybe that was pre-restrants but I also think if you have it you're more inclined to work at a restaurant so it all kind of ties in together. Before we go I'm gonna ask you for some free advice like people do to doctors and to chefs. I have to take so much off. I can't even tell you how niche this question already is specifically to suit my intro. I have a dried artichoke on my in a vase right here. I did not, this is just on my counter. Like I'm obsessed with artichokes. Me too. I just got back from Italy not to brag and the artichokes there were next level. I did not. It must be like what a gardener feels like when they have to just like crazy prune a rose bush like it's like I have to cut all of that away you're like I'm killing it I'm killing it I'm killing it there's nothing left cut the top cut the snow cut the stem get all the leaves almost all of the leaves off I guess my question I'll make it is how do you like to prepare your artichokes these days well forever and always and and let me also just say that I too have been to Italy but it has happened and the way that they do artichokes there is so like they're almost treating them like a trash vegetable like they're so prolific and like the way that they grow and they like you see truckloads of them and they they peel or like pair back like the whole thing it's just the heart it's just the heart the rest is garbage they throw it away and I had never experienced that until I left the United States obviously because I grew up with basically a whole steamed artichoke where you're like trim the stem but the stem is super edible I love eating the stem the stem is basically like an extension of the heart so it's just as tender it's just as edible it's sweet it's delicious but I just trim the the leaves yeah just right beyond the thorn okay and you cut the top and I leave the whole leave yeah I cut the top to expose the little rows in the center yeah but that's honestly just for aesthetics like that's not really serving a purpose but I like to do it and then I'll season it with salt and then I'll season it you know an inch or two of boiling water, artichokes, prop them up. Do you take the fuzzy stuff out after they steam or before? After they steam, it's so much easier. I think I learned that from you. I do have a video online on how to eat an artichoke. Okay, thank you for confirming my positive artichoke bias. I can't believe you have a dried one right in front of you. I know. Just trim, oh, also I was gonna say trim away like the tiniest leaves near the outside base of course, of course, and then. Of course, and then. And then, leaves on the outer part are too tough just discard them but like I don't trim it too far in advance. Okay I love to hear this okay listeners I hope it's getting you hungry for artichokes thank you so much Allison what a pleasure and I'm sure Greta will be so happy that we talk so thanks again I hope so I love her so much she's so wonderful. Bye bye-bye Leonard we all are these days your wireless network should be two. With visible you get unlimited 5G data and unlimited hotspot all powered by Verizon's 5G network. 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Hi hi bye I just want to stare at you oh my god Greta is here and she has her arms full of gifts okay okay so yeah I have some flowers it's a collection of natives and non-native from my garden come on get that we have some white sage and some you know lemon verbana and you wrapped it in a paper people this is a professional wrapping job with a rubber band and everything this is gorgeous thank you okay there's more I have this okay what we also it's like I'm worried you don't you don't have a grocery store it like you don't have that best tip this is Yeah, and I have these eggplants. Honestly, you're helping me. I can't eat this all. Okay, I'm gonna say something. I'm very sorry. What? I don't like eggplants. I knew, I knew, I knew. I'm so sorry. Get this out. Get them out of here. I knew that was gonna happen. I love, I love how they look. I love it as an emoji. I know. I know it as a. You don't like the taste. I'm too slimmy. I'm too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too slimmy. I, it's too. I, it's too. I, it's too You can listen this is this is thing now I know there are a lot of things you can do with eggplant Okay, what about kale you like kale? Love kale? Love kale Obsessed with kale this looks like dinosaur kale and curly kale Oh my god Creta this is so They're avocados incredible avocados for people listening they're huge. They're huge. They're huge you can't eat them for like a year Just leave it here. Just it's like decoration. Don't even look at it, don't touch it for like at least a year. Okay I'm pulling out a gigantic... That's an oro blanco. Excuse me? See? See, it's a cross between a pomello and a white grapefruit. They're delicious. Wow. It's really nice in an alcoholic beverage with this is a Mexican lime. It's yellow. It's wonderful. You can put like flowers in your drink. I live in LA now. What happened? Well, hi, remember me? I know you're very elderly. This is very LA. Look, you have your own kale. You have your own kale. This is bad. She brought her own kale. I mean in LA You have to have it in your car. Yeah, at all times This to me is success that you have a garden and you bring in your fruit to people. That is bad. She brought her own fruit. I mean. I mean. Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah. That's success. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. much stuff together. We have. I was like looking at what we've worked on together and I want to talk about all of it. We worked in Broad City, we worked on a show called Old Soul, we worked on sisters, Russian doll. And I just want to start by saying here's what I love about you. Not only are you super talented and so good at so many things, but I feel like you, how I would describe you is you are a person who takes their work seriously but not themselves seriously. Would you agree that's kind of true? Yeah. So how do we first meet? How do we first meet? Because I don't remember when we met. I mean we met on some project that we worked on but what which one? Did I audition for you first? I mean I'm sure we've met. Was it broad city? Maybe. Maybe. Well that time in New York gets really confusing to me. Agree. Same. Yeah. And I feel like I end up talking about it a lot because you know once you get in the habit of telling the story of started and then you're like telling the story and then soon you're like I don't even is