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By Suzanne

Interview with Ali Wentworth of "Cougartown" on TBS 1/28/13

TURNER ENTERTAINMENT
Moderator: Christina Hamilton
January 28, 2013
10:40 am CT

Operator: Please stand by. We're about to begin. Good day and welcome to the Turner Ali Wentworth Cougar Town call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time I'd like to turn the conference over to Christina Hamilton. Please go ahead.

Christina Hamilton: Hello, thank you for joining the Ali Wentworth Cougar Town conference call. Ali Wentworth will guest star in Cougar Town episode I Should Have Known It airing tomorrow January 29th at 10pm Eastern Time Pacific on TBS. The conference call is now open for questions. Please press star 1 to ask your question. Thank you.

Operator: And once again ladies and gentlemen it's star 1 if you'd like to ask a question or if you're on a Speakerphone please make sure that your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again that's slide 1 for questions.

And our first question comes from Danielle Turchiano from LA Examiner.

Danielle Turchiano: Hi Ali. It's a pleasure to speak with you.

Ali Wentworth: Hi, how are you?

Danielle Turchiano: Good. So I'm wondering if you could just kind of tease your character for those - I mean I've seen the episode but those of my readers who haven't, I don't want to spoil too much. So in your words how do you describe her and how much of her is maybe what you brought to it versus what was on the page?

Ali Wentworth: I play a gold-digging hussy, and let's see I mean, you know, she read like somebody who was going after this guy for his money, but it is Cougar Town so I played her like something out of Housewives of Atlanta, you know.

I had lots of extension in my hair and lots of, you know, tan and boobs up to my chin, you know, because I figured if you're a gold-digger you got to kind of juj it up a little. So, you know, and I also wanted to just have fun, so - and it was fun.

Danielle Turchiano: And I know that, you know, your friendship with Christa and with Courtney was a big part of wanting to work on Cougar Town specifically, but I mean do you have plans to do your own series again or has this kind of maybe fed that need?

Ali Wentworth: You know I live in New York.

Danielle Turchiano: Yes.

Ali Wentworth: And my husband George anchors GMA, so I wouldn't do a series in L.A., so that kind of cuts down 80% of opportunity.

So my thing and I also have a show on Yahoo everyday called the Daily Shot with Ali Wentworth and writing a pilot based on my book, so I feel like my life and especially with little kids it kind of works well on the East Coast.

And I think, I mean as much as I would love it I think if I went and did a series in L.A. I would be single, which is no fun to be single when you're a middle-aged housewife so that's probably why.

And that's I why I also love to guest star, to go do something fun in Cougar Town for a week. It's like the perfect amount for me.

Danielle Turchiano: Okay, all right great. Well thank you so much for talking to me today.

Ali Wentworth: Thank you.

Operator: And next we'll go to Earl Dittman from Digital Journal and Wireless.

Earl Dittman: Good morning. Ali how are you?

Ali Wentworth: I'm good. How are you?

Earl Dittman: Doing great. I have to say it's a wonderful episode, wonderful performance. You are absolutely wonderful. I can't think of a better word.

Ali Wentworth: I can't wait to see it.

Earl Dittman: Oh, you haven't seen it?

Ali Wentworth: No.

Earl Dittman: Oh, it is a hoot. It's really a hoot. And so you must have had, like you said, you must have had a great time doing it. But how do you research something like that or do you even research something like that?

Ali Wentworth: You know what, I don't research it because I like to use my fantasy life, you know what I mean?

Earl Dittman: Yes.

Ali Wentworth: You know that it takes place in Florida. What would a, you know, 40-year-old Floridian woman, gold-digger look like and act like? And then I just play, you know what I mean? This is my version, you know, somebody else would do a different version but this is how I would do it.

Earl Dittman: Yes all we have to do is look on TV and we could figure out what the roles really are.

Ali Wentworth: It's true. It's true.

Earl Dittman: On reality TV.

Ali Wentworth: Well that's true. I mean any of the housewives or whatever give you a slight idea about what you could play and the main thing too is they let me improvise a lot, you know, so when you have that freedom too, you know, not only do you get to kind of physically make her what you think of, but you get to have her talk and say things that you think she would.

Earl Dittman: So are you planning - did they invite you to come back a couple of more times? Can you talk about that, or will we see you again?

Ali Wentworth: Yes, I mean they have invited me back. I think whenever, you know, I think since they shot this season, you know, they'll see where they're at, but I would love to come back and I had so much fun with Bob.

Earl Dittman: Yes, that's wonderful. And so you now to make sure I have it right, your show is on every day on YouTube and it's under what? Just Daily with Ali Wentworth or just under your name?

Ali Wentworth: It's on Yahoo, it's on Yahoo, and it's the Daily Shot with Ali Wentworth and it's every day.

Earl Dittman: Fantastic. Well I'll make sure we'll put that in there because I didn't know that and it's something I need to know, everybody else needs to know.

Ali Wentworth: Thank you.

Earl Dittman: I appreciate it. Thank you so much for you time.

Ali Wentworth: Oh and thank you.

Earl Dittman: Have a great one.

Ali Wentworth: You, too.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen once again if you'd like to ask a question at this time please press star 1 now. And we have a question from Sammi Turano from TV Grapevine.

Sammi Turano: Hello, it's such an honest to speak with you, and by the way, happy belated birthday.

Ali Wentworth: Oh, thank you.

Sammi Turano: Okay, so my question for you is what made you decide to take on the role in the first place? Was it something that initially drew you to the show or?

Ali Wentworth: Well I am friends with the creator Bill Lawrence and his wife Christa Miller, and they were saying we want you to come on the show and play with us and they, you know, they came up with this part that was just too fun to pass by, so I said absolutely. I'll come to L.A. for a week and wear a padded bra and hair extensions and have fun.

Sammi Turano: That is amazing, and I know you've done comedy. You've done acting. You've done writing. What's next on your bucket list?

Ali Wentworth: Oh, on my bucket list? Well I am writing a second book. I'm writing a pilot for Warner Brothers and NBC for my first book and doing this daily show on Yahoo called the Daily Shot with Ali Wentworth but I'd like to make out with James Franco in a movie if you could make that happen.

Sammi Turano: Well, yes I want to do that, too. We’ll try to make it happen for the both of us.

Ali Wentworth: Thank you.

Sammi Turano: Oh, okay. Well I'll let someone else talk but thank you for talking to us today.

Ali Wentworth: Oh, of course. Thank you.

Operator: And we have follow up from Earl Dittman from Digital Journal and Wireless.

Earl Dittman: Okay, any make up list you come up with let me know, and I'll be with you, too.

Ali Wentworth: Thank you so much. Good. We'll be a team.

Earl Dittman: You know, I have to say through all your - throughout, through the get up of your character and stuff, it's still very obvious you're a very beautiful woman and you've kept yourself looking wonderful and stunning. How do you? Do you have a beauty regimen? I mean is there something you do every day to stay as gorgeous as you are?

Ali Wentworth: Oh my God. You are - I need to call you every day. No, I wish I did, but I don’t. I don't have, you know, I'm the girl that buys any cream that Gwyneth Paltrow or somebody says is great.

So I have sort of half used creams all over my bathroom but, you know, I'm also kind of and I think this helps, I don't spend a great amount of time worrying about that stuff, so, you know, I wish I did, you know, spend more time shaving my legs and plucking my eyebrows and being concerned about it, but I feel like I get caught up in the other things in life.

I don't know. If you spoke to George I'm sure you'd get a different story but, you know, I feel like a lot of the being young is in your head, too, so which is why I dress like a college student and very immature.

Earl Dittman: Well, plus you're a mom, so if you're a mom.

Ali Wentworth: Yes, my mom looks great! I mean, you know, you thank God for good genes.

Earl Dittman: Yes, I think genetics has a lot to do with it.

Ali Wentworth: It's true.

Earl Dittman: So you said you were writing a pilot and another book. What will this book be? Is it a continuation or a different subject or?

Ali Wentworth: I think, you know, I do like writing like I wrote Ali in Wonderland which is kind of, you know, autobiographical stories, so this is more about perspective of a middle-aged woman. It'll be the range. It'll be kids. It'll be plastic surgery. It'll be sex. It'll be, you know, everything that I'm thinking about or seeing or wondering about at my age.

Earl Dittman: And what is it about writing that...

Ali Wentworth: You know, yes. I was going to say a perfect, you know, somebody that I've always admired is Nora Ephron and so, you know, I sort like that vein of writing.

Earl Dittman: Yes, that's perfect. What is it about writing though that appeals to you maybe not more than acting but in addition to acting?

Ali Wentworth: I like the control of it, you know, I like writing because when you're an actor, you know, sometimes you have and I've done a lot of improvisation going back to In Living Color but, you know, as much as I love reading other people's words I also love my own words and so there's a control with writing that you don't have as an actor that I really like.

I like being able to, you know, use description my way which is, you know, sometimes unique and I have often made up words I didn't realize don't exist but.

Earl Dittman: I was doing the same thing yesterday.

Ali Wentworth: Yes, but, you know, it is a control thing I think. It's a very different outlet than acting.

Earl Dittman: I certainly understand.

Ali Wentworth: So they both appeal to me.

Earl Dittman: Yes, that's wonderful and it's great that you can do it because a lot, you know, believe it or not a lot of people think they can write and a lot people think they can act and, you know, it's great that you can actually do both and do it very well.

Ali Wentworth: Well, thank you. That's very nice of you.

Earl Dittman: So that's great. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you again and can't wait until everybody sees it tomorrow.

Ali Wentworth: Oh, thanks. I can't wait to see it tomorrow.

Earl Dittman: Oh good. You'll love it. You'll love it. Have fun.

Ali Wentworth: Thank you.

Earl Dittman: Thanks again.

Operator: And as a final reminder ladies and gentleman if you'd like to ask questions at this time please press star 1 now. And we have no further questions in the queue at this time, and at this time I'm going to turn the call back over to Miss Hamilton for closing remarks.

Christina Hamilton: Thank you so much for joining today's call. As a reminder you can see Ali Wentworth's appearance on Cougar Town tomorrow January 29th at 10pm Eastern time Pacific on TBS. A transcription of this call will be available within 24 hours. Thank you so much Ali, and thank you all for participating.

Ali Wentworth: Thank you.

Operator: And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation.

Read my review of Cougar Town

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