Natasha Lyonne was a recent guest on The Drew Barrymore Show and it’s already the best thing that’s happened this week!
Lyonne was there to promote her brand new show Poker Face, streaming Thursdays on Peacock. She is both executive producer and the star of the mystery-of-the-week thriller, written and created by Glass Onion’s Rian Johnson. Maya Rudolph serves as co-executive producer, and Barrymore asked Lyonne about her longtime friendship with the comedian and actress. Lyonne shared it had sparked twenty years earlier from a “fifty block” walk through New York City after a chance meeting at a fashion event. The two have been close ever since, and if their friendship is as good as the show they made together, they’ll be friends ‘til the end.
One of the most memorable moments from The Drew Barrymore Show interview was when the titular host and guest, Lyonne, gushed over mutual friend, Aubrey Plaza. Barrymore called herself Plaza’s “mommy” and Lyonne quipped back by saying that makes her “the daddy.” This quite literally brought Barrymore to her knees, and the two shared a hilariously sweet moment that we will be replaying in our head every time we need a little mental break.
The two then went on to discuss Lyonne’s iconic role in American Pie and the actress dished that she had turned the role down more than once before eventually accepting it. “I just sort of saw it on paper and I didn’t identify with this sort of, like, very white, very normal high school experience of ‘Oh, we’re gonna lose our virginity!’ I was like ‘Honey, it already happened,’” she explained. Barrymore asked Lyonne if she would be down for a reboot of the 1999 film and Lyonne said, “Listen, now I’m at an age where anywhere Jennifer Coolidge goes, I go.”
Throughout the show, Barrymore and Lyonne played a game where they looked at zoomed-in photos of an actor’s face and had to guess who it was. When they had pieced the puzzle together (it was Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny) the two had the golden strike of genius to reboot Cagney & Lacey, the classic woman-led police procedural drama from the ‘80s. With squeals of excitement (ours included) the two were giddy at the idea. Lyonne shared that she’s actually worked with Tyne Daley, the actress who plays Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the original, and that she still uses her holster from the show to carry her phone and personal belongings like a purse. “It’s pretty sick,” chimed Lyonne.
All in all, we would like to start a petition to get that reboot in the works yesterday, and, while we’re making wishes, let’s get Natasha Lyonne and Drew Barrymore together in a room whenever possible–the country needs it.
Check out the The Drew Barrymore Show’s website for local air times, and watch Poker Face on Peacock now!
Top photo: screen grab from YouTube
