ALL THE FAILS | DANNY STRONG

I met Danny when I was a twenty-two-year-old, mostly out-of-work actress who drove around LA in a Jeep Grand Cherokee that I steered mainly with my knees. Danny lived on Stanley near the first ever Erewhon, down the street from me and my next-door neighbor, Simon Helberg, this sweet little commercial actor who I used to always want to buy Starbucks for because I had a gut feeling he was going to end up an impoverished, high school theater teacher in the valley.

Like me, Danny is an alum of the Buffyverse, but aside from doing a few Shakespeare readings together at Joss Whedon’s house, our paths never crossed professionally. We remained in touch mostly because of our mutual friend, Tom Lenk. And it wasn’t until years later that we reconnected in NYC and trauma-bonded over our earlier years.

Watching Danny’s struggle and rise to power was, for me, revenge porn. Seeing “one of us” become “one of them” and then subsequently do it better and bigger and win all the shiny awards is the stuff I fantasize about when I’m running at a seven-point five on a Barry’s BootCamp treadmill to the Rocky theme song.

Danny is so forthcoming and open. He's self-deprecating, funny, and an incredible listener. 

This episode set me on fire. If you are a writer, an actor, a theater teacher in the Valley, or even Simon Helberg, you won’t want to miss it!

FULL VIDEO OF OUR TALK BELOW!