Check out the new episode of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso, where he interviews actress, improviser, and musician Kate Micucci; as a teaser, enjoy the following transcript of a brief portion of the episode.
Kate Micucci: I’ve had a couple of times in my life–actually this was the biggest time, though–when I just all of the sudden was ready to leave the nest. It took a long time.
Sam Fragoso: What happened?
KM: Well, I thought I wanted to go to school near my family since that seemed to be the thing I wanted to do, to go back home every weekend.
SF: And you were going to make toys, right?
KM: Yeah, I was going to be a toy designer.
SF: That’s incredible.
KM: My very first time going to a therapist in L.A., I went to this woman who told me I had Peter Pan Syndrome. I was like, “What is that?” I went home and looked it up on Wikipedia.
SF: She didn’t explain it to you?
KM: Well, her explanation was really kind of like, “Yeah, you have Peter Pan Syndrome.” Then she said, and I’m not making this up, we actually put this in the Garfunkel and Oates TV show, “Yeah, most people who have it die young.” And I was like, “What are you talking about?”
SF: What?!
KM: Mind you, I was not taking this woman in, I was not taking her seriously. But also, that’s the good thing about creating stuff, that’s gold. You’re like, “Oh my God, this is the funniest thing right now.”
SF: In defense of therapy, I’m a fan of it. That’s not-
KM: Oh, it can be great, for sure!
SF: So have you seen other people since then?
KM: Yeah, and I’ve had great experiences.
SF: So when you have the good experience were you like, “Wow, what was that person doing?” Maybe she had a bad day. It could’ve been a bad day.
KM: Yeah, she just [had] a different way of going about it. I don’t know, I actually went back one other time because I was like maybe I should give her a second chance, and I was like, “Nooo.”
SF: Did she make up another syndrome the second time?
KM: No, no. And there is a thing. Peter Pan Syndrome is, at least it’s on Wikipedia.
SF: Okay, as much as that’s real.
KM: Yeah. I guess, like you were saying, I can find joy in things that maybe would seem more childlike, but it’s not like I’m trying to do that. It’s just what I like. I was at the beach a couple of weeks ago and I built a sand dinosaur and then a bunch of kids came up to me. And I used to teach sand castle building, so I was like, “Oh, this is like the old days!” So I taught the kids how to pack the sand right and we just had a little lesson. And then we left, my mom and I went antiquing. We went back to the beach a couple hours later and I took my shovel because I was like, “I think my dinosaur’s probably been stomped on by now, I’m going to go fix him up.” And it was the opposite! I got out there and there were so many kids and their moms and their dads, and there was a menagerie of other little dinosaurs, and mermaids, and starfish, and I almost started crying because it was the coolest thing.
SF: They followed your lead!
KM: Yeah, and this was not a joke. Kids were out there until 10pm that night making all these different creatures around the dinosaur.
SF: But that means you were out there until 10pm.
KM: Off and on, yeah. We were having fun! I don’t know, I love that kind of stuff! I don’t know what that is. I realize this might sound crazy but it’s just what I like to do.
SF: I don’t think it’s crazy, I’m more in awe of it.
KM: Thanks. I mean, I’m 36, you know. I guess you can like making sand castles at any age.
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