Natasha Rothwell and Jon Gries share a complicated dynamic on ‘The White Lotus,’ but in real life, their friendship is everything. Here, we tested Season 3's surprise return stars to see how well they really know each other. From Natasha sharing her favorite 'SNL' monologue and musical guest (none other than the Purple Batman) to Jon revealing he brought his own wig to play Uncle Rico in 'Napoleon Dynamite,' the duo spills all. Plus, find out why top-secret NDAs were signed for this season of 'The White Lotus' and which viral TikTok series Natasha will bring to life in its TV adaptation.
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00:00Doors of the elevator open.
00:02Guess who was in it?
00:03Humphrey Bogart.
00:03You would think it would be,
00:05it was Stevie Mother Wonder!
00:08Oh!
00:09Hey, Harper's Bazaar.
00:10I'm Natasha Rothwell.
00:11And I'm John Gry.
00:12And today we're going to answer trivia questions
00:16that are all about us.
00:20I'm not a betting woman,
00:21but I think I will be average.
00:24And I would bet against me.
00:27I would never bet against you.
00:28That's the thing.
00:29I'll bet against me, but not him.
00:31Which runway show did John walk
00:34at New York Fashion Week in 2023?
00:38I'm not Hugo Boss.
00:40I want to say like,
00:43what's that, what is that?
00:44Egg-a-slaughter.
00:45Egg-a-slaughter.
00:47That's, I don't even know.
00:48Is that real?
00:49Egg-house-laughter.
00:50Egg-house-slaughter.
00:51No, egg-house-laughter.
00:54I heard egg-house-slaughter.
00:56No, I'm sorry about that.
00:57And with egg prices right now,
00:58we should not be.
01:00Messing with the egg house.
01:01Anyway, yes.
01:02Okay.
01:03I love that.
01:04I just remember the photos,
01:05and I just, I say,
01:06put those in my book.
01:07I look a little like Colonel Kurtz
01:08in the apocalypse now.
01:09No, you can't.
01:10Walking around with the sword.
01:10Very dapper.
01:11Oh, thank you.
01:12My relationship with the designers
01:15were really set forth by my then fiancee,
01:19now wife, as of Friday, got married.
01:22And she had commented that everybody
01:26from season two was sitting on the sides
01:29of these amazing fashion shows.
01:31And she said, why aren't you?
01:33And I said, because.
01:35I don't want to sit.
01:36I want to walk.
01:37And then she contacted
01:41my egg house and Zoe Lotta,
01:42and then she sent them a picture of me,
01:45and they said, all right.
01:49Which Saturday Night Live host's
01:51opening monologue in 2015
01:56was Natasha's favorite to write?
01:58I'm gonna guess,
01:59because I haven't watched
02:00Saturday Night Live since 1976.
02:04There's like three people that,
02:05Morgan Freeman, Denzel, or Christopher Walken.
02:09Can I get one of the three?
02:11No, none of those.
02:12Although, that would have been great.
02:13It was Taraji P. Henson.
02:15Oh my.
02:16Yeah.
02:17It was this monologue
02:20that was a big choir number,
02:23and it was like a gospel number
02:24called, I Made It.
02:26And she was just like singing about
02:27all the stuff that could have happened,
02:29but thank God she made it.
02:30So it was a fun one to do.
02:32I will say my favorite musical guest
02:34while I was there was Prince.
02:35Oh my God.
02:36Can you believe it?
02:37We all snuck downstairs,
02:39like the writers, to see the rehearsal,
02:42because it was just him shredding.
02:45And then I felt like he disappeared
02:46into like a mist, like a cloud.
02:48Like I looked away and he was like gone.
02:50That's why some people have called him
02:51the Purple Batman, because he just.
02:53Yes.
02:55Disappeared.
02:57In which film did John's character's
03:00nephew deliver the line,
03:03ligers are pretty much my favorite animal?
03:07Napoleon Dynamite.
03:10Kind of an easy one.
03:11I know, but I loved it so much.
03:13I know.
03:14Do you still have the wig?
03:15No, they took the wig,
03:16but I did bring the wig myself.
03:19Did you?
03:20Yes.
03:20After I had a conversation with Jared Hess,
03:24he said to me, well, he runs like this
03:27and he ran down the block.
03:29And I was like, that's the best direction
03:31I've ever had, short of Mike White.
03:33But then he came back and he said,
03:35he's a cross between David Hasselhoff
03:38meets Burt Reynolds meets Elvis.
03:41And I was like, say no more.
03:43I got a wig for that one.
03:44I went to the wig store and I bought
03:45a fake hair wig and the first time
03:48they put the curling iron in it,
03:50part of it melted.
03:51Oh no.
03:52Synthetic.
03:53Yeah.
03:54But they let me wear it.
03:56What was Natasha's job before breaking into Hollywood?
04:01What did you build a website?
04:03Yep.
04:04You told me once.
04:05School teacher.
04:06Yep.
04:07Never forget that because I honor teachers.
04:09Ah, gosh, what was the other one?
04:12There's so many.
04:13I know.
04:14Did you write resumes or something like that?
04:16No.
04:17Something like that.
04:18But she had like 10 different jobs.
04:20Yeah, I was like on my hustle mode.
04:24The website was funny because I literally
04:26couldn't afford the book, HTML for Dummies.
04:30So I went into Barnes and Noble
04:31and took pictures of it with my phone
04:33and then went back home and tried to put together this.
04:35A website.
04:36Website design, yeah.
04:38And it was just, and I invoiced and got paid for it.
04:42Let me just say, I'm still learning how to text.
04:45So it's just a joke.
04:47What name does Greg give himself
04:51in the White Lotus season three
04:53when Belinda confronts him?
04:55Gary.
04:57Gary, Gary, Gary.
04:59Obviously this is going to be airing after the 16th.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Because I would have just said.
05:06Frank.
05:06Don't say it.
05:07Don't say it.
05:08Bob.
05:09Bob.
05:10Not the most clever.
05:11No, clearly he's a little bit limited
05:12because it was like Gary, Gary, Greg.
05:16It's almost like, you know, it's like a puzzle.
05:19And it was so top secret.
05:23So top secret.
05:25NDAs were signed.
05:26In fact, it'll probably be beeped out
05:29when you show it on this thing.
05:31It is.
05:32What did Tanya McQuad give Natasha's character
05:38at the end of White Lotus season one?
05:41If I were to venture a guess,
05:44what Tanya, my future wife,
05:49gave Belinda,
05:52I would say it was a stack of dollar bills.
05:57The props department really were just like
05:58turning the screws.
05:59I was just like, this is, come on.
06:02I'm pretty sure it was wands.
06:04Like it would just look like.
06:05A big old wad of a hundred dollar bill.
06:08Yeah, a hundred dollar tip of wands.
06:10What current Oscar nominated actor
06:15did Natasha team up with
06:17to fight against the chocolate cartel?
06:21Oh my gosh, of course.
06:23Of course.
06:25Which one?
06:26I know.
06:27Okay, let's see.
06:30Timothee Chalamet.
06:31Ah!
06:32Wonka.
06:33Boom!
06:34He was so sweet on set.
06:37That was one thing I remember about him.
06:38He was just like so sweet.
06:40And there were legions of young Londonites,
06:46little women, like flocking set.
06:49And he was so like, as if that was normal.
06:53And it was just so cool to see him.
06:55Just like, there's a couple of hundred women
06:59screaming your name right now.
07:00And he was just really present and cool.
07:02Amazing.
07:03Which viral TikTok story time series
07:07did Natasha acquire the rights for?
07:11Well, I wasn't in the room.
07:12I don't know about the meetings.
07:14Sometimes I feel like I'm on the outside looking in.
07:17I've never been to a pitch meeting for Crying Out Loud.
07:20So.
07:21It's actually apropos considering
07:22that you've just gotten married.
07:24Yes.
07:25The series was called Who the Fuck Did I Marry?
07:29And it was about a woman who got scammed.
07:32Oh.
07:32It went super viral.
07:34And I was tagged.
07:35Smart.
07:36And it was a screenshot of a fan
07:38who had created a movie poster for me starring in it.
07:41I watched it and became obsessed.
07:42And then we got the rights.
07:44And now I'm going to be playing her.
07:49The final round is a rapid round.
07:52Last TV show you binged.
07:54Severance.
07:56Fallout.
07:56Name an actor you're dying to work with.
07:58Meryl Streep.
08:00Sharon Stone.
08:01Last thing you Google searched.
08:03The Pakistani black woman with the eyebrows.
08:07Oh my gosh.
08:08Last thing I Google searched.
08:11I can't remember.
08:13Your way to the courthouse.
08:15Yeah, oh yeah.
08:16The directions to the courthouse to get married.
08:19Last time you were starstruck.
08:21Right now.
08:22This was last week.
08:24Friday.
08:25I was in this hotel.
08:26I was going down after doing press.
08:29And the doors of the elevator opened.
08:31Guess who was in it.
08:32Humphrey Bogart.
08:33You would think it would be.
08:34It was Stevie Mother Wonder.
08:37Oh.
08:38Stevie Wonder.
08:41And then I just screamed into the open elevator door.
08:44Oh my God.
08:46Like at that level.
08:47And he probably knew you by your voice.
08:49He was, no.
08:50But definitely he was startled by my exclamation.
08:55But I got to meet him, which was great.
08:56Amazing.
08:57I love it.
08:58Thank you so much for watching.
08:59Make sure to check out season three
09:01of the White Lotus only on Max.
09:03Only on Max.