Peacefully Bringing 65 People to the Table with Tony Shalhoub and Josie Adams

Tony Shalhoub (0:00)

I will confess that I have worn a cheese head once or twice in my life.

I don't make a habit of it. I don't have any problem with it.

Michele Norris (0:11)

But if someone passed you a cheese hat at the stadium in a moment of exuberance, you would gladly put it on your head.

Tony Shalhoub (0:18)

I would not say no.

Michele Norris (0:29)

Hello, hello, and welcome back to Your Mama's Kitchen. This is the podcast where we explore how we are shaped as adults by the kitchens that we grew up in as kids. Of course, I'm talking about the food, but so much more. All the stuff that happened there, the arguments, the homework that you did at the kitchen table, the stuff that was on at the radio, the way that your mama may have canned or made jelly or made, I don't know, homemade brew, whatever it was, we want to hear about it. Today, we're going to hear about it from someone who's really special. Tony Shalhoub is here. He's also going to join us with his daughter, Josie Adams, who's going to jump in the conversation a little bit later. Let me tell you a little bit about Tony before we begin.

His name is recognizable because he is an Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe-winning actor. His careers have spanned film, television, and theater.

I don't know if I want to say you're best known for your role in Monk because you're known for your role in Monk, but you're also known for your role in Wings, in The Marvelous Mrs. Mizell. You have appeared in dozens of acclaimed films and television projects. You were in The Band's Visit on Broadway. You were in The Heidi Chronicles on Broadway where you met your wife, Brooke Adams. I could go on and on and on and on, but I'm going to stop there so we can begin our conversation. Welcome to Your Mama's Kitchen.

Tony Shalhoub (1:49)

Thank you.

Michele Norris (1:50)

Martha's Vineyard edition.

Tony Shalhoub (1:51)

Yes. I'm so happy to be here, not just because you're here on the island, but because I'm such an admirer of your work.

Michele Norris (1:57)

Thank you. Thank you so much. I mean, I have to tell you, we are doing this on Martha's Vineyard where we both spend time each summer. I have seen you over the years at Ally's General Store, at the Farmer's Market, and I have had to contain myself because I know that you're with your family, you're doing your thing, and I didn't want to interrupt. But it was really hard for me not to sneak up and say, ah!

Josie Adams (2:21)

Thank you.

Michele Norris (2:23)

And I also had, when my mother was still alive, I had to literally, and Ally's General Store, you were there one day, and I had to body block her, like full body block, so she didn't.

Because she was such a big monk fan. So here at the show, we always begin by asking that very simple question, tell me about Your Mama's Kitchen. Your mother was Helen.

Josie Adams (2:44)

Yes.

Michele Norris (2:44)

Your father was Joe. That's right. You grew up in Wisconsin.

Josie Adams (2:48)

Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Michele Norris (2:49)

Where it's very cold. I'm from Minnesota.

Tony Shalhoub (2:51)

Yes, you know, a long winter.

Michele Norris (2:53)

Long winters that, you know, start in what, October and last until June, pretty much.

Tony Shalhoub (2:59)

Pretty much snow in June.

Michele Norris (3:01)

Yeah, but take me back to Green Bay. Take me back to the street you grew up in. Take me back to the house you grew up in and tell me about that kitchen.

Tony Shalhoub (3:11)

Right, well, okay, so we grew up in the older part of Green Bay on the east side, the old neighborhood. We went to, we lived about two and a half blocks from our school, a parochial school and a church there across from the school.

And it was a big, actually, I thought it was big. I've been back since to look at it and it doesn't really look that big. But it seemed so big to us then. But when my family, my parents bought this house and moved there by now, seven children into it, they redid the kitchen because the kitchen wasn't suited to a large family. And they moved that stove down in the basement during the renovation, which, as all renovations, as happens with all renovations, took longer than it was supposed to. And so, again, this is prior to my birth, but my older siblings have told me there was a month or two where they ate, they had to eat in the basement because there was, the kitchen was gutted and being rebuilt. And so this, they used this stove, and they must have held the old refrigerator down there, too, although when I was growing up, it was gone. And they set out a kind of a primitive table, I guess. And my mother somehow worked miracles in the basement. And I write about this in the book.