Dallas Comic Con Transcript

Interviewer: …thing that I’ve always found very interesting is that the two of you have been very outspoken about the franchises to which you are affixed. I was wondering if that is one of the rewards of being, for lack of a better word, iconic in the performances and in the franchises of which you’ve been a part. Now do you see what I’m saying?

[Genie turns to look at Jonathan and smiles. The audience laughs.]

Interviewer: Is it one of the privileges of being such an integral part of the franchise that you can say what’s on your mind?

Genie: [nods] Yes.

Interviewer: [to Jonathan] You’ve been very honest, for instance, about the future of the franchise, Star Trek. [to Genie] You’ve been very open about General Hospital, about why you left.

Genie: Mhmm.

Interviewer: And I’m curious. That can’t be an easy decision to make, to be honest about the things you do. I’ve always very much respected and admired and appreciated the fact that when you had something to say, you said it.

Genie: It sometimes gets you in a lot of trouble, but [the audience laughs] I find it easier to tell the truth than to lie.

Interviewer: What kind of trouble has it gotten you into?

[The audience laughs.]

Genie: [smiling] Do we have to bring that up? Oh, gosh. Well, you know, not everybody wants the truth to be told.

Interviewer: Right. I mean, is that – Jonathan, what do you think? There have been many instances in the last few years – I believe there was, in fact, a New York Times article where you talked about Star Trek and your dissatisfaction with the...

[The audience laughs as Jonathan hides his face, smiling]

Jonathan: I think… I’m with Genie, it’s much easier to tell the truth and no one knows better than we do what we feel about the shows that we’ve spent [points to Genie] 25 years on, [points to himself] 20 years on, so it has been a situation – I don’t think there’s anything lost in being candid about what’s going on. Certainly with Star Trek. And Berman, who’s keeper of all things Star Trek now, I believe has certainly gone on the record saying the same thing, we’re going to the well once too often. And they were guilty of greed. [He shrugs, smiling.] I told them that years ago. [The audience laughs.] We were doing the 7th season of The Next Generation and I know Marina and I, and I’m sure a few of the others, we would have been thrilled to stay on the air for another couple of years. But no, they wanted to take the show and combine it with the original cast and make a movie and it wasn’t the greatest movie ever made and it could have been made a couple of years after. So greed is a very strong motivator and Paramount had this franchise and they run it dry.

Interviewer: Right. I did a piece a couple of years, in fact, a few year ago for Salon (?) where I talked to Nimoy and Shatner and a few other people about this and it’s interesting, those who’ve been affixed with the series for as long as you all have really did feel that way. And it is a sense of proprietorship. And I sort of wonder how you reconcile that. You go from being an actor auditioning for a pilot, hoping it goes [Jonathan nods] to twenty years later sort of being a spokesperson for, a representative of that thing. That’s a strange phenomenon.

Jonathan: When you sign on, you’re thrilled as an actor to have a job. None of us knew that we would become part of popular culture. I mean, I didn’t even really realize the place that Star Trek had in everyone’s minds and hearts until we were well into the third, fourth season. Now it’s, I mean, it’s a privilege to part of it, but it’s certainly not what you signed up for. [He smiles.] It’s worked out very well, don’t get me wrong. I’m a very happy man. [The audience laughs and claps.]

Interviewer: But when does that sense – and this is for both of you – when does that sense of… because you’re not the owner, you’re not the keeper, and yet you have very strong opinions about, very strong feelings for the thing you’re involved in, because you are so much a part of it, you become popular culture figures, you become iconic in the very best sense of the word and I’m curious about that transition. What is that like, from it being a job to it being more than a job, to being something where these people want to come and talk and listen and meet and just sort of understand who you are and why you’re there doing that thing? What is that transition like? How do you deal with it? I mean, when you’re on the cover of Newsweek magazine [Jonathan smiles] I mean, what is that experience like for you?

Jonathan: Take that one, Genie. [Genie and the audience laughs.] It’s all yours.

Interviewer: People who didn’t watch show know who you are.

Genie: Right.

Interviewer: That is when you become a transcendent popular culture figure. What was that like?

Genie: Well, fortunately for me – or unfortunately – I was too young to realize what was happening when it was happening. I look back at it now and I’m thrilled with what I accomplished back then. But at the time it was another photo session, another day of work. I didn’t read Newsweek when I was 17 and 18. [She laughs.] I was really so young that it all just sailed right over my head.

Interviewer: Right. Jonathan, what is it like for you, that transition from job to something other than? And when do you become aware of the fact? You’re signing on to Star Trek; you know immediately that you’re part of some kind of phenomena.

Jonathan: Well, actually, when we signed on to The Next Generation, the audience – and I’m sure a lot of people here felt that way, as well – the audience was very skeptical about a new Star Trek because they took the original show very seriously and didn’t want a new captain and they didn’t really want a new ship. And gradually, it became acceptable to be a part of The Next Generation. [He smiles.] Thankfully. But it has been, like I said, of all the shows that I could have been on – and I’ve done a lot of bad television –

[The audience laughs.]

Interviewer: I hope you don’t put Barnaby Jones in that category.

[The audience laughs.]

Jonathan: No, I definitely never consider Barnaby Jones on that list.

Interviewer: Or Dukes of Hazzard.

Genie: [nodding, smiling] Dukes of Hazzard.

[Everybody laughs.]

Audience member: What about The Waltons?

Jonathan: Hey! That’s a good show. The Waltons was a good show. [Genie nods]

Interviewer: Notice I didn’t mention The Waltons.

Jonathan: Exactly! [He grins. The audience laughs.] … To be involved with something that you can really be proud of and now that my kids are getting older they’re starting to realize what the show is about even though they didn’t really get it when they were little. And they sort of hear about what dad did and they started to watch and it’s the kind of thing that you can be proud of, that’s what really has been... It’s a job of which I’m really proud of, to be associated with the whole franchise, what it represents. I mean, it’s corny to say, but it’s very true, it really is morally, ethically sound, the basis of all things Star Trek. The prime directive is something that we should all follow, the way that people treat each other on Star Trek is honorable, and frankly, what’s going on in the world right now is not as admirable as it might be.

Interviewer: Is that why when you become a director… see to me, when you begin directing – not The Next Generation, but the other shows – when you began directing the features, that’s when the sense of ownership, I assume, begins to really occur. Is that right?

Jonathan: I think there’s a sense of ownership in a sense of honoring what Gene’s vision was.

Interviewer: Right.

Jonathan: And Rick, to his credit, was, for the most part, very, very aware of that, as well. There’s a certain thing that Roddenberry set up, which is why we’re all gathered here today, anyway. It would be wrong to dishonor that. It worked. And it deserved… If it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it. But it also, it was part of what made Gene very, you know, made him a visionary.

Interviewer: And that’s also important to you because you were very close to Gene, I mean, he really lobbied for you to get the part.

Jonathan: [nodding, smiling] Gene was a very big advocate. Some weren’t, from what I gathered, but it was… I auditioned seven times over six weeks. [He looks at Genie.]

Genie: Mhmm.

Jonathan: She went through this with me. I wore the same shirt each time. [The audience laughs. Genie shakes her head, smiling.] But it was a nerve-wracking…

Genie: [nods] It really was. [Jonathan grins and kisses her neck. Genie reaches out and touches his face.] But you made it, you made it.

Jonathan: I made it.

[The audience awws and claps. Genie and Jonathan grin.]

[We realize Jonathan’s microphone has been off the whole time. He turns it on.]

Jonathan: [in deep voice] How’s that?

Audience: [clapping] Yeah!

Jonathan: [still in deep voice] …you are about to see is extremely graphic. Beyond belief: fact or fiction? [The audience laughs, claps, and laughs some more.] My name is Jonathan Frakes. Today with us, Genie Francis. You knew her best as Laura. Let’s talk to Genie now. Hi, Genie. [Genie laughs and slaps his arm. The audience laughs as she hides her face, still laughing.]

Interviewer: So Genie, this is you first convention, is it your last?

[Everybody laughs.]

Genie: [smiling] No, I wouldn’t say that. This is a lot of fun, I think.

Jonathan: [in normal voice] I like this format, by the way. You should come with us to all these conventions. You’re well informed, you’re intelligent, you’re articulate. Let’s hear it. Give it up!

[The audience claps. Jonathan’s microphone starts to screech. The audience groans. Genie covers her ears.]

Interviewer: Well, this is going well.

[The audience laughs. Genie moves her microphone closer to Jonathan.]

Jonathan: [in deep voice] And they wonder why they turned it off.

Interviewer: I could ask questions all day…

[Jonathan starts making clicking noises. The audience laughs.]

Jonathan: [still in deep voice] I’m 53 years old.

[Genie and the interviewer talk and laugh amongst themselves.]

Interviewer: I have a lot of questions. Unfortunately, they’re all about Quincy, so… [Everybody laughs.] I’ll take questions if you have them; I know there are people with questions. Feel free to raise your hand and ask them as we go along. Are there any questions?

Question: What is Genie Francis doing these days?

Jonathan: Yeah!

[The audience laughs and hoots.]

Genie: What am I doing these days? Mostly I’m raising my children. Jonathan went away to Africa for the whole summer and I… [she throws him a sideways glance, smiling] For eleven weeks. The day the kids got out of school, he leaves. [The audience laughs.] He comes back the day they go back. [The audience laughs.] So you know how I spent my summer. Very, very busy with that. And besides that, I’m actually looking into starting a new kind of a business. I’m very interested in setting up my own store and doing home furnishings and things for the house, which I’m also very passionate about.

Question: [for Jonathan] What was your favorite episode off of Star Trek?

Jonathan: My favorite episode? I think the Borg episodes, Best of Both Worlds, one and two are the best we ever made.

[The audience claps.]

Interviewer: They were on last night.

Jonathan: No way.

Interviewer: Yeah, I couldn’t sleep last night so I turn on the TV, they’re on from 12 to 2 in the morning last night. [The audience laughs.] They were. You know what? I have to say I thought those were, actually -- the show was wonderfully acted through its whole run -- but I think those two episodes really were, and I sort of wonder how that happened. I mean, what was it about those two shows?

Jonathan: I think it was the best cliffhanger we did. That idea that, is it possible that Old Baldy could actually be taken? [The audience laughs.] So it was well written. As is always the case, if it’s on the page, it helps out.

Interviewer: It was well written because it was actually, the writer who wrote it was in contract negotiations and didn’t know if he was coming back.

[The audience laughs.]

Jonathan: Also the Borg have been the greatest nemesis -- no pun intended. [The audience laughs.]

Interviewer: ‘Nemesis’ was the greatest nemesis?

Jonathan: ‘Nemesis’ was not the greatest nemesis, but....

[The audience laughs.]

Question: I’d like to ask where, how’d you guys meet? Obviously probably before Star Trek based on what you’re saying. And then I’d like to know, Jonathan, if you ever read the book Imzadi and what your wife thinks of that little love story in there?

Audience: Ohhh.

Genie: I haven’t read Imzadi, so…

Jonathan: Doesn’t hold a candle to Luke and Laura.

[The audience laughs and claps. Jonathan and Genie share a long look. The audience laughs again. Jonathan grins.]

Jonathan: We met on Bare Essence many, many years ago, with the lovely and talented Genie Francis starring. But she was much too young for me then.

Interviewer: Is that something possible?

Jonathan: Well, it seemed so at the time. Then we fell in love on North and South.

[The audience awws and claps. Genie claps, too.]

Interviewer: You know, you’re the only actor to have played in all of the Start Trek series, is that correct?

Jonathan: [smiling] I would think maybe Armin Shimmerman has done it as well.

Interviewer: You’re the only one who’s acted with or appeared on all of the Star Trek…

Jonathan: Is that true?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Jonathan: I would take great pride if that were true. I was thrilled to do Enterprise because it was the one show that I hadn’t been involved with. I thought others had… Didn’t Levar direct all of them?

Interviewer: No, but you had actually interaction with the original cast at various times. And then having appeared on or directed the other shows. You’re the only one to have done that.

Jonathan: Let’s spread the rumor that I am. [He grins.] Let’s go with that for today.

[Everybody laughs.]

Interviewer: … your sense of proprietorship.

Jonathan: [nods, smiling] I think it’s part of the proprietorship. How do you really feel about the franchise?

Interviewer: How do you feel about the franchise?

[The audience laughs.]

Jonathan: To what do you attribute the enduring power of Star Trek?

Interviewer: No, no, I meant the opposite. [Jonathan and the audience laugh.] You were actually not a huge fan of Enterprise and yet you were on the last episode simply to have been on it? Is that right?

Jonathan: Simply because Rick called and said, “Do you want to do it?” [The audience laughs.] Rick’s wife is our son’s godmother. So if Rick calls and says, “Do you want to do the show?,” we generally say, “Yeah.” [He laughs.]

Interviewer: But how did you feel about doing it, simply for the fact that, I mean, I think some people felt that, well, this is their goodbye.

Jonathan: That’s how I felt, frankly. I went to Scott Bakula, who I think is not only a wonderful actor but a great guy, and I said to him, “You don’t have to say anything, but I know that if it were my show and somebody else came in from another show to shut my show down, my feelings would be hurt.”

Interviewer: Yeah.

Jonathan: And he said, “I didn’t say that.” I said, “I know you didn’t say that, but I would.” And I felt it. And he was really a gentleman about it, he was really a gentleman and very honorable. And the show, the idea of the show, was this idea that he, as Captain Archer, was put in the same arena with Kirk and Picard… and all of it, I mean, it all made sense. But at the same time, the idea that people from another show came in to bring that show to a close I think was painful for some. It certainly would have been for me.

Interviewer: Because I assume you didn’t want to repeat the experience of Generations, I mean, being part of the film that kills Captain Kirk. I mean, it’s sort of this…

Jonathan: No, you don’t want to do that. [He smiles.] I was glad ‘cause it was Marina and me and I always enjoy working with Mina. That part I had to really look forward to. But there was a certain sadness because a lot of -- not only the people on camera were being cut short of their seven-year journey, but the crew was filled with people that I had worked with from the first day that I walked onto the ship. And they were, God, they were now old enough to retire. I mean, Westmore, the king of make up, the prop guys, the visual effects guys, the special effects guys that put me in the black slime many, many years ago. [The audience murmurs.] The prop guys that used to hand me my phaser were now moving on to other shows or they were retiring. It was a very bittersweet place to be for that week.

Interviewer: I bet. [to an audience member] Yes, in the pink.

Question: Do either of you have cast members from your respective shows that you’re still in touch with or still close to or, if not, who were you close to on the shows?

Genie: Well, I keep in touch with Tony. And I keep in touch with Kin. And Jackie, who plays Bobbie. And the lady who played my mom all those years ago, Denise Alexander. She’s very much a part of my life. And the guy who originally played my dad, he emails me constantly, I’m always in touch with him.

Jonathan: I don’t speak to anyone from that show. [Everybody laughs.] I don’t really like them and I never really did. [More laughter] They were talentless fools. [More laughter] Thanks for asking though. [More laughter. He looks at an audience member, nodding and grinning] That’s what Marina says, that’s right. We see Marina a couple of times a year. [He looks at Genie.]

Genie: [nods] Yeah.

Jonathan: Brent and I talk on the phone every week. Patrick and I email every week. Levar’s always checking in. We have a very tight-knit family. What’s fun is to go to dinner with Marina and Genie and seeing all the heads turn.

[The audience laughs.]

Interviewer: Was there ever discussion of doing another play? You guys have obviously done the Tom Stoppard play together. A friend of mine had seen it and said he found himself surrounded by Trekkies who had never seen Tom Stoppard; they just came to see you guys. I was very curious about that experience.

Jonathan: We did a play called Every Good Boy Deserves a Favor which took place in the character that Brent’s playing, in his mind, in a prison. The prison cells were set inside of a symphony orchestra. So we needed a symphony orchestra to perform the play and Brent and I were in -- I was in the viola section, Brent was in the violin section and Patrick played the professor who was up in the -- It was a very, very bizarre piece that only could have been done because of the Star Trek connection because, obviously, we had to hire a symphony orchestra . It was wonderful. Patrick directed it. Gates was in it. Colm was in it. And it was… we did it with the Chicago symphony, the Atlanta symphony. It was really a great -- what’s the word I’m looking for? -- it was great in how different it was from Star Trek. And I think we’ve always talked about doing another show, but since everybody’s schedules are just… Patrick’s back at the RSC, by the way.

Interviewer: Oh, that’s right.

Jonathan: Yeah, Patrick’s reupped with the Royal Shakespeare Company from which he came.

Interviewer: Because it’s always struck me as a very good idea, an interesting idea, because you have the chemistry as a group and you can apply it to a different forum, to a different medium. It struck me as something that’s really a wise decision because that doesn’t happen often that you get to work with the same group of people

Jonathan: It’s like a rep company.

Interviewer: Exactly.

Jonathan: That was Patrick’s idea. I really -- We enjoyed it, yeah.

Question: How do so many Star Trek actors end up on Gargoyles?

Jonathan: That’s a good question, how do so many Star Trek actors end up on Gargoyles? [The audience laughs.] It was the voices? No. It was the… casting director liked Star Trek, maybe? [The audience laughs.] It got a little silly, though. I have no idea if it was coincidence or if it was because they got some sort of bang out of that, but that was, that was a great job. I wish that was still on the air.

[The audience claps.]

Question: That kind of segues into my question. How do you like doing the voice acting versus the on-screen acting because I don’t think that there’s any member of The Next Generation that hasn’t done voice acting.

Interviewer: And will you be doing a silent film?

[Everybody laughs.]

Jonathan: Voice acting is good because you can just go to work looking the way you feel like, looking like this. [The audience laughs.] And you don’t have to memorize any lines, which Genie was always much better at it than I was, anyway. [He looks at her.] You were a voice actress, as well, weren’t you? Didn’t you have a brief stint on…?

Genie: Yep, I was The Incredible Hulk’s girlfriend for a little while.

[Everybody laughs.]

Interviewer: Betsy Ross.

Genie: Yes! Betsy, yes.

Jonathan: It’s a great job, voice acting. Almost as good as hosting, where you get to where a black suit and read a teleprompter.

[The audience laughs.]

[The interviewer tells an audience member he’ll get back to her. He thinks there’s a question in the back, but no one raises their hand. He goes back to the lady up front. Jonathan teases her about being second choice. The audience laughs.]

Question: …in Hollywood, being married that many years is just phenomenal, so what’s the secret?

[Everybody laughs.]

Jonathan: Okay, you tell them, honey.

Genie: We’ve been married 17, 18 years. [She looks at Jonathan. He nods, mouths ‘Eighteen’.] Is it 18 or 17?

Jonathan: Eighteen in May.

Genie: Eighteen in May.

[The audience claps. Jonathan and Genie talk.]

Genie: [nodding] Twenty-one together in May, yeah.

Jonathan: Plus your birthday. Many, many years ago.

Genie: Yes, the grilled cheese sandwich in--

Jonathan: New Orleans.

Genie: --in New Orleans, which unfortunately is gone now. The secret? I don’t know what the secret is. I think that we both really wanted it, we wanted to stay together.

Interviewer: And it’s working. You’ve worked together. You’ve directed her…

Jonathan: It’s a blast working together. That part was fun.

Interviewer: What was that experience like?

Jonathan: On Thunderbirds?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Jonathan: I felt somewhat guilty, because -- I don’t know if you’ve seen Thunderbirds, but Genie plays a part in which we have two wind machines, rain machines and she’s being blown across the stage, soaking wet [Genie nods, smiling] and screaming into the mike. [Genie shakes her head, still smiling. He looks at her.] It was well worth it, though, wasn’t it? [The audience laughs.] Glamorous.

Genie: [smiling] Yes, very, very glamorous. Oh.

Jonathan: We did other shows. We did, um… uh… [to Genie] What was the Superman show called?

Genie: Oh, I forget the name of--

Interviewer: Lois & Clark.

Genie and Jonathan: Lois & Clark.

Genie: That was I think the best time we ever had doing a show together was Lois & Clark.

Jonathan: [in deep voice] I loved doing Lois & Clark with you, Genie. I thought you were wonderful in the show. [Everybody laughs.] Loved you on Lois & Clark. What about Cybill? [in normal voice] Weren’t you on Cybill, as well?

Genie: [nods] Yeah.

Jonathan: Yes. And you were wonderful in Roswell. As the mother… [The audience claps. Genie smiles.] How did you enjoy the Roseanne experience? [She looks at him. To the interviewer, he says] Oh, this is your job. [Everybody laughs.] We did another show together! What about the other show?

Genie: What show?

Jonathan: The show with Jessica Walter.

Genie: Oh… Oh, Baby. Right. Oh, Baby.

Jonathan. Yeah. Well-viewed. Well-viewed show. [sings] Oh, baby, oh, baby, oh, baby, oh, baby, oh, baby, oh, baby… [fades out] But didn’t we do another show besides that?

Genie: Um…

Interviewer: Barnaby Jones?

[The audience laughs.]

Interviewer: …being on TV during that particular time. Because I had friends who wrote for shows then, were directing shows then and I’m always sort of amazed by… amused by…

Jonathan: [laughs] You’re being so diplomatic.

Interviewer. I mean, how do you go in there to those shows… usually as the…?

Jonathan: You’re the guest meat of the week. Yeah.

Interviewer: Yeah. What is that like? How do you…?

Jonathan: I was, you know, I’d just come from New York and I was thrilled to be called.

Interviewer: You go from Eugene O’Neill to Barnaby Jones.

Jonathan: [nodding] And you’re glad of it. [He laughs.]

Interviewer: And ??, basically.

Jonathan: Ooh. [to audience] Ooh. He knows everything. [The audience laughs.] I want to be on your TV show now.

Interviewer: I’d love for you to be on my TV show. But how do you make that transition? What’s your mind set?

Jonathan: You just pretend that Barnaby Jones is Eugene O’Neill. [The audience laughs.] And make the best of it. [He shrugs.] Don’t you make the best of it? I mean, isn’t that how you do these episodics?

Interviewer: I’m not disparaging the episodics at all. I think they’re obviously, they’re beloved by the people who beloved them. I’m going to get off Barnaby Jones. [The audience laughs.] Does somebody have a question, ‘cause they’re going to get back to their table very shortly because I know they have long lines.

Question: Do you think there’s any chance there will be another Star Trek movie?

Jonathan: I think there’s a very good chance there’ll be another Star Trek movie. [Genie claps. The audience claps and cheers.] That’s the rumor we’re starting today. [The audience laughs.] Feel free to spread it to your friends.

Interviewer: Will you be in it?

Jonathan: I’ll be in it if I’m asked. [The audience laughs.] And if they have enough dye to turn my beard black again.

[Everybody laughs.]

Question: And will you bring Marina and Genie with you?

Jonathan: Yes. I think that the franchise will be reborn after they realize the folly of their ways.

Interviewer: It’s probably just as well that there is no new Star Trek show on the air.

Jonathan: [nods] I think you’re probably right.

Interviewer: It could use a couple of seasons off.

Jonathan: Yes. So more people will ask, “What happened to Star Trek? Let’s get a new Star Trek movie.”

Interviewer: We miss it dearly. There was a question here. We’re going to take a couple more then we’re going to go. So if you’re going to ask them, ask them now. Yes, sir.

Question: Well, in the event you get asked to do another Star Trek, can you see if you can kind of direct them away from the darker side and more to the light and fun-hearted side?

Jonathan: I’ll do my best.

Question: I think some of those were the best episodes you guys did where they were more on the fun, time travel, whatever. When it was fun, they were light, they were great.

Interviewer: Will you guys do a musical Star Trek?

[The audience laughs.]

Jonathan: [nodding] We would like to do a musical Star Trek, yes.

Interviewer: Star Trek On Ice?

[Everybody laughs.]

Jonathan: Don’t think that hasn’t been talked about. [Everybody laughs.] What about the opera? Have you heard about Star Trek: The Opera?

Interviewer: No.

Jonathan: [nods] Seriously.

Interviewer: What is that?

Jonathan: I don’t know, but the rumors of that exist, as well. Seriously, a real, proper opera with Kirk and Spock as the lead characters. [in operatic voice] He’s a dead man, Jim.

[Everybody laughs.]

Interviewer: Do you consider yourself a director or actor these days? Do you switch back and forth? Or do you really get a kick and charge and the most reward from directing these days?

Jonathan: I’ve been getting more work as a director. [He laughs.] So I’m happy to be a director these days.

Interviewer: Obviously, I assume that you get offers, there are things you might want to do or get asked to do…

Jonathan: Do you assume that? [The audience laughs.] No, I’m sort of happy to do one job a year and spend some time before these kids get too big. Our lives are quite wonderful at the moment. We live in Maine and we don’t live in L.A. anymore and that’s been great.

[The audience claps. Genie claps and nods.]

Jonathan: Yeah, isn’t that funny? People appreciate that. So there’s… I mean, in spite of the fact that I left Genie with the kids all summer. [The audience laughs.] But one a year is perfect, so that’s… that’s the plan now.

Question: I was wondering, how old are your children?

Jonathan: Eight and eleven.

Genie: [nodding] Eight and eleven.

Jonathan: I miss the kids. You miss the kids?

Genie: Oh, we do. We miss them a lot.

Jonathan: Tell them what happened this morning.

Genie: Oh, about what they did or…? [Jonathan nods.] Wait, no, what part are you talking about? [She smiles.]

[The audience laughs.]

Jonathan: No, about the kids. About the kids.

Genie: You mean about them getting their show, is that what you mean?

Jonathan: [nods] The beginning of the end.

Genie: Yes. Both our kids auditioned for a part -- it’s a local show -- today in Maine, and they both got the leads.

Jonathan: [inaudible] Oh, boy.

[The audience claps and cheers.]

Jonathan: The first step on the road to full degradation.

[The audience laughs.]

Interviewer: Who gets the most fan mail?

Jonathan: I think our son.

[Everybody laughs.]

Jonathan: Laura.

Genie: No…

Jonathan: They like Laura better than Riker. They ask for Laura’s autograph and get Riker free. [Everybody laughs.] Oh, God. They’re so disappointed when they see her and they say, “You’re not Luke! Where’s Luke? You don’t even look like Luke! He’s cute! Where’s your curly hair?”

[Everybody laughs and laughs and laughs.]

Jonathan: I love the life I lead, I lead the life I love.

Interviewer: Who gets the most fan mail?

Genie: [pointing to Jonathan] He does, definitely.
Jonathan: [at the same time] Laura.

[Genie slaps his arm, smiling. Everybody laughs.]

Interviewer: Guys, please give them a big round of applause.

[The audience stands and claps and cheers. Genie and Jonathan wave. They stand up. Jonathan pulls Genie to him and kisses the top of her head. They wave again, then leave. :tear:]