Name: Phoebe Cates Loved Everything About "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-05-25T22:08:12.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Phoebe Cates Loved Everything About "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-05-25. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Phoebe Cates Loved Everything About "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-05-25. Transcript available.

In the upcoming issue of Harper's Bazaar Magazine, right here, my next guest is
called
one of the ten most beautiful women in America, and she has starred in such
films as Paradise,
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the TV movie Lace, and most recently Gremlins.
It's a pleasure to welcome Phoebe Cates.
Hi, Phoebe. How are you? Nice to see you.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here. It's quite an honor, I
guess, huh?
Yeah, it's a real honor.
Yeah. You look very young in person.
Yeah, everybody says that.
Yeah, you look like, I don't know, 15, 16, maybe?
Well, yeah, maybe.
Yeah, and can we tell folks how old you actually are?
Yeah, I'm 21.
21 years old.
You know, I thought the Fast Times at Ridgemont High was really a fine film.
Thank you.
Did you like the way it turned out?
I loved the way it turned out, yeah.
Yeah, I thought it was nice, very entertaining, and it had some really nice
parts to it,
and I thought you were very good in it.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, tell me about Paradise.
This is a movie, I saw Lace, I saw Ridgemont High, and I saw Gremlins.
I have not seen Paradise.
Tell me about that movie.
Let's see, actually, it was the first movie that I made.
Yeah.
And I was 17 when I made it, and it was a love story that took place in the
desert.
Uh-huh.
Was this like the other one that they keep mentioning, the Paradise, and the
other one, the Blue Lagoon?
Mm-hmm.
But it was in a desert.
Right.
Yeah.
Were there other similarities?
Yeah.
And what were the other similarities?
Um, well, basically, it was a lot like the Blue Lagoon.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, now, did you like that film as well?
Um, well, actually, when I took it, it was my first, you know, it was my first
offer ever.
Yeah.
I was the lead in this, in this feature.
So, I was, it was fun to do.
Yeah.
You know, and, and I wasn't, um, hesitant about taking it.
Yeah.
Well, I'm sorry.
But now it's, you know, it's a little uncomfortable to look back.
Oh, really?
It is uncomfortable?
Yeah.
I didn't realize that.
Yeah.
But, but, but again, it was your first film.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and it, it did help me to get started.
Yeah.
Uh, now, in, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, there's a little bit of, uh, nudity
in it.
I mean, you're nude for a little bit in there, aren't you?
Yeah.
Topless.
Yeah.
Topless.
But, which is, it's a...
Thank you.
It's a terrific scene, by the way.
But it's, uh...
Uh...
Now, uh, for a, for a person so young, was that a difficult decision to make,
that you'd
say, okay, I'll, I'll do this now?
Nope.
Really?
It was fun.
Um, it was.
That, that scene actually was, was fun.
Paradise, there was a lot of scenes that, that were uncomfortable.
You, you were nude in that film also?
Yes.
Yeah.
Now, at 17, that seems like it would even be more of a difficult decision.
That was more difficult, but with Fast Times, it was justified, and, and it was
very in
character, and it was, it was fun.
I liked the scene.
In, in the, this movie you mentioned, it was a fantasy, right, that this guy
was having?
Right.
Now, now, what, uh, at 17, what do you tell your parents?
Well, they, they saw the movie.
No, I know, but, but, but, but ahead of time, do you, do you talk it over with
your mom
and your dad and say, look, uh, I'm gonna be undressed in this movie Paradise?
Well, actually, my, my father had read the script.
Yeah.
And, and, and he said, well, you know, if you want to do it, you can do it.
Yeah.
And that was it?
That was it.
No other problems?
No.
Okay.
Uh, now, Gremlins.
Now, I saw this movie, uh, a couple of months ago.
Yeah.
Now, this, this is a huge hit, isn't it?
Billions and billions of dollars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's doing very well.
Now, I gotta ask you two things about the movie that I thought were, uh,
interesting,
or I thought strange.
Not strange, but, you know, pick another word.
Um.
What, was the movie originally supposed to be out around Christmas time?
No, I think it was always gonna come out during the summer.
Oh, okay.
Now, and secondly, there's a part in there where, where you're, where you're
talking about your,
uh, father having died in the chimney of your house.
Right.
Now, is, is that, is that a joke?
Well, um, I must admit, the first time that I, that I read the script, and I
got to that
part, I said, no, this must be just, like, a little joke that they're playing
on me.
But, um, then, then I actually had to, to do it.
Yeah.
So, for, I, well, I guess everybody has seen the movie, but they, they, you're
very unhappy
at Christmas time, and then later it turns out in the movie that the reason you're
unhappy
is because, your father disappeared on Christmas Eve, right?
Yeah.
And then, like, two weeks later, you noticed this odd smell in the house.
Right.
And it turned out it was dad decomposing in the chimney.
In the chimney.
Yeah.
It's very sad.
It's, it's terribly sad, but I, I, when I, when I heard that, I, I started to
laugh.
I thought, oh, this is a joke.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
I mean, I, I pretty much had to, the, the way I played it was just a joke.
I didn't really believe that it happened.
Oh, yeah.
You were terribly upset about it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Uh, we gotta do a commercial.
We'll be back, uh, folks.
Phoebe Cates and I'll be, uh, right back.
Phoebe Cates is here.
This is some unbelievable company that you found yourself in on this, uh, list
of ten.
Let me go ahead and quickly name the, the rest of the folks.
Uh, Kate Capshaw.
Well, you mentioned her, right?
Mm-hmm.
I used to babysit for her daughter.
Yeah.
Kate Capshaw.
Jacqueline Bissett.
Mm-hmm.
Did you babysit for her?
No.
All right.
Linda Evans.
Ann-Margaret.
Yeah, I think the, Candace Bergen.
Very nice choices.
Mm-hmm.
Sigourney Weaver.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah.
Terrific.
Well, this is very nice for you.
Lee Remick.
Bernadette Peters.
Phoebe Cates.
The audience making up their own list.
Christy Brinkley.
Yeah.
Have I got them all?
Yeah.
That's it.
Well, again, congratulations.
You and I just talked during the commercial.
When I said Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a fine film, the audience started
to snicker.
And I said to you, why did they start to laugh when I said that?
And tell them what you said.
I said I think it was your choice of words, because you said it was a fine film.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're, you're...
Well, I meant it.
When I saw the film, I enjoyed it a great deal.
But you think it may not have been a fine film.
Yeah.
It's a really good film.
It's a, yeah, I think it's a, it's a really good entertaining.
Yeah.
Well, that's all, that's what I meant by it.
And I still think it was a fine film.
Anyway, now how did you like working with the puppets in, in Gremlins?
That was fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It got tedious sometimes because, you know, like in the bar scene.
Where you were tending bar and they were out of control?
Yeah.
And that took three days to shoot.
How many actual puppets were, were in there?
Well, um, they had several, they had about 30 different Gremlins.
Yeah.
But, uh, in that scene, I just worked with the ones at the bar.
So I guess there were about six or seven.
Yeah.
And then there were the, the hundred, um, crew members behind that were
throwing things.
Uh-huh.
That happens here on occasion.
Um, is that, is that for an actress, a really difficult to have to act when it's,
uh, puppets and stuff?
Well, that movie in particular was just, you know, I mean, I knew that that's,
that's what it was about.
And, and, um, not really.
It was, it was pretty easy.
Yeah.
When you, when you go out in public now, do people hound you and follow you and,
uh, come up to you on the streets and stuff?
Um, sometimes, yeah.
And do you like that?
So long as they don't touch me.
Well, see, I think that's a felony.
I think that, uh, you're probably right.
They shouldn't be touching you.
Uh, do you, does it happen a lot?
When people touch me?
No, no.
When people come up to you?
Oh, when people come up to me?
Yeah, pretty often.
Yeah.
And, and what do you say to them?
What do they say to you?
What do you say to them?
They just, they just ask me, you know, silly questions.
They ask for an autograph or something.
Yeah.
Do you, now, do you sign autographs?
Do you mind doing that?
Um, yeah, I sign them.
Yeah.
And, uh, it makes you feel good to know that folks like your work?
Yeah, it does.
That was a stupid question.
I could hear that.
As it was coming out of my head, I thought, this is really a stupid question.
And there was nothing I could do about it at that point.
It had already passed my, uh, passed my teeth.
Well, um, Phoebe, what do you got coming up?
Um, I don't know yet.
Yeah.
Uh, I, my play is, is, uh, they've asked us to go to Washington to play the
Kennedy Center.
Yeah.
What, what is the play?
It's the nest of the wood grouse.
I think, I think I did that in high school.
Uh, well, good luck with you in the nest of the wood grouse.
And, uh, and, uh, you got a, a wonderful long career ahead of you.
And thank you very much for being here.
Thank you.
Nice meeting you, Phoebe.
Nice meeting you, too.
Uh, we're gonna go away for, uh, spacing that out for you.
Thank you.