Pamela Adlon

While making Better Things, I went back to the bones of my life. I wanted to talk about women who are aging and aging parents. I wanted to talk about girls growing up. I wanted to show these stages developmentally. That’s very interesting to me. I have a million stories to tell there.”

-Pamela Adlon, episode 369 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

This Mother’s Day, our very special episode with actor, writer, and director Pamela Adlon!

We discuss her new movie Babes (7:27), directing a comedy about reproductive rights in 2024 (12:38), and her creative upbringing between New York City and Los Angeles (17:55). Then, we dive into her early roles as a child actor, including appearances on The Facts of Life and The Redd Foxx Show (19:06), her foray into voice acting (23:15), and the MTV Madonna music video contest that made her want to become a filmmaker (34:16).

On the back-half, Pamela describes how motherhood shaped her career (41:50), including her semi-autobiographical show Better Things (44:30) and her newfound mission to mentor women in the industry through her production company, Slam Book Inc. (1:00:40). To close, a tribute to Pamela’s mother (1:04:30).

For questions, comments, or to join our mailing list, reach me at sf@talkeasypod.com. This conversation was recorded at Spotify Studios.