Some Time With... Molly Morgan! (Part 1)

Hey there, Fana Ritos, and welcome back to how Rude Tana Ritos. Today's guest is a jack of all trades. She's appeared on shows like Full House, Days of Our Lives, The Big Bang, Theory, Two and a Half, Men, and the list just goes on and on. But not only is she an actress, she is also a performer in her family's third generation circus act.

The Flying Morgan's.

You know her as Mickey Steph's cigarette smoking friend from season seven, It's Molly Morgan.

Aw shots.

Hello, gorgeous just like your profile picture.

Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, how are you Welcome to the show.

Molly, We're here, I'm here.

This is a trip like this, a trip like you see. We haven't seen you in decades.

We're all grown up and we look the same you.

I mean we do. Actually it's weird.

The Full House magic is something about something in the water at Crafty right, I mean, do you do?

Do people ever recognize you as Nicky?

No? No? I think you know.

Within like a year or two of of doing the show, I died my hair black and uh and then all of a sudden I was playing like really really goffy punk rolls you know, like like Mickey was like like comparatively a very innocent role for me. Oh yeah, so so you know, not as not as much, but you know once at some point somebody would see, you know, and and see the show or something.

Oh my god.

Yeah, oh yeah, that Mickey was your gateway to all of your darker roles to come.

Right.

Yeah, started you off and just let you go.

Yeah, I mean of all the shows right right.

Well, we are known for really uh killing careers. Actually, strangely enough, we are known for we have done a lot of things where we've said a guest star's name and looked at IMDb and we are the last thing they ever did. I don't know why, but but I'm glad it didn't happen to you.

That's all I'm saying. Yeah, it's congratu.

My husband and I watched the episodes this morning. I hadn't. I mean, it had been so many years since I've seen it.

We haven't gotten to him yet. So you're ahead of us because I haven't watched it yet.

Oh my god.

Well he was like, he said, you know, oh my gosh, this is like the sweetest little wholesome show.

Watching it.

Yes, cigarettes were the worst thing, you know, right, So Molly, you I mean, let's we're going to start at the very beginning. You were born into a family of circus performers that we kind of that. Your family is an amazing performance family, the Flying Morgan's.

It is the third generation. It's so cool. It's just such.

An interesting family. But that wasn't all like was that ever? Like you definitely didn't want to do that, and you were like, I want to perform, but definitely not with you guys, you know what I mean.

Like I mean, like here is my like crazy circus family, and I was a thespian, I like right right here, you know what I mean, Like I was not hanging out with my family. You know, they like stunt people and they get hurt and you know, no thank you, right, you know. And and then there was like you know, there's there there continues to be like a big waka walka factor father and sister. That's true, really like magical.

My stick I was, you know, like it, you know, very gothic.

I yeah, yeah, you were like, I don't want I'm not here for the fun circus performance.

Give me yeah, give me the dark. Yeah yeah, I get that.

I mean even I was watching watching the show, and I was like, oh my gosh, I wore so many colors on that show. I don't even know where they came from in my wardrobe at that age, you know what I.

Mean, it was probably our wardrobe was like you, yeah, here's we have to give you some color.

Yeah right right.

I have the same problem, like give me all black, just right.

So, so yeah, it was I think I was about I think it was after I was married, So I was in my late twenties and and I had like explored a lot of stuff. I mean, my husband and I like continue to exercise for fun. So I was definitely like a physical person. I danced, I liked to

Right, you know.

So also I feel like just having someone trustworthy when you're doing a trapeze is usually a good idea. Someone that you trust when you're flying and flinging yourself for you.

But you're not gonna like, ye yeah, you don't.

Want some Joe Shmo off the street. You want someone that's probably done it before.

Right.

So so I had I had done tissue and I was like, no, I'm not really interested. You know, trappeez is not my thing. And she was like, it pays five hundred dollars, and I was like, I'll do it.

Five hundred dollars is my thing. Right at the.

Time, I was working as a as a server, and so you know, it was meaningful.

I was, wait, five hundred dollars is right? I still get excited.

Yeas a lot of money. We a lot with dollars me not so much now.

You can basically get like two loaves of bread, but you.

Know, at the grocery store, not so much.

Right. So I did it, and it was it was super fun and uh, you know, my dad was my handler for it, and and it was just sort of like the beginning of a whole lot of fun circus stuff.

That I'd always had in my.

Back pocket and never really recognized it. You know, my sister was much more game than I was to like go and run about and.

Do the things.

But all of a sudden, I mean, I guess like I had sort of sloughed off the coolness of teenagehood, right.

Yeah, the weight, the weight of being cool, too cool for everything. And of course the one thing that most of us are doing is just trying to be anything opposite of our parents, you know, so right, yeah, they were like quirky fun We're flying around. You were like, I am I am alone, I am ugly alone.

Yeah, you're the lydiadids it.

You know, they were they were lucky that I wasn't an accountant, right right, yeah, exactly.

They're like, luckily I sucked at math because.

You know, I went to I went to fashion design school in my twenties. And when I decided to do that, my father was like, Wally, fashion design school, Are you sure you want to go into something so cerebral?

Wow?

So it was, you know, it was it was easy to be an artist in my family. And then and they were having so much fun. It was contagious eventually.

Right, It's right after it's died, after after it quit being lame.

Then you're like, Okay, I guess you're kind of fun. Okay, man, I like you actually, so.

What is there tell me about the act that they they did and eventually was it always trappees or did they all sorts of different things?

So I mean, like we call ourselves the flying Morgans, but we don't flying trappies. Artists do a lot of like acrobatics and adagio that's you know where you know, you hould each other up and you know, around foot to hands et cetera, and uh and a little bit of teeterboard where you do fly, you know, so somebody's standing on like as you saw and drunk, the other person goes flying. So they did a lot of that. But my father was in vaudeville with his parents, and like.

Matt, absolutely, I've met your dad, and I think, yeah, one of my friends in middle school had a dad who was a stuntman and was also friends with your dad too, Okay, and.

Yeah, I remember like meeting your dad and hearing stories.

About your dad and that he comes from vaudeville makes one.

Yeah, and you know, my my grandma opened for Frank Sinatra in nineteen forty two, and so so they had that act. And then my dad is a stunt man. My sister is a contortionist, and she's a pretty famous contortionist. She works a lot of movies and television, and then she does a lot of amazing traveling stuff.

She opened for Paul McCartney, uh, and did some.

Just incredible you know, like like performance life stuff. And so so we do we do an act together.

Uh. That's a dull act.

It's a very classic also Vaudevillian inspired act where we have a porcelain doll and my father and I you know, do a little dance and we wrapped the doll all around until the end when you're convinced it can't be anything other than a doll.

And she pops off for her and of course it's Bond Morgan.

Oh cool, yeah, amazing.

And then we have a sister act that we do that was given to us by Honey and Vermilion, who are our fairy god monitors. And so the two of us we've actually we just performed in Venice for Carnivale. Oh cool, wow, both of those acts. And then I have a couple of dance Partners, Billy Dance Partners and one of them, and I did a dance for that as well.

So fascinating, amazing, Yeah, amazing. It sounds like three generations of people who have really enjoyed entertaining in one way or another.

And traveled well traveled. Yep, that's amazing.

You know.

Speaking of your sister, I remember when Bonnie came to UH and we were in your dressing room and she fit herself into a small cabinet under the TV.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

You were like, no, my sister's are contortionist. And we were like okay, and she was like.

No, watch this and just like like transformed herself and was in this little like cube.

And I was like, damn, yes, I didn't learn that.

Like who teaches that? Is there a class? Is there a college course like her dad?

I mean, it probably is a college course now, But you know, at the time she had she had a couple of like really good private stretchers. I mean, you know, now there's like circh School and all sorts of like you can take a class in any kind of circus arts you know, in most towns USA. But at the time there was a woman named April.

I'm not gonna her name was April April.

Oh yeah, April April.

She and she she, I mean she must have been.

Like, like I don't know, thirty or forty when she started training my sister. But but Bonnie, like we had a friend who could put her arms over her head, you know, without letting go of her hands and right.

Lifts them over.

And Bonnie was just like, huh, I wonder if I could do that, and she could, right, And then you know, wondered if she could put her legs over her head, and she could. And now I have to say, like it runs in the family. A ten year old son and uh, and there's one of my cats and and he can't like touch his you know, his head to his feet from behind like he can also you know, pull his arms over her shoulders like yeah, wow.

Hop my shoulder joint out right. Yeah.

And so there's like pictures of my grandmother where she's also got you know, one foot on her head and she's stretched up and a split and so so we're very flexy to begin with.

Yeah, that is kind of you kind of are you aren't you know?

And like you said, it's genetics.

So it's uh yeah and read to bend that way or you bring or yeah, so where you don't or you.

Find out very quickly that you are not one.

Of those people have very expensive medical bills.

Yes, and fortunately, you know, she she just she kept working on it, and she like continues to work hard, you know, for it. And you know, then like performing on stage, like that's its own whole deal.

Right, you know what's that?

Like? I mean it's I mean, you know, I mean, shoot, like there is you know, sitcom.

Is is the truth of the industry.

Yeah, No, for sure, like that like experience that you have hitting the stage and then having you know, your audience and feeding on the energy and like nobody does it. Like my sister like and like what are you gonna do? You have like five more minutes than you're supposed to have. She's like, I'm going to go on stage and I'm going to milk it. Okay, okay, And then she does and she's know, she's phenomenal, amazing, And I'm always looking up to my little sister.

Oh does your son have aspirations to do?

You said he could put his legs over his head.

Does he have aspirations to be to be fourth Janatic or fourth jen he does and he doesn't.

I mean there was like, you know, this element for me as a young girl where there was like a lot of like dance monkey, and there was an expectation that like then we would dance and we did and like it was. It was great and I'm very happy about my life experience. But I don't have that same kind of philosophy.

With my kid.

Yeah. Yeah, same here.

Ye, much to the chagrin of my father, he will, you know, like, hey, Teddy came here and do this thing, and Teddy's like now, and nobody shuts down somebody with their no, like my kid.

I mean that's the thing like we you know, it was no, I don't want to.

Yeah.

We were typically kids that were like okay, sure, yeah, I guess and what else do you want? Yeah, right, right right.

We were people pleasers and today's kids are They've got opinions of their own.

Yeah, I'm not afraid to share them.

And you know, I don't know if there was like a breaking experience, like I don't remember it as a kid, you know.

I like I definitely remember being you know, happy to do what I was doing. Yeah, but like There was definitely not.

A breaking experience with my kid, you know where I'm just like please, I beg you do that, like we have to cross.

The street, right, please please?

So he uh.

One of the things I torture him with, because you know, I have to have a little torture is the violin. So I'm playing since he was six, and he plays very well.

He takes with a couple of different incredible teachers who.

Do like roma vio right right, well, it's like classical violin, and he loves we We have a boothstets Renaissance Fair and right, and then we do stage shows out there and Teddy loves to you know, like you guys are taking too long backstage.

I'm going to go entertain the audience with my violin. And he'll just like like hop up.

You know, as long as nobody's demanding, he doesn't.

Right right, It's going to be his decision. Like you know what this place could use right now?

A little violin? Yeah, yeah, I love that. You guys are very big into the Renaissance Fair too. Now am I wrong?

Or is it Bonnie up on the billboards?

Yes?

Okay, yeah across im like I've seen it and I'm like, that's Bonnie, Like I just know the face and you know, I mean I've seen her in years, but I like that's it.

And so yeah, yeah, that's her.

And she every year like she she's like like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. I'm like really.

And then and then she takes some like you know Instagram like before they tear it down where she like illegally climbs up the billboard and right, you know, does a jazz like across the you know, scaffolding and comes down.

She hasn't been arrested yet, so that's good.

That's a plus.

That's a plus.

Yeah, it makes for really interesting. And also if she were to fall, she could probably like grab you know what I mean, like she did.

Yeah, well you're just like tucking sort of out of it, you know, up.

There there's a couple of feet She's fine.

Oh no, yeah, Now billboards are there.

I mean I've never been on one ever. I wouldn't well would why would I do that?

Uh? So anyway, there could be a billboard in your future.

And that's true, right, and then uh you're even your house though, was like a very interesting.

Location. Shall we say?

Yes?

So my dad is a house in Laurel Canyon and it's at the top of the hill and he kept it.

And I mean, I always say that we were.

Really lucky that my dad was interested in real estate and not cars.

Right, something that's actually worth some money. And sometimes like it could have.

Been a driveway full of like you know, various automobiles and disrepair, but instead he would buy these like weird like properties that like you know, just were just people would walk away from these things and my dad would be like, that's the one for me. Well, this was the one for my dad, you know. It was there was no drywall on it. It was like in the middle of a renovation. And they got it for a song. And then in the ninety four earthquake they turned it

Oh I mean yeah, yeah, well it sounds like a very uh Laurel Canyon experience, Like a very Laurel Canyon.

Yeah.

What would your friends say when your friends would come over for you know, after school snacker like.

Hurts our friends, Like we injured so many of our friends because you know, Bonnie and I, you know, we're like Dad. Dad would like tie ropes to you know, spots and like put up a platform and there'd be like some net where you could like kreem from this rope into the net and let go. And like we would have friends over and they would be like, oh my gosh, it's wonderland. And then we would you know, send them home like crying.

Right.

No one was allowed to come to the Morgan's house more than once or twice.

Yeah, climb to the top of the expensive hoop and like, you know, we've just you know, like who says like don't step on the plastic corrugated roof and so they you know poor, like you know, like Jim Jean Lee like went home having like been covered in chicken poop from when she fell off the roof.

Oh yeah, that's not fun. It's not fun.

Oh no.

So we had you know, some hearty few friends that would return.

Really, it's it separated the uh, the the men from the boys, so to speak, the whek from the chaff whatever.

Yeah, if you can survive at your house, yeah, those are the true friends.

Yeah, you're tough, amazing.

So what was I mean, there was that whole growing up thing, but then you, as you said, you became a thespian.

We grew up in the industry too.

Yeah, like like my I think I did my first commercial when I was like a babe in arms with my mom.

She was an actor and my dad was an actor, and.

Like there's I think I was around five or six when I remember the first time being on a set.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

I was like, I know, you've been in this pretty much like almost as long as we have basically four or five years old, little like just yeah.

Yeah, and uh, and so you know, I mean even when I worked on your show, I don't know how much I got it, Like I had just started to go like, oh, there's this acting thing, and you know, like I had like finally gone to an acting class. But we were just like, you know, my parents were hippies and they were all over the place.

We were never prepared, you know, We're just like you know, like, oh, you you could show up early and get sides. It was like please, like we're going to show up.

On time and like well yeah, right, or or five minutes like this.

Just right exactly.

I get it.

So so I feel like, you know, maybe like a year or two.

After sort of like waking up into this experience, like right after we shot, I went to Laxa, so right, yeah, and uh and that was like it was a theater program, you know, and uh, you know we did like voice and speech and like hmm developments and you know Shakespeare.

And I did Osha the Orange County version.

I was the southern counterpart.

Yeah right right, And and that was it was very cool. Prior to that, i'd been homeschooled. After that, I was homeschooled, you know, and it was sort of like, you know, right around right around then, my sister and I started working with a like a comedic Shakespeare troupe at the fair and started traveling with them, and and that.

Was it was neat. You know.

It was the first time that that I didn't have to be the tough, pierced girl, right, it didn't matter, you know, I was like, you know, Ophelia, like an incredibly dumb hermia or whatever.

It was. Right.

So it was right around in that time, like sixteen seventeen, that that I started, you know, really like digging into that. But it was also like it was a you know, a side thing because like the industry, it decides who you are, right, and I let it for sure.

I mean, well, I.

Think it's pretty easy as a teenager and young adult to let anyone tell you who.

You are and what you're Like. Sure, I'll try that. I don't know.

Yeah, right, I'll learn a chicken if it gets me my right, I'll do.

Right, I'll do whatever.

Right now. How old were you when you did Full House?

I was fifteen fifteen?

Okay, yeah, because I remember you were a lot you not a lot, but like in terms of right, god, yeah, no, I was.

I was little and you were you were like basically the adult. So yeah, oh my gosh.

Ye, but yeah, no, I remember, like, yeah, you a little older and I so I've thought you were so cool.

Oh my god. I thought you were so cute and so so cool for your age, like you were like on your own.

You were like totally cool.

You're like mom and having lunch with everybody and like you were off and I thought you had like such agency.

I was like, okay, cool, you know you were.

My body has always had agency five years old.

Ye great, yeah, yeah I kind of have.

And that wraps up Part one of our interview with Molly Morgan. Now we have only touched the tip of the iceberg with Molly, and we can't wait to dive into more of her life, her career, and all of the fun and everything in between in Part two of her interview, airing this Friday, So make sure you.

Stay tuned in the meantime.

If you want to find us on Instagram, you can find us at how Rude Podcast, or you can send us an email at how Rude tanneritos at gmail dot com. Also visitor merch store Howard Meerch dot com. Don't forget that and uh and we will see you next time. So remember everybody the world is small.

The house is full of marshmallow cigarettes, just full.

Yeah, they're everywhere, They're they're there. It's just little which.

Yeah, it smells like uh s'mares, basically vicious. Now I feel like smars. Bye by