Famous father and daughter team up for new memoir

Talent runs in the family with our next two guests. Tony Shalhoub has had an amazing career starring in movies like Big Night and TV shows like Monk and The marvelous Mrs. Maisel, his daughter Josie is a writer, producer and founder of her own production company called House of Water. Now the two get together and give us the gift that keeps on giving. They've joined forces for a new memoir. We thought they'd never leave musings on food and family and they both are here. They joined me now. We've had a little vent session, which was nice. It was therapeutic. I feel better. I feel so much lighter. We're talking about dinner guests. I've asked for your next book before we even get to your first one Please be about etiquette when coming to someone's home for dinner or any event, right? But what can we expect from? We thought we'd never leave. I love that we're getting the ninth often children's perspective on this. There's a big reunion that you have every year, family reunion. What is that like? It's chaos. It's a lot of work. As Josie sort of frames it in the book, these yearly reunions should not be confused with a vacation, even though it's a week in the summer. It's effortful, but we always like to say that the fun outweighs the- It's the work. Thank you for saying that because anytime I go home to visit my family who lives out of state, people go enjoy your vacation. And I say with all due respect, visiting family is not vacation. It's work. It's work. Well, it's more important than vacation. I think. Yes. It's a little, it runs deeper than that. Yes. It's as restorative as vacation in a different way. In a different way. Feeds your soul in a lot of ways. Yes. It's therapeutic, cathartic, chaotic, all the things. Not without its drama, not without. So it's infused with fun and camaraderie and sometimes healing, I think. Yes, you're right. And lots of food. And food, most importantly, cuz that's really what this book is about. It's sort of my life and some of Josie's life. Told through the prism of food and food-related stories. Food should be a love language. You know, there's five love languages. Well, I think, yeah, yes, but I think that our reunion, I love that you brought this up because I've been nerding out about this. I think our reunion is acts of service. There you go. Because cooking for somebody is an act of service. It is. And that's one of the love languages, of course. It is. And that's what this whole reunion is about. It's showing up and doing things for other people. And in turn, they're doing something for you. I want to hear more about this famous cherry pie of yours. Well, that's something that Josie started making when she was 12 or 13. Yes, and it's an all Crisco crust. I know. Yeah, give me that comfort food. It's so flaky. This dough is so delicious. And you can use other fillings in it, but it's really good. The crust that makes it okay, I love this and what is your specialty like if you're coming to someone's house and they said it's a potluck bring what you're best at. What would you be bringing? Well, you know, I grew up in this Lebanese-American family, so usually it's kind of a Middle Eastern or Lebanese-American dish. Yeah. Rolled stuffed grape leaves, that's featured in this book. Not just a recipe. We have about 20 recipes in the back of the book. Not just the recipes, but stories surrounding the grape leaves and how they've become kind of a tradition. You know, there's a whole thing of people sitting around a table. Rolling them, stuffing them together, the older ones teaching the younger ones how to do it. It's a bonding. Bonding, a rite of passage for the little ones. Rite of passage for the little ones. And they feel like they're helping and they feel like a big part of it and then it gets extra enjoyment when you're eating it because you think, I helped make this. Exactly. They all hunt for the ones that they rolled up. That's such a good point on the note of potlucks. The recipes in this book are perfect for potlucks because- Great. We scaled them down to serve a reasonable household of four to six. But then we also scaled them up to serve 40. Which is what you're used to. 40 or more. Yeah, 40 or more. No problem. We've got you covered. 40 if you're lucky. Usually more. Yeah, yeah. There you go. I want to give you your praise for days. On the back of this book, you've got like a red carpet roll call of some of your nearest and dearest. Stanley Tucci. Stanley gave us support. The Tucci. Never heard of him. And Seth Meyers. Seth Meyers. And Phil Rosenthal. Phil Rosenthal. I mean, these are people that know food. They know funny. Amy Sherman-Pall. Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Paldino, Mrs. Maisel, I mean, what a list. We're very grateful. Yeah, we're so grateful, but the reviews that matter the most are from our family. Yes. They're always honest. Sometimes too much though. Exactly, but I think we've done them proud. Yes. With the holidays coming up, I want to know what your biggest pet peeve is for gatherings. And your biggest indulgence. How much time do you have? I know, right? How much time do we have, Producer Bill? Two minutes. In the book, we scaled it down to 12, and Josie was really struggling, because it could have been its own separate book. Right. It's a chapter called The Monk in Me, where certain things that drive me a little nutty. I don't know even where to begin with this. I guess one of my pet peeves is the refrigerator. People putting the short items on the tall shelf, okay? That's just something that- Common sense, come on. Yeah, and they just feel like, well, it's going in the refrigerator, it'll be cold, it'll stay cold and all that, but no. If it's short item on the tall shelf, then there's no room, obviously, for the tall items, and they can't fit on the short. And I'm getting a little worked up right now. No, I appreciate your passion with this. I'm going to just take a breath. Hold on. Can I add one layer to this? Please. How do you feel if someone comes to your home for the first time and goes into your refrigerator without asking you, and they just go into your kitchen and open your refrigerator? It depends who it is. Okay, how do you feel about this? I'm not happy with that. Yeah, I'm a little territorial. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. If they're going to their refrigerator to put in a bottle of wine to keep it chilled, that's allowed. Okay. I brought this. I'm going to- How about just handing it to you though? You can do that too. You know? You can do that too. Yeah. But if it's the holidays, I'm cooking, my hands are messy, I love when someone just shows up and is like, I'm not going to ask what you need, I'm just going to preemptively understand. Yeah. I'm going to read the room, read the room, what's happening and read the book and come to our event. Yes. We love you, LA. Yes. So you're both going to be at this book signing event tomorrow night at the Gloria Kaufman Performing Arts Center. Yes. Here we go. Motor Avenue, West side. Where are you with Amy Brenneman? Oh my goodness. Okay. It starts at eight for tickets. You can go to that website that's right there on the screen. I wish we had glasses to cheers. I feel like we had the Tony Table Talk right now going on here. But cheers. Here's my coffee cup. Cheers to you both on this book. I just want you to know that I am not thinking I thought you'd never leave. I wish I had more time with you. I know.