"Linda Cardellini"

Episode of SmartLess · November 2, 2026 · 58 min

Linda Cardellini talks with the SmartLess hosts about her Price Is Right win, her first Emmy for DTF St. Louis, ER, and her career.

Summary

The SmartLess hosts opened with banter about Will Arnett filming the Amazon limited series The Challenger in Atlanta and a debate over whether cream soups are essentially sauce. Jason Bateman then introduced his DTF St. Louis co-star Linda Cardellini, fresh off her first Emmy win.

Cardellini recounted growing up in Redwood City as an emotional youngest of four, discovering acting at 11 in a community production of The Music Man, and moving to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount. She described her 1994 appearance on The Price Is Right, where she won a gas fireplace and was coached by Bob Barker, and compared that moment of being called to winning her Emmy, where she prioritized thanking her parents and found herself shaking and crying.

The conversation moved through her career: playing young on Step by Step and Freaks and Geeks, joining ER intending to stay one year, the difficulty of memorizing medical dialogue, and roles in Brokeback Mountain, Mad Men, the Avengers films, Bloodline and Dead to Me. She and Bateman discussed Steve Conrad's precisely punctuated writing on DTF St. Louis, which she attributed to his musicianship, and their first scene together, a weight-placement sex scene shot days after meeting, which Bateman described as mechanical rather than salacious.

Cardellini also previewed her role as Pamela Voorhees in the Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake and her part in Apple TV's Way of the Warrior Kid, and described herself as a low-profile person who enjoys talking to people and prefers playing characters unlike herself.

Chapters

0:06
Cold open and The Challenger
The hosts banter about Will Arnett's shake and his upcoming Amazon series The Challenger with Kristen Stewart as Sally Ride.
2:58
Soup as sauce
The hosts debate whether cream soups are really sauce after someone called cream of mushroom 'bachelor's gravy.'
5:55
Introducing Linda Cardellini
Bateman introduces Cardellini and the hosts celebrate the Emmy wins for DTF St. Louis.
8:37
Childhood and first performances
Cardellini describes growing up in Redwood City, being a sensitive child, and falling in love with acting in The Music Man at 11.
15:06
Winning on The Price Is Right
Cardellini recounts ditching college classes to appear on The Price Is Right, winning a gas fireplace and getting help from Bob Barker.
22:51
The Emmy moment
Cardellini describes walking up to accept her first Emmy, thanking her parents, and struggling with speeches.
26:58
Early roles and resume skills
The group discusses Freaks and Geeks, a pool-shark scene on Step by Step, and padding special skills on resumes.
30:11
Joining ER
Cardellini explains how she joined ER, stayed far longer than planned, and found medical dialogue hard to memorize.
34:09
Steve Conrad's writing on DTF St. Louis
Cardellini and Bateman discuss the precise, musical rhythm of Conrad's scripted dialogue and her audition.
36:59
Mad Men, Avengers, Bloodline and Dead to Me
The hosts walk through Cardellini's mid-career roles, including a story of Kyle Chandler rescuing her daughter's wand from the ocean.
42:22
Extra work and Crystal Lake
Cardellini recalls a non-union extra job and previews playing Pamela Voorhees in the Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake.
46:43
Way of the Warrior Kid, fame and acting
Cardellini discusses her Apple TV series, being recognized, and preferring to play people unlike herself.
52:06
The DTF St. Louis first scene
Cardellini and Bateman recount shooting a weight-placement sex scene as their first scene together, days after meeting.
55:38
Wrap-up
The hosts say goodbye and praise Cardellini's range after she leaves.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Will Arnett
Arnett advises considering the source of criticism, a rule he says he applies in his own life.
“So consider the fucking source. That goes for everything. I try to do that in my own life”
Listen from 5:33
Sean Hayes
Hayes praises DTF St. Louis for presenting a concept unlike anything he had seen before.
“It's coming up with a concept that people haven't seen before. And when I watched it, it was so different”
Listen from 8:16 · DTF St. Louis
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says her childhood sensitivity, a problem elsewhere, became an asset in acting.
“this is a problem but it's not a problem in this industry so that will help”
Listen from 10:58
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says she measures every great moment in her life against having her name called on The Price Is Right.
“like I actually compare anything great that happens to me to the moment my name was called on the price rate”
Listen from 19:13 · The Price Is Right
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini recounts that Bob Barker, seeing she was confused by the game, quietly told her to just nod and agree.
“when the lights went down, he turned to me and goes, just nod your head and say yes, kid”
Listen from 22:17 · The Price Is Right
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini explains she struggles with speeches and keeps unsent thank-you cards because she feels her words are never sufficient.
“I have a lot of thank you cards in my drawer and I don't actually send them because I feel like it's never enough of what I want to say”
Listen from 24:37 · Primetime Emmy Awards
Linked moment · 24:53Skip to 24:53 using a listen link in the info box.
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says her priority in her Emmy speech was thanking her aging parents.
“that was my biggest dream was to be able to say thank you to my parents”
Listen from 24:53 · Primetime Emmy Awards
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says she joined ER on roughly a one-year contract but loved it and stayed for years.
“I think my contract was like a year. And then I just loved it there. I stayed and stayed and stayed”
Listen from 30:35 · ER (TV series)
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says medical dialogue was hard to memorize because figures like blood pressure readings had no emotional anchor for her.
“There are numbers that seem arbitrary to me. Somebody's blood pressure, memorizing whatever that is”
Listen from 33:28 · ER (TV series)
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini notes that the seemingly natural, digressive dialogue in DTF St. Louis was entirely scripted.
“and going to an idea and then jumping to another idea. But that's all written. None of that is improvised”
Listen from 34:44 · DTF St. Louis
Jason Bateman
Bateman explains that while actors usually supply their own pauses and rhythm, Conrad writes them into the script through punctuation and structure.
“usually we as actors are just looking at a block of dialogue and it's up to us to put in the ellipses”
Listen from 34:58 · DTF St. Louis
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini attributes the rhythm of Steve Conrad's writing to his being a musician.
“I think because he's a musician, it almost feels like music in a way”
Listen from 36:06 · DTF St. Louis
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini recounts Kyle Chandler jumping into the ocean to retrieve her young daughter's wand during the Bloodline shoot.
“And Kyle jumped into the ocean, swam and retrieved it for her”
Listen from 40:14 · Bloodline (TV series)
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini describes herself as a low-profile person who rarely goes out.
“I am a low profile kind of person in general. Like that's probably why I don't like, I don't go out tons”
Listen from 48:07 · Fame
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says she went unrecognized after Scooby-Doo but is now recognized more because the children who saw it have grown up.
“now those kids have grown up and they've seen me so much that I get recognized more for that now than I did back then”
Listen from 49:19 · Fame
Linda Cardellini
Cardellini says she prefers playing other people over versions of herself and has tried to play as many different roles as possible.
“But hopefully, which is sort of what I tried to do, is just try to play as many different roles”
Listen from 51:20
Jason Bateman
Bateman says the characters had to seem odd enough that viewers would suspect them of being the killer.
“there had to be just odd enough where you would buy them as the possible killer”
Listen from 52:00 · DTF St. Louis
Jason Bateman
Bateman argues that despite its reputation, DTF St. Louis contains little sex and almost no kissing, and its sex scenes are deliberately off-putting rather than salacious.
“It's like, yeah, there's not really that much sex and not even kissing”
Listen from 55:09 · Intimacy coordination

People

In the conversation

Jason BatemanAmerican actor and director, co-host of SmartLess
Will ArnettCanadian-American actor and comedian, co-host of SmartLess
Sean HayesAmerican actor and comedian, co-host of SmartLess
Linda CardelliniAmerican actress known for Freaks and Geeks, ER, Mad Men, Bloodline, Dead to Me and DTF St. Louis

Discussed

Steve ConradWriter-director of DTF St. Louis, who won Emmys for writing and directing
David HarbourAmerican actor and DTF St. Louis co-star who also won an Emmy
Bob BarkerLongtime host of The Price Is Right
Kristen StewartAmerican actress who played Bella Swan
Kyle ChandlerAmerican actor and Cardellini's Bloodline co-star
Sissy SpacekAmerican actress and Bloodline co-star, known for Carrie
Christina ApplegateAmerican actress and Cardellini's Dead to Me co-star
Chris PrattAmerican actor starring in Way of the Warrior Kid
Jocko WillinkNavy SEAL task unit commander in Ramadi
Jon HammAmerican actor known for playing Don Draper on Mad Men
John WellsTelevision producer behind ER and The Pitt
Noah WyleAmerican actor known for ER and The Pitt

Topics

From the publisher

Hug a stranger, it’s the incredible Linda Cardellini. We’re still in awe of showbiz: weight placement, soup as sauce, The Price is Right, and a stick of butter for 10-grand. “Exploring the borders of who Linda is to you,” on an all-new SmartLess.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on November 3, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Film Interviews·TV & Film·Comedy Interviews