Get your own Free Home PageOnlineHost: Patricia Richardson stars as 'Jill Taylor' on ABC-TV's top-rated "Home Improvement." The only female in a house full of men, Richardson's character is a loving wife and mother whom she states "is by all means her husband's equal. " 'Jill' is at times a diplomat and a drill sergeant, and generally more than a match for her husband's mock-macho demeanor." Welcome to AOL Live!
AOLiveMC8: Good evening and welcome to AOL Live, Patricia Richardson!
RichrdsnP: Welcome and thanks to everybody for being here!
AOLiveMC8: The first question for this evening comes from CindyW210.
Question: I'm a big fan of "Home Improvement". My question is, how do you manage to keep a straight face during the show?
RichrdsnP: LOL. We rehearse the show so much during the week that by the time we get around to taping it, there aren't any surprises.
AOLiveMC8: Stargzr49 wants to know.
Question: I love Home Improvement! What's it like being the only female in a cast full of men?
RichrdsnP: Well, I'm not the only female. There's a rather attractive tool girl there as well. There are a lot of strong, wonderful women around so I don't feel outnumbered. However, I will say that in the first couple of years on the show, all the writers were men and that was sometimes tough. We now have a script girl and a writer who is female.
AOLiveMC8: Gvador842 asks.
Question: Hello Patricia, does Tim act as dumb in real life, or even back stage, as he does on the show?
RichrdsnP: No, Tim Allen is much smarter than Tim Taylor. He's a good business man and a good leader. He's funny and he makes a real effort to keep everyone entertained during the long hours. We attempt to make the character a little smarter too sometimes so he won't be just a clown.
AOLiveMC8: Lucky1051 wants to know.
Question: Hi Patricia, I think you're great. Has this year been more "challenging" than previous years due to the dramatic change in the boys both physically & emotionally?
RichrdsnP: Some of the ignorant statements he makes tongue in cheek, with the character, [he isn't] even aware of how it might sound. Lucky - Actually, that is making the show so much more interesting to do. We were lucky that we started the show 6 years ago when the boys were young, because that the show is harder to write, we've been given the gift of having the show more interesting at their age. This is the time we can do issues such as drugs and sex and parental issues that are important, because this is a show for parents and not about kids. This is a show about a man and a woman getting along, and about being parents.
AOLiveMC8: From Sprite162.
Question: Which episode of Home Improvement is your favorite?
RichrdsnP: I have lots of favorites. We've done 151 shows, so it would be hard for me to pick out one. But for example, there's was a show called "Howard's End" that concerned Tim and I fighting about money and whose and who owned what, and the boys killed a goldfish and tried to disguise it by using a ballbearing in the mount, and I just thought it was a good episode.
AOLiveMC8: WayniacH has this to ask.
Question: Like you, I am a military brat. How did your upbringing affect your outlook on life?
RichrdsnP: Well, it's not quite fair for me to say I'm a military brat because my father left the Navy when I was 4 or 5 and went into the private defense industry. I was very influenced by the fact that my father and all his family were Navy, my mother and all her family were Marines, and my brother-in-law went to West Point. A lot of my upbringing was like that, but I literally did not grow up on bases. I still moved every 2 years, and never went to school longer than 2 years anywhere until I went to college. And I found that very difficult, always being the new kid. I found the parenting that military people tend to do, difficult because it squashes individuality in the same way that the military does, and it is not always a great place for communication, either.
AOLiveMC8: CADMAN98 asks.
Question: Do you plan on doing any movies soon? Maybe a Taylor family movie or any others?
RichrdsnP: I doubt that there will be any Taylor movies. We'd like to avoid that. Tim and I would very much like to do a movie together. He always wanted to do The Thin Man again with the 2 of us. I think that if we appear together in a film, it would be difficult for anyone to see us other than Tim and Jill. So it would be a bad idea. I have a film out this summer called Ulee's Gold with Peter Fonda, which is doing quite well and it's getting a lot of Oscar talk. I would like to do more films next summer. I'm trying to develop a telefilm of a play I did on Broadway many years ago with Beth Henley, who's an old friend and another friend of mine who is going to direct -- Belita Moreno. The 3 of us did a couple of Beth Henley plays together in New York several years ago.
AOLiveMC8: Our next question comes from Bonnie050.
Question: Jill has evolved from Tim's wife to a liberated women of the 90's. Was this due to your input into the show?
RichrdsnP: I think they always intended Jill to be that. She started out to be that way in the pilot but certainly I say this in all due modesty. She's been influenced by me.
AOLiveMC8: SacALait2 asks.
Question: Are there a lot of practical jokes played on each other on the show?
RichrdsnP: LOL, not as much as I hear on the ER set. You know, it's funny how people doing a comedy tend to be dead serious about their comedy, and people doing a drama will look for the lightening moments.
AOLiveMC8: GTA1 wants to know.
Question: How close is the character (Jill Taylor) you play on TV to your actual personality?
RichrdsnP: In sitcom, you tend to work pretty closely to yourself because of the time constraints and because they're so eager for any material you can bring to it from your life. But, I can't say that I'm that much like Jill or that our lives are anything like each other's. My life is much more complicated, and I'm probably much more neurotic and not married anymore.
AOLiveMC8: CEdenver has this question about Tim Allen.
Question: Has Tim ever really hurt himself on the set?
RichrdsnP: Frequently, unfortunately. There have been times when the stunt coordinators have screwed up and as a consequence, Tim has actually burned himself, hurt his neck, ran into a wall with a football helmet on and the wall was supposed to cave in and it didn't. That hurt. And he once set fire to the bottom of his jeans. He's actually quite brave doing the things he's been asked to do.
AOLiveMC8: Pumkin901 has this to ask.
Question: Patricia, how did you get started doing " Home Improvement"?
RichrdsnP: Yes, it's actually kind of interesting. I was set to do another show for Disney and ABC called "Home Movies" created by the people who did "The Wonder Years." It was a dramady. I had done 3 or 4 other sitcoms and hadn't wanted to do that again. They were having a lot of trouble finding the guy who would be my husband, and they were not happy with the woman they had playing Tim's wife on "Home Improvement." So they asked me to come in as a last minute replacement on this show, after they decided to cancel the other one. Since they were offering me an earlier out of this contract if the show didn't go and a great deal of money, I decided to take it as a way to get out of my contract, never dreaming that I would be doing it for more than 5 days.
AOLiveMC8: JetsGiant wants to know.
Question: Do you have a fan club address or somewhere to write to you? Do you answer your fan mail?
RichrdsnP: I don't have a fan club address. You can write to me c/o Disney Home Improvement 500 South Buena Vista Burbank, CA I do send a signed picture for anyone who asks for it. I never personally write letters back to people because there isn't enough time, I have my own family and the job and I just can't do it.
AOLiveMC8: WillowLac asks.
Question: Will Jill ever have another baby? Like a girl perhaps? I hope... =)
RichrdsnP: I doubt that Jill will have another baby. She's embarking a new career as a family therapist. I have talked to them about the possibility of us, at some point, adopting someone because I think it would be an interesting thing to do. That presents a whole challenge to a family that's dramatic. I generally come up with stories that are more dramatic in feeling and comic. Some of the more serious shows we've done have come out of suggestions of mine such as the cancer show. Let's face it, I'm humorless.
AOLiveMC8: This question comes from Cutie6836.
Question: When did you decide that you wanted to become an actress and how old were you?
RichrdsnP: I decided I wanted to become an actress when I was about 12 or 13 because I read a lot and I always wanted to be every person I ever read about in a book and I finally figured out that if I was an actress, I could live all of those different lives. So I started fantasizing about it and talking to my parents about it, who were horrified. My mother said they were all a bunch of kooks and nobody in this business ever stayed married.
AOLiveMC8: Saphire43 wants to know.
Question: What is it like having lots of people know who you are? Do you get recognized alot?
RichrdsnP: You know when you're young and you think you want to be an actor, you think being famous would be really great. And it is nice to feel special. It's certainly an ego trip. But you have to be careful what you wish for, because it's not such a great thing. I'm not one of these people who enjoys notoriety. I find the invasion of the tabloids horrifying, and I don't really like being recognized, stared at, asked for autographs when I'm out, particularly when I'm out with my children who resent the intrusion and feel a loss of my attention when it's being demanded elsewhere. But I must say that I like those free Nikes.
AOLiveMC8: Data Bass has this question.
Question: Hi. Patricia Richardson. Does Home Improvement have a web site? Thanks.
RichrdsnP: Yes it does. If you look under entertainment/television/ABC, you'll find it.
AOLiveMC8: TpromanV asks.
Question: Does Patricia plan to be a future director? Yes/no and why?
RichrdsnP: I'm going to be directing the show this year for the first time. Hopefully later in the year after I have more time to follow the directors around some more. I feel comfortable working with the actors and the writers, but wish I felt more confident about handling the camera work. Not editing.
AOLiveMC8: MRohrer22 has this question.
Question: Being a mother of 5year old twins and an 10 year old myself and working full time I know it's very difficult to find time to give each one the individual attention they need. How do you handle spending time with all three of your children as well as working?
RichrdsnP: It is so hard, particularly because of the age split. I find that it's very difficult for the twins to get the individual time they need. My ex-husband and I share the parenting and sometimes take one of them away on a date. But too often, they're split with the older one or the two of the younger ones at once. I have given them a gift of a trip by themselves with me. I've taken the older one to New York and the younger ones gets to pick where they want to go, as long as it's not too long a plane flight and I'm really looking forward to these two other trips that I'm planning to do.
AOLiveMC8: CPBarr asks.
Question: Is Al really that big of a nerd/nice guy in real life?
RichrdsnP: Rick Karn is actually quite witty and one of the funniest people on the set. I think he sometimes finds it difficult to play such a nerd, and he gets very concerned about Al's dignity.
AOLiveMC8: Shaanti9 wants to know.
Question: How did you lose so much weight in the past few seasons? You look fantastic!
RichrdsnP: Actually, I've been gradually losing the weight I had the first season over these 6 years. When I started the show, I was nursing twins. I had been in bed for 5 months because it was a high risk pregnancy. During the first 3 months, they both had colic and I didn't have a lot of help. So, I was exhausted by that and because of the show and my desire to spend a lot of time with them myself rather than have someone else do it, I didn't have a lot of time to work out. So gradually as they got older and FINALLY began to sleep through the night, I started finding time to deal with getting my body back into shape.
AOLiveMC8: A question from ROCKMAN44.
Question: How long does it take to record the show?
RichrdsnP: We work on each show for a week and we tape on Fridays. We tape without an audience throughout the afternoon, and try to get it in the can before the performance in front of an audience that night. We tape pretty quickly on Friday night. We try to do each scene only once and are reputed to have one of the fastest tapings in town.
AOLiveMC8: JetsGiant asks.
Question: Will your real kids or your husband ever appear in an episode of Home Improvement?
RichrdsnP: My ex-husband was in the episode that was the show in Atlanta during the Super Bowl with the Habitat for Humanity people. But I doubt that he'll be on the show now. My son Henry has been an extra in 3 or 4 episodes. But the twins have been too young.
AOLiveMC8: SLeick has this question.
Question: How much ad-libbing do you guys do that actually makes it into the final show?
RichrdsnP: Some of the adlibbing we do during the week makes it into the script. There's very little adlibbing on Friday night. There have occasionally been scenes, particularly what we call the tag scene, which is the last scene of the show, that were re-written so frequently during the week that we had to block it the first time in front of the audience on Friday night and do it the first time there in front of them. That happened a lot during the first couple of years on the show.
AOLiveMC8: This question comes from Keener7.
Question: I have always heard that working with children is difficult, have you found it to be? Do you feel like their surrogate mother since they have partly grown up with you on the show?
RichrdsnP: Working with these children has been a joy. I know that sounds phony but it's true. They were more difficult in the beginning when they were younger and not as professional and it was hard for them to make the switch from we're playing around to oh, now we're working -- the way that adults can. They learned very quickly how to make that switch and they work so hard. No one realizes what it means for these kids to be in school taking a test, have to leave the test in the middle of it to come out on the set and work, go back to the test, work all day into the night, go home, do homework and have to go back and start all over the next day. Not to mention what being such well known people have cost them. How it changes the way other kids look at them, the things that they've had to deal with. They're really remarkable. I don't consider myself a surrogate mother. I've always avoided strenuously trying to be a parent to them. They have their own parents. I have 3 children of my own, but I feel an enormous emotional attachment that is going to be hard to break when the show is over.
AOLiveMC8: FootbalMo has this burning question.
Question: Are we ever going to see Wilson's face?
RichrdsnP: I hope not. I don't think you ever will. No one wants that to happen.
AOLiveMC8: Nasus 58 wonders.
Question: Who's idea was it to show the blunders at the end of the show, and do they have to have the casts approval before being shown?
RichrdsnP: LOL. No cast approval. We just always loved from the beginning showing, as you say, the blunders. But we always used to also enjoy writing some weird outtake that we would include as part of the show.
AOLiveMC8: TV Grace wants to know.
Question: We're you embarrassed when Rosie showed that OB commercial?
RichrdsnP: LOL, Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, but I have no shame. We all have to make a living somehow.
AOLiveMC8: Annez648 asks.
Question: Do you enjoy performing before a live audience instead of on tape?
RichrdsnP: Earl, who plays Wilson, and I really like to do it without the audience in the afternoon. It feels like doing film, and we like the lessening of pressure. But I have to admit that comedy works better with an audience and the audience brings a kind of energy into the room and an exchange between the performance and people that really kicks the show into gear. Our performances at night are almost always better than in the afternoon.
AOLiveMC8: Halfback23 has this question.
Question: What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you on Home Improvement?
RichrdsnP: Well, I'm trying to think. That's tough. When you look back on 6 years, it's hard to isolate a moment. Tim lifting his skirt was quite a shock. He was wearing a Scottish kilt and at the end of the show, he suddenly flashed me. I had no idea he was going to do that. We got a lot of letters asking me what he was wearing underneath.
AOLiveMC8: From NormaHere.
Question: Is Wilson anything like his character in real life?
RichrdsnP: Wilson's face is always partly hidden because we always thought that it gave his character more power and mystery. This was Tim's idea. Now, we do it because it's so fun for the directors to try to find ways to hide part of his face and bring him into a scene.
AOLiveMC8: CoolF14 is curious.
Question: Is the "grunt" language used on the show used off of the set, or is it only used on-show?
RichrdsnP: No, no one ever does it off the show. In fact, you don't see it that much on the show anymore because it was getting tired.
AOLiveMC8: Bartnmega asks.
Question: What was it like working with Peter Fonda on Ulee's Gold?
RichrdsnP: Really interesting. Peter's life is surreal. Everybody he ever mentioned was someone who, for me, was an icon. Not only his family members but he knew the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Crosby, Stills & Nash. He knows everybody. It's odd to talk to someone whose whole life is so unreal.
AOLiveMC8: Patty2CL's question is.
Question: I enjoy the show and have watched your "children" growing up on the show. Is the way you portray yourself as a mom on the show the way you are raising your own children?
RichrdsnP: Yes, to a great extent. There are little things and big things that I bring onto the show as a result of the way I want to parent my kids. It's much easier to do it on television because you can't have 25 minutes of a parent asking their kids to do something 25 times. And everyone is much wittier.
AOLiveMC8: NormaHere asks.
Question: Who chooses your clothes for the Home Improvement show?
RichrdsnP: Nicole Gorsuch has been my costumer all 6 years of the show. We go out hunting for things together at the beginning of the year, and then she brings things and we decide whether we both like them. I wear a lot of the same clothes from year to year. I repeat almost everything we ever buy -- frequently. I look upon my clothes on "Home Improvement" as Jill's closet, and keep things year to year the way you would in real life.
AOLiveMC8: Wh01S1T has this question.
Question: How does the audience in the show get selected?
RichrdsnP: People sign up for tickets as much as a year in advance. There's an organization called Audience Unlimited that provides audiences and there's usually a big waiting list. On Wednesdays, we have a run-through for a group of 20 people who sit on benches and walk around from set to set. We use these people as a way of judging how the jokes are working and how the show is going in the middle of the week, and we make changes accordingly on Wednesday night. Those people are usually brought over from Universal City, as far as I know. We've had big groups of people who didn't speak English before. That was fun.
AOLiveMC8: Justakidr wants to know.
Question: It Tim a tool fanatic in real life?
RichrdsnP: Tim is a car fanatic in real life. He's also very fond of tools and has his own line of tools out now which are expensive and beautiful. I am having him design and make my workbench for me in the new garage I'm building, and am hoping that he will outfit it with his tools.
AOLiveMC8: From0utThr asks.
Question: How do you get all the different hair styles on the shows? Seems like every episode your hair is different?
RichrdsnP: It seems that way in the syndication because they're mixing up all the years. I deliberately change my hair every summer so I won't get recognized as much and also so I would be able to tell which year I'm watching in reruns by the style of my hair. I'm changing my hair again for Fall. My rationalization for the character is that she's a person searching for herself. LOL!
AOLiveMC8: We are about out of time. Our last question for this evening is from JMcCuasli.
Question: What do you feel is the most important social statement your character makes?
RichrdsnP: Hmmm....I've been proud of the feminism injected into the show. I've been proud of the way we've presented marriage and parenting.
AOLiveMC8: Patricia Richardson, it has been a great pleasure that you could join us this evening. Thank you.
RichrdsnP: I have to go now. Please everyone look for Ulee's Gold. It's only playing in 125 theaters nationwide at this point. But all of the theaters are packed. All of the reviewers are raving and it's a good film about the resilience of the American family. Which is also coincidentally what Home Improvement is about.
AOLiveMC8: And a special thanks to our audience for joining us and your great questions! Goodnight!
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