Gillian Anderson with Jay Leno December 16, 1996

GA = Gillian Anderson
JL = Jay Leno

JL: My first guest is an Emmy-nomintated actress who stars as the beautiful and highly intelligent Agent Scully in the very popular series X-Files. Please welcome Gillian Anderson!

GA: Hi! [to everyone] Wow! [to Jay]

JL: Hey, thanks for comin'.

GA: Thank you. Can I - can I just talk about my nails?

JL: Your nails? Sure.

GA: My nails. I - nails like this are like not a part of my life, and never have been. And I honestly - I did a photo shoot last night, and um - the makeup artist left without leaving anything for me to take them off, and - which is why I have them here today - and it's - I feel very grown-up, with them on - I don't know how many people actually have them -

JL: Really?

GA: - but you feel older in some way, you have... longer fingers, they're kinda spindly...

JL: Can you do that - make that noise?

GA: No, no, can't do that.

JL: I always remember women making that noise when I was little.

GA: But - you do?

JL: Yeah. That noise and this noise. When my mother would have women over and they didn't want us to - before they started talking they'd always do this with the cup -

GA: Yeah.

JL: That means - important stuff is gonna happen.

GA: That's - that's very annoying. That's very annoying.

JL: Stuff guys shouldn't know.

GA: But - but like, how do women pull up nylons with these things on? I don't get it.

JL: Now you got my mind going.

GA: How would you do it, Jay?

JL: How would I do it? I don't know...but I like them, I think they look very sexy.

GA: They are nice. I like them too.

JL: Are you gonna keep them for a while, do you like that -

GA: I can't, well - once I - I start work again tomorrow, um - it wouldn't be appropriate for autopsies, I don't think. I might - I might lose one, and, and uh, yeah.

JL: Now your show - obviously is huge - now you do the show in Canada - This is why it's hard to get you here, cause you're always *up* there.

GA: That's right.

JL: But -

GA: I mean, we have to take days off of shooting, to come down, and - and, uh - it messes everything up.

JL: And they just write you out for that day, like, you were hit by a truck or something.

GA: Exactly. I get hit by a truck all the time on the show. And then I survive.

JL: Now what was it - we were talking about, uh... you told me you were taking Italian lessons - what was - not really - What was that story? You know what I'm talking about?

GA: Yeah - no - I - I got a bit of an Italian lesson. I, um - I was at a restaurant in Vancouver, and, um - I was with a group of people, and we were all eating, and somebody got up to go to the bathroom and came back and had informed us that, in the bathroom, um, there was a tape playing, of Italian lessons. And I kinda -

JL: ...*In* the bathroom?

GA: *In* the bathroom. Like while you're sitting on the john, you hear...

JL: Oh, not how to go to the bathroom in Italian.

GA: Not *how* to go to the bathroom - but close. Cause - I kinda put that information inside my head, and then after - after dinner I went to the bathroom and I open up the door, and I hear - I HAVE DIARRHEA. Il con diarrerre - And I thought - Who's talking to me? Are you talking to me? Like - like - I don't *need* that information, thank you very much. But then it was - you know - where's the telephone. Dove il telefono. It was uh - it was very funny.

JL: Was it a male voice or a female voice?

GA: It was a male voice.

JL: See that's even worse.

GA: It was. It was -

JL: You're sitting on the john and you hear I HAVE DIARRHEA. Hey! Hey!

GA: It sounded very graphic.

JL: Well, yeah...

GA: It did indeed.

JL: Well let me ask you about - now you are on more magazine covers - and these wonderful sort of - half-naked magazine covers - And this Rolling Stone - Now let me ask you about this picture - because I got this issue - uh - uh -

GA: See I'm doing - I'm doing this thing with my nails when you were doing that... That's what they're for.

JL: Now are you g - now - what is going on below - the sheet part here?

GA: Uh -

JL: Are you guys dressed for this part or -

GA: Yeah, we are - I - I had um - I - we both had underwear on...we both had... briefs on.

JL: Briefs?

GA: Well - you know - like I had those little - what are they called, those um -

JL: Oh, describe them as *best* you can.

GA: Those - yeah. Those little - you know, those silk women's under - what are they *called*? What - N - Yeah, they're like silk boxers for women -

JL [to audience]: No - Don't make it any easier for her! Please.

GA: And - and he had some silk boxers on, and it was...It was fun, it was a fun shoot, it was, uh - you know because everybody's always asking are we ever gonna be in bed together, and - and we're not, ever on the show, I don't think, but it was kind of like a - a tease, for the audience, in a way.

JL: Well it's a great show, you know, it's - it's - I was saying, it is better written than most movies I've seen lately. Cause the - the stories really are exciting.

GA: Yeah...

JL: And - and they they really - you know they, boom boom, snap along

GA: We - we - we have a - an amazing group of writers on the show. We're very f -

JL: But about these pictures again...

GA: Fortun... yeah? Are you gonna sh -

JL: Now you come from, I would guess - Midwest, sort of - conservative background - Like when Grandma looks through these things -

JL: Ooh, what'd I hit, what'd I hit, did I hit something -

GA: Oh, *God*!

JL: Wait a minute Wait a minute - wait - we just - Wait, that was like - OK that was like a X-File experience, OK?

GA: I knew you were gonna say that. I knew you were gonna -

JL: Cause I didn't hit anything, that has never, like, happened, it didn't happen with Jimmy Carter, it didn't happen - this is the first time. But did - have you ever - has your family - what does your family say? Do you hear from relatives about -

GA: I did - actually I got, um - I got a little letter - Isn't this convenient.

JL: Right th - oh that -

GA: OK, this is a letter from my grandmother. She - she hasn't actually seen the cover of the Rolling Stone but she had heard about it, through a neighbor, friend of a neighbor of a neighbor. And she was quite distressed. And she wrote, Dear - She wrote - She wrote Dear Gillie, I was very very sorry to hear that you ran out of clothing. Maybe I should send you some money to buy a new dress or two. I'm going to plant several fig trees to make sure we have plenty of leaves to cov - cover you with if you ever run out of clothing again. Loving you very much but wondering why you stripped or flipped or whatever.

JL: Oooh, Grandma. Oooh.

GA: She has a gr - No, it's wonderful, she has a great sense of humor.

JL: Oh no, that's good, that's good. Now - obviously, I - I see some of the nutball mail I get. Now on your show, you must hear from like, really odd - Like I heard - were you supposed to go to London for something?

GA: I was told, that I'm going to be in London next week presenting somebody with a two million dollar insurance claim check, cause he - he's receiving two million dollars of - um - abduction insurance. *Alien* abduction insurance.

JL: Oh and you were gonna present -

GA: And apparently I'm - I'm gonna be there to present him with his two million dollars.

JL: Now this is -

GA: But they have that now.

JL: They have abduction insurance?

GA: They - they have alien abduc - and they have alien pregnancy insurance now.

JL: Oh, that's - yeah... I think, uh - didn't, uh - Michael Jackson's wife have that, I think?

GA: Ooooooohhh.

JL: Now you do a lot of special effects on the show

GA: Can I - can I put my cup here? Is that OK?

JL: You can do whatever you *want*. It's your show. You're a star. You're a star, baby. Whatever you want. You got it.

GA: *Ohhhh* Jay.

JL: The desk. Take it home.

GA: Ahh.

JL: Like on your show, when I see all these - obviously, they don't always go well, I think that's what this - this little clip is about -

GA: Yeah yeah yeah, we - we have a little clip that's very funny, you don't usually see us - smiling, very much on the show, or laughing very much - and in this particular clip we were supposed to - we were in a grave, of course - and, uh, we find a, a - kaddish, kaddish, kaddish, it's a - a Jewish book on mysticism, and uh - while we're holding onto it and figuring out what it is it's supposed to burst into flames, and - and this is what happens when - it doesn't work.

JL: Take a look.

[Blooper from KADDISH]

GA: Thank you.

JL: It really is a - a terrific, terrific show. Gillian Anderson! We'll be right back with Bob Dole right after this!

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