Hollywood stars Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, a celebrity couple, made their way from their home in California to Michigan recently in support of a political candidate and spent a night in Detroit’s Westin Book Cadillac Hotel.
“It’s a pretty glamorous hotel, actually. It’s lovely,” Danson told me by telephone. But the hotel is about all he and his Academy Award-winning wife got to experience during their quick stop in the Motor City. “We were driven around a bit and things were pointed out, but in truth we got to see very little, but we’re happy to be here.”
Geez, not even time for a hot dog at Lafayette or American Coney Island – each right across the street from their hotel!
Danson who came to fame playing Sam Malone on TV’s “Cheers” could have asked Kristen Bell, his new co-star on NBC’s “The Good Place,” and her actor husband Dax Shepard, for local tips since they are both Detroit-area natives.
“Kristen and her husband are both very loyal Detroiters. They love Detroit,” said Danson.
Danson and his wife appear as themselves regularly on Larry David’s HBO “Curb Your Enthusiasm” show.
“I refuse to talk about Larry David,” Danson joked. “I’d love to try to insult him publicly but he is one of the sweetest, biggest-hearted people I know. And he is a genius. He turned the concept of a situation comedy on its’ ear.”
Steenburgen may have won a Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Melvyn and Howard,” and worked with the likes of Woody Allen, Oliver Stone, Vince Vaughn, and Johnny Depp, but lately she is often asked about her role as funnyman Will Ferrell’s mother in the slapstick “Step Brothers.”
“That film was one of the greatest jobs of my life because I basically went to work all day and developed my stomach muscles trying to keep my laughs on the inside instead of the outside, but I was the worst giggler on the set,” Steenburgen admitted. The wacky John C. Reilly played the other stepbrother. “Those guys were so brilliant and funny. It was a pleasure to work with those silly, wonderful men.”
Mornings on the “Step Brothers” set were spent filming scripted material. “But the afternoons were spent improvising, she revealed. “You never knew what was coming at you!”
Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com or via TravelTattler.com His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in Lansing on 92.1 FM.
