Melissa Peterman Gushes Over Christopher Rich's 'Brave' Return to TV After Stroke

Transcript

00:00I'm curious, has anyone reached out since the show has come out and been like, I want a guest star, like any non-Reba people?

00:06Yeah, I think I can say it. Cheyenne Jackson has reached out, and I think it was his pitch too that I thought was hilarious.

00:14It was that he's hired as a, like maybe I'm training him to be like a weekend bartender, and he's just so good-looking.

00:21But he's a horrible bartender, but nobody cares, or I care, and you know, Bobby, Reba's character's like, it doesn't matter.

00:28He's like so like good-looking, so we kind of pitched the idea that Cheyenne Jackson guest stars as maybe potentially a new bartender.

00:36You know, I know that John Lithgow reached out to Rex, like I, you know, which would be amazing.

00:43So yeah, there are like, you know, people want to work. I mean, it's right now, we all want to be working,

00:48and also to work on a show where there's a lot of fun to be had, and we know it's a great set.

00:54So yeah, I think Lance Barber from Sheldon would be great, and I know he'd want to, and I'd love to like get a bunch of different people over.

01:04I was going to ask, what was it like having Chris back on set?

01:06You know, because he spoke to us about how he felt so safe and so supported, and it was so great kind of seeing him back,

01:12because I feel like a lot of us didn't realize that he was out of the game, so seeing him back was so amazing and so heartwarming.

01:18Well, I probably will tear up a little.

01:21When he had a stroke, it was really scary, and I don't, I think a lot of people didn't know.

01:25I think they just thought that, oh, maybe he retired, and maybe he decided to take a break, and that wasn't the case.

01:31He had a, he had a massive stroke, and it was very, it was scary, and he said all, so much hard work to get back to,

01:40he was always Chris. I saw him right, like in the hospital right away, and Chris was there.

01:43He was cracking jokes immediately, but you know, it's, it's, he, his left side is still affected, and so we were really,

01:54we wanted him to come back, and he was ready to come back, but it was really wonderful,

01:58because I have to say that when I was on Reba, I was such a baby.

02:01I was my first series regular. I didn't know, I didn't know where to park.

02:05I didn't know what to do, and Chris, which was essentially my acting partner that entire series,

02:11it was me and him, and he was so kind to me. He taught me so many, he'd whisper things in my ear,

02:15so I didn't feel dumb not knowing, and he was, he's, and he was like, he's one of the smartest men I know.

02:21He's such a good actor. He's, so I think it's hard. I think it's hard for all of us when you're,

02:27if your body betrays you, and yet you're still there, and you want to do it, it's scary,

02:31and I think that getting a place where he had Kevin Abbott, Michael and Mindy, and Matt Berry,

02:36and Pat, all of our executive team, and then Reba, and that he felt familiar with, he felt safe to play,

02:43and by the way, he crushed it. He was so funny, and he, what I think is so brave about Chris,

02:50and I'm kind of tearing up, but I'm trying really hard not to, is that when we had talked about other iterations of,

02:55would we do, if there was a reboot, like, you know, we'd have to address it,

02:59because he physically, you can't hide it, and he was always so open about being really honest about it,

03:07and being vulnerable, and I know that everyone watching, or we all know somebody that either has someone that they love,

03:13that maybe they're the caregiver, maybe they're, something happened, whether it's MS, or a stroke,

03:19or things that change how you can, how your life is going to be, and you have to have humor in it,

03:25like, you have to be able to have humor as a person that's their partner, humor, you know, I have relatives with Parkinson's,

03:33and it is heartbreaking when your body, like, does that, but there, if you have humor and love there, you have to have that,

03:40and so Chris was always like, if we do something, I want to say out loud what this is, and I want to have a sense of humor about it,

03:46because I want to show other people out there that this happens to, we all are going to be affected, you know, anyway,

03:53that was a long story, it was lovely to have him, I want him to come back, nobody makes me laugh harder,

03:59and I love that he was, he gave me, he gave Gabby a tattoo on her hoo-ha.