 
Craig Ferguson, "The Late Late Show" host
Craig Ferguson: My second guest tonight is a talented and lovely girl. You probably know her from "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Boston Public." She is a guest star on "The OC." It's on Thursday's on FOX. Here's a clip of that.
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Jeri Ryan as Charlotte Morgan
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Melinda Clarke as Julie Cooper
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Realtor: Ah, you must be Miss Morgan.
Charlotte: Yes, hi.
Realtor: Hi.
Charlotte: Julie, right? Hi, what are you doing here?
Julie: I might ask the same thing.
Charlotte: Well, I'm planning on doing some business in the area, and I heard this condo might be a perfect little crash pad. But, looks like you beat me to it.
Julie: Actually, your timing is perfect. I'm sorry, I think I'm looking for something with a better view. Charlotte, the place is all yours.
Craig: Meow! Please welcome Jeri Ryan, everybody!
( Cheers and applause )
Craig: Hello, Jeri, how are you you?
Jeri Ryan: Hello. I'm very well, thank you.
Craig: What's going with your hand there?
Jeri: I... I was viciously attacked by a bicycle.
Craig: Really?
Jeri: While I was test riding it, behind the store. And I fell off.
Craig: You were test riding a bicycle?
Jeri: And broke my wrist.
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Jeri has an owie
Craig: What kind of bicycle?
Jeri: A killer bicycle, apparently. No, it was just a normal bike, but it had those clamps on the pedals that you can't get your foot out of, and I literally just fell right over.
Craig: You have to wear the special shoes and then...?
Jeri: Apparently.
Craig: I always thought that was dangerous, and now I know.
Jeri: I hadn't ridden a bike in 15 years, I don't need clamps on the pedals! But, yeah, obviously.
Craig: Yeah, you're right. I'm very... were you wearing a watch?
Jeri: Was I at the time?
Craig: Yeah.
Jeri: Well, it would been on this hand, so it wouldn't have mattered.
Craig: You can wear your watch any hand you like. It's America. It's America, you can wear your watch on your leg, if you want!
Jeri: We could. A men's or a women's!
Craig: Yeah, anything you want to do. I'm amazed here, it's the land of the free! It's fantastic. Now, how are you liking the OCD, do you like... do you shoot it down in Orange County?
Jeri: No, we shoot at Manhattan Beach. So, it's almost Orange County.
Craig: That's near Orange County, yeah. Sure, it's down on the lovely coast line, with the big houses; and everyone, you know, being mean to each other.
Jeri: Exactly. Exactly. It's America!
Craig: Now, I heard... is it true that you also have a restaurant? Is that right?
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Jeri: I do. I own a restaurant called Ortolan.
Craig: I've been to that...
Jeri: Everyone has to come!
Craig: I've been to that restaurant.
Jeri: Have you?
Craig: Yeah, it's on Third Street, round the corner.
Jeri: Yeah, yeah.
Craig: Oh, well, there you go.
Jeri: When were you there?
Craig: Ah, a while ago. With a friend.
Jeri: And?
Craig: It was very good.
Jeri: A "friend"?
Craig: No, I went with an enemy. Yeah. "Take that starter, you bastard! Enjoy your eggs! Arrr!" I went with a friend.
Jeri: And?
Craig: And I did okay. Oh, you mean the food? Uh, well...
( Laughter and applause )
Jeri: Congratulations. Good for you. Good for you.
Craig: Yeah, no, no. You know. He hasn't written, he hasn't called.
Jeri: Eat at Ortolan, get lucky. That's our new tag line, I think.
Craig: What's that?
Jeri: "Eat at Ortolan, get lucky."
Craig: Uh, well, no, you...
Jeri: Score.
Craig: It's a nice place. It's French, isn't it?
Jeri: Yes. Fine dining. French.
Craig: But, you're not French.
Jeri: No, but my boyfriend is, and he's the chef, and my co-owner.
Craig: Your boyfriend's a chef? Well, that's kind of cool.
Jeri: Michelin star chef. He was named one of "Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs."
Craig: What does that mean, if you're a Michelin starred chef? Like, you can make tires or something? I honestly don't know what that is.
Jeri: (laughs) It's the French system of judging. Michelin star.
Craig: Ah, the French system of judging.
Jeri: Mmm...Yes.
Craig: Uh-huh. Well, this is America. We wear our watches anywhere we like! That's good, though, isn't it, if he's got that?
Jeri: It's very good. It's very good.
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Craig: Because the French don't just give these things out.
Jeri: No, no, no. He's... I mean, his food is really exquisite.
Craig: So, what kind of food is it? It's like... He makes all that, um, French stuff, with lots of sauces on it.
Jeri: No, it's not classic French. It's "new" French. It's very light, for French food.
Craig: Are you a big food person? Are you really into food?
Jeri: Oh, I've always been a foodie. Yeah. This has always been sort of a dream.
Craig: Is that why you found yourself a chef?
Jeri: Yeah! I'm mean, he's French, he's hot, and he cooks. And I used to -- used to, before I had a restaurant -- eat really, really well, because he would cook me lunch and dinner every day. It was amazing.
Craig: He doesn't do that anymore?
Jeri: He's working all the time, and now we own a restaurant. So, now I go into the restaurant and, if I'm going to eat, I eat staff meal, which is, you know, leftovers or pasta with the staff. Or, I don't eat, and then I go home after service, at two in the morning, and I open a can of Chef Boyardee. Eat it out of the can, over the sink.
Craig: Staff meal at CBS is exactly the same. Leftovers. That's what I get, leftovers or pasta. Yeah, I'm staff here now. I'm moving up. I'm moving up. So, you... Do you work in the restaurant? Do you ever, like, bus tables or anything?
Jeri: I do. I do, yeah.
Craig: No way. Really?
Jeri: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm emptying garbage in the bathrooms, and I'm bussing tables. I got tipped one night. I got my first tip. I got tipped ten dollars, baby!
( Applause )
Jeri: Thank you! Yeah. I was helping -- we were short staffed one night -- and I was helping bus tables, and take some people's orders, and helping out. And this one guy, when he left, slipped me a ten. You know, the little palmed handshake.
Craig: Really?
Jeri: Yeah.
Craig: That's not very much, though. How much was the...
Jeri: It was a score! Sweet.
Craig: Did you put it in the tips jar, so everybody could share it?
Jeri: No, it's mine!
Craig: Hey!!
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Jeri: (laughs)
Craig: Hey! No! But, if you're going out bussing tables...
Jeri: No, I did. I gave it to a server.
Craig: Oh, you did. You don't go out and bus tables and people go "Seven of Nine! Seven of Nine! Seven of Nine!" when you...when you...
Jeri: Well, yeah, some of them. Some... Oh, actually, one of our, um... One of our friends e-mailed me something I guess was on one of my websites -- because there's a lot of fan sites when you're on Star Trek...
Craig: Yeah, I have tons as well. I'm the Google...
Jeri: Are you? Yeah?
Craig: I'm all over that...yeah.
Jeri: Yeah, I bet you are. I bet you are.
Craig: I don't what it is.
Jeri: But, somebody -- they do like "fan art," where they draw pictures of the characters and things like that. And one of them had drawn a series of pictures -- because Ortolan is the name of the restaurant, it's a little bird, that's what an Ortolan is.
Craig: Right.
Jeri: So, somebody had done a series of, like, six pictures...
Craig: Do you cook the...
Jeri: Well, we don't. It's a protected species.
Craig: Alright. Okay.
Jeri: But, it was a delicacy in France.
Craig: Right. So, if you slip a ten, you can get a...
Jeri: (laughing) You get an Ortolan! Yeah. Umm...where was I going with this? Oh, right! So, anyway...
Craig: Somebody drew a little Ortolan.
Jeri: So, they did a series of, like, six pictures of me in different poses -- with the bird on my shoulder, and the bird on my finger, and the bird... you know. And one of them, the best one, was they made the -- it was me in character, as Seven of Nine -- and they had the bird on my shoulder, and it was all Borged-out. So, it was a Borgolan.
Craig: Oh, man.
Jeri: Very, very cute.
Craig: It's very cute. We've got to take a break. We'll be right back. We'll be right back with Jeri Ryan, everybody. Jeri Ryan when we come back!
( Commercial break: Interview continues below... )
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Craig: Welcome back. Welcome back, my lovelies, I'm here with Jeri Ryan. Now, listen, tell me about this: Where are you from?
Jeri: I'm an army brat, so I'm kind of from all over.
Craig: Really?
Jeri: Yeah.
Craig: Where did you...where have you been?
Jeri: I was born in Germany, and then I lived in Maryland, Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas, and Kentucky, by the time I was eleven.
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Craig: Really.
Jeri: And then my Dad retired so that my brother and I could finish high school in one place.
Craig: And where did you finish high school?
Jeri: Paducah, Kentucky.
Craig: Kentucky?
Jeri: Very small town.
Craig: Paducah. Is there a base there, or something?
Jeri: No, and usually we weren't living on bases. It was usually, um, you know, small towns, and mostly in the south. And it was, you know... kids, I was always the new kid, and it was always kids who have basically lived in the same house their entire lives.
Craig: Do you think that helps you when, as you grow up, if you've been a kid that moves around a lot?
Jeri: I think...now I can appreciate it. As an adult, I can appreciate looking back at what I gained from it. You learn to be very adaptable, and you learn to be very open to new situations. And it really lends itself to the life of an actor. Because, (A) it's nomadic, and (B) you have to get the lay of the land really quickly when you're the new kid.
Craig: Yeah.
Jeri: But, it's hard when you're going through it.
Craig: Yeah. Did you feel it when you were a kid? You didn't enjoy...
Jeri: Oh, of course. But, it was easier on me, because I was a girl. My brother, I think, had a harder time with it.
Craig: Is your brother...Did your brother go into the military?
Jeri: No. No. (laughs) No, my brother...my brother is an artist, in New York.
Craig: Nah, that's not the military, is it?
Jeri: No, not even a little bit.
Craig: They don't need a lot of artists in the military, I don't think. "Quick, paint that tank!" "I'll do it. I'll do it. What color?" "Camouflage, you fool!"
Jeri: (laughs)
Craig: Ah, no, they're..they know what they want. It's basically green.
Jeri: Not a lot of self-expression.
Craig: Yeah, you know. Green or gray will be fine. That'll be fine. So, did you never think of having a career like that?
Jeri: In the military?
Craig: Did your Dad not say...maybe you'd like to go into the military?
Jeri: No, my Dad is not...
Craig: He said, "Be an actor"?
Jeri: Well, my Dad is not the type who would've pushed his little girl to be a soldier. But, I mean, we're very...
Craig: Doesn't have to be a soldier. You could've been, you know... an artist.
Jeri: In the army, for example. Yeah. Yeah.
Craig: A tank painter.
Jeri: No, that's not my cup of tea, but I am very in awe of the people who do do that.
Craig: Yeah. Is your Dad a retired military man? Has he been out here?
Jeri: Retired military. He was 28 twenty years...
Craig: Does he visit you out here?
Jeri: Oh, they live four doors down from me. They take care of my son.
Craig: Four doors down from you? You live next to your parents?
Jeri: Yeah, I got them a house...
Craig: What's that like?
Jeri: Well, thank god, it's good, because it could be really nightmarish. But, they're great. And they're the nanny for my son. So, it's nice to have everything real close and accessible.
Craig: Do they ever say... because, I live quite a long way from my parents, because they live in Scotland...
Jeri: That's a bit of a distance.
Craig: It is a distance. But, do you ever... I always thought, you know, the curtains would twitch, and my Mum would say, "What kind of time do you call this to come in at?" and everything.
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Jeri: No, they're very good about... The first few months was a little tense, until we sort of found our way. They're very cool about it. They don't just pop in all the time.
Craig: They don't?
Jeri: No. They're very good. They're very good.
Craig: Good. Well, listen, good luck with The OC. It's a fantastic show.
Jeri: Thank you.
Craig: And it's lovely to meet you.
Jeri: You too.
Craig: Jeri Ryan, everybody. Jeri Ryan. The OC is on Thursdays, on FOX. Thursdays on FOX.
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Running time: 6 minutes and 11 seconds
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