Olivia Munn's White Bread Confession

Olivia Munn came in to talk Your Friends and Neighbors, and the conversation ended up in a white bread sandwich. The path to get there was worth the ride.

When Jonathan Tropper's script landed with her, Munn was not looking to be in front of a camera anymore. She had just had her first child, battled a year of severe postpartum anxiety, and been diagnosed with breast cancer. Multiple surgeries and treatments followed. She had told her reps to stand down. She did not want the exposure that comes with being on screen.

Then she read the pilot. Tropper walked her through season one. The character was unlike anything she had played. She agreed to a single-season deal, which is unusual since these shows normally lock actors in for six years. After episode two, they asked her to sign on longer. She worried about how her character could continue given what happens in the season. They told her they would figure it out. They did.

The show has been received better than any of them expected. Jon Hamm's first series regular role since Mad Men. Rich admitted he watches anything Hamm is in. Susie watches it with him.

Then the James Marsden story. When Munn moved back from Japan to Oklahoma at sixteen, she had a hard time making friends. One girl asked her to be her friend: Jenny Marsden, James's younger sister. James had just landed his first big break at CBS. He came home, took his sister and her friends out to dinner at Bennigan's, and then out for ice cream at Braum's. That night landed as a core memory for a teenager who wanted to act but could not quite believe it was possible. Seeing someone from the same hallways do it told her maybe she could too.

Thirteen or fifteen years later, she spotted Marsden at a GQ Men of the Year party and walked straight over. He vaguely remembered the Bennigan's night. They stayed friends. They always wanted to work together. Now they are.

The shared snack on set, the piece Amanda Peet could not get over, is a white bread sandwich. White bread. Mayonnaise and mustard. Thin-sliced pickles. Turkey. Cheddar. Lettuce. Tomato. No name. Cut diagonally. Chips on the side.

Both of them attribute it to being from Oklahoma. Rich, speaking as a New York Jew, was gently horrified. Munn's mother used to cut sandwiches straight down the middle. She is still convinced that is the crazy part.