Growing up, Jane Lynch used to pretend to be sick so she could stay home from school and watch game shows like “Tattletales,” “Password” and her favorite, “Match Game.”
As an adult, she had the good fortune to have her guilty pleasure become something of a profession. For seven years, she was an NBC host “Hollywood Game Night”. And since 2020, it has presented ‘Waest Link’, a remake of the British series overseen, eerily, by Anne Robinson. Season 3 is now streaming on Peacock.
“I love the game, I love the little things, I love not playing it,” said Lynch, who instilled her own fear as a cheerleading coach. Your Sylvester on “Glee.”
“I could do this forever,” he added in a video interview from Manhattan, where he was filming Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” before talking about neighborhood wanderings, cultural tours and DIYs. with which her wife, Jennifer Cheyne, is trying to live beautifully in Montecito, California.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
1
Long walks close to home
One of the things Jennifer and I said when we moved here is that we want to be close Coast Village Road, which is the main attraction. It has all the restaurants and cute little shops. I walk up and down the neighborhood streets, and then I stop for a cup of coffee, and then I keep walking and I’m at the ocean, and then I just walk back.
2
About Coffee
The Montesano Market & Deli it has very good, strong Italian coffee. I know all the regulars who come there. It’s great to go where everyone knows your name and you know theirs.
3
Culture and more
Montecito is part of Santa Barbara, and one of the great things about living here is that we have these beautiful theaters that were built in the 1920s and 30s — Granada, the Lobero, Arlington. We have a beautiful deal. We have a wonderful ballet company. We have professional shows with professional actors. We go to all of them. The last time we were watching a play and greeting people, I said, “Is this a dream we’re seeing right now? I don’t want to wake up.”
4
Santa Barbara Home Improvement Center
When I try to do the home improvement stuff myself, I go there, and I buy what I need, and then I screw up the project and have to call a professional. But I always try in college. Now Jennifer is really very helpful. He can build a toilet. She wallpapered the powder room. You see it online: “How do you keep squirrels from getting into your tomatoes?”
5
Book talk
I never thought I’d want to be in a book club with a bunch of women our age. But it got me into reading fiction and I really enjoy it. The first hour we just gossip and socialize and have a drink. Then we talk about the book and then it’s time to have soup or something. Our book this month was “Chemistry Lessons”, which I thought was masterfully told.
6
Dinner with the neighbors
When I was growing up, my mom was a stay-at-home mom, and everyone in the neighborhood was also a stay-at-home mom. So the kids would all play together, and the women would come to one of the women’s houses and smoke and drink coffee and give each other perms. I just remembered how great it was. I’ve always wanted this version of a life without the kids.
7
Lectures Presented by UC Santa Barbara
David Sedaris came and read from his work and it was packed. Here comes the popular politics, which is always very interesting. Some I don’t even know, but I go to hear people talk smart and ask questions. It’s like being in school in a good way.
8
My YouTube algorithm
YouTube serves me up with such great things, from the ugly mundane world of politics to these lofty ideas — non-binary, near-death experiences — that send your spirits soaring as you think about them. It makes you want to live this life as wonderfully as you can because where they say we’re going is this wonderful place that makes it feel like a bad dream.
9
Alone Time
I’ve always needed my solitude, and so has Jennifer. So we have our loneliness together. She has her place. I have my space. But we know each other is there.
10
Early to bed, Early to rise
Sometimes I go to bed very early, 6pm, and automatically wake up very early, 4 or 5am I don’t really like getting up when it’s still dark so I try to sleep through it. I am a much happier person if I can wake up when the sun has just risen. I love that time of day when everything is dewy and brand new and shiny.
