Glenn Beck: '24' is back!

Audio Available:

January 9, 2009 - 13:14 ET

Mary Lynn Rajskub

GLENN: From Radio City in Midtown Manhattan, third most listened to show in all of America. Hello, you sick twisted freak. Welcome to the program. My name is Glenn Beck. And this Sunday is 24, a show that I've been watching for years. I remember the last episode of the first season, and I've never seen a show like this before and now it's becoming The Sopranos where it hasn't been on for five years. I don't even know, is Jack in a wheelchair, is he in an iron lung, what has happened, I don't know. And how are they going to outdo themselves this season. It starts Sunday. I saw the two-hour, what is it, kind of a, yeah, Redemption, a two-hour setup if you will that came out a couple of months ago and it's great. And Chloe is back.

Chloe, her real name, if you will, is Mary Lynn Rajskub and she is with us now. Chloe, we were thinking yesterday, or Mary Lynn, we were talking yesterday. Sorry about that. Do you get that all the time, the Chloe thing?

RAJSKUB: I get that all the time. Chloe?

GLENN: Yes. Sorry about that.

RAJSKUB: Even from family members. Sometimes they call me Chloe.

GLENN: Are you kind of like her?

RAJSKUB: I don't think so. I'm certainly not good with computers. There are parts of me that I like, are socially awkward. Like white hot sexual.

Mary Lynn Rajskub's paintings...

GLENN: See, I've never, I've never seen that from Chloe. I've never seen that.

RAJSKUB: What do you mean?

GLENN: I've never -- I've seen the uncomfortable part but I think -- you know the last, I believe the last, was it the last season where you were hooking up with somebody on the show?

RAJSKUB: See what I'm saying? White hot sexuality.

GLENN: It was kind of disturbing the way that thing was presented just a little bit.

RAJSKUB: Yeah. Sometimes it happens, you know. We have to shove this character elements into the 24. It's not easy sometimes.

GLENN: That is kind of a new thing, isn't it? I mean, the one thing that I liked about 24 at the very beginning was that there wasn't any of -- there was no soap opera action. It was just, it was just going all, just nonstop.

RAJSKUB: Well, you know, and I think we got a lot of complaints because the stories kind of, they lost the range on what was happening last season, and I haven't seen this season yet but from what I've heard and, you know, from reading them way back when, we had the writers strike, we filmed these episodes like 18 months ago. But I've heard they are fantastic and 24's back to what people know and love, yet different.

GLENN: What do you -- what can you tell us about the story line without wrecking it? I'm not one of these people that want to know very much.

RAJSKUB: That's good because I can't remember very much. It was a long time ago.

GLENN: Good, good.

RAJSKUB: Jack is on --

GLENN: This is -- you feel like this is going well, this interview right now, don't you think?

RAJSKUB: It's pretty gangbusters.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah, I thought so too.

RAJSKUB: Jack is on trial for the torture acts, CTU has been -- there's no more CTU. So my character is in a van on a laptop working outside the government to uncover the terrorist plot that's happening within the government.

GLENN: Really?

RAJSKUB: Yes. Tony Almeda is back. He --

GLENN: Hold on just a second. Stu -- Stu is my executive producer. Did I not say two years ago that if I were on 24 directing it, I would have Jack go after the government and weed all the people out.

STU: Why don't you just spend the time enjoying the show instead of trying to predict what's going to happen.

GLENN: I'm just saying that's -- now she's in a van which I didn't predict but who didn't see that one coming.

So how is --

RAJSKUB: I think you should be on the payroll as a writer.

GLENN: Oh, no, I think your writers have to be insane.

RAJSKUB: I know, it is pretty crazy.

GLENN: Because you don't -- they don't write from the end, right?

RAJSKUB: You know, they have broad strokes of what's going to happen but I think that's -- you know, it's a tightwire act of them trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together and make it work.

GLENN: It's my understanding from a friend of mine who has done some consulting on 24 and he's a writer and he said that the season, I think, before -- the season that never made it to air, it was I think before the writers strike, they started it and they got kind of deeply into it and then they had to stop and said it doesn't work; got to go back and start all over again. Is that true?

RAJSKUB: Yeah, it's sort of harrowing. We had the writers strike this year which put us on hold, but I think it happened twice where they went away for three weeks and retooled. And there was a lot of pressure because, you know, a lot of the critics and fans weren't crazy about last season. So the heat was on.

GLENN: How is -- do you have much time at all with Kiefer Sutherland?

RAJSKUB: You know, I do and I don't. Sometimes I've seen drama on the phone with him and he's not really there.

GLENN: What I meant is how is he doing personally?

RAJSKUB: How is he doing personally?

GLENN: Yeah. I mean, is he doing the white hot, you know, thing that's happening between you two?

RAJSKUB: He's -- yeah, we are a couple in person. Don't tell anybody. I'm only going to tell you that.

GLENN: Right. So is the baby that you just had, is that his? Is that what you're saying? Is that what you are announcing on the air here? That the child --

RAJSKUB: Yeah, I wanted to announce it to you first.

GLENN: Well, I appreciate that.

RAJSKUB: It's his baby.

GLENN: It's his baby? How do you like being a new mom?

RAJSKUB: It's pretty relentless. They really make you love them, those little guys.

GLENN: May I tell you something? I have four kids. You kind of grow out of that.

RAJSKUB: Out of what?

GLENN: Loving them.

RAJSKUB: You grow out of the love?

GLENN: Yeah. You know, after a while they get to be like 4 and you're like, "Okay, I get it. You're crying, I get it, I've heard it." It used to mean something to me. Now it just makes me drink.

RAJSKUB: Yeah, they cry a lot.

GLENN: They do.

RAJSKUB: I had to call the police on my baby one night.

GLENN: Did you really?

RAJSKUB: He was crying so much. I was like, you've got to help me. He's in the other room. He's trying to kill me. That was a joke. I didn't really call the police on my 9-month-old.

GLENN: You didn't? You should. You will. At some point you will. You are also an artist, are you not?

RAJSKUB: Yes, I went to school for painting.

GLENN: I'm trying to find any of your artwork on line and I can't find anything. Do you just keep it in the basement, do you keep it under your bed?

RAJSKUB: I'm going to bring it out for '09. I've just started to. I only, I put a couple of things up on Facebook but not much yet.

GLENN: Seriously? Now, what kind of painter are you?

RAJSKUB: I like -- my taste is I like modern impressionist painting, but I also like painting of retarded children and painting of the insane.

GLENN: How much of the painting of the retarded children --

RAJSKUB: Who's laughing in the background?

GLENN: No, we're not laughing. We're just imagining that those would be nice. What do the paintings of the retarded children go for? Because I've been -- honestly I've been looking for one of those and I haven't seen them. But I want to --

RAJSKUB: The thing is they are really good. It's like pure expression, emotional painting.

GLENN: See, I don't -- you have no idea if you really do this or you're just screwing with people.

RAJSKUB: In this case I'm being completely honest. Because, you know, if you are going to look at a painting, what's the point of making a painting like a photograph? Just take a picture. You want to feel what's happening with that person, as far as I'm concerned.

GLENN: I want you to send some pictures. Will you send some pictures? I want to post some pictures of your paintings. I want to see these paintings.

RAJSKUB: Okay.

GLENN: Will you send them to us?

RAJSKUB: Yep.

GLENN: How do I send them?

RAJSKUB: Just transfer it to my screen.

GLENN: Okay.

RAJSKUB: Oh, wow, those are nice. Let me ask you this. Do you get sick of people saying, do you transfer to my screen?

RAJSKUB: No, I love it. Transfer to my screen and, I'm picking it up on traffic cam. I've got the satellite. I don't know how much, like, information I can actually get from a traffic camera. I'm like, I've got the license plate.

GLENN: A lot. You can get a lot at CTU.

RAJSKUB: I guess so.

GLENN: All right. Mary Lynn -- actually, hold on. I want you to talk to my producer and he will get an e-mail address but I do want to see the pictures of it and we'll post them.

RAJSKUB: I'll send them.

GLENN: I don't believe you for a second but I'd love to see them.

RAJSKUB: I will.

GLENN: All right. Thank you very much and we'll see you Sunday on 24.

RAJSKUB: Excellent, thank you.

GLENN: You bet. Bye-bye.