21 questions

Amanda Peet Almost Burned Down a Restaurant One Time

Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Name: Amanda Peet
Age: 43
Neighborhood: Tribeca
Occupation:
Actor, currently appearing in Togetherness on HBO.

Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Annie Hall and David Letterman. Chris Rock lives in New Jersey, right?

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
Well, it’s not a meal but it is to me: Christina Tosi’s compost cookies.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Pretend to be other people.

What was your first job in New York?
I was a hostess at City Crab, at 18. I first tried to be a waitress at another restaurant and had lied on my resume, saying I had a lot of waitressing experience and  putting a made-up name of a restaurant in a different city with my boyfriend’s phone number on it as the reference. On the first day of work a couple asked me if I could please warm their bread, so I put the entire bread basket into the oven. The restaurant almost caught on fire and needless to say, I was fired immediately.

What’s the last thing you saw on Broadway?
Wicked, for the third time.

Do you give money to panhandlers?
If I have change.

What’s your drink?
My friend Josh Rosenstein (he’s a chef) makes this wine spritzer in his garage called Hoxie. My favorite flavor is lemon ginger—I like it because it’s clean and not too sweet. He thinks we’re friends but I really only socialize with him because of Hoxie. What a dummy.

How often do you prepare your own meals?
I have three kids, leave me alone.

What’s your favorite medication?
It’s a three way tie: Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan.

What is the best thing in or about your apartment?
There’s a bakery on the ground floor that serves these prune danishes that are desserts masquerading as breakfast.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen on the subway?
Someone reading my husband’s book.

When was the last time you stayed out past 3 a.m.?
I can’t remember. New Year’s was 9 p.m. (I have a newborn.)

Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square?
Neither.

What do you think of Mayor de Blasio?
The jury’s out. It’s hard to tell right now, you know?

When’s the last time you drove a car?
I’m in LA right now, so this morning. I didn’t learn to drive ‘til I was 28, because I got this movie with Bette Midler where I had to drive in one scene. I’m pretty sure most people get carsick when I drive—my best friend Sarah Paulson thinks I always brake too late. She’ll be in the passenger seat and we’ll be in the middle of a serious conversation and suddenly she’ll say “Brake, honey, brake.”

Finish this sentence: The NYPD _____.
…were pretty fantastic when my apartment was robbed. About 20 cops showed up and they were really great while I was freaking out.

What do you hate most about living in New York?
I hate that David Letterman is leaving.

If you could banish one person from New York forever, who would it be?
I’d banish the rats.

Times, Post, or Daily News?
Times.

Where do you go to be alone?
The bath if my kids don’t get in with me.

What makes someone a New Yorker?
Being irritable. Also you know which subway to take.

Amanda Peet Once Almost Burned Down a Restaurant