What Andrew Rannells Can’t Live Without

I drink a lot of seltzer and can’t remember a time without my Sodastream. Everyone says, “Drink so much water a day.” I try and I try, but it’s hard to do, right? It’s hard to force yourself, so I trick myself with the bubbles. I do not put flavors in it. I just go straight water. I try to drink at least four of the canisters. So what is that, like, four liters? That’s a fair amount, yes?

I started using them on the set ofBlack Monday. You can’t use them too often, just once or twice a day, but they do really make the whites of your eyes very white. It’s just a dumb thing that, like, does anyone notice? Probably not. But they always make me feel a bit better and more awake. I keep them in my Dopp kit, or I make sure that if I’m working on a TV show or movie that the hair-and-makeup people have them. I think a lot of actors use them now.

I found them, again, on a set. A groomer I was working with had them, and I just really like them because they cover your under-eye area and then they also do your eyelids. If I’m being honest, they’re a bit hard to put on. It’s that weird jelly-eye-mask material, whatever that is that we’re all putting on our faces these days. It takes a bit of patience, but then when you get them on, it’s great. If you’re working very early in the morning, which oftentimes you have to do on a TV show, it just takes down the puffiness. I don’t drink alcohol anymore and I try to cut out as much extra sodium as possible, but Jesus, as you get older. Sometimes you still wake up and you’re like,I look rough. So these just help a bit with smoothing things out and de-puffing.

I live with my partner, Tuc Watkins, and his 13-year-old kids. It turns out, kids need to eat every day. It’s very tiresome to answer the question “What are we making for dinner tonight?” But it is sort of a fun challenge. Tuc and I really enjoy cooking, and we use the New YorkTimescooking app a lot just to find good one-pot dinner ideas. A lot of them involve a Dutch oven. Le Creusets are incredible, and I gotta say, they’re also very pretty. If you leave it out on your stove, it doesn’t look like you just left a pot out.

This vacuum has a weird blue light on the front of it, and it shows you where the dust is. It’s very upsetting because you realize how dirty your floors are. I recommend it — but also brace yourself. We have our kids and then a dog named Archie, who’s a Border collie and sheds constantly, so we’re just constantly vacuuming up Archie. There’s a lot going on in that house, but that vacuum and the fact that it’s cordless is a real game changer because then you can just wheel it anywhere. I get such pleasure out of using that thing, because I’m like,Well, this house is filthy.It looks fine, but then that light comes on and you’re like,Oh my God, it’s so dirty.

I was sitting next to a guy on a plane who was wearing Santal. That’s the entry-level Le Labo. I was like, “What are you wearing?” And he told me, and then I went into the store, and then this nice person who worked at Le Labo was like, “Why don’t you try this one?” So I did, and I’ve been wearing it for ten years. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s kind of smoky. It’s pretty subtle, and I always get a lot of compliments on it. You try not to overwear cologne or you don’t want that to be the thing that leads, obviously. But this is a nice one, because it sits pretty calmly with you and it doesn’t overpower the room. You don’t want to be that guy who reeks of cologne.

My parents had a record player, so I grew up with records in the house. It just feels like you have to make a deliberate choice to put a record on a record player, and then also make the choice to turn it over, and also make the choice to put another record on, so you really have to be thoughtful about it. This is a very basic record player, and it makes my home feel like more of a home. It’s probably from my parents that I get that, but I love it. Not to be like a nerd about it, but it’s just a different sound. I listen to mostly classic ’50s and ’60s singers. We listen to a lot of Blossom Dearie and Beverly Kenney, like old-school female singers of that time who sing standards, much to our kids’ horror. They want to listen to Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, and I’m playing Jeri Southern, who is from the ’50s. But I think they appreciate it on some level.

I love a chore. Even before having kids and the dog, I liked a chore. Dusting is something that you can do if you’re on the phone or if you’re listening to music or watching a television show that you’re not actually that interested in. I tried, for a while, to use a traditional feather duster, but that just blows shit around. The Swiffer ones trap the dirt. It actually sucks it in, so it’s more helpful. I’m trying to get my kids to enjoy it. And guess what? They don’t. I’m like, “Look, it’s so satisfying.” They don’t get it. One of my chores when I was a kid was dusting, so I guess that’s a thing that I got from my mom.

I started my career on HBO withGirls, and I’ve always felt like HBO was the gold standard of television. WhenSex and the CityandOzandThe Sopranosand all of that was coming out, HBO was the place to be. Then I found myself on a show on HBO. I just think that they make really incredible television. I thinkMiss You, Love Youis such a great example of the kind of risks they’re willing to take. Not thatMiss You, Love Youis a risk, but it’s a really quiet movie. It’s just Allison Janney and me chatting about grief and feelings and processing how hard it is to lose someone. Those types of movies are not really made much anymore. It feels a bit like a throwback to indie movies of the ’80s and ’90s, where people are just talking and it’s just about processing a story. HBO recognized that, and they saw it, and they said,I think we are the right home for this.