I know I should be watching the “cool” shows but I’m still watching The Good Wife. In my defense, last season was really good and they have excellent guest stars. Alan Cumming was just supposed to be a one-episode guest star in the first season and he was so good and had so much sparkle that they asked him to join the cast permanently. And so now this lovely bisexual Scotsman is playing a Chicago “fixer” on an American network drama. Bizarre, but lovely. Alan really works well on the show too – he’s one of my favorite parts. So, to promote the new season of The Good Wife (the season premiere is next Sunday), Alan did Us Weekly’s “25 Things You Don’t Know About…” feature. There is new information!
1. I am not American. I just play one on TV.
2. I was the voice of Black Beauty and I am the voice of Gusty Smurf.
3. I’m vegan.
4. My first job was writing horoscopes for a Scottish newspaper.
5. I hate melon.
6. I am really good at cooking for large groups of people.
7. I did a sponsored walk along the Great Wall of China for amfAR.
8. I don’t have a middle name.
9. I’ve been married to a woman and now I’m married to a man.
10. I recently sang a duet with Beth Ditto of Gossip.
11. I am pretty nifty with a chain saw.
12. I once danced with Walter Cronkite.
13. I speak French.
14. I’m in favor of Scotland becoming independent.
15. I’ve never seen Grease.
16. I had someone’s name tattooed on my body two weeks after we met.
17. My dog, Honey, can do impersonations of Andy Warhol, Halle Berry, Carol Channing and Mary J. Blige, all while wearing the same wig.
18. My absolute favorite drink is a vodka martini.
19. I was in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, but I’ve never been to a reunion.
20. I used to think Martha Stewart owned Martha’s Vineyard.
21. I’ve been stranded on a desert island. (Only for 45 minutes and only because my drunk friends thought I was below deck on the yacht we were sailing on, but nonetheless.)
22. Last year, I had an exhibition of photographs called “Alan Cumming Snaps.”
23. I was knocked out by a deer.
24. I am a doctor. (I have an honorary arts doctorate, but I can still take your pulse.)
25. I was once escorted off a plane by the FBI.
I would like to know more about #11 – what is he doing with a chainsaw?! #13 – please speak French to me, Alan. They need to write that storyline into The Good Wife: Eli Gold speaks French! They had an episode last season where Christine Baranski spoke fluent French, so they could do it again. I also want to know more about #14 – Alan wants Scotland to become a republic? Is that what Scottish independence means? That Scotland will no longer “belong” to the Queen? I would also LOVE to hear the story about Alan being escorted off a plane by the FBI. I bet that’s a great story.
PS… Alan’s on Twitter and he posts a lot of lovely photos too – one of my favorite pics is one where he’s phone-banking for Bill de Blasio. Can you imagine Alan Cumming calling you up and asking you to vote a certain way?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Best list ever. I laughed out loud at 20 and need a youtube of 17. What exactly does a Halle Berry impersonation look like . . . . I need to know.
Brilliant! Well done.
The best is the Martha Stewart one. Fell over laughing at that one!
He has been my fantasy BFF for years!!! Love him 🙂
Love him! I’m pretty sure he’s the only reason I still make sure I see the show.
I used to think Cervantes wrote about a donkey called Ote. I didn’t make that up.
I LOVE Alan. He’s a proper gobshite. He did a fantastic drag queen turn in a Martina Cole dramatisation that I’m not sure made it onto US TV.
I’m still watching The Good Wife too. Alan Cumming is my favourite part!!
It is one of the few last really awesomely written shows (with some sporadic but noticeable slips).
Certainly worth watching, and I cannot wait for this season!
I wanna know what Alicia will do with her career and her love life! I want Eli to have some stroke of genius and solve some really intricate problem! Speaking of genius… will Elzbeth Tascioni face The Captain again??? And what about Sweeney, and Cunning, and Diane, and Will, and the new blonde investigator girl and Kalinda (did she or did she not kill her husband?)??
I’m really excited. Totally fangirling this show.
There’s a referendum on Scottish independence coming up which is probably why he mentioned it.
Personally, I don’t think Scotland will get independence, and I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea. I always get the feeling that Alex Salmond really hasn’t thought this through and is just getting too big for his boots and carried away with the thought of power.
Back on topic, I had no idea he was a doctor!
He has a honorary doctorate which means nothing.
I love him.
*sigh*
My mistake. Where the sodding hell is my coffee this morning? . . . Oh God, it’s the afternoon here!
In my defence, I spent the better part of last night in Camden for what will likely be one of my last nights out before my MA starts.
Bye bye, free time. Bye bye, random ramblings on CB.
I know how you feel. Summer, I’ll miss you.
Nooooooooooooo!!!! Not no more ramblings!
And I love Alan Cumming. He could babble unintelligible syllables and I’d still watch. 🙂
I am fascinated that he doesn’t like melon. Well, fascinated may be too strong a word.
I want to hear the dancing with Walter Cronkite story.
love Alan, he’s a huge part of why I watch that show.
I don’t understand why everyone’s always putting The Good Wife down (even the ones who watch it), it’s a great show and one of the few with a variety of strong, complex female characters. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why…
I LOVE Alan Cumming and this list just made me love him more. So funny and charming.
No need for a defense- The Good Wife is awesome! It is a female led show in every sense of the phrase and I love that. The female characters are complex and interesting yet the male characters get depth too. No shade coming from here!
I love Alan Cumming. I read a lot of these lists just out of curiousity’s sake but this is the first one I ever laughed out loud at. Does he write? Because his pacing with the funny points was perfect.
He does write. He wrote a novel titled, “Tommy’s Tale.” Been a fan of his ever since.
#14: there is to be a vote in September 2014 on Scotland becoming an independent country (not part of the UK, but still with the Queen as head of state, like Canada…)
Scotland already runs most of its own affairs like health, education… but doesn’t have control of its own finances and would like to give its people the chance to vote on whether they would like to become a fully independent country. I’m in favour. The current first minister is not a likeable character but this is a much bigger issue and we can vote in whoever we like afterwards (I’m Scottish btw)
Also LOVE Alan Cumming (saw him play Macbeth recently on stage and he was wonderful) and The Good Wife… Archie Panjabi is fantastic 🙂
If I were Scottish I’d be in favor too. Who wouldn’t want to control their own destiny?
I saw on DM yesterday some people are rebuilding Hadrian’s Wall just in case. 🙂
OMG…he is so CUTE!!!! I want to know more about the FBI story too.
Unfitty unf unf unf.
“23. I was knocked out by a deer.”
What the WHAT?
That may be the best 25 things ever. He’s pretty great.
I love the Good Wife – don’t care for the Alicia/Peter stuff so much, but the supporting characters are fantastic.
I went to Scotland this year and LOVED it. I remember some discussion about the independence vote – if it goes that way, I hope it works out well.
ok, he is awesome, I love that he had a name tattooed on himself 2 weeks after he met the person, I would totally do that.
HOWEVER! People with honorary doctorates are not freaking doctors! Huge pet peeve.
I think he is just great. Nice list (and what about that FBI thing?
Love my fellow Scot!
I like Alan Cummings and I see him every week because he introduces Masterpiece Theatre. I had no clue he was on The Good Wife because I’ve never seen the show. I think I might go to Netflix and see if they have the earlier episodes. I really should pay more attention to TV shows. I can’t believe I’ve missed him for all this time.
20. I used to think Martha Stewart owned Martha’s Vineyard.
That’s so funny and I can see how that could happen. Also, I hate that he hates melon. I love melon.
And I didn’t know he was hosting MT now. Obviously haven’t watched in a while.
Love this man, so talented and honest.
The chainsaw thing – I’m sure I remember reading somewhere that he had a very strict father who made Alan and his brother work as children, stuff like getting up in the dark to work on the land, cutting up firewood, that sort of thing. I don’t know if that’s part of it. It’s kind of a sad story, actually.
Also, I just love him, and I love that he’s such a star now. So awesome.
Oh, I love Alan, he’s such an interesting actor. The roles he takes are always unexpected and he nails all of them.
Damn straight Scottish independence-Scotland the Brave! And when they’re looking for more people to populate it, I’ll be in line!
Because it’s an entire nation of Ewan clones in kilts? No, seriously, do I need to move there stat?
First, I love Alan Cumming almost as much as I love John Oliver (and if you haven’t figured out my type yet, you’re just not trying). Second, my mom has been telling me for years to watch the Good Wife, but I can’t get the entire series on demand and Netflix doesn’t have it. What gives? What are my options for starting from the beginning (other than buying each episode from Amazon)?