To television viewers, Kat Dennings is probably best known for playing down-on-her-luck characters — first in a six-season run as Max Black on the CBS sitcom “Two Broke Girls,” and, more recently, as Tim Allen’s estranged-but-reunited daughter on ABC’s “Shifting Gears,” which aired its first-season finale earlier this month (all episodes are available for streaming on Hulu).
But to hear her tell it, there’s hardly a down-on-your-luck aspect of her real-life ideal Sunday itinerary, which starts with double belly rubs for her two cats, ends with drifting off to “Columbo” and includes an eclectic lineup of museums, rare-book-browsing and dinner prepared to the strains of live piano music (by musician husband Andrew W.K.) in between.
After she described her ideal day, I asked Dennings which current co-star might make the best Sunday wingman. She answered without hesitation.
“I’d force Tim Allen to take me around town and see what he does on a Sunday,” she said. “I feel like he probably just tinkers with his beautiful vintage car collection. But who knows. Maybe he does goat yoga. He’s really a bloomin’ onion of man. There are so many sides to him and so many layers.”
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
10 a.m.: Cuddle with the cats
Usually my little “soup cats” [Lentil and Barley] will wake me up and I’ll do our adorable morning routine: They’ll both roll over on their backs, and I’ll do a double belly rub and cuddles. It’s the best [because] they’re so affectionate. Then I’ll feed them and wash their dishes. I got them through a cat rescue called Tail Town Cats in Pasadena; it has a cat cafe where you can sit in a room and just get covered in cats. It’s literally the best thing ever. And they’re open on Sundays, so that could be something to do.
10:30 a.m.: Down some decaf
I actually stopped drinking caffeine — much to my chagrin — for my anxiety issue, so I’ll make myself a little pot of decaf. I’ve got a Moccamaster which is a fantastic coffee maker that’s so easy to use. My best friend Brenda Song suggested it to me, and she’s very type A and always researches everything, so I know that if she suggests something, it’s the best one.
[Coffeewise] I like Peet’s Major Dickason’s [Blend] decaf and their French Roast [decaf] is also really good. So by 10:30 [a.m.] I’m having my sad decaf coffee … I’ll put a little oat milk in there with a little maple syrup. It tastes really good.
11 a.m.: Go for the garden
My favorite thing to do on a cold morning is to take my coffee out to the garden — I’m a big gardener — and look at my tomato plants and do any of the little things that need to be done: weeding, staking up the plants, clipping any leaves at the bottom of the plant. And, if I’m feeling really indulgent, I’ll put on an audiobook while I garden. A great audiobook for for gardening — a great one period — is “Howl’s Moving Castle” [by Diana Wynne Jones]. I recommend it for anybody doing anything.
Noon: Jet over to the Museum of Jurassic Technology
Then my husband and I will get ready for the day and decide where we want to go to do something fun. One option would be the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. But my favorite place in [the] Los Angeles [area] is the Museum of Jurassic Technology [in Culver City].
It’s a museum but it’s an oddity; it’s kind of science-based, but there’s also folklore stuff in there. It’s best if you take someone without telling them what it is, and then it just sort of blows their mind when they get there. I’m always filled with childlike wonder, even though I’ve been there a million times by now.
You go [through the museum] from the bottom [floor] to the top [floor], and at the top there’s a tea room with this big brass samovar. And this lady — usually it’s a lady — gives you a little cup of literally the best-tasting, scalding-hot tea you’ve ever had in your life along with this little plate of almond cookies. To make it even more amazing, there’s an aviary there where you can take your tea and sit and look at these birds in this fairy-tale environment.
2 p.m.: Find some fusilli
My husband and I don’t really eat in the morning so by now we’d probably be super hungry. We’d head to whichever Jon and Vinny’s location we’re closest to at the time. I’m a big fan of their spicy fusilli. I could tear down an entire plate of pasta with no problem. So I’d probably do that.
3 p.m.: Browse some mind-blowing books
If I’m feeling really luxurious I’ll head to Mystery Pier Books, Inc. just off Sunset [Boulevard in West Hollywood] near Book Soup. It’s very hidden and not a typical bookstore. It’s a collection of books owned by these two fantastic men who are just the most knowledgeable ever, and they have first editions and things like that. It’s not affordable — I’ve never bought anything more than a tote bag — but if you had a spare $30,000 you could buy a first edition of something with a letter from Einstein in the front of it. They have things that are just mind-blowing.
4 p.m.: Grab some groceries
If it’s a typical weekend, I would have planned a recipe I want to make for dinner, so I’d go to Gelson’s and pick up ingredients for that or something to barbecue, depending on the season. The last recipe I made that was worthy of printing out and putting in my recipe box was the Creamy Italian Sausage Soup from Salt & Lavender.
I do love to grocery shop, so I can really kill some time in [Gelson’s]. My favorite is probably the fresh produce section. I’m a real stickler [for perfectly ripe fruit], so I’ll just touch all the melons like a [strange] person.
5:30 p.m.: Some supper-prep piano
When we get home I’ll start [working on preparing] dinner, and my husband will probably play piano for a couple of hours because he is a real-deal pianist and plays for hours every day. It’s really amazing to hear Bach being exquisitely played in another room; I’m very spoiled by that. And then I usually like to have dinner ready around 7:30 p.m.
8:30 p.m.: Peddle on the Peloton
If I’m really being motivated — which I normally am not — I’ll get on the Peloton [bike] for a 30-minute class. Or, depending on how the day went, maybe I would have done it earlier. My favorite instructor is Christine D’Ercole, who’s just absolutely the best. She’s a champion bicyclist. I don’t [typically] do well with extreme-positivity workouts, and she’s positive, but it’s also a very emotional experience. I’ve cried in those classes.
9 p.m.: Learn lines
Then, if I’m working the next day, I’ll immediately get in bed and obsessively learn my lines for the next day. After I do that for about two hours, my husband will run lines with me doing all the voices of everybody else. He does a good Tim Allen impression and he does a great Seann William Scott impression that I know Seann is just dying to hear — which he will one day.
11 p.m.: Catch some “Columbo”
The nicest thing that kind of lulls me to sleep is when my husband is watching TV and I fall asleep to him doing that. “Columbo” is our favorite show. If I didn’t fall asleep to that, I might try to be heroic and read a physical book. I just started reading “So Thirsty” by Rachel Harrison. I’m only five pages in but I already love it.
