- And I am here now with Grey's Anatomy star Kim Raver. Fans know her as Dr. Teddy Altman on the hit show. Tonight's new episode is especially exciting for her. We're going to chat about that in just a bit. First, here's an exclusive clip - OK, Leo's art class switched to Fridays at 5:00, but that's when the departments are supposed to turn in their funding requests. So I'm just going to need-- here, baby-- I'm just going to, um, I'm just going to need to do all of that at the nurse's station naked with streamers. - Hmm? - What is naked with streamers? - You know what? I will take the kids. You go save lives unsupervised. - There she is. So Teddy really taking center stage, here. Kim, it's great to have you on the show, by the way. - Thank you. - So how do you feel about this new role that she's taking on, now chief of surgery? - Well, it was really a wonderful thing for me because I also directed this episode. So to be sort of the first episode where Teddy is chief of surgery-- I was running around the hospital with a prop, a walkie talkie, and then, also, me as director with the other real walkie talkie. So it was a real thrill to kind of be able to go in front of the camera and behind the camera, and to have Teddy have this whole new role for her to explore and tell those stories. WHIT JOHNSON: Wearing all the hats at once. - Yeah, really. - We're going to talk more about your directorial debut in just a bit. But first, we have to say happy birthday-- - Aww-- - --because I understand a big birthday celebration. Most people don't like to go to work on their birthday, but you did. You went right in. Why is that? - Yeah, well, I mean, first of all, I had about seven scenes that day. So, you know, I got so close with the crew, not just from all the years of being on there, but I think, also, when you're directing, you're so dependent on your crew to execute your vision. And it's really become a family. We spend so many hours together. And so, it was just sweet. They sang happy birthday. And there was a cake. And then we did a table read. And we did that on Zoom. And then they sang happy birthday again. And so it was sort of an all-day celebration. It was fantastic. WHIT JOHNSON: So it didn't feel like work, getting a little celebration in there too. - No, and it was-- and, you know, and we're such a tight group. And we had this scene-- I think there was about five scenes in the conference room. So we were in there all together all day, and it was-- [CHUCKLES] we had a lot of laughs. - Speaking of the tight group, the family atmosphere, I understand as your directorial debut was playing out, your castmates, your crewmates were out there, and they had some special hats? I think we have pictures of this. - Oh-- - What was that about? KIM RAVER: --yeah, because I-- WHIT JOHNSON: Supporting you? KIM RAVER: --so that hat, I wore-- it sort of became my lucky hat. My father used to wear a hat all of the time. And so I wore it to set every day while I was directing. And then-- oh, yeah, that's a photo-- the whole crew came on my last day of filming, and they all wore hats. [LAUGHS] That was us taking a picture in the last scene, last day of me filming. WHIT JOHNSON: Love that, everybody cheering you on. - Yeah. - Let's talk about this episode tonight because Grey's Anatomy, historically, not afraid to wade into hot button issues and topics that are heavily debated across the country. What can we expect tonight? - Tonight is a really, really exciting-- you know, I wasn't sure what kind of episode I was going to get for my first episode to direct. It's such a huge episode. And Kate Walsh comes back. And we have a couple of stunts. I mean, the-- you're not going to want to miss tonight's episode. And the story-- we really address a really important topic. And I think it's important that we can tell that story so that then the audience can discuss it, and we can come to a better place on where we move forward through these kind of topics that are happening in life. And I think Shondaland has always been incredible, where they're not afraid to address these topics. And there's some great stories with the interns. And it-- for me to be able to do several stunts-- there's a song in it, which, also-- and it's-- WHIT JOHNSON: And you're singing? - I'm not singing. - OK. - I was behind the camera on that one, which was-- which is a good thing. [LAUGHS] So there is a lot of twists and turns, and a really sort of big cliffhanger at the end. WHIT JOHNSON: Twists and turns, cliffhangers, stunts, and song-- we're looking forward to all of it. Kim, thank you so much for coming by. - Thank you so much for having me. WHIT JOHNSON: We truly appreciate it. Best of luck with everything. Of course, you can watch that new episode of Grey's Anatomy tonight, 9:00/8:00 Central right here on ABC.