Lennon and Jessica met while taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where they not only developed their comedic skills but also took to heart the lesson that you don’t wait for somebody to give you a job in comedy — you make it yourself. When they got their chance, the two ladies wanted to make something that they felt their friends would find funny – and have been grateful for their support as BFF has suffered from less-than-stellar ratings.

The final two episodes of their six-episode run air tonight (Friday, June 1^st) at 8pm/7c on NBC. The ladies talk about the show, their fans and why you shouldn’t wear your yoga pants all the time.

The last few episodes of BFF are airing Friday, June 1^st. What is your plan?

Jessica: Lennon and I are hosting a very BFF lazy Sunday dinner actually. It’s a very ding-dong hello type of dinner. Lennon — I picked up some colored, some Chinese lanterns for your porch.

Lennon: Excellent. So far only seven people have responded yes. [laughs]

Jessica: Well, I told Fred Savage of The Wonder Years, who is our director, that if he doesn’t show up we’re never speaking to him again, and so he will be there at the very least.

That’s a very good, proper threat.

Lennon: Well, at least he’d RSVP though, so I know how much chicken to get. [laughs]

Is he known for eating a lot of chicken, that Fred Savage?

Lennon: Oh, he stuffs his face, always.

Jessica: It’s true. We have to tell him – we tell him all the time that nobody wants a fat director. We have him on a very strict diet when he’s working for us.

Lennon: He likes those little mini candy bars. It’s very cute.

The miniatures are great because you can rationalize that you’re just having one small thing — and when you when you eat five, you can rationalize that they’re not as big as the regular ones.

Lennon: I know. You get a little taste of everything. Mr. Goodbar, Hershey’s, Nestle Crunch.

Jessica: I just think it’s a mixture of things that aren’t in production anymore. Like, have you seen a full-sized Mr. Goodbar?

You two need to obviously have a website where you just explain how to plan the perfect party.

Jessica: Done and done. Done and done. And we’re going to write a movie. I mean this BFF, this is a revolution, you know? It’s in stages.

Were you surprised at the reaction of people about BFF?

Lennon: I was 100 percent surprised. I didn’t know that people knew about it, you know? We kind of couldn’t help ourselves because we were so touched. Someone tweeted at us that she had lost her best friend six years ago, and for 30 minutes she felt close to her again. That really intense, personal stuff.

That’s in addition to everybody including the show and sharing their outrage when [it went on hiatus]– it was phenomenal.

Jessica: Yeah. They were so cute. Even now, the show obviously hasn’t been on the air for a month, but people are writing us, like, “I quoted BFF in my maid of honor speech because the two of us love your show so much.”

What I think touched us the most about it was that people said it really reminded them of them and their best friend, and that they would watch it together. In this age, you’re not often living in the same city as your best friend because those relationships were formed in college, or in high school even, so they would watch it on Skype together.

Wow.

Jessica: I know! When Lennon and I set out to write the show, all we wanted was to write a show that really spoke to best friends, that spoke to that relationship. So the fact that people were actually getting that made us feel like we had done our job.

I do feel like BFF is incredibly reflective of lady best friend relationships, and how ladies talk. The “Oh, I’ve got a rash on my butt” part alone — you don’t necessarily want everyone else to hear that, but you’re going to tell your friend that because that’s the situation.

Lennon: You want to know what’s causing it, and if she has any suggestions. Maybe it’s the new mesh panties you bought on sale.

Jessica: This is a terrible piece of information to share, but I just recently went to my dermatologist and she said, “Hey, thanks for the shout-out — you know, about your butt rash. I really appreciate it.” [Laughs]

I had to show Lennon my butt rash. I didn’t know what was going on and I needed a second opinion, and I certainly wasn’t going to get my husband involved. So in our little office, I had to show it to her. That’s real.

Lennon: It was a simple solution. She just was wearing her yoga pants for too long. [laughs] She would work out and then she would let the sweat dry on her skin, but in between her butt crack it continued to be moist.

Jessica: All right, Lennon. All right.

But here’s my question: How did you, Lennon, know that this was the problem?

Lennon: Because I spend every single day with her for eight hours a day and she was always wearing yoga pants.

We were trying to keep it tight, we would work out in the morning. I would change, and then she would show up at my house straight from the gym in her yoga attire.

Jessica: Mistakes were made. This is the kind of sacrifice that we made for the show and I want people to know it.

And we appreciate it. We really, really do appreciate it. Some writers say that they put their their blood, sweat, and tears into their scripts — and you really did for us.

Lennon: We did.

Jessica: We really did. And we were so happy to because when I still watch TV — I’m not ever like any of these women on television. I’m just not.

Even Sex and the City, that I loved so much — those women, they’re not living my life either. So [we said,] let’s just give it a shot. We’ll actually show what we really do and how we really behave and we’ll see if there’s anybody out there like us. And you know what? There’s a lot of nerdy girls out there who are parading around like normal women and they’re not. And they just feel left alone in the world.

Speaking of the nerdy girls — you’ve been so responsive to your fan base, especially on Twitter. Was that something that you set out to do?

Jessica: Everybody on Twitter who we talked to, I would like to hang out with! There’s just not one creepy person. I would like to really have a party and have everybody come and watch the last two episodes because you people all are exactly the type of people that we would be friends with.

Lennon: I felt like that was an unusual thing to me because I’ve heard most people are like, “Oh yeah, 90 percent of the feedback I get is like ‘you suck, go suck a dick.’” There’s maybe been one person that has said something rude to either one of us. I think everyone that watches our show, the people that get it, are smart, intelligent, calm people that are secret weirdos, you know?

Jessica: There was one guy who is obsessed with women wearing pantyhose on talk shows — really thinks that pantyhose should be worn, and so he said something weird about me not wearing pantyhose. Within seconds all of our Twitter followers jumped on him. (laughs)

So you inadvertently picked up a little gang, really.

Jessica: We did! And we want them to follow us to our next whatever, whether it’s BFF continuing, which is what we’re pursuing right now, or if it’s our next thing; we feel like we’ll always have them and that’s such a nice feeling we didn’t have before the show.

We’d all love to see more BFF — where are you looking to pursue the show in other venues?

Lennon: We’re trying to cover everything, honestly. To have it live on somewhere else — we’re looking at every single possible potential action to continue the story of these characters, so we’re sort of in the middle of that right now.

Jessica: We’re really heavily pursuing cable. To be honest, our show is more like a British show in that, even though we only had six episodes, it feels very complete. Cable would really be nice for us because [we could] do 12 and take a break, and then another 12. Lennon and I could write [the episodes] and then shoot them, and then be in the edit room because we really like – to raise Lennon’s point that I wish she never coined – “our fingers in every batch.”

I’m sorry, what in every batch?

Lennon: Fingers.

Jessica: In every episode, Lennon says we really have our fingers in every batch. First she started saying it and now I’m saying it.

Lennon: I almost got it into a script. I almost got Rav to say it in the pilot episode.

I’m trying to coin multiple phrases. I also like the word jamming, or jammers, so I’ve been trying to get jam in every episode. So even if we don’t write it, I’ll improvise something with jams in it.

Jessica: In episode two, [she was supposed to say,] “You know how Jessica likes to help people out of a situation?” She just kept saying, “You know how Jessica likes to help people out of a jam?”

Which nobody says, right? When we get into the edit room I realize that she’s only thing she says, so we have no choice [to leave it in] because that’s a plot point.

I have to agree that I’ve heard people say, “Get people out of a jam,” so I do stick up for the jam in that aspect.

Jessica: When would you say it? Were you in the 1800s when that was being said to you? [laughs]

Lennon: That was a phrase I’ve been trying to say. I don’t know who you’re talking to, but that is a phrase that people use: “Jam, get you out of a jam.”

I really wanted the phrase, “Jimmy jamming around. You’ve got to quit jimmy jamming around. You’ve got to get out of here.” Like that.

Jessica: Enough!

That one’s pushing it. “Jimmy jamming around” is definitely pushing it.

Lennon: Yeah. And that’s why it’s not in our show.

A lot of people obviously love Queenetta (Daija Owens), more commonly known as Q. One of you said that she was like the Greek chorus, which is just absolutely perfect. I think everyone has that little Greek chorus in their life, although it’s often a very flamboyant gay male.

Jessica: That’s interesting because the gay men have really rallied around Queenetta, and I think that’s because she is like a miniature gay man.

She totally is!

Jessica: I never thought of it that way. That’s a great way to put it because she’s always telling you, you need to lose a few and get rid of those pants and stop acting like that and tighten it up, and it’s true. [laughs]

Lennon: I think since we live in Los Angeles, we sort of have to seek that guidance out. Because Brooklyn would tell you if your outfit was ugly, you know what I mean? Like, everyone from the muffin lady to the deli guy, to the person you’re sitting next to on the subway, would let you know if something that you were wearing was inappropriate, you know?

In LA you could be out and about for hours at a time and not know that your skirt is tucked into your underwear or something. Those people are in their own world, they’re not engaging, you know?

Do you think you could set a show like this in LA? Like, I think it definitely has a very New York sensibility to it.

Jessica: A lot of people said that it would be a lot easier if [we] set this in LA. And we never for a second heard it because it’s a kind of homey neighborhood where everybody’s character is really true. As much as we made it a little more, Gilmore Girls than it probably is, it’s really very true to what living in the neighborhood in Brooklyn or Manhattan is like. You get to know everyone in your six-block radius and you sort of recognize. For Lennon and I, our formative years were in New York: Lennon lived in Brooklyn and then I was in Manhattan. We think so fondly of that time – it’s really nice for us while we’re baking in the LA sun to remember those things in New York.

It was so much fun to shoot in New York. Everyone in Cobble Hill where we shot — they were so cute. In LA, everyone’s annoyed that we’re shooting, but in New York, everyone’s like, “Now what’s this program? Oh my god, I love it. You girls are so cute.” You know what I mean? [laughs] “Welcome to the neighborhood, girls.” So we loved it. We had so much fun.

I find that even the jaded New Yorkers who see Law and Order shoot like 6,000 times all the time, you see the little, “Oh, somebody’s shooting over here. Who’s it going to be?” And that’s kind of neat. As cynical as we can possibly be out here, I don’t think that New York has lost kind of the excitement of watching creativity take place and supporting it.

Jessica: And everyone in New York has such a good sense of humor. That’s the truth right there. From the six-year-old girls to the Italian deli guy, everyone’s got a sense of irony and sarcasm that you just do not get in LA. Mike Starr played our butcher, Angelo — he’s been in every Goodfellas, every mob movie, because he has that New York way. It was so easy to write those characters for us because we loved them all so much.

Lennon: I had such an intimate relationship with my deli guy that when I told him I was moving to Los Angeles, he was struck down. He said, “Wait, but when are you coming back?” I said, “No, I’m leaving. I’m moving.” And he asked, “But just for a little while, right?” And I said “No. I’m going. I’m moving.”

I remember coming here and like sort of seeking that out, you know? At Intelligentsia or something, I would ask, “Tell me about this coffee” and they would be like, “Fuck you, man. It’s coffee. You wouldn’t even understand it if I did explain it.” You know? That kind of attitude. I gave up. Decided to just write about it.

I was really excited to read an interview where you mentioned that another New York-based show, Kate and Allie was such an influence for you. I loved them and that was kind of my image of what awesome ladies could be when they got older. They were friends, and they had their own lives, and they did the things that made them happy — they fought, but they were friends for so many years, and they just loved each other.

Jessica: Golden Girls did the same thing. Even though Rose Nylund was always driving Dorothy crazy, at the end of the day they all had each other’s back. Whatever Lennon and I write, whether it’s BFF or anything else, it will always be about love because that’s what we all do. No one hangs out with someone they hate, you know what I’m saying? Not in your thirties. [Laughs]

Lennon: You might in your twenties, but you learn the hard way that that’s not going to get you anywhere. Even if you think that you should be hanging out with them for such and such reason, at the end of the day nobody wants that in their thirties.

Supergirly question — here do you get most of the clothes on your show? Because everyone just absolutely loves the styling on your show.

Lennon: It’s sort of all over the place. I was attempting to do on our Best Friends Forever Pinterest page I was trying to upload photos of us and then where we got the shirt, or where we got the jeans, or what kind of shoes there were, so I think I did that for the first and maybe the second episodes. Maybe I can keep doing that.

Jessica: We try to get clothes that are close to how we try to dress, but better. We hired this fabulous French [costume designer] – she’s the sexiest woman we’ve ever met. Her name is Florence-Isabelle Megginson. We literally hired her because she’s so sexy and we said, “We definitely like you.” She was like, “O-kay.”

But we tried with our clothes to make them not look like TV clothes. You know like how most shows, their accessories are crazy and they’re different for everything? We tried to wear the same purses, and sometimes we re-wear things because we wanted it to really feel like our closet, you know?

Lennon: We would definitely re-wear jeans and shoes and jewelry, and usually the tops were all different every time. I did a bunch of Madewell and Brooklyn industry stuff. And sometimes Marc by Marc Jacob when I can find it on sale. [laughs] I wore French Connection. And then Jessica was a lot of Paige denim jeans.

Jessica: Yes, and a lot of Splendid tops. And a lot of shoes were from our closet.

We had this awesome awesome tailor. For the cougar ball, it was a Dolce and Gabbana dress that we bought and then remade it.

Lennon: We had expensive taste that we had to really fake.

Jessica, you had mentioned that you are a big fan of Anne of Green Gables — would you have planned an Anne of Green Gables-themed party for season two?

Jessica: Okay. Amy, I will tell you this: Lennon and I hosted an Anne of Green Gables olden days Christmas party, and that was in real life. I was the hit of the social season. I made gingerbread, Lennon made her wassail. Is that correct, Lennon? Am I saying it right?

Lennon: Yeah. You are allowed to say that.

Jessica: All right. And then we screened all of the holiday seasons from the entire series. Now, the weirdest thing about Anne of Green Gables is that there are about 12 comedians who you would recognize who are obsessed with Anne of Green Gables as well. They all came over and we did all of these olden days activities. My husband was like, “I am leaving the house. I may never come back.” It was the weirdest thing.

June Raphael, who is this fabulous comedienne – she’s married to Paul Scheer. She shows up in this bizarre outfit that by accident ended up making her look like one of the sister wives. We didn’t say come in costume, mind you. She was going for an olden thing – she wore like a ruffled blouse with like a ruffled long skirt. But yes, we would have absolutely had an Anne of Green Gables. What I would have done would be one of their old-fashioned ice cream socials. That’s what I would have hosted.

Oh, that sounds delightful! And I’d have to say in real life, how did the two of you decide that you really needed to do an Anne of Green Gables party?

Jessica: We got lost in that moment, to be honest with you.

Lennon: I think there was a time frame when Jessica and I were really learning about each other, and when we found out that we were both obsessed with Anne of Green Gables it was like hours later that we stopped talking about it. So we were like, “Oh, this is something that we’re going to have to delve into in a real way.”

Jessica: Lennon, wouldn’t you say it was almost like our coming out party? Like our debutante ball for this is who we are, you know, as adults?

Lennon: Yeah, if you want to think about it that way. [laughs] That’s fine.

I think Jessica appears to be such a put-together normal woman on the surface, and then underneath she’s just as fucked up as the rest of us. But I feel like I’m just super fucked up on the surface already, so I spent half an hour designing a gingerbread man at that party, speaking to no one. Just really getting into making a little yellow bikini on my gingerbread man, which then garnered everyone’s respect. But I wasn’t being a social person — I didn’t apologize for that, and everybody left me alone because they know that I’m weird like that.

Jessica: The other thing is, this was actually the second Anne of Green Gables party I had. The first one I ever had, we had a quiz with very difficult questions. I didn’t expect anybody to get them all right, okay? Well, we had a sudden death situation. We had two people that got 100 on the quiz, and so I had to go into a sudden death round.

June unfortunately lost on the question, “What did Gilbert’s bride almost die of?” Now, that’s scarlet fever, but she went with the croup, and she lost. And it was embarrassing for her, and she’s going to be embarrassed that it’s in print. That’s what happens. [laughs]

Who was this now?

Jessica: You know, the same woman who dressed up as a sister wife. She lost in the sudden death.

Lennon: But you have to say who won, though. You have to say who won!

Jessica: Jocelyn Diaz, who is the [VP of Production at Disney Studios]. Like movies. She’s like this amazing woman. She won, and she won the collected works of Anne of Green Gables.

Lennon: In DVD form or in a book form?

Jessica: In a book form. I kept it classic. But it’s show business, it’s not show fun, you know what I mean? I’m not going to bend the rules.

That’s awesome. I really like the fact that eventually when she googles herself, this will be coming up, that she has mad Anne of Green Gables skills.

Jessica: Oh yeah. She will be happy about that.

Lennon: She will be very thankful to us when we share that with everyone. [laughs]

In the pilot where you were talking about Steel Magnolias, it reminded me of the moment in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion where they’re watching Pretty Woman, and making fun of it. Then they stop and Michelle says “I’m just really happy when they finally let her shop.” I have done that, as I’ve done it Steel Magnolias too. That scene is such a funny, honest, super personal reflection.

Jessica: Thank you so much. I better watch Romy and Michelle again. I’ve got to do that.

Lennon: For a really long time my friend Jennifer and I had planned [that] at my wedding that we were going to do this full-out. This was before I met the man I was going to marry. [Laughter] We would do this full-out dance where the audience would part, and we would essentially do this duet like they do at the end of Romy and Michelle.

Once I met my husband I realized that was not going to ever happen because the wedding is not about me and my relationship with Jennifer. If anybody’s going to dance alone, it’s going to be me and my new husband, or me and my dad, you know? There was sort of a moment like that on the dance floor anyway, where everybody kind of parted and we were going crazy to Michael Jackson, but it wasn’t choreographed. [laughs] I love that movie.

It would definitely have to go on the list of good best friend films, if you were planning a themed party.

Jessica: Just throw in My Best Friend’s Wedding and I’m there.

IThere’s kind of a running theme here with them all being Julia Roberts movies. And in My Best Friend’s Wedding, she’s quite the evil character, which is kind of delightful.

Jessica: She is — I don’t know why, but I also loved her eighties outfits and I feel like I still would wear them today. I remember her weird shirts she wore, but I still think they hold up. I’d love to hear your opinions on that.

Lennon: Well, they’re definitely coming back, those big blazers with the shoulders.

Jessica: Thank god. Lennon tried on yellow blazer. I had to forcibly tackle her to stop her. I don’t know what – we’re making a lot of weird choices in our depression to be honest. A lot of weird choices.

Lennon: It was the right fit, you know? And I needed a pop of color.

A pop of color — with a yellow blazer?

Lennon: I didn’t buy it because she shot me down. This was after I told her she was beautiful in the prairie blouse that she bought and has been wearing every day — and she does.

Jessica: Not on my watch, Lennon. Not on my watch.

Do you wear the prairie blouse with yoga pants?

Jessica: I tried. Believe me, if I could I would. If it was okay to wear the yoga pants all the time I would, but I am not doing that anymore.

Ladies, this is a public service announcement: Do not do it. You’re going to have to get cream, and you’re going to have to use that cream for three months. [laughs]

Lennon: And you know what? You’re going to have to use cream in your jam, right guys?

Jessica: All right. All right.

See! BFF is educational and helpful, not just entertaining.

Jessica: Exactly. Exactly.

We were so heartbroken because these characters have become like real people to us, and we need to see what’s going to happen with Joe and Lennon’s wedding. We need to see Jess and Rav get to doing it, you know what I mean?

Absolutely.

Jessica: So America doesn’t know it, but they need it.

Lennon Parham on Twitter

Jessica St. Clair on Twitter

Best Friends Forever on Facebook

Retta talks to us about her love for TV, how dirty her Parks co-stars can get, why we all need to see a Donna/Jean-Ralphio hook-up and, of course, vampires.

We first need to talk about how amazing your live tweeting is. What made you decide to start putting all of your TV reactions on Twitter?

I always said that people follow you because they like the show, clearly, but because they are interested in you.

Obviously I have no secrets to give away about Parks and Recreation, and the only things I can talk about are things I like — and I love TV! I’ll try just about anything — The Good Wife, Breaking Bad — I tweeted a whole Breaking Bad season way after the season was over because I was watching it in my trailer on DVD so I would only be able to watch like 10 minutes at a time.

You know, I watch [shows after they air]. I actually have to pause [the DVR] so I can get my head together about how I am going to make a statement so I don’t offend, but I get my point across.

So each time you go in there, I’m going to be calm and nice about it, and then within twenty minutes you are like, “Screw it?”

Yeah, then I’m just cussing my head off.

Speaking of cussing — I had given up on The Walking Dead in the second season, but after reading your tweets this season, I think I need to go back.

Good! You can’t give up on it!

When I was tweeting about the “Pretty Much Dead Already” episode, [my Twitter followers said] “Oh my god, wait ’til you get to the last one — You are gonna die! You are gonna die!” [And then she was] limping out of that barn… I started screaming, “Sophia! I knew it! I knew it!”

I just want you to have your own TV show where it’s basically people sitting around watching television with you.

Hopefully people won’t steal my idea — I am into college basketball and I used to want to have a channel that would show college sports events but the commentators are all girls who really don’t know any stats, or much background information. All they do is either gossip about the guys, or talk about random shit. They see somebody in the audience in the crowd and say, “Oh my god, that looks like my aunt — we didn’t realize she was pregnant and she just had a baby and she was in the bathroom.”

That’s brilliant. Doesn’t NBC have their own sports channel – NBC Sports Network? You should get in on that.

Maybe I’ll pitch that idea, see if we can go in and watch the game all day and talk about it and just talk shit.

What are you currently working on?

I am supposed to be working on my new hour of comedy so I can try to get a special to shoot. I’ve been getting stage time to work on this new show.

I honestly think that you should offer out your services to television series because I’ve actually seen people say that they are only watching Smash just to be able to understand all of your tweets.

I think I should get a little bump in pay from NBC then! (laughs)

I like Smash because I felt like all the singing made sense. It was always in an event — I’m even ok if someone’s singing to themselves while washing dishes or whatever. But the musical numbers that bust out in a bowling alley? Come on.

I have yet to get into Smash, so I will say that pretty much everything I know is seeing your tweets reposted on Tumblr and Twitter.

That’s funny (laughs). I need to check out Tumblr. I have a Google alert on my name so I see some things from Tumblr, because every once in a while it’ll pop up on there. When we did Paley Fest 2012, I had come home to a Google alert and pictures were already all over the internet. It cracked me up.

I remember the streaming [of the panel] – Paley stopped it before the gag reel.

Why?

Because our gag reel is really dirty. We’re so blue. In fact, they only show [the full one] at our wrap party. They have to edit it down for the DVD. Everybody is so obnoxious and so rude, it’s hilarious.

What are some of your favorite gag moments?

I am always caught off guard when Nick [Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson] farts on set. He does it all the time. On last season’s DVD, he says “Let Loose!” And I was like, “Dear Christ!”

There’s always a lot of pseudo-masturbation, or just a lot of cussing. I cuss a lot. I mean I cuss a lot in my life, so when we are allowed to improv, you say whatever you want because you know it’s not going to make it on. It will make it to the gag reel but not the show. So there is a lot of cussing on the set.

Who would you say are the worst cussers?

Me, Jim O’Heir [Jerry Gergich] and Amy Poehler [Leslie Knope]. Especially when Jim blows a line.

That’s great — do you have any improvised moments that made it to the final cut?

One that made it on was in the water fight episode (“Campaign Shake-Up”) where Rashida [Jones, who plays Ann Perkins] is trying to get ideas for how to fix the water fountain so people don’t put their mouth on it.

She says “Donna?” And I say, “Do I look like I drink water?”

I didn’t even realize I ad-libbed it. The writer told me at Paley Fest that I added it. We didn’t have a blow for that scene and we were like, there’s our blow. I was like, “Oh, look at me!”

That is a fantastic line.

[laughs] Why thanks.

You really get so many fantastic lines. I often find myself saying to people, “Are you Nell? From the movie Nell.”

[laughs]

How did you keep a straight face through your “I think Ben’s already filling the Leslie void” line in “Campaign Shake-Up”?

I didn’t have to keep a straight face. Donna’s gotta enjoy that line — she’s saying it because she enjoys the idea of it. So I was allowed to enjoy the line even though Donna was saying the line.

What have been some of your favorite lines if you recall?

One of my favorites is “Treat Yo’ Self.” Because it was fun, it was funny, and people say it to me so much.

I knew it when I was shooting it but it won’t leave me — whenever people start saying it, they say “Clothes, Fragrances, Massages, Mimosas, Fine Leather Goods.” I can’t not say it, and say it the same way I said it in the show.

When you got the script for “Pawnee Rangers,” did you expect it to take off the way that it did in the public and with fans?

No, but at one of the table reads the following week, Amy [Poehler] and Mike [Schur, Executive Producer] said that’s going to be a hot episode. There’s no way “Treat Yo’ Self” is not going to stick.

Amy wasn’t there for the [filming] — she wasn’t in any of our scenes, she never saw it except in rough cuts. I remember her saying that and I was like, “Oh cool!”

The moment when Ben (Adam Scott) comes out in the Batman costume — you and Aziz Ansari (Tom Haverford) have the most fantastic reactions. Was that the first time you saw him in the costume?

No, as soon as we got into the mall, he had to have that costume on. The first few we shot was with us talking in the middle of the mall when they have the aerial shot of us. And he’s telling us that he was seeing this woman and we just ended it.

So we had been seeing him all day in it. But the first time I saw him in it I was like, “Wow, and good luck.” Because it looked so tight on his face.

It looked really tight on his face — he had to be in it all day?

Yeah. We were in that mall all day, we were there in the morning – I’m pretty sure call time that morning was 6 am – and we didn’t move to the massage parlor until about 4 pm. He was in it all day.

Wow, and that looked like a pretty intense costume.

It was pretty snug.

Entertainment Weekly named you one of the best scene stealers of 2011. How did you find out about that? What was your reaction?

Aisha Tyler from The Talk had actually gotten an early copy of the Entertainment Weekly. She took a picture of the page and sent it to me on Twitter. I thought, that’s pretty fucking cool.

Did you bring it into work and just be like, I just want everyone to see this?

I did not – I did tell Jim O’Heir that he couldn’t look me in the eye anymore.

You know — a lot of people are really interested in seeing a Donna/Jean-Ralphio (Ben Schwartz) hookup.

I am too! I want that to happen. I love him.

It needs to! It’s just kind of a natural progression of your characters.

It needs to happen. It would be hilarious if she had some DL-love relationship with him where she didn’t let him talk about it or talk to her in public. She’s like, “You are a jackass and I don’t need people to know that I am feeling you so if you want to do this keep your mouth shut!”

What do you think it is about Jean-Ralphio that Donna would totally dig?

He’s such an asshole, such a jackass. There’s always that guy you fucking can’t stand but there’s something when he’s quiet and you look at him and you are like, “Oh my god, he might fucking be good in bed. Goddamnit.” It’s just like: don’t say a word, just do what you do.

That’s a perfect phrase. Don’t say a word, just do what you do.

Exactly.

What have been your favorite scenes to shoot?

My favorite scene to shoot by far was the water fight in “Campaign Shake-Up.” Between Rashida and Aubrey [Plaza, who plays April], they kept trying to throw water balloons at me when they were chasing each other through the office. It gave me so much pleasure to soak Jim with that hose — I was dousing him way before they yelled action.

I was the only one who didn’t get wet.

How did you manage that?

Because I was outside with the hose! And Jim was up against the glass and they were inside throwing water balloons at each other. At first I was one water balloon exploded right by my foot and I thought, “It looks like Aubrey is trying to get me!” So every time she came by I would move, and then sometimes I would squirt the water hose inside the room. [laughs]

I avoided the water while fully participating.

You are the evil mastermind of the whole water fight.

You mention Jim a lot, are you guys good friends?

Yeah! I call Jim my set husband. Whenever there’s lunch and I’m too lazy to go, he’s like, “What do you need, what do you want, do you want a DC?” He drinks so much Diet Coke.

He’s accepted the name, he now signs his emails “Set Husband.”

You’ve said the Parks and Rec folks tend to send around email chains, like when you guys were nominated for an Emmy. Do you have any memorable emails?

One of the funnier ones was when we did the Glee parody on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It kind of happened because of Questlove, [Fallon's bandleader], because he really liked Parks and Recreation and he had done this kind of essay on how the Parks characters are like WuTang Clan. He had done this [piece on FunnyorDie.com] with RZA [from WuTang] auditioning to play Leslie Knope. Quest was in a smoking jacket to introduce it.

Quest was obsessed, he was fully into the show. Jimmy knows Amy and they sent us emails saying if you guys are willing to do the skit, we’d love to have you. Sure, we’ll go to New York! Upon returning, Mike Shoemaker, Jimmy’s producer, sent an email to everyone saying it turned out great, can’t wait to air it. And Quest replied all and said something to the effect of: “I can’t believe how cool this is. I just love the show and I got to work with everybody.” And then Bashir Salahuddin, who’s a writer for Jimmy was like, “Really dude? Really? You are gonna wax philosophical on this bullshit?”

Then it just blew up. Because our show loves to give people shit. So it was just back and forth, back and forth. At one point while we were shooting, between takes, we had a competition between the teams of show tunes and TV show theme songs. There was a fight over the emails about who actually won. It was really funny, it was non-stop!

That’s hilarious. Do you remember any of the theme songs that you guys battled on?

The Jeffersons, All in the Family — all the old ones. Anything they could think of, it was fucking genius. While one team was singing, everyone [on the other team] would gather and try to come up with a better one. It was hilarious.

One thing I do not get is your love of the Twilight series.

One of my friends is obsessed with Vampires, that’s why. She reads every vampire book, she read Twilight. She’s like, “Come to my house, get these books. Fucking read them and cuss me out when it’s done. They are easy reads.” So I read the first one — I was still going on the road at the time. It was easy.

It was relatively interesting – the first one was pretty decent. The second one, I was like, “Bitch, this shit is fucking boring the shit out of me.” She said the beginning is really slow, but just get to the end, get to the end. And then the fucking end was crazy and I was like, “Oh shit!” I was back into it. The third one was when they get married and the crazy rip-your-skin sex and I was like, “What the fuck! This is supposed to be some sort of teenybopper shit!”

The fourth — I was gasping the entire book. The fourth made it worth the whole series. Oh my god, the fourth has so much, the mythology, there’s a lot of characters that you have to try to keep up with. It’s so good. It totally made it worth reading the first one which is okay, the second one which made me want to fucking kill somebody, it was totally worth it.

Speaking of Vampires, were you a Buffy fan?

No! See that’s the thing! I’ve never been into vampires. I did watch Angel in syndication. I used to watch Angel in the morning before I actually got out of bed. I liked it because it was funny, it used to make me laugh so much.

I didn’t like any of the Connor stuff. When Darla got pregnant, I didn’t understand how vampires have a kid? No. I am not buying this. And then the kid was so damn annoying I’m not sticking around for this business. But I came back…

I hated Connor! Did you see when he put Angel in the coffin and dropped him in the ocean?

No!

I was beside myself. And I was watching in syndication so I didn’t have to wait for the new season to start. I just watched the new season the next morning when it started and every time Connor’s on the screen I was like, “Somebody kill this kid, somebody kill the kid!” Hated him so much I couldn’t even see straight! Ugh! He was the worst.

He was the worst!

[laughs] He was such a dick. Just the worst.

You also tweet about The Vampire Diaries. I LOVE that show.

The writers on that show are genius because there’s never been an end of an episode where I haven’t been like [gasp] “Oh shit! What!” It’s always my reaction at the end of an episode.

They have really great mythology and they are really good at suspense and throwing some new shit in. They don’t go the most obvious route [but recently,] I was like, “You vampires. So unloyal and distrustful!”

I really love the idea of Caroline and Klaus together.

It is kind of hot. At first, I hated Caroline. She was so high school! I was like, “Relax, there are vampires in town. Nobody cares about this dance!” Now, I love her.

As soon as they vamped her she became more and more interesting character.

I was like, “Holy shit!” When they vamped her. [gasp!] Nobody’s safe! [laughs]

I don’t like the friend, the witch. Ugh! Bonnie! She’s always moping and she’s so put upon.

I feel like they just can’t figure out what to do with Bonnie – but then they have a really interesting love triangle with Damon, Stefan and Elena. They could have a happy threesome and I would be more than happy to watch.

Well you saw that dream sequence where she had a threesome with them. How weird is that! With your real boyfriend, and your TV boyfriend, and your TV wannabe lover.

Nina Dobrev, getting it.

For someone who doesn’t like Vampires, how did you get involved in the Vampire Mob web series?

My friend Joe Wilson wrote it. He sent me an email after he had finished the first season and was said, I’m doing this thing and I have an idea for a part for you. It’s called Vampire Mob and I was like, really? Sci-fi is really hard to do on a shoestring budget.

The Facebook page had so many fans. He told me that the fans are the reason why we have a Season 2. They donated money so we could do it. I was like shut the fuck up. A lot of people really like it so, sure I’ll do it.

I’m not really into vampires and all that…

You know, for someone who is all “I’m not really into Vampires. But I really like Twilight, and I love The Vampire Diaries, and…”

Stop outing me!

I’m totally outing you!

If it’s a good story, I am down.

Parks and Recreation returns from hiatus Thursday, April 19th at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

All illustrations by Andrea Pimentel.

Steel gives us inside look on what it’s like to be on the other side of the camera, how to connect with someone in just a few minutes and how it felt to wear Whitney Houston’s dress at this year’s Grammy Awards.

You just covered The Hunger Games premiere — was that one of the craziest events that you’ve been to?

The Hunger Games was the biggest premiere I’ve covered, in terms of the size scope of fans. I covered all the Twilight premieres, and it eclipsed Twilight in terms of the amount of people who turned out, the passion they feel about these books, about this film.

For these huge premieres where you need a bigger cinema and you have a massive red carpet and your fans camping out, they needed to have somewhere to accommodate that. Fortunately now we have the Nokia Plaza downtown (Los Angeles) where they have The Staples Center, where The Grammys were. The last Twilight premiere was there, it was huge. [The crowd for] The Hunger Games was massive. The fans had been camping out from the day before when from the [movie] cast had come down to chat with them. It was amazing. I did some interviews with the fans, and they’re just so passionate, I think this is the most hyped-up film and franchise certainly of the year, but even eclipsing Twilight, I would say, in terms of sheer mania.

When Jennifer Lawrence stepped out of her car, there was pandemonium in the whole Nokia Plaza.

How did the cast seem to react to all of the response?

I interviewed the cast at a press date, and I did one-on-one sit-downs which we’re now broadcasting on Epix — I think they’re in shock [laughs]. They’re definitely all responding to it differently. I think because Twilight has gone before, I think the three leads, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson know what they’re in for.

Jennifer Lawrence is very laid-back – she is definitely about the work, she’s the kind of girl who would prefer to relaxing at home or working on a new script as opposed to getting dressed up and pushed out in front of all these people and being interviewed over and over again. When I sat down with her in the interview, I asked her about the experience, she said that she identified with Katniss — she had to go on this press tour and be put in all these dresses, made to answer questions and grilled by all the press [like Katniss did in the film]. I joked with her that I hope she didn’t feel like that right now [laughs].

Josh Hutcherson is clearly really enjoying all of it. He’s wonderful, he’s very well-spoken, he’s got great energy, he is so passionate about his character. He really identifies with [Peeta], he just loves everything about this journey. He’s been a child actor so he’s definitely been in the business a while and it just hasn’t really taken him by surprise.

With Liam, he takes everything in stride. He’s very laid-back, he’s Australian. I think because he has his brother, Chris Hemsworth, who’s enjoyed a great deal of success with Thor and Star Trek, [Liam's] seen the process of being in one of these big blockbuster films. I don’t think he’s too fazed with how the whole thing has blown up.

For me, Elizabeth Banks is the scene-stealer in the film, she plays Effie Trinket. She’s just such a chameleon; I think that’s very rare. A lot of actors nowadays are more [of a brand] and you put them in a film and they are essentially themselves. Elizabeth Banks can play anything; she does comedy and drama equally well. She’s fantastic and hysterical as Effie Trinket — she gets the biggest laughs in the film.

Lenny Kravitz — he’s so cool. [laughs] He comes in the room, he’s got his diamonds on, his sunglasses on. He has kind of cool makeup and he said he liked wearing the gold eyeliner he got to wear in the film and he wants to wear it in real life. So that was funny.

I could totally see him rocking that.

He definitely could rock it, even though he wears sunglasses a lot, he definitely liked the gold eyeliner. And Donald Sutherland was hysterical, actually. He blew into the room, [with a] cup of PG Tips tea and an eye patch on. I immediately asked him “What happened?” He joked that he had suffered a hernia in his eye from extreme constipation [laughs].

I heard a gasp from his publicist in the back of the room, probably praying that that won’t be aired. But it’s hilarious. He has that sense of humor, he’s so funny. You can just ask him one question and he can suddenly launch into this huge existential answer — I don’t have to do as much work because I just sit back and enjoy what he says.

You meet so many people obviously for the first time and you kind of have to get into a fairly comfortable relationship with them really quickly. How do you set that up?

[When I host for the] TV Guide Network, their focus is more on the fun moments. [For Epix], the channel is for movie-lovers and people who are curious about film, so it’s more about really getting into the nitty-gritty of the film and getting information on the film rather than having moments.

I research every person I interview and I tend to warm them up the minute they step into the room, I break the ice before the cameras start rolling. We have to sit down, get mic’ed, which is only actually a couple of minutes, but those precious minutes when you are only doing a 4-8 minute interview are really important to make the person feel comfortable. If your energy is off, it will affect their energy. Usually, I try to find a mutual interest or a mutual friend [to discuss], and that tends to pull some people out.

Someone like Donald Sutherland, I think a lot of people find him intimidating. Wes Bentley, who has a lot of his scenes in the film with Donald, said he was extremely intimidated working with him and he didn’t have to act because he was so scared [laughs].

So when it comes to someone like that, if you show fear, you’re going to be walked all over. They command the room. [Donald’s] amazing, he’s a legend, so you have to come in with a cheeky joke and be very confident — steer the interview and handle it, otherwise you’ll be steered which is not ideal.

Has there been anybody that has made you nervous?

Hmm. I’m always excited to interview everyone I’ve spoken to. My first interview ever was with Richard Gere and I was so nervous because I was 20 years-old. I was in the bathroom right before, shaking [laughs]. My heart was pounding, I was really terrified.

Wow, Richard Gere at 20 though, that had to be kind of crazy.

Yeah, it is. He was so charming and nice — we ended up talking about tea.

I’m really old-fashioned and I feel like, you know, I’m really a granny [laughs]. So I get on better with like the Sir Ben Kingsleys and Richard Geres — I always get sent to interview the more serious people like Jodie Foster, but Jodie Foster said that she really liked the fact that [I showed her] sense of humor. She has a wonderful sense of humor. A lot of people assume that because she has a persona of being serious that she is serious and so they ask her serious questions to which she gives serious answers. She doesn’t get a chance to really showcase her personality, which is wonderful. So I always try to look at what you’re not seeing from the person and show the other side.

And the people who are quirky and tricky — I enjoy those interviews the most because they’re a little bit of a challenge, and if you get them to feel comfortable and open up, then you feel like you’ve won them over. I’ve recently been doing these called “Backseat Banter” segments sponsored by Audi – we pick up the actor en route to a premiere or a special event [and talk to them in the backseat of a car.] We did one with Jeremy Piven taking him to the premiere of I Melt With You, and one with Thomas Jane taking him to a Golden Globes party.

That sounds like fun.

They’re really fun interviews. That was a whole different experience because you have to go and pick them up at their house, entering into their territory. At first, I was a little nervous because the actor is doing you a favor by granting you this access and you have to respect that and create a fun environment for them.

Okay, onto the great outfits you get to wear on the red carpet – you wore a super-cute red dress to The Hunger Games premiere.

Thank you so much, I wish it was mine! It’s a ridiculously expensive Georges Chakra dress.

Do you ever try to keep anything?

For me, what’s really hard to send back is the jewelry. I love Alberto Parada — he makes beautiful jewelry that’s very wearable from day to evening, which is nice, because sometimes I shoot during the day and I have to go straight to a red carpet event at night. So I’ve been wearing his jewelry all throughout award season. For The Oscars, I borrowed this gorgeous, diamond, $100,000 dollar cuff from Avakian, which I really didn’t want to give back. [laughs] I was like going through scenarios in my mind about how someone could’ve absconded with it [laughs]

In the long run, it’s probably best just to send it back.

I don’t think absconding with things would go down too well [laughs]. At all. It’s so kind of these designers to lend you pieces to wear, I don’t know what you would do without that, it would be impossible to buy a new dress every single day. I mean, we’d have to go around in bin liners.

That’s something that we don’t often think about, how hosts have to look when you’re in the public eye and on television several times a week. To wear something different every time would make you go broke if you don’t get to rely on the kindness of designers.

Yes, and dressing for hosting is a little different from when I pull things to wear for attending red carpet events. For hosting, you have to be dressed appropriately — it can’t be too sexy, you can’t take away from the event or the person you’re interviewing.

It’s all about what works at the top because the top is the part you see on television. I’ve actually bought a lot of dresses that in real life looked so beautiful and flattering, but you have to camera-test it to see how it looks up close, it has to be quite fitted at the top because it can look unflattering.

I wouldn’t have even thought about that.

Basically you have to photograph it and camera-test it with a flip-cam to see how it’ll work. It’s a whole different situation, and you also have to worry about the background. Like, I have this gorgeous dress I wanted to wear for the Golden Globes last year and it was gold and I just learned the day before that our backdrop for the one-on-one room, where I was interviewing winners for the TV Guide Network, was gold. So, of course then you have to not wear gold, and then you have to be aware of what your co-host is wearing. I wanted to wear red, but my other co-host was wearing red so… it’s a whole, you know, mine field of trying out the right dress, that looks good on you, that’s flattering, that doesn’t clash with the backdrop or any of your other team and is appropriate [laughs].

There is so much to it to balance!

It’s crazy! Like half of your job is finding things to wear. People get really stressed about it. Especially for The Oscars, there’s always a frenzy around the dress and people get emotional [laughs].

And it’s all so much drama for something kind of fleeting! Because your outfit lasts for as long as the show and then maybe for a week after when stills pop up online — and then people forget. But it’s like any event, it’s like a wedding.

I know, you focus so much on it in the lead-up and it’s like the most important thing! And then it’s over and you’re like, “I can’t believe I stressed so much.” Although, if you wear something you don’t like, it’s the opposite, it haunts you forever because of the internet. You get people making comments about it, and it’s awful. There’s a lot of pressure definitely to pick the right thing.

What’s been the most fantastic item that you’ve been able to borrow?

The most special dress I wore was also kind of bittersweet. It was this beautiful silver Pamella Roland dress I wore to the Grammys, but it was also the actual dress that Whitney Houston had worn a year before to the Clive Davis party for her last kind of official performance, her real last ever appearance at that party.

Wow.

When I pulled the dress a week before the Grammys, Film Fashion had said “Someone’s already worn it, do you mind?” I said no, because it was the one I just really fell in love with. It’s very hard to find good dresses during award season because it’s really competitive and all the dresses fly out of the showroom, and the stylists hog them and you can’t get them back [laughs].

I just loved this dress. And then halfway through our rehearsal on Saturday, the news broke about Whitney Houston passing away, and suddenly I saw her in the dress on all the news outlets.

It was really a weird thing. I didn’t really know what to do, but I thought it would be nice to wear it as a tribute to her. And a lot of people actually did that when Michael Jackson passed away, they wore gloves in honor [of him]. I wanted to wear it in tribute to her since Whitney wasn’t at The Grammys and should’ve been.

It sounds like it’d be an incredibly surreal moment.

It definitely was.

What do you have coming up that you’re looking forward to?

We’re now coming out of award show season and entering into summer blockbuster season. There are a lot of huge movie premieres coming up, and I’ve also started hosting with EPIX and we do these official live streams from the movie premieres. They’re very fun because it’s an hour and a half live show — it doesn’t get condensed into one two-minute segment, so you get to really experience the whole premiere.

There’s [San Diego] Comic-Con coming up too, which I really enjoy covering. The Cannes Film Festival, which will be my third year covering it. All the big films like The Avengers always have really big, exciting premieres for them. There’s Battleship and that premiere is in Hawaii — I love the ones where you get to travel.

The best was the junket for Couples Retreat, which was at the Saint Regis in Bora Bora, which is the most beautiful [place]. I’ve just fallen in love with that place – I’m going on holiday there in April.

That sounds exciting. Oh my gosh, I’m so jealous!

It sounds a lot more glamorous than it is. Travelling with work is really tough. It’s really stressful, you have to self-produce when you’re away because the budgets are tight. It’s you and your camera crew; you have to book everything, organize it and produce it yourself. It just gets crazy. You don’t get to gallivant around and have fun [laughs].

Like at Cannes, you’re surviving on four hours of sleep. Same with the Royal Wedding — I never actually got to leave my hotel apart from when I was shooting. It’s far more glamorous to be the actor and attend than it is to be the TV host and cover it, trust me [laughs].

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On-screen, her character of Laurie Keller on ABC’s Cougar Town is far less giddy about books but would be just as fun to hang out with. Philipps has a knack for playing memorable characters on beloved shows, shows that often suffer from a lack of spectacular ratings. Her first television role was Kim Kelly on Freaks and Geeks, (which any fan will almost respond with “Kim Kelly is My Friend”) which gave her an immediate in to the Top Ten High School Badasses list. On Cougar Town, Philipps more than holds her own with the comedy awesomeness of Courteney Cox and Christa Miller. She took home last year’s Critics’ Choice Television Award for Supporting Comedy Actress.

Philipps discusses her love of Cougar Town (and frustration with its ratings), why being on Twitter is important to her and coming to best friend Michelle Williams’ defense against the paparazzi.

Cougar Town is one of the rare shows that actually shows what friendship is like — it’s not all these like over the top dramas and big betrayals — and it’s such a fantastic portrayal of lady friendships. You see people screw up and make amends, and figure out how things work in different paths of a relationship.

 I think what’s very interesting about television in general is that you’re given an opportunity to explore characters over a long period of time. [Each] season, you’re able to develop these characters into being really awesome three dimensional people — people that you recognize, people that you know, people that are running into other people that you know. For me, a character like Laurie Keller, who on the page in the pilot seemed very one-dimensional and a stereotype of a dumb perky blonde, [but] given the opportunity of three years on a TV show, you’re able to explore how many different baskets of her personality and make her like a real girl that you know and that you want to hang out with.

What I like about the development of the friendship of the three women on the show is that it feels very organic because they did it slowly — nothing was forced. In the pilot, you didn’t even understand how these people were in each other’s lives, and over the past several years we’ve been able to explore what is Ellie’s [Christa Miller] relationship with Laurie, and their kind of love/hate thing. They go through different things together, they end up having to support one another but they still are like very different people, sort of polar opposites.

I love the Laurie-Ellie relationship, particularly the recent bonding over Eli’s feet which gave us the hilarious line of “we bonded over your monster feet and justice for women.”

I love that moment too! When she comes in and I say “Ellie, I saw his feet. I’m so sorry.” (laughs) She says no one understands. It’s so funny. He does have horrible feet, poor Ian (Gomez, who plays Andy).

Wait! Was that written actually because Ian has bad feet?

Oh my god – well, I can’t be mean to him, but yes. A little bit. He does have terrible feet. We bonded over his horrible feet. I love that that’s a quotable line.

Sometimes you just need somebody to be there for you because no one else understands if a husband has the craziest feet at all.

(laughs) Oh, poor Ian.

Have any of the Laurie-isms sneak into your own personal dialogue?

Not particularly. I’m so far from Laurie Keller in my real life. I remember one time I went from like a 12-hour day shooting Cougar Town, and I met some friends out for dinner. Halfway through the dinner, my one friend [asked], “What is wrong with you? You’re acting crazy.” I realized that I hadn’t shaken the Laurie off of me for the day yet, and I was acting a little bitchy like Laurie. I’ve got to cool down before I come home.

What usually ends up on the Cougar Town blooper reel?

It’s a lot of Courteney Cox swearing when she messes up her lines. She swears more than any of us. I swear the least, which is a vast improvement from my early 20s when I did a show and the director put together all the times I either messed up or didn’t like the take and yelled the F word. It was like literally four minutes of reel of “fuck.”

But there’s also a lot of us making each other laugh or making fun of one another in a good-hearted way. And probably a lot of me like singing. Because a lot of times I like to make up songs while I’m working.  I don’t even know how to describe it  — [when] we’re waiting to roll; I would sing like “We’re waiting to roll, I don’t know what the problem is.” So the editors probably have to wade through a fair amount of me singing about how I’m ready to shoot and can we just please go. It’s kind of fun.

Have you ever tried to sneak your singing into the show?

I don’t know if I have. I do so much that’s unconscious, but certainly my shoulder-shaking and “what-what” thing is something that I jokingly took from real life.

Really?

I have a friend Josh, he’s a shoulder shaker guy. I should have given him credit for this a long time ago. He would do that as a bit, as a joke. He’d enter a room and shake his shoulders and say, “What’s going on now?”

It just seemed like – I don’t know the thing I’m most positive that that was never scripted. I’m pretty sure that I just made that up, improvising – it was Laurie just having fun. You’ve got to keep it fresh you know what I mean? I could be wrong – some writer who came up with it will send me an email (laughs). But the shoulder shaking was definitely ripped from my friend Josh. It’s such a funny idea like shaking your shoulders.

ABC has moved your show around a bit, haven’t they? First you were on Wednesdays behind Modern Family, and now it’s Tuesdays at 8:30p/7:30c.

We’ve been really moved around since the beginning. I thought we were doing really well behind Modern Family, and then we got preempted for Mr. Sunshine. Then we didn’t get put back on the air this year [until mid-season]. It’s such a bummer, too, because it felt like we really had momentum from the end of last year. We had a lot of positive press, and then I won the Critics Choice Television Award (for Best Supporting Comedy Actress), which was very exciting.

On the flipside, with the delayed premiere, Cougar Town had have such a fantastic outpouring of support from your fans. You had several fan screenings across the country.

It’s so nice to have people who support your show like in such a hardcore way, and certainly it’s made the cold dark night without an air date seem a little bit warmer.

From the outpouring [of support], we were a little tricked into feeling that the word had gotten out and everybody would be on board when we came back – like we’d be pulling CSI numbers (laughs). [But] we were trying to temper our expectations. There was a definite level of disappointment about the ratings.

The Nielsen ratings seem so antiquated. Everybody’s schedule is different. Nobody is really working 9a to 5p anymore.

It’s all so antiquated. I mean what are they doing? They’re five years behind right now. They have to figure out a better way to figure out the ratings because even though they take into consideration [episode] downloads, people are not watching television in the same capacity. I don’t even watch TV in real time.

And the other thing is, with online content, it’s almost more advantageous for advertisers because you cannot get through the 30-second commercial before you watch a show. I feel like that’s obviously the future and where the money is for advertisers, so I would be looking at what the most downloaded and watched shows on Hulu.  That’s the most valuable, right?

But shows live and die on ratings and that’s where we’re at right now, you know? Possibly dying.

Yeah, networks used to give a series a whole full year run, let it get its bearings. They’re so quick to yank a show now. And if something’s not gelling or feel quite right to the audience in the first like two episodes, then unfortunately a lot of them end up bailing.

People are out. I’ve actually talked to people that have said to me, “I watched the first two episodes of Cougar Town and it wasn’t for me.” I say, “Did you read [any of our press]? The show changed, it’s really funny.” They [tell me that] it’s not funny, “it’s not for me.” What do you say to that? God bless you. God-speed.

I think Modern Family is a perfect example of a show that’s really great and it was really great from the beginning, and managed to break through and get that huge audience.  I don’t know why that worked and other things didn’t or our show in particular. We all acknowledge that Cougar Town had dismal reviews when it first came on the air. It took a little bit of time for the show to find its footing, and I guess that’s part of the problem when people don’t have the patience or the time to wait for a show to develop into something really great.

I love our show. I wish more people would. I’m a huge Parks & Recreation fan, I’m a huge Community and 30 Rock fan, but really, Parks and Rec is my favorite show other than ours. When I hear people talk smack about Cougar Town, it saddens me because I feel like there’s so much that’s relatable and there’s so much if you give it a chance that they would love about it. Sadly, I’ve been on shows before that are too weird. And I probably will be again. Because that’s the sensibility I’m drawn to — that’s what I want to do as an actor.

As a woman, I think there are better opportunities in TV. If you’re not literally like one of three actresses who are able to be in leading roles, then you’re sort of relegated to these three-scene, stereotypical parts in films. It doesn’t interest me to play the same [character], I’ve been offered opportunities before to test for sitcoms that are still on the air and I could be a gazillionaire. But it’s not something that’s going to make me happy going forth every week.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of a show like Freaks and Geeks and to have been on ER  for a year, which was such an intense and different experience. And to be on this show — I just feel really lucky. I hope I don’t have to have the conversation [about the "next show"], but if I do, I hope that the next show is equally interesting, weird, funny, and truthful.

You’ve said that co-stars Christa Miller and Courteney Cox have been like your mommy mentors. How do you find having mentors in your life? What is the influence of having a mentor?

It’s very valuable. You have to know people that you can call on for support. People get into trouble when they think that they’re alone in what they’re going through or what they’re experiencing.

That’s where people get depressed – especially when they become a parent. You feel like no one understands what you’re going through, and the truth is, it’s universal simply being a working mother. You know, it doesn’t matter what you do; you could be a full-time lawyer or a part-time worker at a fast food restaurant. We all are experiencing the same things as women trying to have jobs, trying to help support our families, and trying to be the best moms we can be.

Something that Courteney Cox is very big on is being open and communicating. I’ve just found it to be really invaluable to express what I’m going through, and to ask for advice and help. Whether or not you actually implement them doesn’t even matter. Sometimes it’s just about getting another perspective or hearing from someone that you trust that what you’re going through is normal or that they’ve been through the same thing.

You have quite the impressive Twitter presence. Was that something that you purposefully sought out?

I guess so. I was on Twitter early in — for over three years. For me, it came about at a really interesting time in my career and my life. So often as an actress, you’re at the mercy of the people that you give interviews to. I felt like my voice and my sense of humor were never quite represented in the interviews that I had done. It was a bummer for me, I felt that people didn’t know who I was or what I was about.

And then there’s that feeling of helplessness where any douchebag with a computer can write horrible things about you, and you have no response; you have no way of sticking up for yourself, and that feeling of helplessness as a somewhat-public figure. I had talked about it in therapy for many years.

People can be such shmucks online because they’ll hide behind a screen and say something about someone that they’d never say to their face.

So with my Twitter account, I really took to it and I felt so excited about how I was able to give people an insight into who I was and the things that I think are funny. And you know, people responded to it in a good way. I think I got more press from my Twitter account than I had gotten for any interview or magazine article that I had been a part of in my entire career. So it really worked out for me.

I’ve heard the “what is the point of Twitter?” argument so much, and quite honestly, what you just said is the most compelling reason I’ve heard for anybody to use Twitter. As a fairly private person, I don’t need to worry as much that my words can be twisted by others to create my public image, and that has to be incredibly difficult for anyone in the public eye.  I think that you do use it beautifully in the way that kind of shares yourself and your sense of humor.

It’s so hard not to want to quit every time someone says something mean to you, you know? There is a thing that gets lost in translation when you are on television — people think that you’re somehow less of a human because you’re an actor on television, and that’s the other reason that I really have loved being on Twitter because obviously [it shows that] I am indeed a person. But, you know, I’m somebody’s mother, I’m somebody’s wife, I’m somebody’s sister and somebody’s daughter. And you can’t be so disrespectful.

I got into this crazy fight with a paparazzi guy from TMZ – they were trying to film Michelle [Williams] and her daughter Matilda. I had said not to film Matilda because she’s six years old.

After [Michelle and Matilda] left, I went up to him and looked at him right in the eye, and I said, “Can I just ask you a question? Do you have kids in your life? I don’t know if you’re a dad or not, but do you have nieces or nephews, or people that you love that have children? Do you have that?” He was like, “Fuck you, I don’t have to talk to you.” I said, “I get it, I get it. I really just want talk to you about this because I want to know what about [Matilda's] body language of being curled up on her mom’s shoulder that you think it was okay to keep yelling and talking to her? Because that was a little girl; she wasn’t a celebrity, she’s six years old.”

For that photographer, he couldn’t deal with me[me] coming straight to him and talking to him like a person. Then he went nuts, calling me crazy names. At one point, he was like crouched on the ground and he called me a piece of trash. I said, “I’m sorry, I just have to comment on the irony of this situation, sir. You’re on the ground in an alley, and I am going to get into my SUV and drive away.”

“I’m sorry, I just have to comment on the irony of the situation, sir.” That’s spectacular!

It was pretty insane. I think that’s the problem that celebrities or public figures feel like they’re being treated like caged animals, so in return, they don’t treat the paparazzi like people. But if you really just go up to them and say, “From person to person – I’m with a kid, blah blah blah blah blah,” it’s harder for them to be horrible. It’s very rare for them to be like horrible, mean people when you talk to them. That one guy like just could not handle it — kind of amusing.

That’s a really interesting parallel – obnoxious internet commenters and paparazzi that just don’t get it.

Right. Two paparazzi, by the way, stayed behind to back me up. There was like a guy that stayed behind, and he was like, “Don’t listen to him, Busy, he ruins it for the rest of us.” I said, “You’re darn right, he is ruining it for the rest of you. He’s the one that’s making you guys look bad. You should step up — you should get him to stop.”

Wow!

Yeah, it was pretty interesting. And then I tweeted about it and Harvey Levin from TMZ called my publicist and he said he wanted to talk to me. And my publicist said that’s not necessary; I didn’t think it was necessary either. [But] he apparently fired the photographer.

It is very interesting because it is a cycle. If you’re going to be in the public eye, there is going to be interest in you. But there’s also a certain amount of respect that everybody needs to show all around.

Right. Like, I’m lucky enough to escape most of it, but I’m not Reese Witherspoon, I’m not Michelle; I don’t get hounded by paparazzi. And I’m very understanding the times when I’m like shopping and I see them and they want to talk to me — I’m fine with it. But generally I’ve had really okay experiences. That was a very unique situation — but I think I handled it very well.

I do, too. Very well and very impressive. I wish you all the best and all the best to everyone at Cougar Town.

Thank you, and thanks for the support! I hope that more people get on board in the next few weeks so that we can stay on the air.

Cougar Town airs Tuesdays at 8:30p/7:30c on ABC.

On Up All Night, Spivey takes on the roles of creator, writer and Executive Producer. The series is based on Spivey’s own experience of returning to SNL after her son was born. She had to learn how to balance a hectic life of career and marriage demands, not to mention a new baby. The series stars Christina Applegate as Reagan Brinkley, a successful TV producer of “Ava,” the talk show hosted by her best friend, the self-obsessive former popstar Ava Alexander (Maya Rudolph). Chris (Will Arnett) is her husband, a former lawyer who chose to become a stay-at-home dad, and is supportive of Reagan’s determination to not compromise her career for the sake of motherhood.

Up All Night has wonderful and honest portrayals, with the writers allowing their characters to be flawed without becoming caricatures and letting them be funny in utterly relatable ways. It passes The Bechdel Test with the flying colors, when many sitcoms and dramas fail. (The Bechdel Test having such difficult qualifications as: it includes at least two women who have at least one conversation about something other than a man or men.) The friendship between Reagan and Ava is just as important and strong as the relationship Reagan has with Chris. It’s one of this season’s most DVR’d shows for good reason.

Spivey talks about Up All Night, SNL and the importance of self-assured ladies, especially in the writer’s room.

First things first, I have to ask you, what is going on with Kevin (Jason Lee) on Up All Night?!

He and Ava (Maya Rudolph) were fine and now they’re broken up? It was a little jarring watching “New Boss” last week — I went back and checked the episode list to see if I’d missed an episode.

Oh my god. I felt so bad. Honestly it was a scheduling thing. I was reading the comments [that] night and everyone was like, “What happened to Kevin?” But it was honestly a crazy scheduling thing that we couldn’t work out.

We had a whole thing written and then we had to scrap it just because it couldn’t happen. So that’s what that was about. I’m sorry! But he’s coming back.

That’s good to know! Will their relationship be resolved or at least resolve the issue?

He’s coming back in the last episode and things will be known and resolved.

And you’ve got a really impressive string of guest stars coming as well.

We’ve been lucky in that way, just based on just who we know. I strong-armed Fred Armisen into coming. And Stevie Nicks is coming, which was amazing for me to get to meet Stevie. I thought I was gonna start crying ’cause I love her so much.

That’s where it helps with Lorne [Michaels as the] big boss, because he can sort of help you get good people. He knows everyone in the world. Lorne’s always helpful in that way.

How did Lorne get involved in Up All Night?

I pitched it through Broadway Video, which is his company. As it got rolling, he, my producers, Erin David and Andrew Singer, and I started really flushing it out together. He’s been amazing through this whole process.

To be honest, I came into Up All Night a few episodes late. But I had so many people from completely different parts of my life selling me on the show – most of which don’t have any kids at all. I had one guy friend who was pitching the show to me very hard – he kept saying that it was one of most honest and real representations about how people are in life, in relationships, in friendships. 

That’s always kind of our goal is to make it as real as possible. We wanted to write a modern couple on television that you sort of haven’t seen in a while. And so, thank you for telling me that ’cause it’s nice to hear that somebody’s taking note. I always wanted the show to be not about a baby but about just how this life change impacted the couple.

One of the most hilarious storylines was about cheating on your partner by watching your favorite show with somebody else. Have there been other things like that that the writers wanted to address that because this is such a huge thing that no one really talks about?

Basic things that we wanted to address initially were the first night out, the first weekend away and flying with the baby. The idea of getting too sloppy at home, which was an issue for me and my husband, Scott, said, “I’d like for you to throw away that pair of pants.”

Now that we know the characters a little bit better, it’s becoming more just about those people as their personalities present themselves. It’s probably going be just more about their personalities and their interactions. But we’re still grappling with these [relationship] issues. There’s an issue where someone at Reagan’s office has a crush on her and everyone can see it but her, and how that impacts her marriage. And it’s all things that have happened to all of us.

You mentioned reading the post-show commentary. Do you often go online and read what people are saying?

I get my toe in the water. I learned a long time ago if you want to feel bad about yourself, go online and read comments. I always look at The AV Club [and this time,] I just happened to see it when I scrolled down to a couple of the comments.

With Up All Night, it’s usually pretty positive, but some people don’t always go in the comment section of internet pages to be nice. Coming from years of SNL where everyone online just seems to loathe everything, even though they all seem to be watching every minute of it — but they’ll get on and talk about how they could’ve done it better.

With SNL, people love to complain that the best years are over. But they complain about that every year, you know.

Because everybody has their own generation of SNL that was “good,” and it’s usually about the time you’re in high school, college. And so since the show’s been on 40 years everyone has ownership of it in that way.

True, there’s really no other show like that where fans take such ownership of it and has been on for that long that it’s covered so many different generations of both actors and fans.

Everyone’s grown up with it for two generations almost, so it’s an unusual situation.

How did you start working at SNL?

Well, it really was because of Maya Rudolph. I was in The Groundlings with Maya, and the producers of SNL had come out and seen a couple of our shows. They hired Maya a season before I got there.

At the time, I was working at King of the Hill and Maya would call me every Tuesday, every writing night. I would be on the phone writing with her because I just grew up wanting to write for that show. And then Fox was nice enough to say well, you’re insane but go ahead. So I went out there in 2001 and start writing for them.

So you went out in the fall of 2001?

Yeah, right after 9/11 we flew out.

That had to be a really rough adjustment. I know both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have talked about what it was like to be doing comedy right after 9/11. What was it like in the writer’s room?

You know, it was so scary. There was a lot of gallows humor obviously, but I think everyone was ready to get back to normalcy and start laughing about something. But it was a great time to be in New York. It was just so horrible but wonderful at the same time, like the spirit of that city, you really saw how wonderful that city truly is after 9/11. I remember there was no honking. Everyone was in the spirit of camaraderie and it was just a really, really amazing time to be there and to do that show.

My very first show was the one where the firemen and the policemen were [in the audience].

Wow. Do you remember anything specific that you wrote for your first show?

Yes. The Donatella sketches where Maya would do Donatella Versace was the first sketch I got on. It got on the last five minutes of the show and I was so excited.

That’s great. Did you would write all of the Donatella sketches?

Yes, me, Maya and [SNL] writer James Anderson would write those.

I actually pitched a Donatella sketch at MAD TV, and they [said that] no one really knows who she is. So when I got to SNL it’s one of the first things I pitched to Maya and she was like, oh my god, we have to do that. And then it just became its own thing. You didn’t have to know who Donatella was — it just became this crazy diva character.

What was the difference between writing for MAD TV and SNL?

On MAD TV you spend a lot more time on your pitches. You would go in and spend the first few days just pitching your ideas and then they would sort of tell you to go and try to do that one, try to do this one. At SNL, it’s the opposite. You have to pitch on Monday, which is kind of just to make the host comfortable, but nine times out of ten, you don’t write any of those ideas you actually pitch. Then Tuesday night, you just sit down and pretty much write whatever you want and hope for the best.

Has there been anybody that was really intimidating to pitch to?

Mostly everyone is, but mainly the big film actors that you you felt intimidated by — like Christopher Walken and Robert DeNiro. Then there’s the people that have hosted a bunch – like Alec Baldwin who’d hosted a million times by the time even I got there. You’re just sitting there going, “he can see through all of this, he knows this is the fakest pitch of all time.”

You’ve said that when you were at SNL, it was a great time of great ladies. You knew Maya ahead of time, but how did you partner with Amy as well? How were you all drawn together?

Well, in those years we were really like a gang. Maya basically had just gotten there and then I started the same week as Seth and Amy. We did everything together, we were just like a gang walking around New York. We ate together, went out drinking. And then pretty soon you’re friends with people and then you’re writing together. Rachel Dratch and Will Ferrell [were there too], we just had a great, great time.

I just can’t imagine how mind-blowing that must’ve been, especially to such great talent to speak your words.

My mind never stops being blown. Even the day I left, after being there almost ten years, I would still get a charge out of it. It never ever got old for me — walking into that building was just amazing.

You came back for the show that Maya hosted last month.

Yes. It was really, really fun. We were both super nervous but it ended up being so much fun because Amy came back and Paula Pell was there. It made everyone very nostalgic for the old days.

You went from sketch writing with a stop-off with animation with King of the Hill, and now you’re executive producing your own show. What was that journey like?

Oh my god. I was writing supervisor at SNL but it’s just nothing like breaking the arc of the season of sitcom. Well, I thank god that I had the season at Parks and Recreation because they’re so good and meticulous in that show about breaking stories and [other] things that I hadn’t had as much experience in. I really learned from Mike Schur, Greg Daniels, Dan Goor and Norm Hiscock how to really, really examine a story. I can write dialogue ’til the cows come home but eventually you have to shape it into something. And so I learned that from them.

Running a show is like a whole other set of [skills], it’s like climbing Mount Everest every day. But my show runner Jon Pollack is amazing and a godsend. I’ve learned a lot from him as well — so together we sort of like held hands and jumped into the icy waters together.

What advice would you have for aspiring comedy writers, especially aspiring lady writers?

The biggest advice I can give is to do improve and perform. Improv really helps inform your writing in terms of getting to joke quick, getting the “people, place and thing,” getting to the heart of it. It also builds your confidence. And it’s a unique way for people to see you other than just handing a script, which also works as well.

My first job was Mad TV and I got hired because they saw me perform — that’s why they brought me in. So if you have an inclination to do that, that’s such a good way to get your foot in the door. Also, if you’re a good lady comedy writer, you can really go far because just everyone likes a good lady in the room. Even still today, a lot more dudes [are writing] than ladies. So if you’re a lady with a strong comedy voice, a unique point of view, people will want to have you in the room plugging away.

What are the shows and movies, that you will always stop on when flipping channels, even to watch for five minutes?

The Graduate, Spinal Tap, Tootsie. Mary Tyler Moore I’m obsessed with. WKRP in Cincinnati, I’m obsessed with. SNL, even still. Overboard, I love. I will always watch Overboard with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

Reese Witherspoon declared Overboard to be her all-time favorite movie on the Academy Awards this year. I thought that was really funny.

Love it, it’s such a comfort movie for me. And I’ll watch any Sex in the City, no matter what. I’ll watch any of the shows, both the movies always.

Really? You’ll watch the movies too?

Always. It’s like I love to hate them, I hate to love them. I just love everything about them.

And did you find that your life living in New York was just like their lives?

Oh, exactly. Are you kidding me? I always see them wearing those outfits walking down the streets of New York and I’m like, are you kidding? You would be like – people would tear you apart if you walked down the street in some of the outfits. Tube top, leg warmers, jog shorts from 1972 and stilettos? Really?

My issue is that nobody ever wants to identify as “The Miranda” of their group of friends. Miranda was always my favorite.

Well, no one wants to be the smart girl. Everyone wants to be just the hottie or something. Even though I agree with you, she was always my favorite as well.

If no one wants to be the smart girl but everyone wants to be the sexy girl, how does that affect you when you’re writing women characters?

That’s a good question. I don’t know because I always write self-deprecating characters — with [Up All Night], obviously Christina Applegate is gorgeous. There’s no getting around it. But we write her very confident but she doesn’t strut around like the hottie. She’s good at her job and smart.

I don’t know, I don’t ever want to write sexy girls. I guess ’cause I’m really not one. I always just try to write self-assured, self-deprecating girls.

Like Miranda.

Like Miranda. Yeah, Miranda.

I feel like Christina’s character, Regan, is a fantastic role model, much like Miranda. Strangely enough, growing up my role models were Kate (Susan St. James) and Allie (Jane Curtain). They were these smart women, and like you said, were self-assured and self-deprecating but they weren’t flaky and stupid. And they were actually pretty confident in what they did, be it a homemaker or travel agent.

It seems that television went through a phase of these women that were either harpies or terribly insecure. It’s really nice to see women like Reagan and Leslie Knope that are just very self-assured still a little neurotic. But they’re really good at what they do and they’re really relatable.

I’m glad you’re picking up on that. ‘Cause that’s been a goal of everyone at the show. And I know it’s a goal over at Parks. But we’re really just writing to those lady’s strengths, which is they are those ladies. They are so smart and so self-assured and great at what they do. And so it’s easy to write for a great lady. Both of those ladies are great ladies.

What has been the best compliment you’ve heard about Up All Night?

Honestly, what you just said, just about it being relatable and feeling real. Because that’s really been the goal of the show — to be funny and then real so that normal people can look at the show and think, “I recognize that in myself or we went through that.”

Up All Night airs Thursdays at 9:30p/8:30c on NBC.

When I found out that two of my favorite causes – NBC’s Parks and Recreation and The Memory Palace podcast (an addictive, witty and always moving collection of history that has fallen through the cracks of your schoolbooks) – were connected in a most unexpected way, I was ridiculous giddy. The book Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America was introduced in the Season Four episode “Born and Raised,” as Deputy Director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) embarks on a small tour to promote the release. However, being a fictional character (it’s hard to believe that sometimes, I know), real-life writers needed to be drafted. Nate DiMeo, journalist and The Memory Palace creator, joined the writing team of Parks and Recreation to craft Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, a historical look at the fictional town of the NBC series. I knew that the combination of his storytelling and the Parks and Rec writers that create new facets of Pawnee every week would be utterly brilliant.

Nate discusses the initial ideas for the book, how everything had to go through the Leslie filter, and why mini-horse Li’l Sebastian is a lot like waffles.

How did you get involved in writing the Pawnee book?

I’m a friend of [Parks and Rec creator and Executive Producer] Mike Schur. Mike’s wife, JJ Philbin, and my wife, [Leila Gerstein, The CW's Heart of Dixie creator,] wrote together on The OC. [Through] couples-and-work related things, Mike and I both realized that we like a lot of the same stuff, have a lot of favorite books in common, and have the Boston Red Sox in common, and are just generally copasetic across the board.

At some point, [Parks and Rec creator] Greg Daniels thought it would be fun to do a low-key fake photo book about Pawnee like Arcadia Press put outs — like Westchester County, [New York] in the old days. I think Mike thought it would be cool if the ridiculous Pawnee history was grounded or echoed in real history. He’s a fan of Memory Palace, and he thought that I would be good at doing that.

We kind of talked about that briefly, but then the possibility of doing it grew larger, Hyperion was involved and Mike was very into the idea of doing a tie in episode, because it was a perfectly natural thing for Leslie to be writing. He knew he could write a funny episode and relished the idea where Leslie wrote this book because she loves her town so much.

I came on board to engrain very specific Memory Palace skills to this thing. Early on, I kind of conceived of what the book contained and what could have gone down in its history. In the beginning, we all thought it would be a little bit more historic based. As we went down the road, I was setting up bits and passing some of them on to the writer’s room, they were taking the ball and writing with it, and we had all this material that I don’t think Mike or I were expecting to be in there — a lot of it really killed.

Alan Yang, who is a super talent on the staff, wrote the hysterical Scientology parody where the town is taken over by a cult (Zorp). To this day, I can’t look at it without cracking up. It’s also one of the only things that neither Mike nor I added a joke.

That, in particular, really expanded the scope of what we felt we could do with the book, and so from there we just kept writing. Mike took on a lot of the character essay stuff and a lot of Leslie’s introductory material and a lot of the “24 hours of Pawnee,” which is a straight rip of the The New York Times “36 hours in [Blank]“. We did have to be realistic. There probably wasn’t 36 hours worth of stuff to do there. I just kept feeding him essays. It was delightful.

With this book bring “written by” Leslie Knope, how did you balance the wackiness of Pawnee versus the often non-ironic way that Leslie approaches the town?

Mike is really inspired by things like old Mad Magazine collections and books that we both grew up on in the 70′s that were just chock full of gags and little runners. We just wanted to have as many funny things on the page as we could, and also have it be a varied reading experience.

But while we’re doing these absurd bits and these jokes, we say that there wasn’t a single thing in there that we could not justify to ourselves that Leslie would have included. Even things like why would April be allowed to write that ridiculous thing about how much she doesn’t like Pawnee Community College.

We’re like no, Leslie is trying to give April and opportunity to step up and she’s frustrated that she’s not, but she’s still pushing through it and you can see that in the 170 footnotes. I feel like Parks fans should feel like they were cared for in the process.

What’s something that you guys would have loved to put in there but just couldn’t rationalize it from Leslie’s point of view?

There isn’t really anything – there were a couple of things that felt too crass or edgy for Leslie. I believe that Nick Offerman wrote the bulk of Ron’s essay on basketball, and there are times where it is sort of extraordinarily vulgar. No one has ever heard Ron Swanson curse, so we had to figure out whether Ron would have done that. Hyperion and NBC standards aside, we just really had to realize that Leslie would never go along with that. There are definitely a lot of essays that were changed to more fit with Leslie’s vision of things.

The other thing was, as silly as things [in Pawnee] were, we wanted to ground it in the idea that this could actually be a functioning place. Obviously things get really broad and there are some jokes and some true absurdities, but there were a few jokes that made us laugh to no end that we just thought they went too far. It was interesting to figure out where the line was.

What is your favorite piece written by someone else, and by you?

Mike is really a talented, gifted dude, particularly when he handles a lot of the character essays, [especially] the Ben Wyatt essay. Ben was really not an entirely fully-formed character when we were writing the book, as a team they were still getting a handle on Ben and it was just coming together.

But Mike sat down and wrote the Ben Wyatt ode to why he likes Pawnee that’s just genuinely lovely and also funny. He does that a lot. I love the introduction – I love the fact that he had the confidence to write a five paragraph to Bloomington, Indiana.

Emily Spivey, the creator of Up All Night, did a lot of the Joan Callamezzo biography. My favorite thing that kills me every time is when Joan’s mom, after having a drunken fight with her Marcus Bachmann-like husband, ends up waking up in the morning holding a concrete nativity sheath. That moment tells you so much about what it was like to grow up in Gary, Indiana for Joan Callamezzo, and to me it’s an incredible, beautiful, hysterical little moment. It may be my single favorite set of words.

[Some pieces of mine that] have nice writing would be “Paint along with Pauline,” and the bit about the history of the strip club expansion.

You mean when all of a sudden there were eight strips clubs that opened up in 2003?

Exactly. Most of those are nice bits of writing. The other thing that I found so fun was the reflections on the Harvest Festival.

As I was writing I realized that Leslie would have included some [reflections] and some would be funny. There had to be a couple that were straight up not funny at all, to have confidence in the world where it’s a place that you can have these dramatic moments just like the fact that it’s a fucking ridiculous place. I could write a couple of sincere things that were moving odes to people’s towns and pass them off to Mike expecting him to go, “Indeed, let’s put these things that aren’t jokes in there.” It was very nice.

Did you write most of the book together or did you go off and then send Mike pieces?

A lot are pretty straight collaborations. I’d pass something on to Mike and then he showed me some changes and there would be a paragraph that he just killed. Having not done any comedy writing before, it’s amazing to go through the jokes that stayed and the paragraphs and the complete essays that stayed, and then also the seed of something that someone who is a trained professional came in and made kill.

I do a lot of historical stuff, but then as we went on and we looked to see what needed to be rounded out, I would chime in and say, “I think this town needs more business profiles” and suddenly the infographic about the hair salon with puns in their names would pop up.

I absolutely love that. How long did it take you guys to come up them or were you just throwing out anything that made you laugh?

There was very little that didn’t work immediately. We would start writing and then it would take off. It was delightful. Mike, in particular, has a real gift for coming up with absurd names that sound real but aren’t at all, so it’s fun to sneak things in. It was fun to sneak in the names of people we knew. The one that I came up with that I’m the most proud of is “Harry and the Handersons Haircutting and Nail Salon,” but then Mike threw in “The Assassination of Your Too-Long Bangs by the Coward Gina Veramopolois” which kills. I am having trouble not rolling on the floor laughing at that. It’s the most ridiculous, wonderful thing.

It was very fun because Mike very early on set a really high bar. He really wanted this to not be a throwaway. The thing the Parks and Recreation fans should know is that it could not have been more lovingly and hands on handled by the person who is most responsible for creating the world with the show creator. It was a true labor of love and an around-the-clock affair.

What was your personal experience writing about Pawnee?

It was literally one of the most fun things I’ve done in my adult life, which was coming up with funny crap that happens in the world of Parks and Recreation. It was also very satisfying. We sit around and write and tell jokes for several hours. My single favorite moment with the book is that [right before our deadline,] we probably spent nine hours in Mike’s office reading the whole thing through and punching it up and cutting things. As a radio person and as a podcaster, I don’t get a chance to do that. It’s a lonely gig.

It felt like a privilege to be able to add to the world of the town, particularly when I would write something that I knew was sound, good, and funny. Beyond that, coming from journalism on the one hand and then from the weird history stories that I do where so often I am thwarted by facts — I’ll hear some anecdote that I think is amazing and then I’ll go back and find out it’s like one third true, if I’m lucky — I have to find a way to either ditch it or find a way to make the new, less interesting facts sing.

It was unbelievably liberating and fun to be able to just sit there and go Aha! The Sweetums Factory was started by a guy who liked Coca-Cola with cocaine in it, but his was with morphine and he was constantly tripping.

Mike has done quite a few interviews about the show and it’s obvious that he’s so thoughtful about the show and about his characters and about the universe as it exists. It makes sense that the book would be so thoughtful as well. Even from my own perspective, a lot of fans love that there is so much respect from the writers for the characters on the show. Mike’s words translate well into the show and translate well into the book as well.

I think that, too. He sets the tone and the agenda and comes up with some great ideas and then lets people who are super smart and creative and talented come in and bring their ideas. It’s a ridiculously high-end [writers'] room there, and he keeps folding them into the world and makes sure that things stay on track. He does a hell of a job at it.

This is my first book but I was privy to all these marketing conversations about how it’s going to be in Leslie’s name and how is that going to appear in the book. It makes perfect marketing sense to have Leslie’s name on it, but I realized what actually would sell it best to Parks and Recreation fans is that it’s made by the creative team behind Parks and Recreation. If you flip open the book and you see my name first, I wouldn’t want people to think it’s farmed out, when really the ship was entirely steered by Mike and the way that he steers the show.

There was a tie-in book for Twin Peaks, like years and years ago that was written in a similar sort of way. It was very thoughtful guide to the town of Twin Peaks and really fleshed out the town that you saw on-screen. Part of the reason that I love the Pawnee book is that it just has so much care for the show and it’s really respectful of the fans of the show, kind of in this whole “we’re in it together and we all love this crazy little town” way.

Well that’s nice to hear. I appreciate that.

I have one very important question for you. How do you feel about Li’l Sebastian? Do you get the appeal or are do you not just understand the appeal of the mini horse?

First of all, he’s a little horse and that’s awesome. Little horses are great. But for me, it’s one of those things that Mike and I talked about when we were coming up with conclusions [for the book] – Li’l Sebastian is the waffles referenced [in the final chapter].

You know how Junior’s Cheesecake in Brooklyn is supposed to be the greatest cheesecake in the world? It might be. I ate it and you know what? The cheesecake is delicious. I don’t know if I’ve ever had better, but it also wasn’t all that great. So there are limits to how good some things can be.

Leslie said at the end of “Born and Raised,” and the end of the book, that somewhere out there are the best waffles in the world, and I love these waffles and why can’t we have the best waffles in the world? I feel like Li’l Sebastian is the same thing. He’s a little horse that they have decided to love and praise and be amazed by, and therefore he is the greatest little horse in the world.

Parks and Recreation airs Thursdays at 8:30pm ET on NBC.

The Memory Palace Archive is here.

Desi talks to us about some of those adventures – working on Awkward., charm school, buying a zoo with Cameron Crowe, throwing her bra at Chris Evans and what she loves about women in comedy.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Louisville—I was there my whole life, I went to school there, my family is back there. When I was a kid, I would take acting camps or summer camps with the Youth Performing Arts School. I knew that that was something that interested me. I loved it. I went through modeling classes.

Which I don’t know if you know this, but Louisville is the fashion capital of the world. Clearly, there is a lot of modeling work to do.

It is pretty renown. It’s Milan and Paris and Louisville.

It’s Vogue (laughs). It’s Elle and Dillon department store catalogue modeling.

I actually took modeling classes when I was going through my incredible awkward phase, which is quite embarrassing. I stuck it out and I ended up loving this school. Obviously in Kentucky there is not a lot of modeling work to do. A lot of it is the charm school aspect of it all.

Ooh! What did you learn in charm school?

We learned about confidence, crossing your ankles the right way when you sit, how to put make up on properly without over doing it. I learned to walk the runway, of course. It is the classic mall walk—stepping one foot in front of the other, stopping in the middle, doing a quick pivot, making your way to the end of the runway, looking in three different directions, smile on your face the whole time and gracefully turn and walk back. This is when I was like ten or eleven years old.

[As] part of our graduation process, we had to write and perform a 30 second commercial. I did a commercial on Del Monte Green Beans. It was something incredibly awkward like “Del Monte Green Beans because they’re good and they’re good for you. Eat Del Monte Green Beans.” Then a big smile and walking off the stage. It was so ridiculous.

It was this mom and pop agency called Alix Adams Modeling Agency. The couple that owned it really became second parents to me. They are just the sweetest, most supportive couple. Through high school, I ended up working there and teaching some classes. They were just so sweet. I still keep in contact with them.

That was kind of my background in Kentucky—growing up knowing that I was going to get into the entertainment field some how. It wasn’t going to be modeling. I wasn’t going to be on the cover of Vogue. It was always silly catalogue modeling or tradeshow modeling—nothing particularly glamorous.

It is kind of funny that who is teaching classes then that who knew you would eventually become a fantastic guidance counselor.

Oh god, I was probably just as inappropriate as I am on the show. I’m sure no one learned anything.

How did you end up going from Kentucky to LA?

It was either New York or LA, but [since] my passion was acting, not modeling, people were encouraging me to go the LA route. My parents are incredibly supportive. They did everything they could. We packed up the U-Haul, and at the last minute, Monica, a dear friend of mine said, “Yeah, I’ll go with you.” We hopped into the car and we drove across country. My parents drove the U-Haul. We settled in Studio City and lived together in that apartment for the first seven years that we were both out here.

Monica and I discovered everything together. We built a foundation together and supported each other. We’re still great friends. It kind of worked in the best possible, supportive way.

It is really good adventure to work out with someone else. It is kind of rare to really get to do that with someone else.

Especially with someone you can trust, a really good friend. We made a really good team. We went through all kinds of transitions. We did extra work and did catering and waiting tables and odd jobs—all kinds of silly adventures along the way. It was not all glamour for sure.

What was the strangest odd job you had?

I did come out here and do some modeling to pay the bills. It wasn’t anything glamorous—I wasn’t getting make-up campaigns or high-end fashion campaigns. It would be like promotional modeling at trade shows selling Simple Green, the cleaning product.

Once did a trade show for a company called JE Pistons. I know nothing about pistons. I know nothing about the car world. They just wanted girls there to wear smile and pass out the brochures. It was the most ridiculous job. I was not qualified for it at all.

I read that one of your earlier credits was that you played “Cutie” in Not Another Teen Movie. I have a not-so-secret love for that movie. I think it is underrated and secretly brilliant.

I do too! I love that movie. I shouldn’t even call it a real credit – it is sort of a fake credit. I did extra work on that movie almost every single day. It was right when I first moved out here and I was learning about what sets were like and how movies were made and the process that actors were going through. It was a cool crash course in that silly comedy world.

One day I got upgraded to the cutie that threw my bra at the jocks. I threw my bra at Chris Evans. It was not exactly multilayered. I had a great time on that set. I’m a sucker for spoof movies. I thought it was really, really funny. It is underrated.

When you got to LA, did you do any study in comedy?

I started in a scene study class, which incorporated some improv. I learned that I loved it. From there I went to The Groundlings—that was my first experience with improv. I think that it is an incredible place to learn about comedy, it is like comedy boot camp. I went from the Groundlings to a place called IO West. They do long form improv.

I was at IO West for a number of years. I went through their program and performed there for a while. I really enjoyed it. It is like working out – I’m sure I’d be rusty going back. I think it is such a great skill to have. You don’t always get to use it.

It’s great when you don’t have to use it because you have a strong script; like in Awkward we have incredible writers. It is not something that we need to rely on. It is great. I always feel like I need to go back to it from time to time to help me think on my feet and stay present. It really forces you to stay present.

Tell me how you got involved with Awkward.

My manager sent me the script. At the time, the role of the Guidance Counselor was a just a guest star for the pilot. It was up for debate about whether it would be role that would be brought back into the equation or not. It was towards the end of pilot season. I was going out for a million pilots a day, hoping to land something. I had been going through the pilot season auditioning for the girlfriend role—the girl who gets to set up all the funny guy jokes, the sidekick, the best friend role. Those are great and there is a value to those also.

I was getting really close on some things and this script came. I just thought it was so well written and so smart and so unique. I don’t care if this is a guest star. I don’t care if it is a one-day [role]. I definitely want to get in on this. I thought the Valerie character was a character that was someone like me doesn’t get the opportunity to play very often. It is the role that Steve Carell or Tina Fey gets to play.

I’m earning my opportunities at that point. It was so well written and so funny. It had so many opportunities to expand on. I went in and I auditioned for the casting director and [Executive Producer and creator Lauren Iungerich]. I loved Lauren’s energy. We got along really well. A couple of weeks later that I found out that I got the role. I went and shot the pilot. It was just a day.

Lauren was so incredible. Not only does she have this smart and funny and witty and unique script that she wrote, but she is such a mother hen. She got all of us together for a celebratory lunch meet and greet for the pilot. We really got to know each other before shooting the pilot. I felt like the project was so special. People were so special. You never know when you shoot something whether it is going to go or if it is not going to go. I just so valued that experience and hoped that it would get to continue. Then we got the good word that it got picked up. A month later, I got the good word that they actually were inviting me to come back as a series regular.

I was over the moon about that because of all the projects I’ve been able to do in the last few years, this was the one that a really wanted to go. This is the one that I didn’t want to let go of.

Do you find that you try to top her in every episode or is it the writing or the way you approach her? What is the back-story that you have given Val in your own head?

There is so much that Lauren and the other writers do to arc her out really well. I don’t know if she is really topping each episode, but there is a challenge in finding a new way to become more and more oblivious. Valerie is one of those characters that is a total wild card. That is the fun of her. You just don’t know what she is going to do.

Valerie seems completely oblivious, but I think she is actually very smart. She is just smart about all the wrong things. That’s the fun in playing her. Valerie walks in and she knows she is the smartest person in the room. She truly thinks that she is the smartest person in the room and that she is here to help. It is just in completely the wrong context.

I think that is perfect. Val is really smart, but just about the wrong kinds of things.

I totally relate to that. This is why she is so much fun to me. I grew up – I had my friends here and there, but I was an outcast. I was the uncomfortable girl. The guys weren’t interested in me at all. My crushes would never look twice. I grew up feeling like the outcast so often that I was aware of that and carried that around. I think there is something so beautiful and freeing about a character who is that way, but she has no clue. I wish I had no clue growing up. I could have rocked it like I was the Homecoming Queen.

Coming from that is what is really fun about Val is that not really caricature. As wacky and off-kilter that she is, she always feels like she is a real character. She’s not just doing crazy things for the sake of it.

Oh good. I’m glad to hear you say that. It is definitely broad comedy. We go out on a lot of limbs. I think that Lauren insisted on watching that there was some authenticity and that everything is coming from a truly organic and motivated place. If there is a question, then we work to try and make it come from that place. You take a risk when you play a character like that to go out on all those limbs but find a way to make it as truthful as you possibly can. At the end of the day, it still has to be funny.

Valerie really cares for Jenna and wants to make a positive impact in Jenna’s life. She is pretty certain that she knows how to do that. Her way of doing that is relating that to her own life. Her experiences are so inept and wrong. She just kind of personalizes everything and misses the boat, but her intentions are there. I think the intentions are really, really good. I look at Valerie like she is the awkward goofball in school. She’s the total outcast, but she thinks she is the homecoming queen.

Have you been surprised by the reaction to Awkward at all?

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, no. From first read of the script and then doing all the table reads—to see all these talented actors read everything aloud—it really excited me and I know that we all truly wholeheartedly believed in the project. You don’t know and you can’t control how people respond. For MTV, this is a new venture. You don’t know if people are going to support their scripted programming or not. When we did it, [The Hard Times of] RJ Berger was relatively new and they had some success with their show. I was really grateful that they gave us a great shot. They gave a great time slot.

[MTV] let us tell the story that Lauren wanted to tell. They supported us all along the way. It has been overwhelming that there has been such a positive response not just from teenagers, but from adults. The cool thing for me is when I get a call from one of my guy friends who I went to high school with and they are like, “Look, I didn’t think I was going to like the show. It is totally for teenage girls, but I have to tell you I’m totally into it. It is kind of my new favorite show.” At which point I make fun of them incessantly and then say thank you. It is a cool call to get. You hope that teenage girls watch it, but it is also a nice surprise when full-grown men are appreciating it also – or creepy. I don’t know.

If the quality of the writing was not as good, it would probably be a little creepy.

Exactly.

I have seen a lot of people comment like that as well, “I’m way past the demographic. I never thought I’d be watching a high school show on MTV of all places.” They’re like: “This is a show that I actually have to make sure that I tune in at eleven o clock on a Tuesday night.”

It is so nice to hear. Those were the responses I was not expecting. That’s the stuff that has really been positively overwhelming. That means that our ratings have been strong. All this stuff is really exciting and stuff that you don’t expect walking into it. It has been really fun. We are all trying to enjoy just each step of the way. Just fully be grateful and appreciate every aspect of the success.

Most of you are on Twitter. What kind of experience is that? This is like your first real series and you have like all of these people now who are fans of yours, who can follow you and are really excited if you respond to them. What is it like to have the immediate reaction with fans?

I don’t think that Val has quite the following that the boys have. The boys are going crazy. The girls are out of control. It is adorable.

I’m the worst at Twitter—I opened an account a while ago, but I could never really commit to it. It is really fun to talk to people, but I don’t know to respond. I didn’t know what hashtagging was until a few weeks ago. I’m always responding in the wrong way. I’m putting links that are too long on there. I put the @ when I should be putting the #. It is really confusing. I’ve never felt more old. I feel like a Golden Girl trying to tweet. It is really fun. You actually get to chat with people who appreciate the show and hear their thoughts and their input and what they’d like to see happen. It has been pretty cool.

Do you have anything because it is so funny that you – what would go on your blooper reel for the season?

Oh my gosh. There were so many silly things. I think the rap from [Jenna’s 16th birthday] was so hard. I knew how ridiculous the whole thing was. Between the bandana and the bull horn, then Ashley [Rickards, who plays Jenna Hamilton]. Ashley is so good at keeping that dead pan, dry face that horrified, “Oh my god. You’re ruining my life thing.” We could not keep a straight face.

[Also] the Grim Reaper stuff in Episode 7. [Val] is running around and chasing people. I have a terrible run. I’m not an athletic person. I can barely run. Between the gloves and the robe, it was just – we had some fun. Anytime I have a scene with Molly [Tarlov, who plays Sadie Saxton], we crack up. That girl is so talented. I’m just so blown away by her every single week. Her natural impulse for comedy and timing is so smart.

And that whole scene with Nikki [Deloach, who plays Lacey Hamilton, Jenna’s mom], where I got to feel her boobs and all that inappropriate goodness. We have so much fun, we can’t really keep a straight face together.

In the long run, would you say that you’re Team Matty or Team Jake?

I’m kind of torn on this—It is not just my political correctness.
I was always a team Jake kind of gal. I love [Beverly Hills 90210’s] Brandon Walsh. Brandon Walsh was the good guy. I never really went for the mysterious guy. Matty is pretty gooey inside. I truly go back and forth each episode. I was doing it while watching some of the scenes while we were filming and now I’m doing it again watching it on TV. I don’t know. I really flip back and forth.

I can understand that. I was pretty solidly Team Matty and then when I realized how awesome Jake was, I think I have completely flipped over to Team Jake. Normally I like the mysterious bad boy. I was all about Jordan Catalano, not Brian Krakow. Now I’m like Team Jake, Brian Krakow.

I know. He is so charming. Brad is just as charming in person. He is such a sweetheart. Beau is too. It is impossible to choose. I keep going back and forth. It is kind of fun.

That is definitely the appeal of it all. When you still keep rooting for one or the other, it is a good sign.

I think so. Hopefully the other girls are too.

Jumping forward, you’re in the new Cameron Crowe movie We Bought a Zoo. They have released the trailer—you’re right there right front and center. What was that like to see the trailer for the first time?

Oh my god. It was crazy. It was a small role, but I got to work with Matt Damon and Cameron Crowe, which was a total dream come true. You don’t know what will happen when you do a small role like that. You could end up on the cutting room floor. Who knows? I was just hoping that it would some how make it in the movie. To see it in the trailer was a really cool experience that was the first scene that they use. I think that it works with the character. I am grateful.

[Cameron Crowe] is such an incredible director and you understand why he has been as successful as he has. It just has this fantastic energy. He just loves every part of movie making. When I went into the audition, I met with him. He was on his feet and he came up to me and welcomed me. He was ready to have some fun. We really got to play around with a lot of different angles on it.

It was a small role, but for him to be so excited about the whole process about it make me feel at ease. I was so nervous to go in and meet this director whose work I had watched over the years and really admired. He wouldn’t let me feel nervous. It was a very cool experience. Everyone from hair and makeup to craft service were all there because they wanted to be there. It was a really lovely, positive experience start to finish.

That’s fantastic. Is there a lesson that you took away from the experience?

It is so easy to walk into those experiences and put a lot of pressure on yourself to do well and impress people or to meet their expectations, make them happy and give them what they want. At the end of the day, it is about going in and doing what you love. It is about doing what excites you. I’m out here in LA to follow my dreams and to do what makes me happy. I think that that whole experience is like just have fun with it. Have a great time with it and do what you love to do. Don’t get bogged down with the pressure and trying to meet everyone’s expectations.

What other projects do you have coming up?

We got a second season of Awkward next year and We Bought A Zoo comes out in December, Christmas week.
I just shot movie called The Babymakers with the Broken Lizard guys. It is about a couple trying to have a baby, and not able to do it successfully. It is about their trials and tribulations in a hilarious way. It was great experience shooting that. I’m not sure when that is going to be coming out, but that is a really funny indie comedy—some great actors in there, I hope that that does well.

What would you love to do next?

The choices that Kristen Wiig is making these days are really fantastic. I’m a huge fan of Bridesmaids. I love that that was her passion project. She made it happen in such a big way.

I think women in comedy are very successful these days. Women like Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler are opening up doors for the rest of us. This is a really exciting time for women in comedy.

You made a really good point. I’m a very big fan of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and I like how they have taken the criticism that “women aren’t funny” head on. There is a shift—not only are TV shows and movies showing that not only can women be funny, but they don’t have to be funny in the same way that men need to be funny.

What I found so interesting about Bridesmaids was that everyone said that it was going to be “The Female Hangover.” When I went to see it, I was surprised to see that it had so much more heart, so much more honesty than The Hangover. That is what I feel has such a strong appeal for the movie.

I think so too. It proved that women could be just raunchy and balls out funny as men can be. We can do the fart jokes and the poop jokes. Bridesmaids is funny. Calling it the female version of The Hangover is what got it sold and maybe got guys into the theatre, but you’re right there was so much more to it. There is relationship and authenticity at the heart of it. That’s what made that movie so beautiful.

For so many years it was the women setting up the jokes for the men. That is fine. Now is our time. We can thank women like Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig who are opening up opportunities for us. It existed years ago with women like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin and all these other women who have been doing it for so many years. Now it is happening in a whole new way. I think that is really exciting.

I look at Lauren, who is the creator of our show who is really blazing her own trail in the female comedy world. She’s kind of doing what Freaks and Geeks and great comedies like that, but for women. She is someone who I really admire — she has an incredibly unique voice and is incredibly ambitious. She is an inspiration as a strong female in the comedy world.

I hope to follow in those footsteps, maybe working on my own projects. Hopefully one day I could get those made and get to work with great directors in the comedy world like Judd Apatow. Woody Allen would be a dream. There are a lot of people that I would like to work with. I’m just open to it all falling into place in the right way.

Awkward. Season finale airs Tuesday, September 27th at 11p/9c on MTV.

(Desi Lydic cupcake photo and main page photo credit: Rebecca Sanabria at http://www.rebeccasanabria.com/)

2011-09-26

Jenna’s nemesis is the bitchy head cheerleader Sadie Saxton. Molly Tarlov plays Sadie as such a real, relatable character that she goes beyond the stereotypical mean girl. Sadie is wickedly brilliant and the writers, and Tarlov, draw her with such complexity that she’s quickly become a fan favorite.

I have to ask you about Sadie’s perfectly bitchy “You’re welcome” retort. Did your delivery of it come off like initially or did you try to figure out the best way to consistently deliver that in the best snarky way possible?

It’s a funny story. We were in the writers’ room — they had just started writing, and we were talking about what was going to happen this season. They were telling me all these horrible things that Sadie was going do, and I said, “Oh my god Sadie is so mean!” Then Lauren [Iungerich, show creator and Executive Producer] said, “Yeah, but your dad built the planetarium,” and I said, “You’re welcome.” They were like “oh my god.”

And that’s how it was born and it just came out like that and there it is.

I am not like very not like Sadie — I’m a very nice human being. (laughs)

What surprised you the most about the reaction to the show?

I guess what’s surprising is that there’s so much great television and that now it’s so hard [to be noticed]. I always think about [when Boy Meets World was on] and you talked about Cory and Topanga and everybody knew what we were talking about. [Everyone watched] the same shows and it’s just not like that anymore.

I mean everyone lives in their own TV world, and there’s so many shows and so many networks. I’m so thankful that we caught on.

How did you find out that you guys were picked up for the second season as well?

I was taking a nap. My Twitter started going off and somebody tweeted “Congratulations on the second season — You’re Welcome.”

I called Jillian [Rose Reed, who plays Tamara] and said “What’s going on?” We Googled [the show] and saw all these quotes [about us being renewed.] I was at my apartment and she was at lunch with her mom and we were just like so excited.

It’s an amazing show. I think that Lauren has magic in her brain.

You talk to a lot of your fans through Twitter. What is that like, especially with this being your first big role?

It’s awesome. I am so excited. I really cannot even get over the fact that I can tweet a question and get responses. These adorable girls sent me a video the other day, and it was so cute — I sent them a video back. I showed it to my dad yesterday, and he was just like in shock that somebody actually wanted me to video them back.

What the best reaction you’ve gotten from a fan that recognized you?

Well, I really like when people call me pretty. (laughs) The other day, a little girl said, “Sadie is a quite a character!” That was one way to put it!

The first time that I got recognized, [they asked] “Can I take a picture of you? My girlfriend doesn’t believe you’re here.” That was so weird — I wasn’t wearing makeup and I just got a facial. [Then he asked,] “Can you make a mean face?” I said no.

What’s pretty cool is at the [2011 MTV VMAs] — all of a sudden the fans were yelling down for Sadie.

You said that it is very important to find great role models — who are your role models? And you may not realize how important you are, but you have become such a role model to other people.

My sister is so awesome. She’s getting her PhD in London right now and she’s just amazing. My mom is so happy because an article just came out that she wrote, and then I was in Entertainment Weekly.

That’s a great week for the Tarlov family!

Yeah, I was in Entertainment Weekly but Jessie’s gonna be a doctor.

What songs do when you want to feel amazing?

I love Best Coast. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton. I feel like Dolly Parton is really empowering. I love “9 to 5″ which is hilarious because my life is more like 5 to 9.

Sometimes you just have to listen to Dolly and you have to say you know if Dolly can get her heart broken it happens to all of us.

That’s very wise to look to Dolly and realize that she can make it through, we can make it through too.

Awkward airs Tuesdays at 11p/9c on MTV.

2011-09-11

He talks to PopGurls about the show, what makes a good Scream Queen and what’s needed in the horror genre today.

Tell me about Scream Queens.

Scream Queens is a reality show where we take ten women and put them in a house together. They’re all actresses or wannabe actresses – varying levels of experience there was one who had starred in TV shows and another who hadn’t ever taken an acting class in her life.

It’s hosted by Shawnee Smith of the SAWmovies, myself and John Homa who is a well-known acting coach in Los Angeles. We put them through challenges every week and try to find the person who’s the best star of a Lionsgate horror movie. That’s the prize that she wins.

It is a reality show – they live in a house together and it has that part of it, which I wasn’t familiar with while I was doing the show because I was intent on picking the best person for the movie. But since then, I’ve seen the show, and it’s very interesting to see what was going on with them while they were living in the house.

So you didn’t know anything that was going on?

I knew some – I’d sneak up sometimes and see what was going on with the girls [on] the monitors. And the producers would tell me some of the stuff that was going on with the girls. But for the most part, I’d come in on the days that I was shooting and do my director’s challenges.

Every week we’d do a director’s challenge, which was anything from taking a bath with a rubber snake and having to act frightened to crawling through fake broken glass and being chased by a villain — to being covered in cockroaches.

Real cockroaches?

Yes. Absolutely real. Pouring from the ceiling – a thousand cockroaches.

Wow. Do you like to make all of your actresses cry?

Only my Scream Queens (laughs) I think only one didn’t cry.

How did you approach the judging?

For me, it came down to acting more than anything else. To be a Scream Queen in the tradition of Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Naomi Watts – we were looking for someone who, number one, could really act. Number two, could hold the screen well – somebody who had charisma that you want to watch for two hours. But also somebody that has a vulnerability that you are afraid for her in a horror film. We put ourselves in that person while we’re watching the movie – so, will you be afraid, will you believe that she has enough strength to survive to be in the end what they call the “final girl.” And so, we’re looking for that balance.

We had a lot of girls who had different aspects of those strengths – but I think that there was one girl who had all of that and that’s who we chose at the end of the show. I’m real happy with it – I think we found a couple of real stars.

What surprised you about the show?

It really is different from other VH1 reality shows and I hope there’s an audience for it because it really shows what goes on behind the scenes when you’re making a movie or a TV show, but it’s fun to watch. Part of it is the horror movie aspect of it – the cockroaches and gore and all these different things make it fun.

The guys who made the show are the people who worked on Beauty and the Geek – they really cracked the code on behind the scenes filmmaking that is entertaining for someone in Ohio and is really entertaining for someone who is in the business. It appeals to everyone like that.

What do you wish that more people in the horror genre would do?

The first thing that popped in my head is just take chances. There’s a big onslaught of horror movies a couple of years ago and that was because a couple of people did take chances and everybody else just copied them. SAW and Hostel came out and a lot of people hate those movies, but the truth is that they were different from what was out there before them. I don’t hate those movies, I like both those films and I like both those filmmakers as human beings quite a bit. But then everything that came out [after them] was just copying that and trying to be the same.

It reminded me of when Nirvana came out. You have this great rock band and people love it and Pearl Jam came out, and they’re kind of like Nirvana and they’re pretty cool – great music, great singer and then it keeps going and going and going until you have Candlebox. It’s like a copy of a copy of a copy and it’s the worst band in the entire world. That’s what happens with movies, with everything.

What people were attracted to in SAW was that it was a unique vision, it was an interesting idea and that’s why people went to see it. And it’s not very violent at all – if you rewatch the first movie, people think of it as violent but it’s not. It’s 100% ideas. And James Wan, the guy who directed the first movie, freaked me out once because I was talking to him about something and he was like “Uhh, I can’t stand gore, I hate it.” And there is no gore, it’s all the idea of something – not the actuality of it.

Everything’s a retread of something else – I think it’s great to remake movies if there’s a real solid reason to do it but usually there isn’t. It’s just a piece of business – somebody is remaking a movie just because they think it’s going to make money in a theatre, which it usually doesn’t.

Aside from your own movies, what the strongest remake aside from your own, that you’ve liked?

I thought The Hills Have Eyes was great. [Alexandre] Aja is a very talented filmmaker, the acting in that movie was fantastic — which set it apart from a lot of other movies. I don’t think it was a perfect movie, but I think it was very good. It is my favorite of the remakes.

If you’re hesitant about remakes, what inspired you to do Dawn of the Dead?

Simply, the producer called me up and said, “do you think that you would be interested in remaking Dawn of the Dead and if you are, I’ll buy the rights.” So, I said, “okay” — because it just instantly came to me – the vision of this movie that was a horror movie that wasn’t a horror movie. It was about people surviving Armageddon – who would survive and who wouldn’t. The people who would do well in this situation are the people who didn’t do so well in life. The skill sets needed to survive in a post-zombie apocalypse are very different than the skill sets needed to survive in Manhattan. That really inspired me – it could be a big movie.

There had never been a big-budget zombie movie made, there had never been a zombie movie that had made over 10 million dollars in the history of zombie films – unless you count the Resident Evil movies. But I thought it was the right time and I felt inspired by writing the story. It was a story that I really wanted to write.

Have there been other movie you want to remake?

I’ll be honest, I tried to get the rights to It’s Alive a few years ago. Larry Cohen — who I love dearly, who created the original movie — and I couldn’t come to the right deal so it didn’t happen. And now there’s a terrible, terrible, terrible movie coming out called It’s Alive. (laughs)

But that’s the only other one that I was interested in.

Who’s your favorite Scream Queen?

I actually think that Naomi Watts in The Ring is one of my favorites. I don’t even love that movie, I love how it looks. I love her in the movie – I think she’s the pinnacle of combination of somebody who is a great actress, is very beautiful – very vulnerable but also strong.

She, for me, is the best scream queen there ever was.

Get all things James Gunn at his official site.

Property of PopGurls.com — Do Not Repost Without Permission.

2008-10-20

“You and your grandmother, for instance, could sit down together and enjoy some nice clean smut. Or your kids could come home from school, and the whole family could gather around the computer and not-jerk-off to some porn deeply embedded with traditional values (like not fucking.)” – PGPorn.tv

James sits down with PopGurls to talk about his wholesome new adventure with adult film stars Belladonna and Aria Giovanni, the perils of naked photo shoots and how Joss Whedon gave him his first job in Hollywood.

How is PG-Porn different from “Skinemax”?

This is not softcore porn whatsoever. What it is – it’s pornography for people who love porn, but are offended by the sex. My brothers, Sean and Brian, and I came up with this concept years ago, we just had no application for it — we used to joke about little porn episodes that didn’t have porn. It’s the aesthetics of porn and the humour of porn, shot like porn, acted like porn, set design like porn but without the nasty, gross sex parts.

When I was a kid, we used to go to the X-Rated movie theatres to go see movies with my friends. We would go and laugh, and recite the dialogue from those movies and talk about the films. I can’t remember a single sex scene in any of those movies – that’s not why we went. We watched the other parts – and this is the other parts.

Every episode is extremely different and they all have a different format. The first one is with Nathan Fillion and Aria Giovanni and it features Aria Giovanni’s first ever male/female kiss. For which she broke down in tears on set.

She came up and realized that she had to kiss a man – she’s straight in real life – she had never done that before [on screen] and was very frightened. So I went in and talked to her and said, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but it would be great if you did.” She was professional, she had the terrible task of kissing Nathan Fillion – which is about the worst thing I can imagine.

Quite a hardship — I’ve read about how Nathan has a problem coming on to you.

Everywhere I go – he’s constantly [doing it]. He’s probably texting me right now. Little love notes.

How frustrating! So, what else inspired you to do PG-Porn?

I love the idea of bringing different worlds together — it’s an interesting way to find out about another culture. I found out a lot about [adult film] – sometimes more than I wished to find out since I started doing this show.

What was the most shocking thing you found out?

Do you really want to know? We did a PG-Porn photo shoot for Femme Fatales and it was a like a Penthouse photo spread – just without the sex. Holly Randall shot the bits – she’s the daughter of Suze Randall who sort of the person who originated the Penthouse photo spread. Holly shot thousands of nude shoots – I asked her what was something I wouldn’t know about shooting naked people. She said it’s the flies. They live up on a ranch and they do a lot of shoots outside, naked, and the flies gather around the female genitalia.

Really?

Yes. They’re constantly having to deal with flies.

That is kind of shocking, and disturbing.

That, and the casual conversation about enemas among the girls. They have to wake up earlier than everyone else because they have to do an enema first thing in the morning before an anal scene.

How did you find everyone for the project?

I found everybody through MySpace. I knew about Belladonna, because every time I posted a new blog – I would go and check and see where I was in the top 10 blogs on MySpace and Bella and I were always right next to each other. In my mind, she was my archrival. Just because we were so similar in the amount of hits we would get in our blogs. She has has many more friends, but I have way more blog readers than I do friends. We were always right next to each other and I was always happy when I was one slot ahead of Belladonna. Which I usually was…

I knew she was very popular with her presence on MySpace and I knew she was very interactive with her fans. So she was one of the first people I contacted on the first day that we decided to do this. I got a call from her husband 15 minutes after they got the email. He knew Dawn of the Dead and they knew Slither and they liked those movies so they were fully into it right away. I got really lucky because, first of all, she’s a delight.

Bella’s one of the most charismatic, fun people that I’ve ever met. Everybody that meets her thinks the same thing. She’s drug-free and she runs a business – she and her husband run Belladonna Entertainment and they put out their own videos and they do that on their own. She was able to then push me towards  Sasha Grey and push me towards Jenna Haze and towards other people who are responsible.

A lot of people that I wrote said that they wanted to do it – and then they’d disappear and for two weeks, they were gone. You have to have people to work with that you trust – surprise, surprise, porn actresses are not that stable.  Going through Bella and all her people, I was instantly able to go in with people who were responsible. It was a great working relationship.

Were you a fan before she signed on?

I’ve actually never seen one of her movies and I don’t think I ever can – they invited me to the set, I can’t do it.

Is it a sister thing?

It’s not exactly like a sister thing, because I think she’s attractive. [And] I’m not one of these directors that gets together with actresses that I work with – when you direct somebody, you become parental.

How did you meet Aria?

Also through MySpace. She was funny, because in the beginning she was so robotic. I thought she was the rudest person in the entire world.  She would write me back: “How much? What days? Will you use my real name?”

No hello, no goodbye, no anything. I thought, “This girl’s a robot.” When I met her, it was the same way. But she’s so protective because she’s her own manager. You don’t know who is contacting you in those situations and what they want exactly. Even if I am who I say I am, what am I doing?

And now, she’s the warmest of people. She comes to parties at my brother’s house and she’s a real sweet person.

Is there a moment that you can’t wait for people to see?

I cannot wait for people to see Michael Rosenbaum‘s “Peanus” episode. There’s two Peanus episodes and at the end of the second episode, “A Very Peanus Christmas,” is one of my favorite things of all time. Peanus is our take on the Jurassic Park model of porn – you take a popular franchise and pornify it. And so we thought that if you could pornify Jurassic Pork – why not pornify cartoons?

You have a very big online presence with MySpace, Twitter and your fan club. Were you were naturally inclined to be so connected, or is it primarily for marketing?

It’s both – I created Troma’s website way back when. I’ve been on the web since there has been a web and I was on the Internet before then. I enjoy the social networking stuff normally – but I didn’t get on MySpace until my ex-wife was on there and she had gotten a lot of attention.

I knew there should be a Slither page, and then Universal made a big Slither page so it little by little [the profile] became me. That’s when I got involved with it and I find it really useful because I could check out the pulse of what’s online.

If you read a lot of online stuff, you can become jaded – because there are people who love you and people who hate you. But that doesn’t really give you a sense of anything because a lot of people just hate stuff. But with MySpace and finding out that people like some of the stuff I’ve done, and finding out what they like – I was able to find out what they want. And PG-Porn is somewhat the result of that.

Humanzee, what I did for XBOX, is 100% that.  I blogged about Humanzees, I wasn’t at all planning on doing a show about them. I was just fascinated by human/chimp hybrids, and I wrote this blog and people went crazy on it, they loved it! People started making this fan art with me as a monkey – it just caught on. I knew there was something there that people liked, and when it came time to do the XBOX stuff, I came up with Humanzee.

You hear about artists that separate themselves from people and that ends up being their downfall. Somebody is an entertainer and he ends up getting rich and he doesn’t interact with normal people anymore. It’s only the other people who are rich and successful and loses sight of what life is about and he can’t entertain anyone because he’s only entertaining that [small group]. It’s either too manipulative or too whatever. I think that’s true for me in terms of my life – who I interact with and how, but being online – you need to walk the streets and experience things and there’s the streets of the Internet. Interacting with actual real people and see what’s going on with them and that’s important to me.

There’s some real drawbacks – as more people know who I am, it becomes more difficult but I’m trying to maintain a commitment to fans and people online who care about that stuff.

I think that, as a fan, when you can have that kind of interaction with someone you respect and they take you seriously, it creates and maintains interest and a connection.

I get so many emails at my MySpace mail that I can’t always answer questions there. But I do go every  morning when I answer my email, I answer the questions of those at the fansite, jgas.org. It’s part of my day.

I get a good feeling about telling people honestly — as much as I possibly can — what’s going on with me, what I did and how I got there. Because people are looking for answers. Usually they’re looking for the wrong answers – the most common question I get is “How do I get an agent?” You get an agent by writing a good screenplay. There’s no doubt about it. People refuse to believe that. They refuse to believe that good things will get noticed, but you have to keep going for it. It’s work.

How did you get your start in Hollywood?

Joss [Whedon] gave me my first job in Hollywood. I wrote a pilot for him that never got made. He read my screenplay for The Specials and he had read a book I had written with Lloyd Kaufman All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger and he tracked me down and had me come in because he wanted to do a pilot about a B-movie company for FOX. He had sold the idea and he had me come in and write it, but it never got made. But that was my first actual job in Los Angeles, in mainstream entertainment.

We stayed friends after that. He was a big fan of my novel, The Toy Collector — which pops up in Dr. Horrible, which I had forgotten about until people started sending me frames. It’s so funny that people can even find it, it’s so minimal.

Check out PG-Porn at the official site or at Spike.com

Get all things James Gunn at his official site.

Property of PopGurls.com — Do Not Repost Without Permission.

2008-10-08