Chatting MOTHERHOOD with Megan Mullally

mullallySince WILL AND GRACE ended a few years ago, Megan Mullally has tried her hand at various guest parts, and her own talk show (which I loved).  Tonight marks her return to TV with a role in ABC’s latest comedy offering, IN THE MOTHERHOOD.  She plays Rosemary, a 50-year-old free spirit who raised a decidedly well round teenage son on her own.  The character’s best friends are Jane (Cheryl Hines) and Emily (Jessica St. Clair) and she has a little something-something!lite with Horatio Sanz’ character.  The show is funny.  Flat out funny, with wit, charm, sarcasm, and stories that are all based on real life moms.   I hope people tune in tonight to the time slot that once belonged (and will belong again) to UGLY BETTY for the SAM WHO? / IN THE MOTHERHOOD one two punch!

I had the fantastic opportunity to chat with Megan to discuss her new role, why you should tune into the show, and, of all things, Adam Lambert’s singing voice!

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what got you interested in Rosemary, why you wanted to play this character?  How the show came together for you?
This character, the show was based on a web series, and this character doesn’t exist in the web series, so we kind of had to figure out what it was, and I just kind of wanted to play a character that’s a little closer, well, it’s not me, at all, but there are elements of the character that are me.  I’m 50, the character’s 50.  She’s 50 and she owns it,  and she’s very powerful, and sexy.  But then there are other aspects of it that aren’t me, at all.  She may possibly have a criminal background [laughs].  She’s getting up to hijinks in a way that I don’t do in real life!  I felt like it would be fun. I am 50, and I’m an actress, and I live in Los Angeles, and yet I haven’t had any plastic surgery or BOTOX® or any of that stuff, and I feel like I may be in the vast minority in that regard, so I thought it would be good to get out there and strut my stuff.

You look great, so you can’t argue with that!  What are some of the stories that you guys have gotten to do, that stand out for you as a favorite so far?
We’re just about on our 6th episode, and I feel like the last 4 episodes we’ve done, there have been some really funny stuff going on. The cast is fantastic.  Really, really amazing funny cast.  Great chemistry with everybody. We just shot an episode last week where my character conducts a parenting seminar which is really the last thing that my character should ever do, and I “take care” of one of the other character’s sons imaginary friends in a way that was very innapropriate.  There is also an episode that we did a couple of weeks ago and we got to do sort of an action.  We all were like, ok, now we all just want to be in THE MATRIX.   We got to do this sort of action thing where there’s an explosion.  It’s going to be very, very RESERVOIR DOGS [laughs] and it was very cool.  It was crazy.  We didn’t know it was going to happen, really.  We thought this little bush was going to catch on fire, and it was literally lke a major, I felt like Matt Damon!  That’s very cool! [laughs]

Why do you think the audience should and will tune into IN THE MOTHERHOOD?
Well, I think the show is going to be really, really funny.  It’s hard with a new series, because when you’re just starting out, I feel like the first episode or 2 of a new series is utter pandemonium.  It’s just going to be, I don’t care who is doing it.  It doesn’t matter, it’s just always going to be crazy.  After that, I think those are funny, too, but I think it really is going to be super funny.  The cast is just great.  It’s very universal, because it’s called IN THE MOTHERHOOD and it’s a heavy on the women cast, but I do think it’s essentially just about people and friends and friendships and relationships, as well as being about women and mothers and motherhood.  The comedy is, it’s not like Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but it’s also not little goody-two shoes.  I think it’s going to be funny.

inthemotherhood12It’s a smart kind of humor.
It’s a smart humor, and there’s a little bit of a twist to it, so it’s not just some lame sitcom from 1987.  It’s smart.

You mentioned the chemistry – did you know anyone or work with anyone prior?
I’ve known Cheryl Hines for a long time.  She’s a really good friend of mine.  And Horatio I’ve known.  Cheryl and I hadn’t worked together, and she was on my talkshow a few times, and we know each other socially.  And Horatio and I worked together on a couple of odd things.  I hosted SNL when he was still on, and we had done this weird movie together.  We did a terrible movie together that shall remain unnamed.  We also did another pilot together last year from the same creators.

What TV shows do you get a chance to watch when you get downtime?
I do watch a lot of television, I have to say.  I watch 30 ROCK and THE OFFICE and FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, in terms of comedies.  And then I watch AMERICAN IDOL and Bret Michael’s ROCK OF LOVE BUS [laughs].  DANCING WITH THE STARS and CELEBRITY APPRENTICE.   I mean, you know.  We watch DAMAGES.  We’re very, very hooked on DAMAGES right now.  That’s been very exciting. 

Who are you voting for on AMERICAN IDOL?
I don’t know yet!  It’s the weirdest year because everybody’s really good.  I guess I kind of like the guy whose wife died, Danny.  The guy with the really show-offy voice?  That guys voice is off the chain.  Just as a singer, I can tell you that what he does technically is ridonkulous!  That doesn’t mean he’s going to win, but technically, what he does is like crazy.  There are like 5 people that can do that.  That’s like a Cirque Du Soleil trick voice that he has!

Those are my questions – I loved the two episodes we screened from ABC!
Oh good, well, I’m so glad.  It’s really, really fun to do.  We’re laughing a lot over there, so that’s a good sign!