Emmy Roundtable: TV's Funny Ladies on Farts, Fame and Twitter Fury

THR: It speaks to the influence of your shows. Joe Biden said on Meet the Press that his views on gay marriage were influenced by Will & Grace.

Lynch: Weren't they just the wackiest people! (Laughter.)

THR: But is it ever overwhelming to you how impactful your shows can be?

Louis-Dreyfus: I can't think about it because that is just paralyzing to me.

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Plimpton: I shudder to think that anyone in America would be emulating the parenting skills on our show.

Applegate: There's a lot of child neglect on my show. (Laughter.) But if it gets to where I feel, like, yucky about it, I say something: "You know, maybe she shouldn't be playing with all of those electrical wires."

Plimpton: That's my show! (Laughter.)

Applegate: Or if the babies get really tired, I try to step in and help them. But for the most part, anything goes. I mean, half the time we are drunk or hung over.

THR: What's been your strangest fan interaction?

Deschanel: I get a lot, especially since I play music, too. Girls come up to me who are dressed exactly like I am -- same hair and everything. I'm super-flattered: "Oh my, I'm looking into a mirror." But they're 16.

Louis-Dreyfus: I was on a plane, and a flight attendant said, "You look so different in real life." I didn't know if it was a compliment or if I'd just been blasted.

Deschanel: "You are so thin in real life!"

Lynch: "You look much younger!"

Plimpton: I had a guy come up to me on the street. I was hailing a cab and he called out to me, and sometimes I don't respond right away because in New York, you can get away with [ignoring people]. But he said: "I feel very strongly you're a part of me. I feel your presence in me as well as your father and your grandfather because they're both actors."

Louis-Dreyfus: Hey, you never know. (Laughter.)

Bowen: What did you say?

Plimpton: "Thank you! Taxi! Taxi! Thank you!" It's interesting to me how people feel they know you. They feel an affinity, even a familial relationship.

Deschanel: Or they hate you. They are so polarizing. "I love you!" or, "I hate you!"

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Plimpton: People don't say they hate me on the street.

Bowen: They do it online. But I have a "no online" rule.

Deschanel: I have an "all online" rule.

Bowen: Really?

Deschanel: Oh yeah.

Bowen: "Henry, 48, who lives in his mother's basement in Des Moines, thinks you're a stupid old slut."

Deschanel: You have to consider the source. But who doesn't get to say it?

Bowen: Like everybody gets to say whatever they want to say.

Deschanel: Sure, I always feel it's like I have a few people whose opinions I value.

Louis-Dreyfus: So one of them is Henry in Des Moines, is that right? (Laughter.)

Deschanel: Henry in Des Moines is one of them. I'm on Twitter, and I have a website [HelloGiggles.com]. It started as a female comedy site and has become more editorial. There's way too much negativity online. But it will eventually change.

Louis-Dreyfus: It will get worse!

Deschanel: No, I think it will get better. It's still this frontier, this weird Old West, like everyone shooting each other; it's just with words.

Plimpton: Then everyone is just going to be dead. (Laughter.)

Bowen: It's too lawless. I mean, this is America, freedom of speech and all that, but it's amazing to me. I remember as a kid being in a planetarium, and the minute the lights went down, everyone was whipping shoes at each other. We were 8 years old. And [my teacher] would say, "Character is who you are when the lights are off." And I was like, "Uh-oh." I was the first person to whip my shoe across the room. That's what the Internet feels like to me.

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THR: If your acting careers ended tomorrow, what would you do?

Dern: Is that why we were brought here? "This is your last interview!"

Plimpton: I would move to that island -- I think it's called Yap -- where the only form of currency is a giant round stone that gets moved from house to house. You want a cow? You give the giant round stone to the guy with a cow.

Lynch: It's gotta be a bitch to move this thing.

Plimpton: I would move there.

THR: I'm sorry. This is a real place?

Plimpton: Yes, it's a real place. I would totally find that island and live there.

Louis-Dreyfus: Get that f--ing stone, yeah!

Plimpton: I have no skills and no ability to function in the world. I have to move somewhere. (Laughter.)

Louis-Dreyfus: I'm going with you.

Applegate: I might go there, too.

Plimpton: I think we're all going to Yap.

Deschanel: I'll stay here and play music.

Bowen: Well, you have other things you can do.

Dern: Will you come play for us in Yap?

Deschanel: You can pay me with the stone. Although I may have to take it with me.

Dern: No, you can't take it!

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ABOUT THR'S ROUNDTABLE SERIES: Now in its sixth year, The Hollywood Reporter's Emmy Season Roundtable Series has emerged as the television industry's premier showcase for no-holds-barred discussions with the town's top talent. An offshoot of THR's popular Oscar series, the Emmy roundtables also have become predictors of academy winners; in fact, 23 of last year's participants went on to earn nominations for writing, producing, starring in and hosting television's top series.