From left: Zosia Mamet, 25, (HBO's Girls), Mayim Bialik, 37, (CBS's Big Bang Theory), Kristen Bell, 32, (Showtime's House of Lies), Jessica Walter, 72, (Netflix's Arrested Development), Kaitlin Olson, 37, (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Betty White, 91, (TV Land's Hot in Cleveland) talk with The Hollywood Reporter about stage fright and comedy idols.
On HBO's Girls Mamet plays Shoshanna, a Sex and the City obsessed college student. The actress tells THR how she got started in comedy, saying, "When I was younger, I kept getting these [drama] auditions, and people would laugh. I thought, 'What’s going on here?' Then I started booking comedies and playing silly, witty people. People wanted me to do more of that."
On TV Land's menopausal comedy Hot in Cleveland, White plays a roommate that tells it like it is. The Golden Girls actress, who has bee in the industry for 66 years, talks about the difference between working in television then versus now. "For me, I don’t think the business has changed. The audience has changed. Today, the audience has heard every joke, knows every storyline and knows where you’re going before you even start."
As The Big Bang Theory's Amy Farrah Fowler, Bialik often plays opposite the neurotic nerd Sheldon Cooper (Golden Globe winner Jim Parsons). On her comedy idols, Bialik told THR: "Betty [White] excluded, I loved Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. But also male actors like John Ritter."
Kristen Bell plays Jeannie Van Der Hooven, an employee at a top-tier management consultant on Showtime's House of Lies. "I never knew if I was funny at all. I’m not sure I am!" Bell modestly admits.
The Veronica Mars alum explains how happy she is that she able to call acting her full-time profession. "If I walk into that hair and makeup trailer or walk onto that set and there are a bunch of Debbie Downers — you really think we have it that bad? Because we don’t!"
On FX's It's Always Sunny, Olson is outnumbered three to one by her male costars. Olson talks to THR about how she learned to become confident about her comedic work, saying, "I learned a lot of technical stuff at the Groundlings. But really, what I’ve learned is to not care what other people think and just make myself laugh."
Walter says that stage fight only helps her while performing, saying, "It energizes me actually. I don’t know what it would be like without it, honestly." On the fourth season of the originally canceled cult comedy, Arrested Development, Walter reprises her role as the uncaring mother Lucille Bluth.
"The tough part about comedy is that you get an instant review," White tells THR. "In drama, you can act all over the place. 'Wow, look at her acting, isn’t it wonderful?' But with comedy, if you don’t get the laugh, you bomb."
Comedy veteran Betty White talks about the natural instinct to want make everyone laugh, saying, "But isn’t it human nature to feel that the person who doesn’t laugh — the one dozing in the first row — is the one you most worry about?"
All of the actresses present at the roundtable cited Betty White as one of their comedy idols. Bell went on to elaborate, "Other than Betty, I still am very obsessed with Catherine O’Hara. The Christopher Guest movies had such an effect on me when I was growing up. I saw This Is Spinal Tap, and my mind was blown."
Bialik recounts her Blossom days, saying, "One thing I remember from sitcoms of the ’80s and ’90s was when the producers and the director would be in a booth and you’d get your notes announced over a loudspeaker in front of the live audience, like the voice of God. 'That wasn’t funny, Mayim. Try it again.'"
Olson succinctly states, "We’re supposed to be funny, not perfect." Mamet agrees, saying, "Yeah, and someone might think a joke that you tell is the funniest f—ing thing they have ever heard, and someone else could be like, 'Who is this bitch?' And it’s the great thing of, like, remembering that no one is dying. We’re not heart surgeons!"
White talks about her long career in television, saying, "I started out with Mary Tyler Moore, and it was such a privilege to work with those people. Then The Golden Girls, and my lord, it was just unbelievable, and we all adored each other. And now I’ve got Hot in Cleveland with yet another group of wonderful women." The venerable actress continues, "How lucky can you get? Once, maybe, twice maybe, but three times in a career? And now I’m sitting here with all of you. That ain’t bad."