Dynamic Duos: ‘Chelsea Lately’ Regulars Bond Over Motherhood, Holiday Obsessions

Picture this: Comedians and Chelsea Lately regulars Liz Carey and Kerri Kenney-Silver are working a makeshift runway at Riviera 31 bar inside the West Hollywood Sofitel Hotel, like a couple of ’90s supermodels — vougeing, sashaying, even crawling along the platform. It doesn’t hurt that both women stand a statuesque 5’10” and are wearing complementary black-and-white ensembles. Kenney’s is a tagless LBD she picked up in New York years ago, and Carey wears a low-cut leotard and what she calls a “Falaia” (fake Alaia) skirt.

With the right soundtrack, it could be convincing as an actual fashion shoot, with occasional flashes of eyebrow-raising Zoolander facial expressions, until they both disband from their model stances in a fit of laughter because of Carey’s precarious positioning and trying to teeter around in five-inch Brian Atwood heels.

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“I’m really bruisy,” proclaims Carey, the writer and actress who has a role in the recently released film Walk of Shame. “This is what happens when you ask two comedians to act ‘casual,’ ” adds Kenney, hoisting Carey up from her spot on all fours.

Kenney-Silvers is a well-known castmember on The State and Reno 911 as well as scene-stealing film roles in Wanderlust and Role Models. She starts shooting a 10-episode series based on Peter Ackerman‘s Broadway play Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, for the Audience Network on Direct TV, later this month.

Carey, a former model and accessories designer, who can’t help but look really stylish all the time, (for the record, her “falaia” skirt is actually made by design duo, Ohne Titel), plays Jordan in Walk of Shame and reoccurs as Dede on ABC’s Super Fun Night and as herself at the Chelsea Lately roundtable.

It seems most likely that the hilarious pair met on the Chelsea Lately set or via their mutual friend, Nick Swardson, but it was actually in the sandbox, as moms raising their young sons in Malibu. The two initially bonded over juggling preschool pickups, shoot schedules and auditions with class projects. Inevitably they began writing scripts, jokes and sketches together.

When the two pose for a photo, the result is much more material than modeling, and that’s fine by us. After laughing our way through the shoot, Pret-a-Reporter sat down with the funny ladies to find out about the glamorous lives of female comics and why the thought of Christmas makes them both cry.

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Pret-a-Reporter: How did you guys meet? One would think it was on the Chelsea Lately set?

Liz Carey: I’m her maid.

Kerri Kenney-Silver: Well, you don’t necessarily have the job yet. But she is applying. We’re in talks. No, I know Liz through Malibu, being moms at the playground. We fell in love instantly with our lanky, goofy girl comedy and inappropriate sense of humor. It’s not common and definitely not common among Malibu mommies. Other people were picking up their kid’s binkies, and we were coming up with the inappropriate joke of what you do with the binkie after it fell out into the sand. I was like, “Oh you’re that girl! I like you!” Liz has since left Malibu and lives in Hollywood now, so we have a long-distance relationship. I see some of my New York friends more than I see her.

So a lot of texting and phone calls?

Carey: We often will call each other and ask if a joke is funny or bounce ideas around if we’re writing a script. We wrote a comedy sketch together about these two women, Barb and Char. (Breaks into a Midwest accent:) We’re both from the Midwest, we love knitting, she crochets, she does a great roast.

Kenney-Silver: (In a Midwest accent🙂 I do hot dish, so that’s my niche.

Carey: She actually is insane. I’m not kidding. If I had to say in one word what draws me to Kerri, it’s Christmas.

Kenney-Silver: We really liked each other but then really found out that we’re both obsessed with Christmas.

What do you mean? With Christmas decorations or the actual religious meaning behind Christmas?

Kenney-Silver: It’s a smell. It’s a scented candle.

Carey: The two of us could literally start crying about it right now. We are obsessed with Christmas. It’s cracktacular. The day after Halloween we get amped.

Kenney-Silver: It’s a state of mind. I have Christmas carols in my car’s CD player right now. Think of a Christmas-tree shop or a Christmas village. When we both realized we had this love for Christmas, it’s like an affliction. You’re born with it. December 26th is a day of mourning.

Carey: A dream day for Kerri and I, not just Christmas Day, any day: It’s three o’clock in the afternoon. It’s snowy. We’re in some kind of Christmasy home. There’s a fire going. Our children our playing together quietly with wooden toys. We’re under some sort of a blanket. She’s probably crocheting and I’m icing cookies, and I’m not f–king kidding! This would be a dream day.

Kenney-Silver: There’s a Yankee Candle burning…

That’s amazing. Barb and Char are very into Christmas. Could we maybe see a Barb and Char show coming next?

Carey: When we shot Barb and Char, we were just like, “Bring over whatever you’ve got.” Kerri’s coming down the street with a generator, balloons…

Kenney-Silver: That shoot was funny, but it was also almost like porn for us.

Carey: We shut down the electric on our street with our Christmas lights. We “Griswalded out” Lookout Mountain. Gosh, maybe we should have a reality show about this.

Kenney-Silver: Or reality-check or check in at a facility.

Before you do that, tell us about being ladies of comedy. Is it all glamour?

Carey: I can’t tell you how many times I text her to say “I’m at Fox, and I just peed into a Starbucks cup.”

Kenney-Silver: And I text her saying, “I just peed into a Gatorade bottle, because the bathroom is 10 miles away. Now I’m going to go pick up my kid, and I still have my cat makeup on.”

You guys can bond over career and personal life, since you’re both moms to 8-year-old boys.

Kenney-Silver: Liz blows my mind with how tireless she is. We all know being a mom is a job and a half, then to get your call time, show up and then work 18 hours a day — that’s another job. But to make the job happen, to do the tap dance that it takes … she is very limber. I have mom friends; I have comedian friends, but very few cross over. Nobody else has hooker clothes in their trunks that they have to change into.

Carey: My son, Waylon, always says to me, “Can you please just get jeans and a T-shirt?”

Kenney-Silver: My son asked me this morning, “Does that come with pants?” I don’t know, maybe it does?

Carey: We show up in costumes to events. Like the 4th of July parade in Malibu.

Kenney-Silver: We were like, “Meet you at the parade!” And the other moms were there in red, white and blue T-shirts. And of course we show up in full regalia. Liz was wearing a bandleader costume. I wore a headband with stars and a dress I made especially for the occasion, because you know I’m a crafty freak.

Carey: People are like, “Oh, is that for a show? Aren’t you itchy in it?” No. It just makes us happy.