I ended up doing a lot of prank shows in my life or prank theater, but I always got fairly nervous about doing 'em.
I guess I'm sort of spoiled because, most of the things that I get to do, people know that you're a good improviser, so they allow you at least one improv take, and for comedy, that's great.
I can speak a little German, a little Spanish, and I was a psych major, so I'm good at listening to people's problems.
When I started doing improv in Chicago, for every five teams, one or two would have one woman.
Jane Fonda is someone who impressed me.
The thing about 'Veep' is that you never really know where the camera's going to be. So you're not really just saying your line and then just watching it: you're trying to act the whole time just in case the camera is watching you.
I've never gotten hired for drama because I'm a good improviser. I don't think people who write drama scripts want you playing with them as much.
I'm a huge fan of Chicago sports and Chicago food, and I love going home and my family is still there. I guess it's pretty easy to have a normal life in Chicago.
L.A. can be pretty insane because there's so much show business here, but I also know a lot of kids who grew up in Manhattan who are some of the most normal, nicest people I know. Casting directors always say Chicago people are just nicer.
Although I do use some of my psychology training in comedy, but it's more like pop psychology, not a course of treatment or anything. To me, it's more like social intelligence.
Well, politics is much more severe than entertainment. You have to hit those points, in politics, word for word. You have to remember the date. You have to remember the website. You have to rehearse stories that might be asked, have anecdotes ready for questions that might come up.
You can't be controlling in improv.
It's such a smart decision for comedy to not try to be relevant or contemporary.
Improv Olympics, Second City are some of the most tolerant, accepting people. They're like circus folk. They're freaks themselves.
I spent a lot of time in Chicago at a place called The Annoyance Theater, where we would develop one-act plays through improv, and you would just improvise scenes and then discover something about the character and use it in the next scene.
Stylistically, in improv, I don't think you can have as many camera tricks; I think you're kind of shooting more like a documentary: you don't know where it's going, so you have to hang back a little more.
Authentic discovery, when captured on camera, I think, is tremendous acting.
When I first started doing press interviews, the big question was, 'Do you think women are funny?' People would ask you that in an interview. In an interview! It's like, of course they are.
When I came into improv, it was almost like an outsider art form.
I think people who can do comedy well don't get enough credit. It can be harder than drama.
