The daytime TV landscape is littered with the corpses of failed talk shows (Jane Pauley, anyone?) so taking on this competitive format is gamble, particularly when facing competition from the established likes of Dr. Phil and Martha Stewart and newbie Rachael Ray.
But Will & Grace veteran Megan Mullally, her second Emmy as Karen Walker in tow, is fearlessly staking claim to daylight hours real estate with her self-titled chatfest, with guest Will Ferrell on the Sept. 18 debut. (W&G pal Debra Messing will appear Sept. 26 to hype her movie Open Season). Mullally starts talking to Hollywood.com now…
Hollywood.com: Considering the failure rate, launching a new talk show must be a daunting experience. Are you at all apprehensive?
Megan Mullally: It’s not daunting to me. I’m really excited about it. You have to make it your own and make it different. I love talking to people and I want, even though we’re having celebrity guests, to have real people a part of every show. We’re going to have an interactive website and I want to involve the viewer in a way that’s more participatory.
HW: Do you have any talk show host role models?
MM: I’ve always loved talk shows since I was a kid. I watched Carson and Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas, even Dinah Shore. I watched all of them. I’ve taken my favorite elements from all the shows that I’ve really liked and stolen them—live band, sketches, comedy, field pieces, correspondence, so it’s a blend of the old and the new.
HW: When did you get the idea to do a talk show?
MM: During the course of Will & Grace, I got asked to do a lot of hosting or interview-oriented kinds of things; certainly the most high profile was subbing for [David] Letterman one time when he was sick. And I just had so much fun, and I was totally relaxed, and I felt really comfortable. I wasn’t nervous at all.
HW: Did you get a break between the end of Will & Grace and starting this?
MM: Do you know how much time I had between Will & Grace and the talk show? Two weeks. But there are worse things in life. I’m not complaining. It’s really great because it’s so fun to work on. At least it’s something that I really love. I don’t think I’d be doing anything if I didn’t feel really passionate about it. I could be sitting around, I could be kicking up my heels in the wine country or something.
HW: The hours are a lot longer than your days on Will & Grace. Is that tough?
MM: On Will & Grace we worked like three hours a day. I’m not kidding. This is like 33 hours a day, so it’s really different. There are times when it is overwhelming and you just have to sit down, take a deep breath and mentally, psychologically acclimate yourself to a different schedule.
HW: What does the set look like?
MM: It has a good mix of the contemporary and the sort of retro. And we have an area for the band. I wanted to have a curtain on the set because I like that tradition of a host being able to walk through a curtain. There’s a theatrical element to it, but in a modern context. The seating area is going to be more comfortable and accessible. I will be singing sometimes. I’m not going to sing every day, but when it’s right. If Harry Connick, Jr. was on the show, I could do a duet. We’ll musical sketches and non-musical sketches.
HW: Are you still singing outside the show?
MM: I do want to keep doing concert dates with the band. The ones we’ve had in the last couple years have all been out of town, so it’s something I’m going to have to figure out. . It’s the least commercial band in the history of music and that’s a nice balance for me because everything else I do is much more commercial.
HW: After eight seasons on Will & Grace, how hard was it to leave Karen behind?
MM: I always said I would play Karen until I fell over dead in my Manolo Blahniks. I love that character so much. It was a great gift to be able to play a character that was so well drawn. Karen may appear every now and again. I have considered having her do in-studio, like when you least expect it. But the characters were created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and if I ever want to do something as Karen I have to run it by them. They have to give their seal of approval.
HW: You did promo spots as Karen and yourself, together.
MM: It was so weird shooting that split screen. A couple of the scenes, I had stunt doubles. But when we’re sitting on that couch talking to each other, the way that works, if it’s my line as me, the AD says, “I’m going to count from one to 30. You say your four lines at 7, 9, 21 and 27.” There’s nobody saying the other line so you have to remember what the other lines are and react to them when you’re not speaking and say your line at a number. I have to say I was pretty good at it. I picked it up really quick.
HW: You taped a few test shows. What was the reaction?
MM: The focus groups liked the show. They said, “We want her to be edgy and naughty.” And I said, “Fantastic! That I can do.” So it looks like it’s all heading in the right direction.
HW: What kind of wardrobe will you wear on the show?
MM: Probably more on the low-key side; I’m going to dress the way I dress in real life, which is comfortable, casual stuff.
HW: Glasses, contact lenses or both?
MM: Probably both, but I’m just so lazy now that I barely can be bothered to put my contacts in and I’m blind as a bat.
HW: Are you in touch with the Will & Grace cast?
MM: I talk to them all the time. I was just e-mailing Debra yesterday, and I’ve talked to Sean like 17 times at the last three days, but I talk to them all the time. Sean is one of my very, very best friends. Sean and my husband [Nick Offerman] have the same birthday, the same day, the same year 50 miles apart around the same time of day. They both came into my life around the same time and both have been incredibly pivotal in my life.
HW: Will your husband appear on the show?
MM: He might. My husband is so funny and he’s such a one of a kind, he may pop up every now and again but I probably wouldn’t refer to him as my husband. I’d just pretend he was a burly crew guy.
HW: What was it like having Will & Grace end, and to win your second Emmy for it?
MM: We were ready in a way, but we weren’t going gently. It was very, very, very emotional and I think we all exercised our grief in a way, but I still have moments where I get very choked up. I still had to go through my grieving process, but I had this [show] to sort of take the sting out of it. What I learned most from Will & Grace, what I really took away, was confidence. That was the biggest change for me, was that I grew in confidence and now I feel like I can trust my instincts. We were very lucky to have such a great job for all of those years with such great writing and great people—really a collaborative effort, and I wanted to sort of speak for everybody when I was accepting the award. I remembered that when I was 20 or 21 and I lived in Chicago I went to a psychic who told me I was gonna win two Emmys, they would be like bookends, for playing a secretary on a sitcom…isn’t that weird?
HW: How do you balance work and your private life?
MM: I feel that it’s kind of easy to do for some reason. There are a million parts of myself that I want to share and then there’s a certain area that I want to not share and I feel like it’s easy to do. It’s not like it’s anything anybody needs to know. It seems like it works out pretty well. There’s a learning curve. But I’ve struck a balance that seems comfortable for me.
HW: Will you have time to act?
MM: This is such a big time commitment that I probably wouldn’t be able to do very many other things. Jerry Seinfeld asked me to do a cameo in the animated movie he wrote and is producing and is doing the lead voice in, Bee Movie. I’m playing the Queen Bee.
HW: What’s the best advice you have for an up and coming actress?
MM: Well you know, I didn’t get Will & Grace till I was almost 40 and had I listened to everybody else who was constantly saying, ‘Oh there’s too much competition, you’ll never get an agent, you’ll never get a part, so many actors are out of work.’ If everybody listened to that nobody would leave their house and the whole world would come to a crashing halt. But I would just say to follow your bliss as it were, and stick to your guns.
HW: What do you watch on TV?
MM: I got really obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance. I started out as a dancer. I skipped out of work to go to the finale. I like the show that Eric McCormack’s company produces, Lovespring International. I love Campus Ladies. I think that’s a very funny show.
HW: If you and Rachael Ray had a cook-off, who would win?
MM: I need Rachael Ray to come over to my house to teach me how to cook because so far, you know what I’ve got? I’ve got toast and I’ve got herbal tea. I used to be able to make really good guacamole, but it’s been a long time.