Issue Date: August 27, 2006
Special 2006 Emmys Report
Online Bonus Interviews
 Lisa Kudrow
Denis Leary
Conan O'Brien
Lisa Kudrow is nominated for an Emmy for her lead role on HBO's now-defunct series "The Comeback."
Q: This Emmy nomination must be somewhat bittersweet for you?
Kudrow: Oh, it's all sweet. Yeah, there's no bitter.
Q: HBO retained other shows that one could argue were more deserving of cancellation than "The Comeback." Why do you think the show was not given a better shot?
A: I think because we were on a two-season plan. We honestly thought we would have at least two seasons, but HBO never said we would. But we were going very, very slowly. In terms of getting invested in the character and in terms of acclimating to the show, we went slow like a novel. The truth is, [the show] caught on by the end of the first season, and we were shocked that it happened that fast. We got e-mails from every writer we respect and [others we] don't even know, from directors, and from people in the business saying it was unbelievable -- people from the music world and regular people. We were shocked at how people not only got it, but got addicted and were hooked. HBO was on a different plan. [Laughing.] They were on like a four-episode plan and a "new hit please," so that didn't happen. But still we loved what we did; we're super proud of it. Honestly, I'm happy that HBO let us do 13 episodes, that they aired all of them and that we got to tell a whole story. We could have gone on indefinitely because we saw Valerie going everywhere and anywhere. But they didn't, and they're a business with concerns way beyond us and we don't know.
Q: If the show had gone on, where did you see your character, Valerie Cherish, going?
A: Oh, gosh. Well, with the success from "The Comeback" for her -- because by the end of the season the show got picked up as she was about to quit -- we see her getting a little more diva-ish, so that would have been fun to see her on her high horse a bit. But she's still getting knocked down even if she's in a movie with Nicole Kidman, because she'll want to know why she isn't getting invited to the same parties. She's always setting herself up. But [she could have gone] anywhere, anywhere. I mean I think we we're thinking what happens if "Room and Bored" gets picked up, too, and she gets Paulie G fired, and whoever replaces him is much more horrible, and then she wants that person gone and Paulie G back. Ultimately, you know, she could go to Broadway or the Actor's Studio and live in New York for a while.
Q: I would have loved to have seen Valerie on "Inside the Actors Studio" with James Lipton. Those two would have been great together.
A: That would be hilarious. HBO also let us shoot a couple of extras for the DVD, and one of them has her backstage after her appearance on "Dancing with the Stars." It's really funny, and we could go on and on. We loved this character and coming up with things for her.
Q: In some ways do you think cancellation was a fitting end for Valerie's comeback?
A: It's perfectly Valerie. She doesn't even get to tell her story.
Q: Do you think the Emmy nominations are proof the show had a brighter future than it was allowed to have?
A: We saw it as validation of work that we thought was good and that we were proud of. We thought, "Oh good, we weren't crazy, and other people saw that, too." But it was funny because it seems like people were kind of afraid to say publicly that they liked it. Like, I don't know if they thought there would be some sort of retaliation in the business. I would do a talk show, and the host or another guest would pull me aside and later and say, "Oh my gosh, Episode 3, that happened to me!" But while on the talk show it was as if they hadn't seen any of it yet. I don't understand that kind of fear. Well, obviously, look what I did.
Q: Since the show has been canceled, it seems like a lot of fans and critics have come out in support of the show, saying they thought it was funny and great. So do you think HBO would ever reconsider their decision and bring it back on the air?
A: They can do whatever they want, but I don't think they will. I don't think they will. They can do whatever we want. Did I say they can do whatever we want? No, they can do whatever they want. They already did whatever we wanted.
Q: Yeah, and they didn't think that worked out.
A: Right, they didn't think it worked out for them. But if they could go back to the way they were and leave some of these shows on the air like they used to do. Because nobody got "Sopranos" at first. Nobody got "Sex and the City" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm," because they were so different, and they took a while for the audience to say, "OK, this is what it is." And then it's just, "Wow, it's so ground-breaking, and they're so different." I was really just expecting them to leave us on until people got acclimated. They tried to warn us that it's different now, that there are different pressures to perform more quickly.
Q: Did your interactions and experiences with others in Hollywood give you a template for creating Valerie?
A: Yes and no. I was coming from the point of view of the audience. I first did that character at the Groundlings in a character monologue called "Your Favorite Actress on a Talk Show." So it was a composite of actresses and actors that I had seen on talk shows who seemed really phony and self-serving. They would go on and talk about some cause that you could tell they weren't really that involved with, but they just wanted their face on TV. They didn't do a great job of acting like they were truly interested. And they were so phony that it just fascinated me. After Friends was done, I watched some reality shows that were just horrifying, where people were just vomiting and crying. I just thought it was so interesting and appalling that people have become so desperate for celebrity that they'll humiliate themselves. And then this character popped into my head, and she is the perfect subject for a show like this. And because she's an actress, she's asking for it, so you don't have to feel too badly. Then Michael Patrick King and I had lunch, and I told him this idea, and he just took to it like a fish to water and breathed life into it. I had sort of a germ of an idea, and he gave it four other dimensions.
Q: So he was the catalyst.
A: Yeah, yeah, it just inhabited him. And we did it very quickly. I mean, we met, then we talked for three hours, and then he said, "OK, we have the pilot." I said, "We do?" And then we talked for three more hours and had the first season. We talked for another hour, and he said, "This could go on for five years." We took it to the HBO pitch desk; they said, "Do it." So we wrote it quickly, we shot it, and we were both in shock thinking like, "This is easy."
Q: That's amazing. I'm guessing the process normally isn't that fluid.
A: Normally no, and we we're in shock that it was so fluid. The only shocking thing was, "Wow, we're doing well," and then we didn't get picked up.
Q: I read that there were some speculations that the show contained autobiographical elements, which you've said aren't true. But I was curious how, coming from a hit television, you don't fall into a Valerie frame of mind once the lights go down?
A: You've got to keep your eye on the ball. The ball is acting, performing and telling interesting stories the way you want to. It can't be, "Well, I've just gotta get my face out there so that people will remember me when they're casting for something." You know, that's what you're supposed to have agents for. And I don't care what I do, I'm doing independent films. I don't see them casting me in huge blockbusters. Thanks to "Friends," I can do whatever I want because I don't have to worry about how we're going to eat. So that's a big luxury.
Q: The good news for "The Comeback" is there is always life on DVD. What are some of the extras that people should look forward to?
A: Well, after the scene with her on "Dancing with the Stars," we have another one of her bright shiny-lit interviews, and we have an update from her. Another hilarious thing is Valerie doing audio commentary on one of the episodes.
Q: That's great. Where did you come up with that idea?
A: We were in the room, and we just said, "Valerie should do one. Let's try it." And we tried one, and it was so funny, you know, having her say, "Well I don't remember feeling that badly about it," or, "The camera came in so close my eye looks brown, which makes you look fatter."
Q: That sounds very Valerie.
A: Yeah, just spinning, spinning, spinning. You know, damage control.
Q: In an interview with HBO, you said you would like to come back to television if you could play an aging actress-type character. Now that you've done that, are you done with television?
A: Oh, I hope not. I like TV. But we'll see, because I think for comedy TV is in a weird place right now.
Q: How so?
A: Well, you have 19 minutes on network television to do something more eye catching and funnier than people humiliating themselves on reality shows, which is a tough act to follow. Do you know what I mean?
Q: Yeah, totally.
A: Also, it feels like there is a lot of desperation in TV. You know, the networks are trying to figure out how you make a half-hour comedy work. And there are so many cooks in the kitchen that it's very difficult for a show writer to actually execute his vision. That's the only way you're going to get something that's interesting. And the last problem is that they have to leave it on because they didn't learn anything from HBO or "Seinfeld" or even "Cheers." If you leave it on, and it's different enough, the audience is going to find it and fall madly in love.
Q: So if the television and movie thing doesn't work out for you anymore, do you think you'll fall back on your biology degree?
A: [Laughing.] I don't think so. I think that ship has sailed. I would have to do a lot of school to catch up.
Q: So what are you doing now that "The Comeback" is finished?
A: I did an independent film, and then in September I'm supposed to do another one. That one is with William H. Macy, so we'll see how that goes.
By Jon Tollestrup
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Denis Leary is nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in FX's "Rescue Me." Here's his full conversation with Who's News columnist Lorrie Lynch.
Q: Congratulations on your nomination for "Rescue Me." The show has had some amazing story lines. Do you plot them all out?
Leary: We write as we go. We start out with three scripts, and then we can respond to the actors and how the story arcs are working. It's like making six movies in eight months.
Q: And like movies, you're often shooting on location -- the streets of New York -- right?
A: For instance, tomorrow we'll shoot in Harlem for part of the day, and we'll shoot in Midtown for part of the day, and then we'll shoot down at Ground Zero at the end of the day. But we shoot all over Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, and our sound stage is right next to "The Sopranos" soundstage [in Queens].
Q: With all that shooting out and about, do you have stalkers -- or, I mean, fans?
A: The funniest one was one night we were shooting with Marisa [Tomei] and my son, who works on the crew when he's out of school. Our technical adviser noticed a guy wearing these big oversized glasses that were just too big for a normal head. So they asked him to move back on the sidewalk a little bit because we were doing something with the truck, and they noticed there was something weird connected to the glasses. He was from Gawker.com, and it was a live camera feed on the Internet.
Q: Well, not to be too trite, but tell me how does it feel to be an Emmy-nominated actor. Is it unexpected? Satisfying?
A: I've got a mindset where I don't expect anything because I think then you're just setting yourself up. I got nominated last year for writing, and I think I kind of expected that because of [co-writer and director] Peter Tolan. Peter has been nominated some insane number, like 13 times [for various shows]. But truthfully, that morning we were up early, and my son and I were on our way to the set. I hadn't been able to hear the score in the Red Sox game the night before, so I put the radio on, and within seconds they're saying, "We're going to go live to Los Angeles for the Emmy nominations." I think they were on, like, the second category, and I heard the shows go by, and I heard the show wasn't nominated, and I thought, "Oh, OK, the show's not gonna get nominated. Fine." And the next thing I know I hear my name, and I'm like "Oh, my God," and the cellphone blows up. My wife calls ,but I try to call my wife, so she called my son's cellphone. My brother's calling, and my sister's calling. But it's an honor. Really, I've been at it so long I know so many of these [regularly nominated] actors, and I've worked with some of them. You get excited, but then you go, "Oh, they didn't nominate Jimmy Gandolfini and they didn't nominate Hugh [Laurie]." And then you just go, "I can't even think about this or my head will blow up."
Q: There has been discussion about the change of procedure in Emmy voting this year. Yet, I'm sure you don't want to think, "Well, I got nominated because of that."
A: The real problem, across the board -- and I'm just talking about my family and not even my friends because that would make it even a bigger magnifying glass -- there are too many great one-hour dramas. My daughter is a huge fan of "Gilmore Girls," so she was hoping that person would get nominated. I think her secret evil plan was that, on the red carpet, her mother and I would be able to meet Lauren Graham and get her autograph. My wife is a big fan of "Lost" and all the actors on that show. And I'm a big fan of "Sopranos." So [if you're a voter] you start to pick and choose, and it must be hard, even with the new process. How do you honor all the work on these shows? I would think you'd start to spread it out a little bit. You'd say, "Let's give this show an acting nomination, and let's give this show a best show. Otherwise, somebody has to be left off." I was a fan of Huff. I look at some of the work on that show and say, "Wow this is insane."
Q: As a fan of your show, I have to say it was just as important that it got picked up fourth season.
A: Well, true. One of the mitigating factors in the fact that we got re-upped was probably the Emmy nomination. The ratings were good, but the ratings aren't enough.
Q: It's interesting that your son is working with you. Is it more of a family affair? And how old are your kids now?
A: My son is 16. I want him to see the working side of the business as opposed to the glitz and the glamour. He has to get up with me at 5:30 in the morning and go to work with me for 14 hours, eat the bad food, work in the horrible humidity, you know what I mean? It's what movies and television are all about: long, arduous hours and moments of great creativity. But it's always funny when my family members -- my mom or my sisters or my cousins -- come down to the set. After about five hours they go, "Nothing happened."
Q: And your daughter is a teen, too, so you're raising two teenagers. How's that going?
A: My favorite thing is when you pull up to a store or you're just walking around the neighborhood, and you say, 'Hey, why don't you go in there and get me a newspaper, a Diet Coke and some gum and whatever you want for yourself?' And five minutes later they come out with a non-caffeinated Diet Coke, a ring pop and a skateboarding magazine.
Q: I'm told you and Conan O'Brien, who is hosting the Emmy show this year, are indeed cousins.
A: I think it's third or fourth cousins, which was traced by my Uncle Patrick, who just recently passed away. He was 90. Mostly to see what I was doing, he got a satellite dish on his farm in Ireland. He was sitting there with my Uncle Terry, who was from America but had gone home to visit, and they're both into tracing family history, both have a lot of knowledge about how far back we go and everything, and he was watching Conan one night when I was on, and he said, "Y' know, this guy [Conan] looks familiar." So they go to the town hall the next day and start tracing O'Brien, and sure enough my Uncle Terry comes [back to the United States] with this index card with the lineage written down and the fact that Conan and I are from the same hometown. He starts saying, "When your dad and I came over to America the first time, and we left New York and came up to Massachussetts, Conan's grand aunt put us up and gave us some hot meals while we were waiting to find work." I was like, "You're kidding me ..." So when I went on Conan's show the next time, I kinda broke it to him on the air. He was still disbelieving it, but the last time I went to do the show, which was fairly recently, I brought [my son] Jack along. My son is 6-foot-5 now, and he's built exactly like Conan. I said, "There you go, pal," and Conan was like, 'Oh, my God!"
Q: You've been to these award show events before. Do you have a good time?
A: I went last year with Peter Tolan and our wives. Peter is one of the funniest people on the planet, and, of course, he's been there so many times there's no pressure. We sat next to each other, and he just had a running commentary the whole time. I stepped outside at one point with my wife ,and I ran into Carson Kressley from "Queer Eye," and my wife said, "You need to talk to Carson Kressley," because I was taking my first couple riding lessons with my wife, and I said, "I have a big problem here. I don't know what to do with my man stuff. It's bouncing around." So I end up talking to Carson Kressley, who's a big rider, about what to do, and he tells me about these special jeans you gotta get. I'm thinking, "I'm getting riding advice from Carson Kressley at the Emmys."
Q: When you started writing "Rescue Me," did you think it would be as well received, as long running and Emmy nominated?
A: No. I don't think that way. I try to be organic to the material. I was much more interested in trying to make sure we got it right and that the network felt the same way we did, which they did. It was a struggle in the beginning to find the tone. We were getting notes. We were all trying to step into what it was, and you worry about, did you choose the right actors? Are they gonna work well together? But once that starts to cook, people start to talk and say we're hearing you might get nominated for a Golden Globe or something. It's almost like being an athlete and hearing they're gonna name you MVP or something. It's out of your hands. If you start to let that affect the work and make you cocky, you'll stumble. I try to keep my eyes focused forward.
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Conan O'Brien hosts the Emmys on NBC this year (Aug. 27, 8 p.m. ET), and although he admits he has been "encouraged" to have "reverence" for the awards, don't count on it. Here, O'Brien, whose own late-night talk show is up for a few awards, tells us what to expect.
Q: You've hosted before. What backstage secrets can you reveal to us?
O'Brien: You get to see the giant vending machine that they get the Emmys out of. It's one of those coils that turn and it drops down two Emmys, and occasionally a Mounds bar comes out. Last year I saw Doris Roberts kicking on the Emmys vending machine. She put her 80 cents in and a wing got stuck on the coil.
Q: It sounds like you enjoy hosting the show.
A: Yeah, I do. It's nice every now and then to think about a different situation. You've got that big audience of people who are actually dressed nicely, which doesn't happen in my studio. At my show people come in tank tops, and they put their feet up on the rail.
Q: As host, will you lay down any rules, like no crying in acceptance speeches?
A: Yeah, there should be some rules. I'm tired of people acting shocked. So no, I'm not allowing that. No one's allowed to be shocked. That's got to stop. I think everyone should have to give the same speech. The most people are allowed to say is, "I had a one in five chance, and it hit. The odds were slightly against me, but it seems to have worked out in my favor. Goodbye, and thank you."
Q: Tom Cruise is one of your favorite targets, but he isn't nominated. Who will fill the void? "The Desperate Housewives," Steve Carell, Blythe Danner?
A: Yeah, I'm going to devote three hours to just ripping into Blythe Danner while a confused America watches appalled. People are going to be like, "What's the problem with Blythe Danner? She's talented, she's attractive, she's got it all. Why is he continuing to rip into Blythe Danner?" But you and I will know the truth. She's had a free ride long enough.
Q: Is Triumph (the insult comic dog) going to be at the show?
A: He can never get into black-tie events. It's very hard. Plus he has to travel down with the other dogs in the airplane, and it's freezing in that compartment, and he doesn't like it.
Q: Your show received a couple of nominations, but are you disappointed that you weren't nominated for best hair?
A: I don't think I would win best hair. I think that one still goes to former game-show host John Davidson. I think I have the best cheekbones or maybe the best beady eyes or thinnest upper lip. If they had categories like that, I would clean house!
Q: If you win an Emmy, aren't you afraid people will think the show is rigged because you're the host? That's going to look suspicious, right?
A: Exactly. If I start winning Emmys in categories where I'm not even nominated, then people will start to think that something is wrong, like if I win for Best Supporting Actress. It would be great if they did Best Supporting Actress, they put up the five nominees, and I just open up an envelope that clearly I had made at home and said, "The winner is -- Conan O'Brien!"
Q: What you should do is just start accepting awards on behalf of everyone else.
A: [Laughing.] Right, when Julia Louis-Dreyfus is walking toward the stage, I'm going to say, "She couldn't be here. I'm accepting this on her behalf. I'll see that she gets it." Then I'll run off stage and she'll chase me.
Q: Do you get any type of compensation for hosting?
A: Funny you ask that. I asked my co-producer Jeff Ross, "Hey do I get paid for this?" He just laughed and left the room. He never actually answered my question.
Q: Does your Harvard degree help you be a better host?
A: Nope, I'm afraid not. I don't think that's a great prerequisite for hosting the Emmys. I've had to un-remember everything I've ever learned. Every year I get a little bit dumber, and I'm now reading at the seventh-grade level. So now I'm at the perfect point in my life to host a television awards show.
-- By Jon Tollestrup
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