The Mary Birdsong Interview: Just Under Twenty Questions


Today is the day to make a delicous lime dressing.

Hey Chicagoans: don't forget to come out tomorrow and see me read with a bunch of other great people!

Today is an awesome day on Zulkey.com. It's not every day that I get to interview somebody who works on one of my favorite television shows (OK, it's only really happened once before.) Today's interviewee is the newest deputy on "Reno 911," one of those shows that makes me run out and buy the DVDs the second they're released and quote its most inappropriate lines with fellow devotees of the show. She can also be seen in her Broadway debut right now in Martin Short's "Fame Becomes Me." Really, it's amazing that she had the time to do this.

The Mary Birdsong Interview: Just Under Twenty Questions

You’re doing your first Broadway show: what’s your dressing room like?

Tell us about your role(s) in the show.
I play several roles in the show. Judy Garland, Joan Rivers, Jodi Foster, Liza Minelli, a singing/dancing angel in heaven, an asian baby adopted by two gay men, and other assorted people.

How are the costumes?
The costumes are many and varied. I like a lot of them a great deal. They all have to be very carefully designed because the changes happen in a matter of seconds and with great precision. They are designed by Jess Goldstein.

Do you have many changes? If you do, which is your favorite?
Yes! I think I have about 13 changes. Well, the costume that I think is the most inventive and the funniest is a costume which we all wear in a parody of 1970s rock musicals. But I don't want to give it away. Don't wanna spoil the fun. It's interesting that even costumes can themselves be punchlines. Remember Belushi's infamous bumble bee antennae on SNL?

Do you have any traditions before going on stage—warm-ups, weird lozenges, etc?
I have developed an odd OCD-like habit of eating a ZONE® chocolate mint protein bar before every show. And usually a big cup of coffee or some tea I make in the dressing room. And I always put some "bag balm" on my hands. No idea why.

What have been some of your favorite musicals?

Shamelessly loved Les Miserables when I first came to NY. I still cry every time I see West Side Story too. And the one I'm in now. I'm very fond of the show I'm doing.

What’s it like working with Elaine May?

It was amazing to work with Elaine. She was very detail oriented. Being directed by Elaine was the best acting class I ever had. Stanley Donen was the actual director, but Elaine worked very very closely with the actors to develop the play. She used improvisation a great deal to help her writing process. We'd read through a scene she wrote for the play a couple of times just sitting around a table and sort of highlight what the beats were, then she'd have us get up and improvise the same scene. If important info or events were missing from our improv it was a signal to her that she hadn't quite nailed the writing of it--hadn't gotten across what she might've intended.

Did you learn a lot about what it’s like being a female working in comedy from her?
I don't have any memories of grand discussions on feminism or any sense that she ever felt downtrodden or oppressed in comedy as a woman. She may have had lots of stories that I never got to hear. But I guess the thing I learned from Elaine (or at least the impression I got) is that she never saw herself as being at any disadvantage as a woman in comedy. She just thought of herself as a comic actor and writer and improviser who knew what she wanted to say and how to say it. She went for it. She didn't whine and play the "chick card" to give herself an excuse to fail. I think she thought of herself as an artist first and a woman second. She seemed sort of asexual in that way. I think any great artist is. She was still very womanly and sexy, but that wasn't where her comedy came from. Lastly, she really didn't write for laughs or results. I think she really was dealing with serious, personal questions of her own in that play "Adult Entertainment" and she was working them out in her writing.

How did you come to get the role of the new cop on Reno 911?
My agent called me and said I had an audition for it. He gave me the description of what they were looking for. It was pretty general, but we were encouraged to come in with our own more specific versions of the new cop. I met with Tom Lennon and Kerri Kenney and Ben Garant (the three stars/exec producers) and improvised answers to questions they "interviewed" me with as my character. Then I was asked to do an improv scene with Tom. I think that was it. A couple of weeks later I got the call that they wanted me in the role. I think I actually jumped up and down on Sunset Boulevard when I got the call. I also think it helped that I knew Tom and Kerri and Ben from back in the mid-90s when we all did various comedy rooms in downtown New York City. We'd see each other doing sets at different rooms. Alternative sketch stuff. They've always made me laugh very hard. But it was great that we'd seen each other's work over the years because I think it made us all feel confident that we'd work well together on the show-- that we all sort of came from the same place. We also went to NYU together, but I didn't really know them in college. It's a great lesson to remember too. That sometimes doing those seemingly unimportant little performances here and there can really add up and have an impact later in your life.

Did you get to define the character on your own, or was the role already set up for you?
They knew they wanted someone tough who was a stern and somewhat efficient cop, since most of the characters on there are pretty inept cops. And they definitely needed someone who could handle the physical end of things all right, because Kerri Kenny was pregnant and wouldn't be able to be as active in the 3rd and 4th seasons. I think my character was sort of defined and refined by the other cops, because I didn't want to duplicate any qualities that were already in the mix. My original image of Deputy Kimball was way more sexual, but that would've overlapped with Deputy Johnson (Clemmy) so I made her more asexual/sexually uptight and repressed.

Have you heard anything about what the city of Reno thinks about the show?
To be honest, I have no idea.

What can we expect from the Reno 911 movie?
I think the best part about the movie is getting to see these cops REALLY out of their element. And seeing a lot more of the social dynamics between them-- that ugly thing that can happen when people start to hook up in the same office that shouldn't, etc. I mean… it takes place in Miami. So seeing Deputy Williams (Niecy Nash) in a bathing suit? Come on…. It doesn't get any better than that.

A friend of mine just finished watching the commentary from Season 3, and wants to know if you were aware that Cedric Yarborough apparently thinks that you look like ‘a bird.’ I don’t really have a good question here. How does that make you feel?
Fuck him. (Okay not really. I love me some Cedric.) And to be fair… I do have a beak. Not a lot of people know that. You got the exclusive right here!

If you could have acted in any of your favorite film noir movies, which roles would you take?
Barbara Stanwyck's roles in any of her films, especially "Sorry Wrong Number" and "Double Indemnity." Also Veronica Lake's role in "This Gun For Hire"-- she sings this awful/great song in a full fishing outfit that is so sexy.

Which comes more naturally to you: playing vixen type characters or the more, uh, down-to-earth character of Deputy Kimball?
I guess I really do feel like I was born in the wrong era. So I prefer playing vixens. But as far as what comes naturally? Probably just brassy broads. Your basic just-above-poverty level low-lifes.

You’ve worked with a lot of actors in other films and TV shows. Who have been some of your favorite co-stars?

Martin Short. Brooks Ashmanskas (he's in the Martin Short musical with me and is one of the funniest men I have ever met). And the gang I was in a sketch group with in the 90's called "Live On Tape"-- Toney Mennuto, Barbara Herel, Amy Wilson, Alec Holland, Tom Bolster, Jimmy Palumbo… they were all fantastic.

What’s the most difficult part of performing in a one-woman show?
There's no one to comisserate with when it's a bad show. It's just not as much fun, plain and simple. I really like bouncing off of other people. And unless you have someone else producing it FOR you, it's a helluva lot of work to produce your own show.

Is doing voiceover work as easy as it seems?
Yes and no. It's easy in that you can show up in your sweatpants and you don't have to memorize anything. But it has its own demands. It requires amazing focus at times, and you have to be good at making the copy (which can often be very stale and stiff) sound like you are actually just making it up on the spot. Improvisation comes in really really handy with voiceovers. I always try to use improv with my VO auditions. Not in a really obnoxious way (don't wanna piss off the writers) but in a subtle way that hopefully makes it sound like I am bringing something off the page and into something more organic.

Are you yourself on stage when you’re performing with your band, or are you playing a character?
I'm pretty much myself, but probably focusing more on a certain aspect of myself. Exaggerating a certain side of me.

What are some of your favorite accents to speak in?
I love em all. Ben Garant is very fond of saying to me (right before a take on Reno) "This time do it with a really crazy accent. I mean… really really crazy." And of course he'll say this in some ridiculous exaggeration of French or something and I join in until it borders on sounding like we have just had a stroke.

How does it feel to be the 154th? person interviewed for Zulkey.com?
Pretty fine, I must say. But, oh…. If only I could've tasted the sweet victory of being 78th!!!!!