Full Comedy Actress Roundtable: Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Quinta Brunson, Michelle Buteau and More - INBELLA (2024)

Full Comedy Actress Roundtable: Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Quinta Brunson, Michelle Buteau and More

coming back to Saturday Night Live after I had my daughter was transformative because I didn’t I I gave uh no more need have a baby say can I change my get prant I will get you pregnant get me pregnant please but that’s why I was saying oh honey I’ll get you pregnant just stand oh hello there welcome to off screen with The Hollywood Reporter I’m your host Ivan orgy and we are here at the gorgeous Georgian hotel in Santa Monica California as an actress and comedian I am especially looking forward to today’s amazing panel of six versatile and talented comedic actresses some of whom I am fortunate enough to call friends that’s right guys they have and are continuing to PVE the way for women in comedy you’re about to hear from the amazing the illustrious Quinta Brunson of Abbot Elementary Michelle Batu of survival of the thickest Renee Elise goldsbury of girls 5 evera EGA walm of Saturday Night Live Maya Rudolph of Loot and Kristen wig of pal waral they are as always on the record but just a little off script with The Hollywood Reporter hey lazy they’re all yours thanks Ivon welcome to the comedy actress Roundtable let’s get started we’re going to start with a question for everybody what is the funniest or strangest feedback you’ve heard or read about yourself oh my god wow wow oh my god do you guys re up about no I honestly the first thing I can think of is I won an award for being the number one vegetarian oh I’m not a vegetarian I was I think I was eating a pork rib when when I read i l it was me too I think people just very surprised that they laugh yeah yeah surprisingly funny surprisingly witty surprise surprise isn’t that isn’t that a delight yeah yes I’m surprised you’re surprised right I think mine is too short for Comfort I think that’s really funny um so it sticks out it was someone saying that they did enjoy my work but part of what made them enjoy it was that I was too short for comfort and I thought that was funny I like that I started doing podcasts before I was on SNL like comedy podcasts and so people would come and find me on Instagram and I remember one comment being like I’m pissed off you look like this and I’m like okay what did they want you to look I didn’t follow up you I think the first time I ever when I started SNL and I learned my lesson I do not read I don’t look I don’t but when I first got on the show you have that moment where you’re like people are saying and it was like comment comment comment comment and one of them just said she’s ugly no I was like I mean it was it’s okay we used to well it was before there it was before social media so there were like forums or something don’t know but they were all like sentences sentences and then just like she’s ugly period And I was like mind said chipmunk cheeks oh yeah so we’re starting off our I mean is that that’s good right people people are fing their faces sex but the crazy thing is that you can’t go searching for the positive things I don’t read the positive things because I don’t want to I don’t want to get sucked into that reality it makes you read nothing you read nothing but then people will tell you what the positive things are your family will call and say this you got this and they said this and they said this this crazy thing is when it’s silent then you know that there are not positive things being said so then you go and look for them don’t do that yeah it’s not good it’s not good okay so what is the most transformative roll sketch moment of your careers oh my God starting off real light starting off light to the I’ll go for the Martin okay wait serious I actually did think of it cuz I just cheered with ego when I got to do that sketch with you because I felt like it was a moment where people who maybe didn’t know me before Abbot they like realized that I could do comedy be you know you guys no comedies of spectrum but beyond Janine and Beyond what i’ done before getting to do that sketch with you in the car oh my goodness we were just talking about that at work how like amazing it was to see you come up with your own gestures for that give you much direction for that and that was so fun I got to pop in and do truly one thing in that sketch but it was so fun incredible yeah and that felt transformative so I would say that one for me yeah yeah I feel like I would guess it was maybe Hamilton thank you for saying it’s l enough to say it myself um honestly every time I get a job whatever job it is it’s always like and the funny thing is whatever you do people are like I can’t believe you could do that yes true I didn’t know you could rap yes I’m saying I didn’t know you were funny and now it’s like is she a serious actor because yeah I just think she’s funny it’s just whatever you do is what you do in people’s minds and it always feels transformative to get to do anything so when it works it feels transformative I think for me it’s was probably booking my first series regular on First Wives Club uh plus now Netflix and um you know I could I knew I could do the funny but what was really fun and important for me is that I had sex scenes and as a size 1820 we don’t get to be sexy we get to be lucky that someone finds US attractive I own my sexuality and I’m like this is important and we can make it funny but it’s mainly important so let’s go and get it and so it was so amazing working with intimacy coordinators and directors who understood how I would be my most comfortable and then sexy and that really kind of changed how people cast me and how like I saw myself quite frankly and I’m like let’s go big are beautiful and worthy of love let’s get dick down that’s really great intimacy coordinators on that I felt like that was before the huge push for them so that’s really nice to hear that’s the great thing about working on an all female LED show yeah you know where the showrunner is female and you can go to your showrunner or your director who’s also female and say you know Mother Nature might be calling next week and I see that this thing is on the schedule for next week so can we yeah it’s so I’ve been in that situation yeah it’s you know it’s important and that’s and and that’s why hiring us matters oh it’s my turn I mean I I think this will count it was transformative in a personal way for me I did a dance for sea during the Grammys like years ago that was I was releasing a relationship that was sort of like the sort of the subtext that I had and I didn’t think I could do it I was terrified to do it and I wasn’t wearing a lot of clothes and I felt super vulnerable and then after it was over I just like I released this thing and that it was very transformative something shifted after that in yourself which I think is is even cooler than for everybody else yeah and we all know like being afraid to do something you have that moment before like why am I doing this why am I just not home and then you do it and then you’re like oh that’s why we keep coming back a little bit I did it I did it I just have to keep walking yep yeah that makes me want to change my answer I know um no cuz I remember it’s not about the big job that everyone knows about I I was in a like a small fashion show across the street from the soap oper I was on many years ago and nobody was in the room that knew me which was probably why I felt so free and I remember walking around and realizing that the more myself I was the more I didn’t care just the the funnier I was I just kind of had a connection to power that was always inside of me for the first time beauti you know what I’m saying nobody nobody gave me an award it didn’t matter but it was the same thing I just remember being like oh this is where it is yeah thank you love that first I was going to say SNL I’m like duh and then I was going to say post SNL but then I was going to say bridesmaids but then I was going to go back to like say them [Applause] all it’s different right like transformation is different like for me coming back to Saturday Night Live after I had my daughter was transformative because I didn’t I I gave uh no more that was different for me because I cared so much and I was putting so many things in front of me that were not serving me and so I was wasting a lot of time worrying about what other people thought and doing the right thing and being a good girl and being a good student and being a good daughter and work hard at SNL and writing my sketches and and then I was like this is all fluffy light nice things and it took that for me that’s not like the road for everybody but that’s what got me there you know and I had to be shaken out of the grip I had on you think the shaking was the fact that you were another I had to stop being selfish yeah I need to have a baby say change can I change my answer I will get you pregnant get me pregnant please but that’s why I was saying oh honey I’ll get you pregnant just stand but that’s I saying like it’s that’s not what I mean for everyone because we all know that the road to um motherhood is not for every woman um and it’s also not easy for every woman and sometimes not possible for every woman or not Destiny so it’s not to say like the universal like get K like it’s not like that’s how you say it right that’s what shook it out of me but bridesmaids was also transformative not just because people saw it and received it well it was transformative because it was the first time I got to enjoy making a movie that was funny and have fun with people that I thought were funny I felt like that was the first time we got to do that I didn’t have experiences like that before we would have fun in play at SNL but it’s rare to get to work and look at each other and say this is really funny or I’m having fun or laugh with each other that was transformative too yeah it was um a brook the Brooklyn Bowl I saw your group oh princess that was transformative for me cuz I’m like you don’t have to do Straight Up Stand Up you could do whatever you want and live your truth on stage and so you love what you do do so much that it affected me and I was like I yeah like I can think outside the box I had such a similar experience watching Amy and Tina’s show in Vegas because they were just up there around and I loved every minute of it and they brought out Rachel it was my Super Bowl it was my Super Bowl you know I’m with a bunch of other comedy girl nerds I’m drunk I’m like let’s go Rachel it was so crazy but it was so inspiring that you know okay we don’t have to be like in the in the Tren is forever like they just represented a sort of freedom to me that I hope to obtain someday cuz right now I’m in a the shackles of the shackles you went straight to shackles but but you’re talking about being deep in it and I think that that was one of the things that I was thinking about in terms of transformative is that experience time appreciation of what you do which is what life gives you when you do something for a long time will give you that yeah so that is coming cuz you are working hard and that’s like when you’re in the when you’re in the middle of it it feels like it’s going to be like this forever and being able to enjoy it appreciate it and exactly what you picked up on with Amy and Tina’s show is like watch people having fun and appreciating what they’ve got and each other like watch people enjoy each other the best and that’s coming what beautiful answers I’m like I have because I don’t have a baby I I kind of bringing that up it’s not Universal I know and I don’t and I I feel like you are being like hey I want to be clear that it’s not necessarily a path for every woman and I’m not saying that that’s the thing that’s going to transform a woman’s experience I feel like you’re so clear on that I just want kids so just like so um but I mean like so much of what you said and we kind of had a conversation the the three of us had a conversation in December I mean your voice has been in my head for weeks now because I’ve been just thinking about you going when I stop giving a it’s like when it started to feel great and truly just felt like play um SNL the schedule is you guys is so intense and we are in such a grind that when we have weeks off such as this one I like pop out and I’m like what did I just do it truly is another world and I’m like what ju what just happened to me and how do I regain my person and so everything you said was so meaningful to me then it’s meaningful to me now the thing that felt so transformative for me is an SNL sketch ironically doing getting to do Lisa from Tula the first time was so fun yeah it was so much fun and people who know me in my personal life or people who have listened to me be insane on podcast are like that’s the most her thing I’ve seen her do on the show and I go five years and you know some people go you should write more things like that and I go baby if you knew how the process work I don’t work that way that week was sort of like I’m at my wits end it um I’m GNA I got seven hours of sleep on a writing night which I don’t think I had ever done and I felt like oh this is bad but I was like I’ve done everything I’m I’m an in I work really hard I’m really diligent Lauren’s always telling me audience doesn’t who works the hardest and I go that’s pisses me off true General yeah true and I kind of surrendered to the process I did not write on that sketch and that’s like one of the first things that was a real moment for me at the show that I didn’t even write on and then the night of we didn’t think the sketch was going to go cuz it was bumpy at rehearsal and when um Tom Broker who’s our wardrobe guy at SNL came by and was like announcing in the hallway like we’re doing Lisa get dressed for Lisa and I kind of was like really okay it’s the last sketch of the night whatever and I was getting to improvise cuz the chair wasn’t supposed to fall and I was like I’m getting to be I’m getting to do the thing that I do I love so I’m so passionate about improv so I was like this was so fun and liberating and I could not have planned for it I could not have worked for it I just had to play so that felt very good to me well sometimes we you sometimes I get in my way all the time so the it’s in your case it sounds like you know forcing yourself out of those patterns is obvious ly what was transformative and sometimes the most transformative periods are the most painful or you know coming out of the hardest things so I get that yeah Michelle I have heard you say that you’re grateful to Netflix for and I’m going to quote you here because it’s too fun uh no no no believing in a because I’ve been tap dancing for multiple networks for a good while and my knees are tired accurate uh I didn’t know you could tap dance I’ve been tab dancing for the patriarchy for a good while and my knees are tired but fish oil helps noted what do you think the sort of pivot was about where all of a sudden it was yes we we accept you and your ideas and and this Vision auditioning for multiple networks that have different types of Comedy chasing that for a good decade felt like I was also chasing the wrong person to be with and I was constantly trying to be whatever they needed and then I’d like do one for me at the end and that’s how I always got a call back but the job would always go to somebody who was well known or had more followers because everything’s an algorithm or whatever it was and so I was always the brides made LOL for so long and I couldn’t understand why cuz I was doing everything I was supposed to do I did everything I you know I I practiced and you know I’m I’m a fun person on set you know I like food trucks I’m like what is it what it do I’m Dynamic I’m Charming I want to know you’re inner child and um something really shifted when I realized I want to have kids and how hard that was and I started doing IVF and then I was traveling myself in a middle seat for a chemistry test and then I have to get a note from the doctors to bring these needles for the IVF to put them to security and then I’d have to go put like progesterone own suppositories up my coochie wash my hands go shake the casting director’s thing hope it’s not coming out in my pants how’s everyone doing oh this is great do one for you did it started crying at the end it doesn’t say You’re supposed to cry I know it’s a choice because I was so outside of my body trying to really make something else work in my life that was so hard and I was going through so much and I wasn’t allowed to say anything cuz I was still supposed to be happy clown that’s kind of when I started looking when when I stopped really giving a because I didn’t have the bandwidth too like I literally had to leave and go cry and then like figure out like a good waterproof mascara cuz she was a mess she was a mess but the great thing working with Netflix is that there’s so many different divisions and I love to host you know I used to I have a news background uh cuz my college professor told me I was too fat to be on camera when I told him I want to be a journalist oh thank you hope he has a Netflix password or he might be dead and so I did production instead and so I loved hosting and I you know I love acting and I love standup and so I just have license to do me but I really didn’t even understand that I had license to me I thought I was doing me but my body in the universe was like no you know have several seats and so you know after you know five years of IVF and and some losses you know we welcome twins via cusy yeah and that made me just so like when I say thankful I mean like I am thankful to be in traffic with these kids I am thankful like for every single moment like it it feels like nobody can yuck my yum you know what I mean and when people are going through some especially like on set I’m like please go take 10 minutes take 20 minutes gather yourself I understand you want to drink I got some CH Rose Renee you I I’ve heard you tell a story um when where you go home you go to church and uh there is a reverend who lists off all of your credentials and then introduces you and you are flabbergasting so it’s 2005 I was a starring on a soap opera and I was um in a Broadway show um The Color Purple heard of it and the first one so I went home to visit my dad and we were at church and then the Reverend started saying we have a guest in the house oh Saints today and then he started you know going on this list of this great wonderful and she did this and she did that and I’m looking around like who is in the house when I’m here like I’m so excited and at the very end he says Ron goldsberry’s daughter Renee goldsbury and I’m shocked I love because I mean he literally said everything I was doing but I didn’t recognize myself w because the year I had I had had two very painful miscarriages one was in the second trimester it was terribly emotionally painful I mean like there was just so much that had gone on in that year and um so I stood up and I was like thank you you know and I sat down but what I realized is that people don’t do anyone a service in this world by reading these bios that are not representative of who we are to tell you know Rene Le go she’s a Tony winner and a like this is how they they they say these things to introduce you but it really isn’t who you are and quite honestly it’s not the most valuable part of who you’re are that’s what they want you to be what’s most valuable about me are the things that I survived like I’m super excited to hear oh you guys might want to have kids I got stories she got stories like I’m pretty sure you can figure out how to win a Tony yeah but what you might not know is how you keep going when you are trying to do two two things at the same time you have this many years you think to make it in your career and you have this many minutes to have a baby how am I going to do this we got answers I mean maybe not answers but we got experiences and so I just felt so strongly we have to do a better job of telling the world who we are I’m so grateful for opportunities like that because I sit down at a table like this and I’m looking I’m like oh my God my publicists are killing me I finally get to sit with these powerful and they’re like they’re like my heroes right and why am I here like no one wants to hear about the impostor syndrome but but you but I tell myself when I walk out here can I please find something to say that really is representative of what matters you know what I mean like nothing else matters but finding ways to connect to each other that like just help us along the journey I hear myself saying back to my kids sometimes you have to tell people who you are you mentioned it earlier in terms of work about whether you know sometimes you’re showing your dramatic side and people think oh that’s who you are now or we didn’t know you could be that you didn’t know I could be a human being that had more than one feeling because people want you to be who they want you to be how they know you like one thing and usually that thing they introduce you with is like kind of the first thing you did long time ago and I know in my experience of being other forever from the beginning I had to tell people who I was I had to figure out who I was yes I got to keep figuring it out and I was just going to say that and I still figure it out but for right now for today I have to let people know because people love to make assumptions and you know and we want to preserve our humanity and when people make those assumptions it strips your Humanity from you which also takes away your ability to be an artist which is ultimately why I think all of us are here we this is an art form a craft something that we wake up and you know you you just do and you can’t not do it I’ve known who I am for a very long time so it got interesting to be thrust into a spotlight and then people telling me who I am and I’m like you actually like don’t know and thank you for supporting me thank you for your love but like I might do some different tomorrow right yeah and you might not like it and that’s okay too but I do need you uh just show up and watch have about people are do that do you know what I mean and I like that that makes me feel like I’m doing a good job but I think it strips the humanity especially of women just because we are supposed to be so many someone I think Donald Glover recently described as like it’s high schooled to people and it’s like you’re the this girl you’re the that girl you’re the that girl and that’s how they see you in their heads and if you get outside of that box they almost get violent what are you doing what are you do this is this is part of who I am I am don’t forget being on television we live in people’s bedrooms yes they watch us from from bed and toilet on their phone on the toilet on their phone always on the toet sat on the to H out do I’ve seen you all from the bom we had a really good conversation in that car as well about that that car don’t know about that car because I was going through a tough personal time and Quint you were like how are you and then you were like you know people don’t realize you’re were going to go live tonight in a few hours but you have to deal with that and then show up and be this and speaking to you know people putting you in a box or deciding what your bio is is it can be so frustrating you feel so fortunate to be able to do what you do and to be on TV and perform what you’re passionate about but I’m like I want you to know my Humanity too I am but a human walking on this planet who’s doing this cooky thing right what you people have done is insanity like when I was little I wanted to be on SNL and then I hosted SNL was like I’m so saved man you guys have to show up you have to show up every week on Saturday doesn’t matter if you’re having a bad day it doesn’t matter if you know what I mean doesn’t matter if you had a miscarriage guess what no one cares you better get on that sketch and say the that that on laugh but to your point I got to do a college show like in February when we were on Hiatus and it was stand up for an hour and my favorite part at the end I got to ask the I asked the students I’m like anyone have any questions for me and one girl put her hand up and was like how do you get over a breakup and I thought I am so deep that was this is going to stick with me forever I got to do my he Haas which I love and I was like h a human moment human I want to hug you and I did I asked for permission I hugged her and I told her I was like I now know I can give you my advice so my hell I can help you know I’m like I can help and that was so meaningful to me and I’m like I want to be able to connect with people in that way and I love making people laugh but I love I love the conversations we’ve had I love the conversation you know that’s what that’s what makes me feel most alive I do go back and forth though cuz sometimes I’m like actually nobody talk to me I don’t know like actually don’t know anything about me I don’t know I just like flip I like that protect your pce Instagram on the toilet sorry I once in a while I’m bu I’m multitasking and um somebody asked Gabrielle Union about her skincare routine and she was like cut all the people out of your life that you don’t need right and drink water but I said b double tap I’m double tapping that and I’m talking about it because that’s also really good I used to do that I used to like want to fix it and help people all the time I’m like for who so I likeed so I’m a good like this is I know I’m a good person move on and um and know your boundaries yes yeah boundaries aren’t easy to set they’re note it depends on who you are but they’re not always easy people don’t respond well to them that’s part of the like when you even if you feel like you can set a boundary it’s like oh what’s the reaction to the boundary going to be I feel confident enough to set that’s when you see who they are yeah Kristen and Maya you have both been in the position that that ago is in right now I’m curious sort of what the advice you would give about a how to navigate a place like Saturday Night Live but also how to navigate uh what comes after SNL and knowing when it is time to move on from a place like that that’s a good question I don’t think you can navigate it that’s how you navigate it like I don’t it’s not a PL like I I got the sense of the place when I got there and and I felt uncomfortable and I was like oh that’s the show mhm and I was like oh the moment I feel like I belong here is when I got to go there’s a sense of like you have to just Embrace that like you’re not going to figure it out and I don’t know if that’s helpful it helped me because it it felt like there was a math problem I wasn’t getting yeah and I love math and I really do I really love math and there it’s you just have to it’s so personalized everyone there has a completely different experience because you also have such an expectation it’s something that’s a part of your life that you’ve been watching and then you get there and you think it’s going to be something an expectation usually leads to disappointment of like so there’s that but then I remember hearing you say that that you knew when it was time you know it was time to go when you were comfortable I didn’t know I think I thought oh this is going to be the end for me I’m going to be there forever and then I didn’t know how to navigate getting out but at the same time what it’s given me I mean I’m happy to talk about SNL and I don’t work there anymore but it’s given me a foundation that has that has been transformative I evolve we’re Evol the word but it has given me skills that I use all the time I problem solve in a different way I I mean collaboration it’s like collaboration learn how to work with people more and also like when people say we can’t do that I know we can yeah and when they say we only have this amount of time you’re like I can go from this costume to that in 45 seconds you tell me we have 3 minutes that’s a long it’s a it’s a skill set you are learning comedy combat and you have a skill set now that you cannot teach it has to be learned and you can take it with youe train is and I feel it I live for the grind and the discomfort of it all but then of course you want to be pissed about it sometimes like it’s uncomfortable but when you speak about expectations going in going in as the seventh black woman on the cast it was this whole it’s going what’s that experience going to be like and I was like I have relatively low expectations for what it’s going to be I was just like I don’t know that it’s going to be great and then moments where it feels so sweet the highs feel so high and then and then I’m like I want to feel I want to feel give me that drug again I want more of that drug and that’s the thing I’ve been talking to myself about of there is such piece in the surrender to the process surrender to the fact that it is a puzzle you’re not really going to solve it’s not really a math equation and that pressure and discomfort you feel is the thing I love this like I love when um especially women from SNL get together and have real ass conversations about what those expectations are like and that schedule and you know like all the things that happened to you like before during and after you know as a standup comedian 23 years doing stand-up alone very alone like the fact that they have that it’s like a Sor yeah it’s amazing there is this special bond that you cannot even explain to people I love how you got how accepting and affirming you are to people that were not in that club because I feel like you guys are a strong gang and you’re doing a lot of wonderful things and it seems like you go out of your way to be like hey I see you hey I got you I think it’s because we’re trained to sort of be underdogs like we’re The Underdogs there and then the beautiful movie star comes in and sprinkles us and we say thank you and then they leave and so you have this Vibe of like it’s just I’m nothing it’s I I’ll make you I’ll make you look good and that’s good also being able to jump in with new people each week each week every I I really am just fascinated by it cuz that I don’t know I just think it’s like the craziest thing in the world and I grew up watching it loving it loving you guys and then seeing in person is like yeah unreal you don’t get enough credit and you get credit but you none of you get enough I don’t care if somebody was W it for one season or it’s un unreal job I always say don’t tell yourself no before someone else tells you no I say that that I’ve said it out loud and I heard just it done once you realize how the sausage is made it’s like you might not want to I don’t want to y you’re yum go off and see if you want to do this Quint I feel like you had recently talked about wanting to adapt the guest and you wondered whether that was something you would be able that you would be trusted with and you said because you’re a black woman this is not a black story is that from personal experience or is that based on the experiences of of those that came before you and and and thus it was an assumption it was an assumption because similar to the boxes we’re talking about what you start out out with or what people know you for cuz you know abot is not what I started out with no it is what people know me for which I’m grateful the guest was a book I read and I felt like I see the vision I can adapt this I really don’t feel that way with books I read a lot of books and I love them but that was one where I said oh man I have the bug I have the bug to adapt I have the bug to like direct I don’t really have that bug and people always ask it on Abbot but I don’t want to direct Abbott I’m already doing too much on Abbott I want to sit there and do my jobs but that book is about a flippant brain birded white girl who’s running around the Hamptons and she’s so naive and I think it’s so far from who I am as a person that I do wonder if it’ll become a struggle to try to make things that aren’t about me another thing that was interesting with making Abbot is it is inspired by my mom’s story but I don’t believe that’s what makes it good I I study comedy I do this it’s a good comedy because I like comedy I hope that I don’t have to get caught in the Trap of being the source material cuz I don’t want to be the source material forever I don’t think there’s freedom in that like if I’m supposed to keep making shows or movies about myself that is so limiting and it goes into what we’re talking about I don’t want to keep Excavating my soul to make things and I think it has become an expectation for people of color and it’s not an expectation for um white people white men but I think for a lot of black women they’re like give us your insides and I don’t want to do that anymore if I want to make a show about a dinosaur I want to be able to make a show about a d and not a black dinosaur just like a green dinosaur just a regular ass dinosaur that dinosaur could be blue it could be blue but that’s a thing that maybe isn’t that relatable but I I feel hyp specific is is like something that I feel I experience and many other creators of color why do I got to bring my trauma I know I had a manager say oh your mom’s story is so incredible like we’re going to make a TV show that and I was like that’s a drama I don’t want to do I don’t want to do that drama I don’t I would even want that I wouldn’t even want to do that to my mother I don’t think she wants her story like you know I was like that’s such a fascinating instinct when you’ve heard a bit about me like we’re going to make that a show and I’m like it’s not for consumption right exactly because people want to see you the way they want to see you they they kind of have an urge to like keep seeing you bleed and I don’t really want to do that with my career I would really love to eventually make things that have nothing to do with me for me it’s such an honor and a privilege to be a plus-size woman writing stories yeah about my New York um with non-binary people and trans people but I shouldn’t have to have a meeting about code switching yeah and explain to you why this black woman who was 53 is a millionaire and a boss but she also says the nword and she’s also bisexual and she’s a lot of other things that you probably can’t understand but don’t worry about it those people do exist so like just explaining that to people is so crazy I know this is sounds crazy but like I’ll sit there and watch Dune and I’m like yeah I wanted what is the Dune of of my Rudolph’s dreams what is the like do I have to be so closely associated with my um does my personal story need to be so associated with my work all the time like I I really hope not because I think that is limiting for the creative space I think we’re missing out on a lot of fun sci-fi stuff because if I walk in they’re like tell us about being a black woman in the industry I’m I’m trying to make the next Willy Wonka leave me alone but do you know what I’m saying think something and I also think that what’s frustrating about it is that you are thinking those things and you may create something and let’s say it doesn’t happen we don’t know what that project is but I do think by doing that it is going to find its way somewhere we just may not reap the benefits but somebody is feeling that shift because there are so many times where I’ve seen something done and think oh why didn’t I think of it that way yeah yeah I didn’t have to make it autobiographical but you’re absolutely right right that inherent expectation is usually there and I think it’s just a matter of how you deal with it do you ignore it do you bypass it do you delve into it one for them one for me all any of it and it’s all correct none of it’s incorrect but it everybody’s correct is different yep so what’s everyone’s Willy Wonka or everyone’s Dune what’s the thing that you would love to to do that no one’s yet asked you to do I want to be in a heist movie oh oh oh I can see that y see me robbing a bank yeah yeah absolutely okay this is going to sound dumb but Bluey I know about because of my nieces and nephews I love blue I love BL it’s so to put on before go to bed the colors are made for dogs the colors are made it’s so I’m like you know make a little Bluey or just something so silly and unrelated to me and and um get to hide in the shadow so my dream is to make like a a blue I’d watch your blue love that for you you will what’s your Bluey what you doing what’s your blue I have so many unfinished projects there are some things that I’ve been working on for the last five or six years that um that I kind of want to do before I say do all the other stuff I want to do which is um yeah I’d like to I mean I’ve been in Marvel I’d like to I’d like to Circle back and have a superpower this time you know what’s your superpower going to be I really just want to have the gift of prioritization that it’s such an adult the kids were like this is the lamest person but really I just want to know cuz you know how much time we spend stressed out and worried about things that don’t matter I just want to have the go to B I love it which is why they’re not calling so yeah for me there’s some unfinished things I have a I have a a pop album of original music I want to get out um I have a documentary about what we were just talking about which is you know the juggle between trying to have children and trying to launch the show Hamilton that’s coming out um I have biopics that I’m working on about women who the world needs to remember and know um I feel like it’s a beautiful thing to be in a place where you’re like I did this thing I have created this show that is speaking to my tribe and you have to get there to say the really genius thing you just said which is and now I want to do something else so where I’m at is I want to get there yeah what I do love about this business is probably what people hate about it is that it’s unpredictable and so I never know what’s going to happen and I love that for me that keeps me interested I feel like every day should be a surprise in a good way in a productive way however that means and honestly I feel like I’m doing it and I just want to do more of it you know fat black brown queer contents because now that I have these children I just want to make sure that it happens with the Arts you know that I’m putting in all the allyship and comedy ship and femal ship into what I do because this is how I express myself and this is my legacy for these Littles what about you CHR um I so grateful to be here listening to you guys today I can’t even tell you like everything you guys are talking about is really like hitting different points of my heart right now um and what you said about going out of that sort of comfort zone or like the Zone I really needed to hear that because I’ve been trying to write something for a while and I kind of put it away it’s not really a comedy and I think I I’ve been prac ing how I talk to people about it in a defensive way to say it’s not a comedy but wait just listen it might it might be cool I think because I’m I’m writing it sort of on my own and i’ all of the stuff I’ve written has been a comedy and people expect that from me I’m already putting that thing in front of me of like are you sure you want to do this like you don’t really know how to do this and I’ve been stuck with it for like months and months and it’s been kind of driving me crazy and like I believe in these little moments in the universe where people connect with you and I’m I’m like I don’t know it just feels very like I have to figure out what my voice is and just put it out there and not worry about that stuff because the categorizing I think of things that we’ve all done I didn’t quite realize was such a blanket and can I say tell me I think it’s so funny um because people sometimes are like you know you can’t do this even if they don’t say it out loud it’s like assumed sometimes I feel like if you haven’t done drama they make it seem like comedy is harder and if you haven’t done comedy they make it seem like I mean if you have done comedy they make it seem like drama is hard whatever it is they constantly do that and I just think it’s it is it’s totally and it is so exciting for me to hear you say on this table that you are about to write something well it’s scary I mean even you said Dune I was like that’s literally visually sort of yeah this thing in my head and it might be a little comedic but the selft talk around it of like how do I explain to people are they even going to say yes because I’ve done things that are dramatic on the page that I thought were going to be dramatic and then you get there and they’re like you get and like dramatic and i’ I’ve done dramatic scenes and I’ve been in a screening where I do something and then people laugh no I wasn’t you know what I mean so I I I don’t know I I tried not to think about what I was going to say and just talk um I’m soad I also just want to say and I said this to you upstairs um watching you do Aunt Linda at table okay we have t we tons and tons and tons of hosts at SNL everyone’s wonderful everybody is incredible watching you do that at table and I sit four seats away four five seat I was like this is an artist what made it so fantastic to me was the nuance and the performance which comes from I’m an artist first right and not that you need to hear it from me but I I should tell you because I’m like I was gushing to one of the producers I was gushing to Heidi I was just like I I feel like I learned something and that is a person who is not just I’m silly I’m going to do high Jinks and make you laugh I was like what made that so incredible to watch was like you were acting like yes what you were saying was funny but I was like I know this I know this woman and I we read 40 sketches at our table and we’ve I’ve been there for six seasons and seen tons of hosts everybody’s phenomenal but I just remember that performance I’m like you can do anything the comedy table can we can we talk about how if you like make someone laugh all of a sudden all the rest of the stuff all the groundwork you put under is like but also getting back to the tomorrow is not promised and I love that every day feels different like this is but this is what I’m talking it’s so amazing to be in this career and still feel crazy and nervous and anxious about something that’s like isn’t that like the part great that’s a great place place you don’t you don’t wish it on yourself but that’s always a great motivation space I know I’m excited to see what everyone at this table is going to not be afraid to do going to be in your movie what they’re going to do we’re going to end on on a more of a lightning round you’ve had a long day of work what do you turn on your TV Bravo I’m not ashamed you’re a real housewives girl right yeah Bob’s Burgers uh only murders in the building yeah queer eye yes I watch that with my girls you know what honestly it’s something I’ve never done in my entire life I’m doing now it’s just so pathetic that I’m saying this but i’ turn on girls bya yeah I I do not watch myself I do not watch but I literally I literally turned that a good old that was a good um it makes me because I didn’t realize until season 3 that it exists for me yeah only because special I have been sitting there doing that show all this time and still I come home and I question my ability to dream this ambitiously at my age I mean I’m doing the show about these women who are absurdly dreaming about getting back to be pop music stars after 20 years later and then they are ridiculous that is there so that I remember I’m allowed to still dream yeah you can be 50 in dream don’t let the world tell you that it is absurd to do something new whatever who cares yeah that song at the end that um what’s her name son which one what’s her name in the show I do get my wife yeah she is song like made me cry medium Yeah medium sah Sarah voice makes really got me it’s about medium time can we just say how great it is it really was just this idea that like there’s an there is a level of Fame that’s right in the middle maybe nobody knows you are but you got a job that actually has value and worth and don’t let anybody tell you it doesn’t matter I mean how beautiful is that great all right so what was the first thing when you get your first real paycheck what’s what’s the first Splurge crab Lake dinner I took all my friends to a crab Lake dinner um the first time all all of my friends from Philly who all of us were broke dead broke like bananas and cup of noodles every day for lunch dinner breakfast whatever and I took them all out to a crab Lake dinner and I still like to do that yeah that’s cool that’s beautiful the money was spent that’s so funny actually upgraded from HMO to P yeah okay you yeah and I bought and I bought some [Applause] hair this is who I give mine back I don’t buy mine I give it back I that shiny from Amazon I get that Indian I get [Music] it I marched myself into Tiffany’s uh when I got the job at SNL and Emily spy told me too and I um I bought myself some gold Bangles I love that see I bought gold jewelry too but it was from majury cuz I was still scared I got to have a friend tell me it I was scared to I was scared thinest little gold R I love that the closest gold I can wash my hands now put lotion on the this was a long time ago gold has really raised up significantly you remember I I don’t remember I don’t think I did anything I don’t that’s okay sad you it’s not too late not go your by that Island think about it I brought a little island cuz I was scared yes next to lny KRA we lift weights and leather pants it’s really fun all right what’s the most used emoji on your phone oh no for everything I do this one mine’s the laughing so hard I’m crying so it’s like side oh mine is the melting um smiley face because that is me this is so yeah is really yeah this is why is the yellow heart or the created based off of you doing it was pretty good when my dad first started texting he didn’t know he he thought that was a smile so he would text me be like hi I love you like are you are you my aunt used to write LOL cuz she thought it meant lots of love all maybe it does wait why did you where do you have the same uncle it’s the same I thought it was lots of love oh my goodness it’s mine is upside down smiley face or the okay wait what’s down anding hands is up there somewhere in honor of girls what would you each name your girl group oh maybe transformation oh my God you really I’m [Applause] sorry actually six but that’s how it works how it I’m sorry sound still go four we’ll talk we’ll Circle back wait you didn’t ask me what I wanted to do next I know I I want I I was going to say I wanted you broad I’m looking right at you I saw you on Broadway I saw you on Broadway sometimes when you see people on stage you’re like I want I want I want I want to be that I want to do that I want to be her know her that’s what it was wow greatest thing ever about having done it is like especially Hamilton because everybody All Your Heroes came to see it like the most amazing people in the world would say I really want to do that but it seems so scary so scary can I tell you how much scarier SNL is well that’s what they think can I tell you how much scarier it is to do what you guys are doing which is starring and writing and writing and like I guess that’s what’s so beautiful about what you said is that you just need to know that whatever is scary you’ve already you’ve already trained for it and you just don’t know it and I’m super excited I mean if you just have The Bravery to say out loud you want to do it it’s done do you know how many people are going to be calling you watch out I’m like shocked it hasn’t happened yet H she hasn’t said it out loud proba and everyone here she knows she did she did a commercial I was like I yes B commcial you better do it and then for you okay so the circle was my pandemic show oh my goodness my sister and my sister’s like the girl who host this like she’s mad and I’m like that’s Michelle but she didn’t know so whatever I’m saying all this to say all of you I think are the most dynamic women and you can do whatever you want and I know we’re all comedy girls and you make people laugh and they forget about how like Dynamic you actually are but look at like what like the what like what but I always feel that way every time I meet people that I’m just kind of enamored with they’re always better in person and that thank you all for doing this so we do one last CH transformation very good you should be a rer oh I’ll try go yum I got to say as an actress and standup comic I felt right at home with these insightful funny supportive and even dare I say dramatic women you know what we call that in Hollywood range well until the next time I’m Ivan orgy and this is offs script with a Hollywood [Music]

Ego Nwodim (‘Saturday Night Live’), Kristen Wiig (‘Palm Royale’), Maya Rudolph (‘Loot’), Michelle Buteau (‘Survival of the Thickest’), Quinta Brunson (‘Abbott Elementary’) and Renée Elise Goldsberry (‘Girls5eva’) join THR in Off Script With The Hollywood Reporter. The stars have a raucous and revealing conversation about ignoring industry expectations, the pressure to mine their personal lives and tap-dancing for the patriarchy in this updated roundtable format hosted by Yvonne Orji.