OHSOGRAY attended a recent intimate press lunch in Hollywood with the cast and creator of the new NBC comedy One Big Happy. The premise of the show is that Lizzy (Elisha Cuthbert), a lesbian, is pregnant with her best friend Luke’s (Nick Zano) baby. Luke meets and immediately marries the beautiful Prudence (Kelly Brook) right before he learns of his impending fatherhood. Elisha Cuthbert talked about how it feels to play the only lesbian lead character on television and the challenge of being funny.
One Big Happy premieres March 17th at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.
How did you feel about coming back to a sitcom after finishing Happy Endings?
I had to take time. I think I’m the last cast member to have something come out, which in part because after Happy Endings was over I got married and took a year off and I just chilled out for a bit cause I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. Then this came to me and Nick really called me and said, “I think you can do this sitcom,” and I’m like, “I….don’t know.” He was like, “No, I know you can do this.” Cause I really loved the character, I was so excited that Ellen and Liz had the confidence…just felt that I could do this. I mean it was crazy. I was getting a lot of love and I was like, this feels really good.
This is a very personal project for Liz (Feldman), does that put any added pressure on you and your performance?
I try my best to make her as happy as possible, because it is loosely based on her real life and she’s got so much invested in it, on an emotional level, as well, being it her. I take a lot of my inspiration for the character from her. Nuances, style, all of that. She’s been really helpful, actually. It’s kind of nice to have someone to take from that you see on a daily basis.
How is it working with Nick again? He did a couple episodes of Happy Endings?
He’s the worst. [Laughs] Look at him. He’s like a jar of honey. He’s just so delicious. He’s the sweetest person on the planet. He’s like a jar of organic honey. He’s smooth and sweet. He’s just the best. So creatively supportive. We have this thing before we go out and shoot where we just have each other’s back and are like, “I got you. I got you.” We’ve connected, and Kelly also on this…we’ve connected on a level where we know that no matter what happens, we’ll have each other. You’ve got to be supportive on a multi-camera show because it is terrifying. Aboslutely terrifying. I don’t eat on tape nights. I can literally have a quarter of a green Jamba juice, that’s what I live on, on a Friday night tape night. Then as soon as the show finishes at 10 or 11 at night, I’m scarfing down as much food…I’m like, “It’s over. I can eat again!” My nerves are terrible.
What about it is terrifying?
Even though I know I know it, the amount of dialogue I had to memorize…I’m afraid, what if we get to a scene and I draw a blank. It’s just that stage fright in front of an audience—250 people staring at you to be funny, to be entertaining. There’s a lot of pressure. You also want to convey for people who are watching at home. So this whole madness is happening in front of an audience, but it’s going to be seen on television, which is really important, too. You’re playing for two audiences.
Have you learned anything new about yourself from working in this format?
I got into auditions…I went on one audition and then it was like a 4 scene audition, where normally I’d be like, “Man, that’s a lot to learn.” Now I’m like, “Just give me the whole script, I’ll come in and I’ll recite the whole damn thing to you if you want.” Things that I thought were so daunting are so easy now. So it’s given me some confidence, that’s for sure. I’m like, “Wow. If I can do this, I can do anything.” I never thought I’d have any interest in doing a play. After doing a sitcom, I’m like, “Send them my way.” Why did I ever doubt that I could do it? It’s just crazy. Luckily, Nick sort of got me out of my shell.
Given that there are not any lesbian lead characters on television, did you have any concerns going in?
I was selfish in that aspect. I was like, “Yes! It’s me! I get to do this!” I just felt so lucky that it was me. I can’t even explain to you the feeling it feels like to have someone as influential as Ellen, who came out 18 years ago on television in the same format…what she went through and the hardships of that, but then the triumphs of it as well. To think that she’d actually go, “Yeah, you’re right for this.” I was like, “Me? Wow.” What I do think, though, is that there’s a pressure I put on myself to do the best job possible because I do have this platform now, and I want to do as much as I can with it. I want to be as funny as possible and I want to give a real voice to a community that has been lacking on television, in this format, for 18 years. I think about it. I try not to. But I’m really blessed.
Have you always wanted to do comedy?
No. When I was a young actor, I wanted to be Meryl Streep. I want to bawl my eyes out and make people hurt. I wanted to be so dramatic. As you do as an actor—I want to do Shakespeare and be the next Meryl Streep. Comedy was…I didn’t really think about it. So my career started off that way, where I was pursuing a lot of dramatic work. I kind of got to a point where I was like, I know I can do this and I’m doing it well, but it’s a downer. It’s a real downer. And it’s hard. Crying for a week? So after 24 was over, I was really stumped because I was like—what am I going to do? I know I like being on television and I love the process of it. But how am I going to top 24? This is craziness. I did everything in my power to do comedy and forced myself into doing a comedy. When I got Happy Endings, I said to David Caspe, “Can you just give me one joke a week? That’s all I need. Just one joke a week.” Then season 2, I was getting jokes everywhere. It was fantastic.