One of my favorite parts of the show has always been Annie and Fran’s friendship. What drew you to Lolly Adefope during the casting process, and what do you love about
We are super, super close. You know, Lolly was someone I knew of and thought was great from the comedy world. I think at the time, we had the same agent or something, and I was always like, “What’s her deal? Would she be up for this?” She made a tape, and it was just, at least for me, I was like, I think this is it. She flew to Los Angeles, and we did a chemistry read, and just instantaneously, it was like, we’re friends. And then working together was a whole other level because so much of the time I had so much on my plate as far as managing or making sure the script was ready or all those things, and I always felt like when Lolly was there, I could just take a deep breath and be like, she’s got it. And I do think that just made it so easy to trust her and vice versa. We really work together; her voice is a part of the show as well. Outside of the show, [she is] one of the best friends I’ll ever have. She is just so funny, so incredibly smart, one of the smartest people I’ve ever known, and a true mischievous, goofy ding-dong. Also, her partner and my partner really hit it off and text each other all the time, so it’s a double-date heaven, honestly.
You worked as a producer, writer, and actor on this show. Was it difficult to bounce between those three worlds? And which role was often the most challenging?
You know, it’s weird. I think each one of them has their own challenge. What I found most challenging was when all three had a challenge at the same time. So if we’re filming a scene, and I felt like it wasn’t working and maybe the part of that was the writing or the part of that was the performing or a little bit of both, and I knew that we only had this location until this time, as a producer, it was like, okay, where do I give my attention to the problem right now? And there were times where it was like, okay, for five minutes, I’m an actor right now, and then for these 10 minutes, I’m going to be a writer, and then now, I’m going to spend a minute on my phone texting as a producer. You just do it all. But also, I got much better at being like, that’s a problem for this person. That’s for her. Send it that way!
As someone who is constantly juggling so much, how do you manage your time effectively?
Well, I wish I was like, oh, I do it really well. I don’t think I do. If anything, I feel like I would have a month where I work every single day of that entire month—Saturdays, Sundays, all of it—and then I’ll have a break. So it’s not healthy or good, but I definitely think just cutting myself some slack as far as being like, I have to give an hour to this thing and just focus on that rather than just put my brain four hours ahead. I’ve gotten much better at truly taking it hour by hour. It’s funny because I feel like people have questions about what’s next or what’s your deal with SNL or whatever, and I’m truly going hour by hour, and if I have a new feeling, I’ll go with it. It’s just so hard to be like, oh, actually, I’m this person right now.
I’m curious to know, were there any particular scenes across the show’s three seasons that were personally difficult to write or shoot?
Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, there were a couple that were hard for me in the first season, especially because I had not done much dramatic acting. So when I would do [these scenes], I was actually feeling it, which I think is what a good actor does, but I, in many ways, wasn’t in control. There is this scene in the first episode where she’s talking about her abortion and her ideas of Maybe I should try to make it work with this person because maybe that’s my one chance, and I don’t exactly have those feelings, but I can empathize with them and feel for them, and so there were moments were I was like, oh, now I’m crying. That was hard. Same with the pool-party scene. Processing that afterward was hard. But then in the second and third seasons, I got a better handle on still feeling it but making decisions as a writer and a performer within them that weren’t so raw.