In the lead-up to the Emmy nominations, announced this past week, The Hollywood Reporter ran many of their award-season roundtables on “Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter.” Catching up with all the videos, today we’re looking at the Comedy Actor. Moderator Lacey Rose sat down with Marc Maron (“GLOW”), Tracy Morgan (“The Last O.G.“), Louie Anderson (“Baskets”), Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”), Ray Romano (“Get Shorty”), and Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) for a wide-ranging discussion touching on everything from the #MeToo movement to returning to the characters that made them famous.
The conversation, almost immediately, jumps into how the #MeToo movement affects comedy, with Tracy Morgan admitting “There’s no room for [political correctness] in comedy” and wondering aloud if “Richard Pryor and George Carlin would’ve survived” the current moment. Maron, on the other hand, believes that comics “ have to shoulder the burden of what’s coming at you … and you got to say the truth,” noting “the big fear is that overnight your reputation can be dismantled and you wake up to this twitter shitstorm.”
While discussing their previous work Romano, who has spent the years since “Everybody Loves Raymond” making interesting acting choices including the short-lived “Vinyl,” admits, “I’m not going to do a sitcom again … It doesn’t appeal to me as much, but a single camera comedy I’m not against at all. For now, I’m enjoying mixing it up with dramas.”
Hayes, on the other hand, was happy to return to the sitcom that made him famous, saying, “It was quite easy. We did this election video for people to get out and vote… it was great to see everybody, and then we said goodbye, and here we are because of the response. We all agreed there was more to say.”
All admit that their previous work still follows them around as Tony Shalhoub often has people come up to him. Shalhoub continues, “they say, ‘You’re Monk,’ and I usually say, ‘I was Monk’ or ‘I played Monk,” while Louie Anderson believes, “I don’t think anyone here gets to choose what they’re remembered for.”
The entire conversation is a fascinating watch as the actors discuss a number of topics, including filming nude scenes. In a particularly interesting moment, Louie Anderson discusses his process of portraying Christine in “Baskets.” He notes, “I asked people not to call me Louie on set because I really wanted the character to be Christine. Sometimes we’d have a two-hour break, and I’d go out as Christine. I’d go to the store I’d get weird looks.”
These roundtables often become one of the highlights of the award season, as they give the actors and creators a chance to talk with their peers about any number of topics. Take a look at the full discussion below.
