If you've heard of Zoe Lister-Jones, it might have been in the context of Breaking Upward, the breakout $15,000-budget quasi-breakup film that she wrote, produced, and starred in alongside Daryl Wein. Or maybe you first heard of her sometime before that, when she made her turn in Broadway's The Little Dog Laughed as Ellen, girlfriend of a gay hustler patronized by a closeted Hollywood star. Or maybe you haven't yet heard of her at all. In that case, it's safe to say that Lister-Jones might be one of the most prolific actors you've never heard of. Luckily, for those of you who would like to familiarize yourselves with her quickly, she currently plays Lily on Whitney Cummings' NBC sitcom Whitney, about which I recently had the pleasure of speaking with her.
Hi, Zoe, how are you?
Hi, I’m good. How are you?
I’m good. Tell me a little bit about how you got involved with the show.
Um, I just auditioned in New York, which is where I’m from, and Whitney Cummings watched the tape and flew to New York and met with a couple of actresses there. From there I then flew back to LA to screen test for the role and then I got it!
Is the show based in LA or in New York?
The show we shoot in LA, but it is, it’s set in Chicago, so we’re playing LA for Chicago.
As you mentioned, you’re from New York, and as far as I know most of the projects you’ve done thus far have been based in New York. How has the change been?
It’s actually been really nice, I have to say. As a native New Yorker, I’ve always sort of turned my nose up at LA because, you know, the East Coast-West Coast rivalry, and I have to say it’s pretty awesome out here. I’m not—you know, I’m not a turncoat, but I will say that the weather is amazing all the time, and the lifestyles are different. Because the weather’s so great, there are a lot more things that people do outside, there’s a lot more hiking, and nature’s sort of at your fingertips. There’s a lot more space to live, and you don’t have to schlep things in the subway all the time, you just get in a car. Everybody’s got a car. It’s pretty luxe.
I will admit, coming to LA from New York, LA is nice but it just doesn’t hold a candle.
I mean, New York is the greatest city in the world. I will say that and people can fight me on it, but it’s true. But it’s nice to get a change. I’ve really never lived anywhere else. I was born there, and I grew up in Brooklyn, and then I went to NYU, so I think it’s always nice to get away from it for a bit so you can really come back and appreciate it in all its glory.
Right. What part of Brooklyn did you grow up in?
I grew up in sort of the edge of Park Slope, um, which my mother called “Park Slip”—the less fancy part of Park Slope. It was really more Sunset Park, which is not as gentrified a neighborhood, but I think the real estate brokers liked to call it Park Slope so that they could get more money.
Oh, of course. I’m from Prospect Lefferts Gardens, which didn’t even have a name until the brokers realized they could make some money.
Exactly. [LAUGHS]
As far as your background and your projects up til now, you have written a lot of your own work. What is the difference between doing your own work that you’ve written and now doing something you haven’t written in which you’re solely a performer?
You know, I’ve spent most of my career thus far solely being a performer, and there have been now three times that I’ve written my own work, so it’s been a nice balance. But I guess the difference is that all the times I’ve written my own work I’ve also produced it, which is sort of what Whitney’s doing now, and I think it’s just learning how to juggle all the responsibilities and being focused on each one wholly, which is a real challenge, because it’s hard for somebody to be able to perform each role as dedicatedly as you would if you only had one responsibility. But it’s also so exciting because of the creative control and because of how much input you can have in all areas of the project. It is really fun to just perform, though, I have to say. I love writing, I love producing, but the show is just so much fun because we all have such great relationships already and have made sort of lasting friendships early on, and we love hanging out with each other, so it, it’s just a great, um, experience and environment to be working in.
I know the show has just started, but have you gotten any input as far as what you think your character might do or what you’d like to see happen?
Well, my character’s on a pretty specific track, which is marriage and babies, and I think that’s where her life is at. On a recent episode, Lily, whom I play on the show, is convinced that her boyfriend-of-the-year Neil is going to propose, and she goes totally insane, and that episode answered some questions about the character’s future.
In addition to having written and produced your own projects before, many of the projects you’ve worked on have been more independent. Now that you’re on a major-network show, how is the environment different?
There’s much better craft services. [LAUGHS] I mean, there’s awesome things about independent projects, which is that there are sort of less cooks in the kitchen, generally speaking. But being on a network, especially like NBC, which has made some of the greatest television in history, is so exciting, and it’s so great having their support and to work—as I said—in an environment where everyone is so supportive. But I think there are pretty obvious benefits to working where there’s more funding and there’s more resources and a better outreach to the public, which is ultimately the goal always with a project. You just want it to be seen.
You’ve also done a fair amount of theatre. Especially since this show is a sitcom, has that influenced your approach to the show and your experience now?
Yeah, totally. I mean, I think that’s why Whitney chose to do a television show that’s filmed in front of a live audience, because of her history as a standup, and Chris—who plays Alex—his history as a standup, and the rest of the cast is really trained in theatre and has done a lot of theatre. It is amazing training because you have to really be on your toes and you have to interact with the viewer immediately, which is very different than on, you know, a single-camera show, which is not filmed in front of a live audience. You’re sort of more in a bubble and the interaction with your viewer happens upon airing. With this we get the best of both worlds, and I think with comedy it’s especially helpful to have the audience there as a barometer, because if a joke doesn’t land then it doesn’t land and you get to know that in the moment. I think theatre is really great training for that.
Whitney airs Thurday nights at 9:30pm on NBC.
No comments:
Post a Comment