Arts :: Theater
Homecoming queen by Kurt Malec
contributing writerMonday Feb 1, 2010 Jennifer Coolidge, star of such hit films as Best in Show, Legally Blonde, and Epic Movie, makes her Boston stand-up debut this weekend at the Wilbur Theatre. Perhaps most widely known for her role as "Stifler’s mom" in the cult teen movie American Pie, Coolidge got her theatrical start with the improvisational comedy group the Groundlings. Stand-up comedy is a relatively new venture for her, and she’s excited to bring her new show back home to Boston.
Coolidge, who describes this weekend’s show as "basically me talking on stage," took the time to sit down with Bay Windows and talk about what audience members can expect from the gregarious, witty comedian.
Bay Windows: I can’t wait for your show next weekend!
Jennifer Coolidge: Oh, are you coming?
BW: I am!
JC: Oh...good...
BW: They have you on a huge marquee that I saw from the window of the W!
JC: Oh really? {laughs}
BW: I think a lot of people my age first met you as "Stifler’s mom."
JC: Yeah.
BW: What is like to be the consummate MILF?
JC: It’s interesting. Well, when we did that movie, I just had no idea it was gonna be what it was. I had so little airtime in that move. Other people talked about me in the movie for so long in that movie that it made my part seem bigger than it was. But the MILF thing -- I am glad it happened because for my career it really kinda changed things.
BW: It speaks a lot to your presence on the screen though, that you stood out as a main character.
JC: Oh, well thanks...it was one of my favorite jobs. It was really fun. None of us got paid very well. We all got paid scale. It was all this little movie and we just had no idea what it was going to be.
BW: Do you feel like this whole "MILF" thing has stuck with you? Do you wish it would go away?
JC: No, not at all! It’s so funny because people remember that movie so well and people liked it. It would be terrible if it was some hideous movie and then you’d want it to go away. It has done nothing for me but get me dates. Gets me on airplanes when I am on stand-by.
BW: Speaking of getting dates, do you think the "bend-and-snap" would work for me?
JC: No, absolutely not. It was very strange thing to win over a guy. It was very strange. It wasn’t sexy or anything...it just didn’t seem real.
BW: You’re from the Boston area. Does it feel like a homecoming to you?
JC: I was born in Brookline and I grew up in Norwell. In a way it does feel good. My father and brother are still there, my mother passed a way awhile back. All my cousins are there and stuff. There are a few friends from college still there. It is really the mentality that I miss. I miss the Boston mentality; the very down-to-earth attitude thing that Boston has to offer.
BW: Are you in the L.A. area now?
JC: I’m in New Orleans. My sister went to Tulane and I fell in love with New Orleans the whole area down there. Whenever I don’t have a job going in L.A., I head down there.
BW: What is it about the Boston mentality that you miss?
JC: Well, you see, I had to get out of Boston because I was freezing...I have bad circulation. When I was six years old at the bus stop, I would snap my heels together saying, "Please god, get me out of this cold town." I was freezing. Freezing all the time! My family loved all the cold sports and I just couldn’t take it. But, if I could move the Bostonians down to New Orleans I would. When you see them, they don’t bullshit you in any way...they’re sorta like, "Hey, Jennifah! You’ve gained weight since last time I saw you!"
BW: People up here are very to the point.
JC: It’s charming. It has always been the Bostonian way.
BW: When were you last in the Boston area?
JC: I was there in late, late August. I did a show in P-town and went to visit my father.
BW: Let’s get back to your career. I’ve loved you for years in all the Christopher Guest movies. What is it like to work on such an improv style movie?
JC: [Director Christopher Guest’s] movies are so creative. There’s no script, there is just an outline of what he wants to happen in the scene. All the dialogue you improvise yourself. You get to come up with what you look like yourself. When you get that much freedom on those jobs, you get kinda spoiled by the Chris Guest movies. That is why stand-up is fun. You call all the shot. I can trying something on a Friday night and if it bombs, try something different Saturday. It is all in your control, as opposed to someone telling you that you can’t swear or say really dirty stuff. I swear all the time. You can’t say anything risqué on film...but with stand-up, nothing is edited. Someone called and said they were bringing their kids. I said, "You can’t bring your kids!"
BW: Well that leads to my next question about you as a stand-up comic. I have ’known’ you as Jennifer Coolidge the movie star, but can you tell me about Jennifer Coolidge the stand-up comic?
JC: I started out of a notebook in July [2009] in P-town. And the P-town audience is incredibly forgiving. It was such a weird experiment. Then I just started going around the country. I didn’t even know if I could pull it off. But what gave me the confidence was that I hosted a couple award shows in Los Angeles and a couple of them were kind of scary because there were a lot of famous people at them. And then I thought if I am doing standup for all these famous people here, why not do it for people everywhere else?
BW: One of the other projects you’ve worked on recently that I loved was "Party Down." I loved Bobbie St. Brown [Coolidge’s character on the Starz series] -- were you given a lot of free artistic range on that project and with that character as well?
JC: Yeah, that was just like doing a Christopher Guest film. They let you improvise anything on that show...there was a lot of artistic freedom. You know, I have to say that that group of people -- Martin Starr -- what an incredible grow of people. That Martin Starr is like 26 years old and he is a comic genius, I think. That was fun. I was a guest star only like twice on that. I just hated my outfit. Hated that we had to wear those white shirts and pink bow ties!
BW: Just when I thought that "Party Down" couldn’t get any better, your character is introduced and Bobbie describes Adam Scott’s character’s face as being "Like a sphincter, pinched and dark!"
JC: See, that is more my sense of humor! I don’t get to do that on regular TV! See, on that show you could. I would just improvise that! And then those lines actually make it into the show! Wait, was [Bobbie] my name in the show? Oh, I didn’t know that... [laughs]
BW: You took over for Jane Lynch on "Party Down" when she left to work on "Glee." Was this a little inside joke from the producers, since we know how you work so well together in the Christopher Guest films?
JC: Um, well I think what they did is that they were probably thinking of people who could improvise. There aren’t that many who can do it in Los Angeles. I can’t think of any...it’s a small world. I mean, maybe they got the idea from us in Best in Show together, but whatever...I think they’ve got Megan Mullally this season.
BW: Tell me about your improv background.
JC: Well, I did do the Groundlings for many years.
BW: Is your stand up reminiscent of the Groundlings for you? More like a one-woman improv show?
JC: I don’t know...with a smaller audience, you can go in and have interactions with them. But when you are at the Wilbur Theatre, I don’t know how that works. The improv stuff helps in just a million different ways. When you are on a job, sometimes you can change the lines. But this stand-up world -- it is the ultimate freedom. I can say whatever I want! People don’t have to agree with you. I can say whatever I want about anyone or anybody. It is very freeing. That is another thing. When you are an actor everything that comes out of your mouth you are sort of editing because you know, you can’t say to someone who asks, "What was it like making that move"? Oh you know, it was a terrible experience! And when you are doing stand-up you just...well, it reminds me of growing up in Boston when people just said what was on their minds! I am lucky enough that that guy who opens for me, his name is Chuck Roy, and was a Boston comic. He has that same quality. He has that same unedited quality. The minute I heard him in Denver, I was like "Oh my God, what are you doing February 6?"
BW: So this is your first ever national stand-up tour then?
JC: Yeah, I mean, it’s not a big presentational show. There are no big sets or musical numbers. It’s just really me. Talking.
BW: Why do you think it is that you connect so well with a gay audience?
JC: I am asked this question asked so many times, and I answer differently over time because I don’t really know. It is just so interesting. When I was growing up, I remember in school that those were the people that liked me. It has always been that way. Always. I don’t know what that is. And, I was attracted to them. It was a complete mutual thing that happened at the same time. But I don’t know what it is. I am interested in all the same things that many people in the "gay world" are interested in -- it is my tastes also. I talk about what gay men want to talk about. And you know, I am still in high school.
BW: And I wish I were still in high school!
JC: One of the theories I have too is that I didn’t have children. All my friends grew up and had children. I didn’t do that so I didn’t really grow up. I think gay men like that somehow. I don’t have to be home at any time. I don’t have the responsibilities...my friends had to become mothers and mature and be many things. I kinda skipped that section! [laughing] I am very immature!
Jennifer Coolidge will appear Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Wilbur Theatre. For more information and tickets, please visit www.thewilburtheatre.com.
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