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Im super used to being a fish out of water.
I always have gotten off on that.
Its really exhilarating, and partially why Im an actor.
What farm experience did you have before creating this show?
For me, it was a really massive cultural shift and adjustment, for my mom and myself.
A small town with a main street and cheerleading.
I was like, Whats cheerleading?
Id only seen it inSweet Valley Highbooks.
I thought it was the most amazing thing.
There was definitely an adjustment period, and Ill never forget it.
And this sounds truly pretentious, that I was doing this really esoteric, strange sport.
But I liked it.
So she looked in the Yellow Pages in Vero Beach for fencing.
She found one, called him up.
He answers, Hello, fencing!
And my mom says, Weve just moved here from New York.
My daughters been taking fencing for three years now.
Shes still what I would consider a beginner.
Do you have classes for children?
And he was totally silent on the other end.
Then he said, Lady, we sell it by the yard.
Youve done absurdist comedy likeChildrens Hospital.Youve done grounded comedy likeIn a World… Youve done a Nancy Meyers comedy.
I enjoy playing a comedy because it makes me smile at the end of the day.
Especially this day and age, putting the radio on and listening to NPR can be pretty challenging.
That feels, in a strange way, really important right now.
For my own preference, I enjoy throwaways and little improvisations coupled with broad slapstick.
Its nice to have that kind of duality.
Lets talk about the cow.
I actually have this dream, as many of my friends do.
The world is really crazy right now, in all different aspects of our society.
I dream about unplugging, especially since our brains are so inextricably linked to our technology.
Theres this fantasy, a desire or romance of just unplugging and leaving it all.
What are we doing living in these boxes on top of each other, steeped in anger and claustrophobia?
We should appreciate our planet and tune into whats real.
I talked to Meriwether about that and she was like, I know.
She grew up in Michigan, and there is a romance in thinking back on it.
My husband is from rural Louisiana, a bayou town.
He grew up completely unplugged from urban civilization.
He would go to the grocery store in a little speedboat that hed take back and forth.
But lets dial back to the reality of who his spouse is.
Youre makingBless This Messwith Liz Meriwether, whom youve known for a long time.
While shooting we were both sort of like, Hey, youre cool.
Im interested in your sense of humor.
And she said, Hell yeah.
And it was literally that simple.
We spitballed some ideas, and we had this camaraderie in being in sort of young marriages.
Our husbands are very Well figure it out guys.
I am also married to someone much more chill than me.That happens a lot, I think.
Its a complementary thing.
And theres something to be said for it.
Its controversial to say, but both sides are kind of right.
The ultrafeminist New Age way of looking at gender assignments, and then a more traditional community.
I do think theres merit in both; it comes down to each individual.
you’re free to be a feminist and still like to do housework.
Its okay, you might just be really good at housework.
I consider our household very much gender-neutral, even in the way that we raise our children.
Very much politically correct, if you will.
But that said, there are certain things I like to do.
I chalk that up to my personality.
I prefer to do the cooking.
Speaking of feminism, lets talk about inclusion behind the camera and on crew.
The key word beingsystemic, i.e., when youre in a power position or a position to hire.
It starts with the lists that are being made, when making those big decisions about department heads.
And then you just see who vibes with the rest of the team.
I had to say, Look.
Its going to be on me too, to take on three extra meetings.
Its a time suck, but its literally nonnegotiable.
We have to create an equal playing field for these hires.
We met with three male DPs and three female DPs, and all the three female DPs were working.
We wound up with a DP that I love, whos a guy.
But for our production designer, we have a lady.
Most of the department heads are female.
I think diversity has a lot to do with this, too.
I am constantly looking around sets and seeing a lot of faces that look like me.
That feels antiquated at this point as well.
Its just not reflective of what the industry should be.
Art is inherently inclusive, so we should make it a priority.
In the film world, maybe its a little more prevalent.
But in the web connection and TV systems, I dont hear it talked about very often.
It doesnt feel like its in the room and being talked about, or that people are excited.
How it rolls out is usually in results, which is great and ultimately what you want.
The good news is that half of our directors for this season are female.
The majority of our writers room is female.
We didnt have to try, and that is encouraging.
Never consider that the work is done, because we have so far to go.
The tipping point hasnt occurred yet.
Last question: Do you still fence at all?[Laughs.]
I have not fenced in a bit.
Are you challenging me to a duel?
Epees at dawn.Meet me on the corner!
No, I unfortunately have not fenced in a while.
But it would be a really good new workout craze.
Its really good for the abs and the glutes.
Youve really got to get down low.
I could see a Funky Fencing class, like hip-hop fencing.
That would be terrible.
But hey, everyone is looking for that next big workout.
This could be our cash cow.
