- 7 months ago
They’ve given us some of the biggest laughs on TV this year and now they are here to keep the laughs going. In this Emmy’s spotlight, Entertainment Weekly's Editorial Director and Awardist Host Gerrad Hall sits down with Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary), Nathan Lane (Mid-Century Modern), Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear), Uzo Aduba (The Residence), Michael Urie (Shrinking), and David Alan Grier (Saint Denis Medical) for a hilarious roundtable discussion about comedy TV.
From hilarious behind-the-scenes moments and outrageous auditions to emotional revelations and the evolving art of comedy, this star studded conversation dives deep into what makes these performers—and their shows—so special. Whether they’re stealing scenes, improvising with vulnerability, or redefining what comedy can be, these actors bring truth, heart, and a whole lot of laughs.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, September 14, 2025, at 8/7c on CBS.
From hilarious behind-the-scenes moments and outrageous auditions to emotional revelations and the evolving art of comedy, this star studded conversation dives deep into what makes these performers—and their shows—so special. Whether they’re stealing scenes, improvising with vulnerability, or redefining what comedy can be, these actors bring truth, heart, and a whole lot of laughs.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, September 14, 2025, at 8/7c on CBS.
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PeopleTranscript
00:00everything has changed the fact that it was a young woman a young creative
00:04writer artist who looked at me recognized my journey and said come with
00:10me on this next walk that is everything for me and I so appreciate it if there
00:19is more of that there is so much to look forward to so much to look and I'm gonna
00:26be Betty White Black baby I'm entertainment weekly editorial director
00:42and awardist host Jared Hall they have given us some of the biggest laughs on TV
00:47this year and now they're with us to keep the laughs going this award season
00:51joining me are from the residents Uzo Aduba the Bears Liza Colon Zayas
00:57shrinkings Michael Urie from Abbott Elementary Cheryl Lee Ralph mid-century
01:01modern star Nathan Lane and from st. Dennis Medical David Alan Greer Cheryl we
01:06must congratulate you on receiving your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yes
01:1048 years in this business it is a well-deserved and long overdue so
01:14congratulations on that you did not want to play Barbara Howard at first you
01:18had your eye on principal Coleman absolutely Quinta said no no we need a
01:22queen for Barbara Howard that is you exactly what she said yeah how big of
01:26an exercise in trust was that it's all leaning into the trust not just of
01:33Quinta who absolutely knows this show these characters the story line from A to Z
01:41me when we first shot the pilot she said I know exactly what's going to happen to these characters
01:57from now until the end of the fifth season and we've just finished our fourth going into our fifth season
02:04which thank you thank you very much which was just wonderful but I had a
02:09moment with Randall Einhorn who directs many of our episodes and one day
02:15Randall said to me Cheryl you can do anything just do nothing and I was like I'm an award-winning
02:24actress what do you mean do nothing but then I leaned into the nothing just laying back that
02:35was trust and he was absolutely right with comedy we want to add just a little bit more I'm like mm-hmm
02:42it's just enough leave it alone and that trust has fared me has done very well by me do you feel
02:50like that's pretty specific to this type of show and yours as well because they're shot documentary
02:55style I think so for me I think so very much of what you see on our show is exactly what's on the
03:03page it is 99% what is on the page now they will give you a moment where they'll say okay do what
03:11you want to do but trust me it's gonna go right back to what you want to do they turn the cameras
03:17off go do your monologue Cheryl tell us where you're from oh gosh yeah it's such a great show
03:25and I always get a kick out of at the end of a scene usually someone just looks at the camera
03:31Hank has two turkeys he gets two more how many turkeys I having been on Modern Family and in this
03:42whole documentary style pepper Saltzman never looked at the camera I would so wish I because
03:48I always loved that moment have you lost your mind go you disgust me go what is the craziest thing
03:58you've been asked to do or voluntarily did for a laugh in any of the projects you've been in wow I think
04:05for me it would have been show up even though I had a temperature of a hundred and six oh my god
04:12and should have been in the hospital I should have been at home or in the hospital it was a literal
04:16hundred and six but I came to work anyway I'm glad that ethic is dying slowly in the industry and I came
04:24to work and they said Cheryl we'd send you home but you're still funny so that would even when
04:34you're dying you're amusing so we need to film it but you don't sound sick Nathan have you been
04:48asked to do something crazy outside of your comfort zone for a laugh I did a play a Terence McNally play
04:53called love valor compassion and he had written that this character I was playing entered naked serving
05:00drinks and it is a group of gay men at a country house and I said I'm not doing that there's nothing
05:09funny about that at all it would just be upsetting for the audience for me in particular so I said I
05:16don't want to do that but I said the character is a costume designer so I could he could improvise a
05:23costume to wear coming out serving drinks so I said what if I'm in an apron and a big picture hat
05:29and sunglasses and sweat socks and high heels but I'm not wearing anything underneath so that what
05:36I when I so I made this entrance and I mean it might have been the longest laugh I've ever gotten
05:41on stage which was they saw me come on and there was a laugh when they saw the outfit and then as I
05:47went by and I saw my ass the laugh went on for a very long time and then Steven Spinella the great
05:56Steven Spinella I was in the scene and he kept trying to cut the laugh off so I would bend over
06:01and stick my ass in his face and the laugh went right back sounds gratifying you you figured out
06:11what works for you and well it also would work for the character yeah that made sense you know it's
06:16like oh well then then that's fun he's doing this thing for fun yeah that kind of guy that's how
06:22you steal the scene what about the three of you I was on sex in the city playing a housekeeper and
06:30Samantha couldn't find her vibrator and it's because I had it in the kitchen and I was making juice
06:37for myself I think trying things as part of it I had a scene in orange orange is a new black and it
06:57was written as a poem just to be read I had this idea in my mind of how I should kind of come in and do
07:06all these vibes and energies and was a slam poet and I didn't know what I was doing in the TV space
07:13but I had come from another world where you're supposed to try and um they liked it and they kept
07:19it before I met you the sun was like a yellow grape but now it looked like fire in the sky why
07:29because you light a fire inside me I did this whole thing in a pilot once where I had I was
07:39trying to make a quick escape and I was like what if I just run towards the car and leap into it through
07:44the window and they were like through the window yeah through the window and they were like uh okay you
07:50can try that and I did it and then and then I did it I had to do it over and over again and then I saw
07:56the pilot it's like a blip and then the show didn't get picked up yeah no one saw it show didn't get picked
08:01up oh no as to you yeah and my orthopedic surgeon yeah all of the shows here uh mid-century modern I
08:13think it's safe to say is perhaps the most R-rated in ways and blue George's death is telling us
08:19something we need each other for comfort companionship and to erase our very very
08:26disgusting search histories how liberating was it to not worry about certain restrictions of a network
08:34and just speak the way a lot of people speak well it's fun I don't think they overuse it uh that kind
08:41of thing but that you do have the freedom uh to to say that some of that stuff and and and it yeah it's
08:47they're pretty there's some outrageous jokes too uh it's not just language yeah it's it's very freeing
08:54and it yeah it is the way people talk and uh and I hadn't done a a multicam in in a very long time in
09:03over 20 years so I had forgotten what this process was like which is a whirlwind and it's very fast and
09:10it's constantly changing and then you're suddenly in front of 300 people doing it and and it's so
09:16it's a little like the actor's nightmare you're so we're doing a play doing a little 25 minute play and
09:22it's so it's thrilling and it's nerve-wracking people talk about the multicam now like it's a the butter churn
09:29you know I've done single camera comedies and it's great but there is something about this it's kind
09:35of a high wire act you know this goes back to the day Desi Arnaz said I think I'd like to do it with
09:41three cameras filmed in front of a live audience because that's the way Lucy works best and and so
09:47you think wow it is it's this has gone on a long time but if it's done I think if it's done well and
09:54it's well written uh it's it's great fun everybody curses now even on everybody curses now yeah I
10:02personally do not curse on television not Barbara Howard right Barbara Howard no no no no I was shocked
10:08when they cursed on Abbott but they curse but then you don't hear it they bleep it out and it's it's
10:15almost like um like that little cartoon and it just yeah what do you got they they fuzz it out you know or
10:23they put a little exclamation on it and you're like whoa did that just happen so everybody curses
10:29but Nathan there is a scene in uh the the first episode of mid-century modern I mean it really
10:34sets the tone it's with you and uh the the younger actor oh oh my date yes oh from the the dating app
10:41will you share that that line I think you still know it oh I've gone on a dating app for younger men
10:48who like older men uh are you up there gay December uh it's called gay December and so I this guy shows
10:57up his name is Antonio uh this actor Renan Pacheco who's terrific and very handsome fella and we we
11:05were in bed and it's the post-coital moment and he he says to me I say that's I haven't been this
11:13sexually fulfilled since I was at the bottom of a dog pile at camp shalom and he says well think
11:20how much better it would be if you took your clothes off so he pulls the covers down I'm still wearing
11:26a t-shirt and sweatpants and I say oh hush puppy not on a first date don't get me wrong you can chain
11:33me to the wall like a starfish and wreck me like a background actress on game of thrones
11:37what what a line but it's gonna it's gonna be a while before I let you see my tummy
11:45and that sets the tone for that show indeed yeah I love a line you have to take a big breath for
11:52Liza I have so enjoyed watching Tina's journey over three years of the bear what was your reaction
11:58upon reading her origin story the fantastic episode napkins I started crying like a lot
12:06over time every time I read it um yeah because the pilot I don't we were just having so much fun
12:16every time like the energy was up to here and every time they yelled cut we just start laughing and then
12:22when I saw the pilot I was like wow this is intense I don't need to be inspired I don't need to be
12:31impassioned I don't need to make magic I don't need to save the world you know just I just want to feed
12:40my kid I was nervous um about being so hard I didn't know at all what was coming and to have
12:49to have to have that trust in the writers they will give me the humanity right uh that she needed and
13:04and then you know I just figured you know I got short arms it'll be funny for me to chop things and reach
13:11across the stove I have also had the great fortune of watching you
13:16you take a word and making it into a whole nother story so we as we applaud the parts that were given
13:26to you also there are huge pieces are of what you gave to us you know that's beautiful
13:35Uzo how has this show The Residence been a unique acting challenge for you has it changed the way you
13:41act I think the first piece is similar to what you were saying Cheryl about the the doing nothing
13:51for me it was an exercise in stillness yeah she's the only outsider in the space right so she does not
13:59have any piece of the information any piece of information as far as how this whole apparatus of
14:06the White House works so she's there to collect and assess and um I think for me it's sort of
14:14when I was reading the material I was looking at how quickly she's able to process information
14:18you know she could see just a hair and be able to extract so much information from that one single
14:25thing you know let's bring the temperature down it's not boiling she's a simmer and she's really
14:32listening and lasered in and that's how she takes that information and is able to extrapolate that
14:39single thing that five things from it and I think that was very different from
14:44parts that I played before it was an understanding of how energy really works
14:51that it doesn't require you always to do exactly sometimes it requires you to just
14:56be still I tried to care about this but I really don't so you all help me talk to the people I
15:02need to talk to or I'm going to go downstairs stand at the exit thank every guest for coming
15:07and ask them if they know about the dead man upstairs I love how she would say out loud because I'm the
15:13best because I'm the smartest and I just bold like that and I loved that I love that have any of you
15:23experienced that with characters you've played that one that kept you on your toes that required a lot
15:27more study than another it's part of my process uh to strip away everything like don't come in with
15:34the toolbox or a bag of tricks and just kind of let the comedy come organically you guys are well into
15:44your runs but you know with the new character and a new show what is the tone trying to find that tone
15:52and just let it come so the older I get the less I do and the more I get paid
16:05for me one of the scariest things in terms of comedy it's happened to me a few times in my career
16:11you're so funny we didn't even you just get on the outlook say what you want and it's like
16:17I need words man you know to me that that and I get so panicked like uh just do you know just do your
16:28thing you know like I want to a script you know like everybody else but sometimes they'll say it
16:34will do you do a bunch of takes and they'll be like okay now let's do a fun run it's like no this is
16:39the world worn out run but that wasn't fun we've been having fun comedy does not exactly fit into a
16:47very specific box anymore michael why do you think comedy and drama have started to merge so much in
16:53recent years i think there are some things that aren't funny but even the funniest thing comes from
16:58the re from from reality or the front from the truth our show is about mental health i feel like
17:03every every time every every new scene that i get i think okay who's the therapist and who's the
17:07patient in this scene and sometimes i'm you know i'm not i'm i don't play a therapist you're a lawyer
17:11but yeah i'm a lawyer yeah but sometimes i'm the one giving advice it's always you know a bit of a
17:16dance to see okay where where am i in this scene and in the first episode i didn't have any lines
17:21you just see me like across the way and the first episode took like the longest to shoot you know i
17:25didn't have any at bats for weeks and i kept spiraling and spiraling and and then finally finally like
17:31i got to hit the ground running but that whole like that idea like do i belong am i a fraud when
17:39they finally see me are they're gonna be like oh that's not the guy we thought that's not the guy
17:42we meant that was following me and then to also have to play a complicated neurotic person on top of
17:49that i mean that that actually helped you know something to play yeah exactly exactly to answer your
17:55question i kept my head down for a long time and just like just did what was on the page just did
18:01the work and it wasn't until actually season two had come out that i realized that i that i really
18:11figured out who he was even though i had i think been doing it somebody said well there was a line in
18:18season two where uh i'm being really selfish and jason siegel's character says are you really
18:25that much of a narcissist that you can't see what this is about and i say yes jimmy that's what
18:29narcissism is having the courage to put yourself above others yeah wow courage brave words are you
18:38really such a narcissist that you have to choose right now to make it about you yes that's what
18:44narcissism is jimmy having the courage to put yourself above others that's not what narcissism is when
18:49i did i like that's such a funny line that's so funny and then it wasn't until somebody came up
18:54to me because a lot of times i people come up and say i'm a therapist and i love your show
18:58which is great so gratifying this woman came up and said i'm a therapist and i love your show and
19:02i love your character he's such a narcissist and i was like no reason i had no i had no idea that he
19:11was a narcissist and then i looked back and i was like oh my god of course he is all this time i've
19:15been playing a narcissist i've been so i've had this tunnel vision and i didn't realize it and of course like
19:22that's what a narcissist does too right like they don't know that they are one so it was it was it
19:27was it was a really it was gratifying to hear oh it worked but also anyway i was blown away that
19:35that i i didn't realize i had my head so down god i'm a narcissist right well and of course then i was
19:41like am i a narcissist that's why i didn't realize yes you are charlie's taking it hard i'm more stable
19:48yes you've demonstrated that time and time we'll never find a baby again we have like you many
19:56cameras and our cameras are they're literally on these rolling stools so they're literally doing a
20:04sort of ballet with us in the work our camera department right and i went through that phase
20:10like you were going through well i'm not doing anything and then one day somebody said to me
20:18you taught me something and i said what did i teach you and they said you taught me that you don't have
20:25to have lines to act and i was like i told you that just because you don't have lines does not mean that
20:36you don't come to the script ready to do your job and because those cameras are always rolling
20:46and always around they caught everything they caught every little move they caught every little
20:52reaction they caught every little side roll and i was like wow and that is that moment where i said
21:01honey be comfortable with what you got because you're here for a reason we don't always get the
21:07parts we audition for so i'm curious what is um a bad audition perhaps your worst audition that you can
21:12look back on now and laugh about it oh i auditioned for a movie called rat boy it was a character who
21:21had kidnapped rat boy and and he was holding him hostage you know the way you do so um so i had to
21:31say uh uh uh this is the end of a long day this is this is years ago and i had been on a few auditions
21:37and i so i went in and i had prepared this thing and i had to say uh listen lady if you ever want to
21:44see rat boy again you'll come back and i started to laugh i said i'm sorry i don't know why i'm laughing
21:55rat boy's life is being threatened and i so every time i i so i was started saying i said listen lady
22:02if you ever want to see rat boy and i started like so i i said i finally said i i i can't do this
22:10i can't take this seriously i'm gonna have to go now sell yourself out play the man the kidnapper of
22:19rat when you talk about laughing i think mine would be this was in the 80s this is saturday night live oh wow
22:27wow they are going to add gender and color they're gonna add a black girl and i am so excited to get
22:37this audition and i go in there because i'm doing dream girls and i go in there and i'm ready to show
22:44this side of my talent and there was none there was there was none nothing was nothing coming out of
22:53the i can i can see me i can see what i had on i can see what i i can see the camera in front of me
23:02nothing nothing at all and i said goodbye to that man who created that show and i was like wow
23:12thank you very much and that was that oh there's nothing like a bad audition good luck yeah
23:25yeah you're not getting don't want to hear that's it i auditioned for what was it miami vice or
23:29something the tv show and they kept me waiting so long and i got so angry it was over an hour and a
23:35half and by the time i went in there i threw the script down and they said okay read and i did it
23:41with such anger we don't know what he was thinking but it worked thank you it was still a lesson yeah
23:54see that's what i need to do every time not be angry but go in with intention and you know and do the
23:59work on saint denis medical you uh are the uh the elder statesman of this this uh hospital um dr ron
24:06has he has been through uh a lot of changes in his profession less doctoring more paperwork and he's
24:13become jaded by a lot of it um i'm here to think so many people we meet who are jaded they don't
24:20ever say that uh-huh you can you can describe him as that but he i don't think he would he
24:26right i survived yeah it's like okay yeah he's a broken teacup he is a broken teacup my dad was a
24:33doctor i grew up in a community of black doctors and dentists my dad was a psychiatrist and i think
24:41my character probably when he first started 35 years ago had a big afro he was like we're gonna
24:46change the whole system first of all i'm gonna be healing my people and we're not gonna get bogged
24:51down in bureaucracy it's gonna be about bringing medicine to the people but the bureaucracy won
24:57right now the afro's gone he's there he got two kids they can't stand them and she's just whatever
25:03what do you want i'll do it so so there's that but i do think at the end of it he's a good doctor
25:11and he mentors allison tolman's character which i think he i see a lot in her but trying to save her
25:19because she's working too hard she's staying too late she has a family don't do what i did go home
25:27there'll be broken bones tomorrow so that's the other side yeah but funny indeed absolutely what keeps
25:34you motivated and excited about acting and performing every new show every day is like the first day of
25:40school i love what i do i love it i want to act until i can't that's it you know and what a life
25:48i chose but i did not ever envision i'm 68 that i would be still working right that i would be
25:57still valued and that i know what i'm doing finally all those years of oh man can i do this as an actor
26:05i don't know if i can do this i'm gonna try and do this i come in not with ego but with self-confidence
26:15that i know how to act and that's alleviated and freed me i mean that's part of everyone going i want
26:22to do less because when you do more you do that because you don't think you did enough because you
26:29don't think that you've sold the scene or or or been in the scene right you know so that's the beauty
26:35i didn't know growing old was this fun seriously i just thought i'd be retired you know but uh i'm
26:43reveling in it i love that too the whole idea of i'm here to do the work yes because i really do want
26:48to go home and i want to go home sane so that i can get up and be so happy about coming back to do it
26:55again let's raise a glass cheers to all of you congrats on fantastic seasons of your shows and
27:00performances and thank you all so much for joining us come on i got the short arms guys
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