Wendi McLendon-Covey sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to play "Scene Stealers" and break down moments from her iconic films and tv shows like 'Bridesmaids,' 'The Goldbergs' and more. The 'St. Denis Medical' actress explains why she calls her 'Bridesmaids' character, Rita, a "mashup of different housewives," how she wanted to go about portraying her 'RENO 911!' character, Deputy Clementine, her excitement over joining the Pixar universe in 'Elemental' and more.
00:00One thing I will say about all the different characters I've played is that I don't think I've repeated myself, or at least not very often.
00:10Hey, Hollywood Reporter, I'm Wendy McClendon-Covey, and today we're going to look back at some of my scenes from TV and movies and just reminisce a little bit.
00:20Join me, won't you?
00:30This young man was driving drunk, comma, without knowing how to do it properly.
00:41Okay, let me say that again.
00:43I'm going to tell you something that's pretty controversial.
00:45Some people drive better when they're intoxicated than they do when they're sober.
00:51Hi, my name's Deputy Johnson.
00:54I'm able to do such a thing.
00:55So that was one of my favorite scenes from Reno 911.
01:00First of all, putting on all of that gear, all of that Clemmy gear, you're right there in the mindset.
01:08Because you're totally, I was totally uncomfortable all the time because I wanted her to be snossaging out of her outfit.
01:15Okay, always.
01:16I didn't want anything she wore to ever fit.
01:21Because like some women, like if I can lay down and zip these pants up, I'm wearing them out of the house.
01:26Okay.
01:27My day-to-day life, when I'm driving, what am I doing?
01:30I'm playing air guitar.
01:32Maybe I'm trying to wipe mustard off my pants.
01:35Or I'm texting somebody, but I'm sure as hell not looking at the road.
01:39I've been doing this since I was 11 years old.
01:41I'm very good at it.
01:42It's like using condoms.
01:44Clemmy knows what she was doing at that age.
01:47And she was up to no good and was very, very advanced.
01:49So she's talking to them like they're equally as advanced and also had a strange upbringing.
01:55Like when someone was coming to our school to tell us, don't do drugs or don't do this and that.
02:00By the time they were done, that's all you wanted to do.
02:03They made it sound so fun.
02:05So Clemmy's here to just like, I assume you're all drunk or high right now.
02:11So let's work within those confines.
02:14You know, Clemmy, she was a special lady.
02:19I really, it was an honor to play her.
02:21I believe we did that in two tapes, all improvised.
02:26It came out pretty effortlessly.
02:29This young man was driving drunk without having practiced so he would know how to do it right.
02:38I had a girlfriend, a former friend, tell me to justify her own drunk driving
02:44that she felt that she drove better when she was drunk because she was paying more attention.
02:52It's like, you are a moron.
02:54But I am going to use that one day.
02:56But anyway, it was, that was a really fun show to do.
03:00I'm glad I got to do that for as long as I did.
03:02And it's never been off the air.
03:04Being such a culty, weird show to begin with.
03:07Listen, I was thrilled we got a second season, let alone the fact that it's, you know,
03:12I think we just had our 20-year anniversary or something like that.
03:15I appreciate a lady in law enforcement who still has her nails and a full beat,
03:22you know, fixes her hair every day because that commands respect, doesn't it?
03:27So now we're watching a scene from Bridesmaids.
03:29So you don't even have sex anymore?
03:31Oh no, I have, I have sex constantly.
03:34The sex is constant, but he hasn't kissed me in five years.
03:38What are you doing when you're having sex then?
03:40Constant sex, hasn't kissed her in five years.
03:44I personally patterned the character of Rita on just a mashup of different housewives, okay?
03:54Where she's always just dissatisfied.
03:58My character meets Ellie Kemper's character.
04:00It's like, oh, what is up with that optimism?
04:04Like, she just wants to poke holes in it.
04:07Like, I want you to be as miserable as I am type of thing.
04:11I can't believe you've never been with anybody else.
04:15Just Kevin.
04:19I'm sorry.
04:20I just, Becca, I just can't help but feel bad for you.
04:24You don't even know what you want.
04:27All improvised.
04:28You know, we all kind of took care of our characters.
04:30But Ellie, in between takes, had some of the funniest information that I was, I was in stitches.
04:39And believe me, sitting on that plane for days at a time, it is boring, okay?
04:45But Ellie and I would talk between takes.
04:47And she had all this stuff about, well, before my husband and I have sex, we read from the Da Vinci Code.
04:55And then we both take showers, and then we say prayers.
04:58I mean, it just went on and on and on about this elaborate purification ritual.
05:05It was so stupid that I still laugh about it when I think about it now.
05:11I want to say we were on that plane set for a solid three days.
05:16What happened to Rita?
05:17I feel like one of her kids maybe knocked up a teacher.
05:22Underage, you know?
05:23I feel like Rita is divorced.
05:27In regards to bridesmaids, they always say this to me.
05:32You know, my son broke a blanket in half.
05:36Or, you know, that line or like, I used to have to take my son's underpants and beat him against the fence.
05:42Madam, we don't know each other.
05:45Don't tell me this.
05:47When we were shooting it, it just felt like, hey, this is a fun movie.
05:51Hope it does okay.
05:53You know?
05:54And I think one of the things that resonates with audiences is the fact that it's about friendship.
06:04It showed that women are a little more interesting comedically than we're portrayed.
06:09Now, why no one has been able to figure this out since, I don't know.
06:15I don't have the answer to that.
06:17Okay, now we're going to watch a scene from Elemental, the Oscar-nominated Elemental, where I play Gale.
06:24She's a wind person.
06:25Bring some wind!
06:28Hi, Gale.
06:29There's a game going on.
06:30This is my life we're talking about, not just some game.
06:33This is the playoffs.
06:35I dare you.
06:36Cloud Puffs.
06:38I got the good fortune to be in a Pixar movie, which is what we all want to do at some point.
06:47Every actor wants to get into the Pixar universe.
06:49She's got a very blustery, loud personality, and she screams a lot.
06:53So, she goes to sporting events, and she's just like, rah!
06:57Now, that is how I am at concerts.
07:01I go to a lot of concerts, and I scream my head off.
07:04So, where she's screaming at the players, I'm screaming like, Simon, I love you!
07:11That was very fun for me to play, because even though she's a big personality, she does understand what young love looks like.
07:20When I saw Elemental for the first time, I cried my eyes out.
07:23You know, it was such a sweet movie.
07:26Being part of that universe was incredible to me.
07:30Okay, now we're watching a clip from The Goldbergs, and I'm looking at my beloved TV daddy, George Siegel.
07:38Waiter, we're ready to order.
07:40Gotcha.
07:40I mean, I know your waiter is so dumb.
07:43I was going to get to my husband here.
07:44And try to order dinner.
07:46I was right.
07:47It's an octopus with a lasso, but my childhood ends here.
07:50Garceau, bring me the biggest steak you've got.
07:53No, Adam, no.
07:54Your tummy can't handle that big boy food.
07:56It'll destroy your insides and tushy.
07:58And tushy.
07:59Working with that cast and crew, I absolutely consider them family.
08:04We really did become a family, as well as, like, the 200 crew members that were with us.
08:10So, I still consider those people, like, my whole heart.
08:14It takes my mom 10 minutes to order.
08:16To her, the menu is just a vague suggestion.
08:18I would like the hanger steak, Pittsburgh style, but instead of Bernays sauce, I would like crab cakes.
08:24We also don't swap out sauces for actual food.
08:29She wants a steak with a baked potato, and instead of butter, give her crab cakes or a child's hamburger.
08:37What's the problem?
08:39Seems like an even swap.
08:40That was a very fun role to play for 10 years.
08:45Getting to do insane things like that.
08:48Playing this character for so long, it was kind of reinforced, is that when you want to be funny, you have to let yourself be the butt of the joke.
08:54And sometimes that hurts your ego, and sometimes it doesn't feel good in the moment, but you have to go there.
09:01And you never really will be funny if you don't embrace the terrible, embarrassing stuff.
09:07Because, I mean, I'm sorry, that's where comedy comes from, is from embarrassment, from trying to make something right that went wrong.
09:14So, that's something that was really brought home time and time again.
09:20One of the things about playing Beverly is that she doesn't take no for an answer on the show or in her real life, okay?
09:30So, that was an interesting thing for me to play and learn in real life, because prior to that, I would always take no for an answer.
09:38Like, well, I guess I should just give that up.
09:41And that's no way to be.
09:42No is just a mouth sound.
09:44You don't have to listen to it, especially when you know the answer should be yes, and you're right.
09:50She never says die, and neither should any of us.
09:52If there's something you want, be relentless about it.
09:56So, playing Beverly Goldberg for 10 years was such a gift to me, because I got to relive the 80s again.
10:03But I got to relive them as a mother, which I am not in real life.
10:08So, I got to get that out of my system, and coming back and doing St. Dennis, I knew I didn't want to play another mom to that degree.
10:18I had done it to the best of my ability, and it was such a blessing.
10:23It was so much fun.
10:24They need to be replaced, not just fixed.
10:27Look, we just don't have the money right now for a whole new computer system.
10:31But we have money in the budget for your fancy 3D mammography machine?
10:35Seems reasonable.
10:36I've been an oncologist for 20 years, but now that I'm a hospital administrator, I'm battling different kinds of cancers, like cynicism, pessimism.
10:45People questioning my judgment because they think I'm spending money on things we don't need.
10:51Those attitudes are the real cancers.
10:54My character, Joyce, she is the hospital administrator.
10:57She's constantly pushing this hospital uphill in front of her.
11:02She's fighting the good fight, but she's also got some very stupid feelings about it.
11:09Dear God.
11:10Dear God.
11:12Fighting the unwinnable fight, that is one thing that really drew me to this.
11:17Because that's funny.
11:19And that's realistic.
11:21St. Dennis Regional Medical!
11:25St. Dennis Regional Medical!
11:28No!
11:29No!
11:29All right, let's get out there and heal some people!
11:34That was improvised.
11:36The cartwheel was improvised.
11:38Our showrunner came up to me and said, really be a cheerleader about it.
11:42So to me, I took that very literally.
11:45And I was like, well, I was a cheerleader, so I'm going to do that.
11:49That's how you motivate people, right?
11:51Because that's what adults like.
11:52They like cartwheels and pizza parties.
11:55I hope that Joyce has a couple of wins in our next season, because so far she has won nothing.
12:02You know?
12:03One thing I will say about all the different characters I've played is that I don't think I've repeated myself, or at least not very often.
12:20But I'm very grateful for every opportunity I've ever had.
12:24I am fascinated by shows that have never been off the air, right?
12:29That's something I pride myself on.
12:31Reno's never been off the air.
12:33Goldberg's will never be off the air.
12:35I'm hoping that for St. Dennis.
12:36And the reason that's important to me is because I'm a comfort viewer.
12:40For instance, adolescence, loved it, but really disturbing.
12:45So after that, I have to have a palate cleanser.
12:47So what do I turn on?
12:48The Golden Girls Cheers Seinfeld.
12:50Something like that.
12:51Something that is tried and true and entertaining and fabulous that always feels good to watch.
12:59That's what I want to focus on.
13:01With my manager and this fabulous executive named Sofia Lucchese, we have started a company called Strong Beach.
13:08I'm really lucky that I've been part of some projects that have that rewatchability factor,
13:14but that's what Strong Beach is going to focus on.
13:16Some of the stuff we produce will be for me to star in.
13:19Some of it will be selfishly so we can watch it.
13:23I like to be entertained.
13:31Thanks for hanging out with me today.
13:33I hope you've enjoyed reminiscing with me about past projects.
13:38Watch St. Dennis Medical on NBC or on Peacock.
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