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"I feel like the first season was like a big pot of stew cooking, and then this one is like the perfect brew and the perfect stew to eat. It's just been really heartfelt for me," Anderson said of 'Baskets' season four.
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00:00Hi, I'm Louie Anderson, and I'm in studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:08So, Louie, here we are, season four of Baskets.
00:11Can you believe it?
00:12I can't believe it.
00:13It's amazing.
00:14I know, and so much has happened.
00:16So much has happened.
00:18And yet, what I like to call this is low-stakes comedy,
00:21because you can settle in and have an episode where two people are introducing cats to each other.
00:28I love that.
00:29I love it.
00:29You know, well, people do that at home.
00:31Yeah.
00:32Constantly.
00:32Do you ever see people, and you go over, and they have their cat, and they go,
00:37Don't you like him?
00:39You know where they talk to the cat, and you're not even in the conversation?
00:42He won't hurt you.
00:44That's what's so genius about Christine, is that she is so relatable.
00:47She's a wonderful foil to Zach Galifianakis' craziness.
00:53Yes, she is a wonderful foil to Zach, and Zach playing two characters.
00:58So I get a crazy Dale character, and I get a really heartfelt, sweet, chip character.
01:04And it's really nice.
01:06And, you know, over these four years, I've really become so maternal with Zach that, you
01:12know, if he's got some lint on or something, I'll take it off.
01:16And, you know, if he's got food on his face, I'll wipe.
01:18I'm very, it's really funny how I have, you know, taken it seriously.
01:23I'm super concerned for him as a human being.
01:26I was wondering, because you play his mother for both Chip and Dale.
01:31Right.
01:31I was wondering if you have one thing that you're super proud of with Zach, and then
01:38one thing that you wish he wouldn't do, just like a mother.
01:41You know, I'm super proud that Chip is such a kind human being.
01:46And I'm super frustrated that he can't make up his mind on anything, what to do or where
01:52to go or, you know.
01:53And he seems to be a little wandering, and it makes Christine very nervous, because
01:58Christine charges forward all the time.
02:01But in this fourth season, I find the character and the show contemplating a lot of things.
02:09And Christine is having to make some of the same decisions about her life that the Chip
02:14character has been making about his.
02:17So there's a nice parallel there, which is really nice.
02:20They become really close and wonderful friends in this season, actually.
02:25I see that.
02:25I see that happening in this season.
02:27I see, like, even more warmth than in previous seasons.
02:33Yeah, I think Zach finally likes me.
02:36And I don't mean that in a mean way, but I think Zach feels that I really am out to,
02:43you know, be his best interest as a mother and as a fellow actor.
02:48You know, because we really are close this year, and we've had some scenes where both
02:52of us got very emotional.
02:55You know, there are times when I got, you know, like, gut-punched in this season, you
03:00know, where I was in a scene, and it hit me so hard, but I didn't.
03:04But later on in the day, it kind of like, I go, oh, my God.
03:08You know, I said to myself, do you think my mom was ever this happy?
03:11You know, because that, you know, those kind of things.
03:14Or did my mom make the right choices, or was she forced into making choices that, you
03:20know, kind of compromised who she wanted to be?
03:22So I find myself as that character and the mother of Chippendale, but also the son of
03:30my real mom.
03:31So I find all that stuff going on in me, and it's been a very emotional time for me.
03:37And even now, I get a little choked up thinking about how, you know, deep this season is.
03:42Because I feel like the first season, it was like a big pot of stew cooking, and then this
03:47one is like the perfect brew and the perfect stew that, you know, to eat.
03:52You know, it's just been really heartfelt for me.
03:55Yeah.
03:56I got a lot out of it as an actor and as a comedian and as a son.
04:00Now, the character of Christine inspired you to write a book for your mom.
04:04It did.
04:05I came home one day, and I just said, I've got to write my mom a letter.
04:08She was long deceased, 1990, God rest her soul.
04:12And so I said, hey, I haven't written my mom since she passed on.
04:16And I just started writing.
04:18It started pouring out of me, and it became a book.
04:21It was really weird.
04:21I didn't want to write another book, really, because it's a lot of work, and I'm really
04:26lazy.
04:28But this book was really important, and the more I got into it, the more questions I had
04:32for my mom.
04:33And I'll tell you, if your mom's alive, be sure you try to make a connection or become
04:38friends with them.
04:39They make it very difficult a lot of times, moms and dads.
04:42But I think it's something that's worth all the effort you put into it.
04:47Of course, you know, some relationships can't be fixed, and some people don't want to fix
04:52them.
04:52But I don't care who you are.
04:54Those things nag at you.
04:56They're deep within you.
04:57And you came from those people.
05:00You came especially from your mom.
05:01She bore you.
05:02And so I think sometimes we forget that they could be our friends and that they gave up.
05:08What did they give up?
05:10I always wanted to ask my mom, what did you give up to have me and all of us kids?
05:14Were you going to be something?
05:15Were you going to be an actress?
05:17Could you have been, you know, the first woman president?
05:19All those kind of things.
05:21Was there a difference between writing that book for your father and writing the book for
05:25your mother?
05:25Like, what was the difference?
05:26There's a long time span between the two.
05:29Well, the book to my dad was somewhat of an indictment.
05:34You know, why didn't you love me?
05:36That type of thing from a much more immature Louis Anderson.
05:40And really a hurt child.
05:42Much more that.
05:44And to my mom, it's a love letter.
05:47You know, it's a questioning love letter.
05:49You know, why'd you do this?
05:51Why didn't you do this?
05:52Why didn't you?
05:53Why did you give up my sister to another family?
05:57You know, her sister.
05:59My mom let my sister live with her sister because her sister didn't have any children.
06:04And I think it really screwed up my sister and screwed us up in a way.
06:08But I know my mom's intentions were probably really pure and loving towards her sister.
06:15You know, my mom was always trying to make someone else feel good.
06:17And that's what I try to do with the Christine character.
06:20And in that way, sometimes it becomes challenging because when you're trying to make other people feel better, you might
06:28end up kind of stepping on their toes.
06:30Almost.
06:31Almost always.
06:32Yeah.
06:33Don't you think?
06:33I mean, when you're trying, if you can't keep, like I always say, stay out of it.
06:38I'll say to people.
06:39They'll ask me something.
06:40I go, stay out of it.
06:42This is none of your business.
06:43Yeah.
06:43And they seem offended.
06:45And I go, really?
06:45Seriously?
06:46So, like, just yesterday, I wanted to get involved with these writers that I'm working with and try to change
06:53their project.
06:54Not knowingly at first.
06:56Yeah, right.
06:56But then I went, oh, Louie, you've got to stay out of this.
06:59Yeah.
06:59Because, you know, people who mean well, especially Midwesterners, you know, are also driven by, I think I know what's
07:07best for them.
07:08And that's a big mistake because you don't really know what's best for anybody.
07:12Yeah.
07:12I mean, I think I do.
07:13But I think that's a common thing that we get involved in people's lives because we don't want to deal
07:20with our own lives, maybe.
07:21Right.
07:22The older we get, the more we feel like we have something to say about what other people are doing,
07:28especially younger people.
07:29And, you know, what I've learned on this show, actually, is I have less to say.
07:35Yeah.
08:03Yeah.
08:05I thought they would listen, but I'm glad to do it.
08:07But I always tell them the really ride of life is in getting there.
08:12Once you get there, then everything changes.
08:15Because it's turned upside down, you no longer are going to be treated as you were as that comedian on
08:22stage with just your jokes.
08:24Because that's really the, that's, that's the essence of it, the journey and how I got here.
08:31Definitely the most exciting and wonderful things that happened, even though I've had some really wonderful things happen in retrospect
08:41with my career.
08:42Where, that was the money, that was the real money, because nobody else got to see that, nobody else tinkered
08:50with it.
08:51You did it on your own and you got where you were going.
08:54You worked really hard to get there.
08:56And I think that's what it's really about.
08:58I think the journey, like when you say, why does somebody want to run a marathon?
09:01I think for the run.
09:03Yeah.
09:04Not for the finish, but for the run, because the finish, I know, I'm all done.
09:08Yeah.
09:09Are you saying that when you were a younger comic, maybe less known, you had to kind of fight to
09:15get laughs?
09:16And then as you have become established, the room is different?
09:21Mariah, I never had to fight to get laughs.
09:24All right.
09:25I never did.
09:26I own the room from day one.
09:28No.
09:30But yeah, you know, like it was really hard to go on after somebody was juggling fire.
09:36You know, on a show or playing a guitar or doing stuff that, you know, and I'm coming out and
09:41go, do you like butter?
09:43Have you seen butter?
09:44It's really something.
09:45You know, where I'm talking about, how about your mom?
09:48Isn't she nice?
09:48What?
09:49What is this guy talking about?
09:51So, I mean, the concepts and to develop your concepts.
09:54You're right.
09:54I think I was, I was definitely, my first special is so good, when I watch it, I go, I
10:04can't get back to that.
10:05You can't get back to that.
10:06I'm trying to work on a special that will get back to that, where I don't come in as Louie
10:12Anderson, which is very difficult to do.
10:14I like to just, you know, you know, because I was just a kid that worked in Minnesota and I
10:19shot my special with PBS and I couldn't get it sold anywhere.
10:23So I said, let's shoot it and do a benefit for it, you know, and sell it as one of
10:28those, you know, pledge drives.
10:30And it was very successful and then I sold it after that.
10:33But that first special is the best work and I think a special that inspired a lot of comics, at
10:39least that's what they told me.
10:40I was just speaking to Fred Willard recently.
10:43Oh, I love Fred, by the way.
10:44Yeah, we were talking about the art of being a talk show host.
10:48How has the late night talk show scene changed?
10:51Well, I did Conan last night.
10:53It was a complete dream.
10:55It was me, him, and Andy Richter.
10:57And we're so comfortable with each other.
11:00We just threw out the stuff.
11:01It was a killer set, you know.
11:03And when Conan says, do you kill every time you come on here?
11:06And I go, well, why am I not on here more?
11:10You know, that's how a comic thinks.
11:12But you know what it is, is I did, I was born for show business.
11:17I was born to sit in that chair next to somebody who was going to talk to me because I'm
11:21so full of myself.
11:22And, you know, I'm a comedian and I was built to be funny.
11:25I mean, I was built to have the funny, quick line, you know.
11:29It was just in my, it's in my psyche.
11:32And then I got to be a host of a talk show with Joan Rivers, you know, when I filled
11:37in for her.
11:38And I realized that I never want to be that guy.
11:42I don't want to be that guy asking questions.
11:45You know, I think it's a much, it's much more to limit the amount of time because it takes a
11:52lot of work.
11:52Those guys do to make it effortless.
11:55All the late night people, I applaud them because they're so good at it.
11:59And the daytime people.
12:00It takes a lot of work on producers and writers and, you know, then they make it seem like they're
12:05just friends and they're talking.
12:06But they're not.
12:07They don't even know each other.
12:08And so with Conan, it was so comfortable.
12:10You know, he's a comedian.
12:11He's funny.
12:12We were pros.
12:13It felt like pros sitting around talking.
12:15And I think the audience enjoyed it.
12:17And I stole stuff from the dressing room.
12:22You know, in honor of my mom.
12:24Because she would always say, aren't these cute?
12:26You think I should take them?
12:28So, has the swag gotten better?
12:30The swag is better.
12:32Like, Conan's is a nice, nice swag stuff.
12:35You know, seriously, it's good stuff.
12:37So, since winning your Emmy, has the role changed for you at all?
12:41Has playing Christine changed since winning that Emmy?
12:43Or is it kind of just a...
12:45Well, now I'm more conscious of not being conscious.
12:50Does that make sense?
12:51Yeah.
12:51Like, don't try to change this character.
12:53That's how you won the Emmy.
12:55Yeah.
12:55So, I think we went back to that.
12:57I think I didn't really try to change it at all.
13:00Maybe last year, Christine had a lot more fun.
13:02So, people let us kind of, like, Jonathan, you know, Kreisel from Portlandia fame.
13:06He let us kind of let loose.
13:08Christine met Laurie Grenier.
13:12You know, and she was all, like, jacked up because of it.
13:15You know, and took Martha to Vegas to a strip show last year.
13:20You know, Christine was like, yes!
13:21She was living.
13:23And she pushed Martha around.
13:25And I think this character is more contemplative this year, but still pushing people around.
13:29She can't help herself.
13:31She can't.
13:32She's a big fan.
13:32But, yeah, so I think winning that Emmy, and then at first I was, like, disappointed because I missed the
13:37Emmy for this year by 13 days.
13:40And I went, was that on purpose?
13:42Was that some sort of shot at me?
13:44No.
13:45It's not about you, Louie, isn't it?
13:47But I realized that everything in my life, luckily, has come and has been right.
13:54You know, I did, you know, I did The Tonight Show.
13:58It was really important.
13:59The Johnny Carson thing.
14:01And then I did the Rodney Dangerfield special.
14:04I did the Coming to America.
14:06I got a little part in Ferris Bueller's.
14:08I did some really nice, I did The Family Feud.
14:11I'm a huge game show junkie.
14:13I did Life with Louie, an animated show.
14:16You know, I did all these wonderful things that were just presented to me.
14:20Would you like to do it?
14:21We'd like you to do it.
14:23And so I have really been lucky that way.
14:26And I never thought I would get an acting part that would let me show how I can act.
14:32Because I was always bad in auditions.
14:34You know, I'd freeze up in the audition and go, ah!
14:38You know, it just would be terrible.
14:40Oh, just like, what do you do here?
14:42What do I want to do here?
14:43Anyway, then in 61, I got that call that said, hey, do you want to play Zach Galifianakis'
14:49bomb?
14:50And I go, yes, I do.
14:51I am ready for it.
14:53I'm in a skirt right now.
14:57Louie Anderson, thank you so much for being here.
14:59We're looking forward to Season 4 of Baskets on FX.
15:0113.
15:05желie Anderson, do you want to take action?
15:06Leave in a household décorpt inside of Texas.
15:07If you're looking back next deal, I'll always have to libertarian.
15:07So seriously, I'm House of Red for
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