RACHEL BROSNAHAN

First of all congratulations on the upcoming season, Your character Miriam “Midge” Maisel is loosely based on several prolific comedians of the time – Jean Carroll, Joan Rivers, and, Phyllis Diller. Who do you think is closer to Midge?

I had asked Amy when we first started doing the show if she was based on anyone. I actually had a running theory that she was based on a lesser-known comedian, named Jean Carol. She predated Joan a Little bit and when I first read the script, I was completely convinced that that’s who it was based on. I sat down with Amy and asked her a thousand questions and she told me that it was predominantly based on her father who was a stand-up and that she was just smashing her father and a number of other influences. She’s got a much funnier line than I’ll be able to give you, but into little old me/Midge.
I think the show is based a lot on Amy’s experience. She’s talked about it a bunch, but knowing that there were influences from a number of different pioneering comedians and Amy’s father, I added a few of my own after reading the project. I’ve talked a lot about how my grandmother was someone who I borrowed little bits from to add some of that Midge sparkle. Yes, she’s been fun to keep developing over the years.

Did you enjoy your character growth through the last 3 Seasons and now into the 4th?

I’ve never been on a show for longer than three seasons before. This has been a dream I didn’t know I had, to get to keep growing and evolving with the same character, which was something that admittedly before this project, I was a little bit afraid of. Getting stale or bored or I don’t know, typecast but one of the best parts of being on this show is that the writers and directors who sometimes are the same person and every department, costumes, set design, everyone keeps raising the bar for themselves, season after season. It’s been just as challenging in the fourth season as it was in the first and that’s dreamy.

Many of the current “rules” of comedic improv were first formalized in Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s, initially among The Compass Players troupe, which was directed by Paul Sills. Do you think the show presents part of an Impromptu comedy revolution?

Well, she’s an accidental comedian. She stumbles on stage one night in a drunken stupor and lays into her now ex-husband and gets high off the audience’s response to her prolonged mental breakdown. She realizes that her emotions, namely her anger are great fuel for comedy for her and the only other person at that time who was really doing comedy like that was Lenny Bruce. It makes sense that on the show he’s her mentor. He’s a character on the show, but for Midge and in our world there aren’t any role models for her. There’s no one whose path she can look to follow, so she’s determined from the jump, particularly in season four, to carve out her own path in a way that’s never been done before, by a woman in comedy.

Luke Kirby’s portraying Lenny Bruce is uncanny.

He’s a student. He’s a student of Lenny’s. He’s a student of the art. He’s– Luke is an extraordinary actor and it’s such a treat to get to act with him. He’s one of the only characters allowed to come on the show and change the pace.

Oh really?

When he comes on– He’s allowed to slow it down a little. He’s allowed to let it breathe. None of the rest of us are allowed to do that. When he comes on, it just feels like the whole show, cast and crew together, take a deep breath and enter a slightly different world. I love working with Luke. I hope we get to do it again one day when all this is done.

How long do you hope this show will run for?

Amy and Dan have always said as long as there’s a story for them to tell, they’ll keep telling it. Our fate is in their hands and I– They have had such a crystal clear picture of what this show is from minute one, season one. It’s been a really eye-opening and really important experience to get to watch them steer this ship. I can’t wait to see where they take it and where they finally decide the story ends.

The period matching is perfect from decor to events, but one thing that struck me the most is the voice. A slightly higher pitched voice which was common to film/tv of 50s with Mid-Atlantic English. I assume it is intentional in the show?

I think there was an emphasis on vocal training and speaking clearly as a part of schooling and education back in the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s. I think young children were taught to speak clearly when they spoke, and then also to be seen and not heard the rest of the time. Something that Amy always says, which I don’t know if this is an Amy thing having not worked with her on other shows before, or if this is how this show or this period sounds in her head. She’s always telling us, but especially me, to stay on my voice in a way that I know I don’t use it all the time. That might be what you’re talking about which is that it’s always in your chest and there’s no airiness or lighter inflections. It’s all very forward moving and comes from here and that’s something that has come to define this character that’s a little bit different from me.

It feels like only Lenny can breathe on the show, everyone else just keeps going and going.

We feel that way too, we’re all exhausted and he’s like, “I’m ready for another one.”

We have to talk about equal rights which are all over this show. Midge is frustrated as the other women about her place in society – from family to workplace, to getting a line of credit for milk delivery on her own, without her husband. Can we talk about the inequality of the time and how we still see it today?

We talk a lot and we have talked a lot over the last four, five years of doing this show about how– When scenes like the one you’re referencing come up. When Midge realizes that she doesn’t have her own line of credit, at any of the places that she needs to shop at or to keep her life running. You’re right, that is the more obvious way in which inequality or marginalization presents itself. We talk a lot about how through scenes like that we realize both how far we’ve come, but also how far we have yet to go.

That scene feels so far away, and so long ago, it seems unfathomable to me as a 31-year-old woman in New York City today, that I couldn’t open a credit card by myself if I wanted to. Then you see scenes like the one from season two where Midge is getting on stage at a new club she hasn’t been at and there’s a line of guys whispering about her from the corner. That still happens, there are still so many idiots out there saying that women aren’t funny, and all of that stuff feels overblown sometimes but it’s not, it’s incredibly real. All of my friends and colleagues who work in the comedy space can attest to that.

That’s just that little reference from season four, but there’s been a lot of references. For example, when Midge keeps the book, when she measures her thighs, It’s not really common these days, I would say.

I know, I feel like the one people ask us about all the time is in season one, when Midge gets up in the middle of the night and puts her makeup on. She takes her makeup off after her husband falls asleep, and she wakes up before he gets up to put her makeup on. We’ve heard from so many people about that scene because both women who are more of Midge’s generation, who talk about that in a funny nostalgic way.

But also a number of women who have said, “That felt so real to me because I still do that, I still take my makeup off after my boyfriend goes to sleep and I still wake up before him to put it back on.” There’s this expectation placed on women that we need to be all things at all times, and it’s impossible. It’s this illusion that you can have it all, and I think you can have it all just not all at once.

Can you tell us about the time between filming seasons three and four? How did COVID affect the filming?

We were really lucky, we finished season three I want to say in August or September of 2019. We had completed season three before the world shut down, and we were not set to go back until June, I believe of 2020, which obviously didn’t happen. In June of 2020 things were pretty gnarly out there still so we pushed, but then season three had aired which was nice. It did take us a minute to go back and it’s a show that takes a long time to shoot, it takes six months to shoot it, and then another couple of months to edit. I think that’s part of why it feels so long, it doesn’t feel quite as long to us from the inside because we were really only off a couple extra months from perspective but we’re grateful that everyone has been patient with us. Besides a few Internet trolls who have sent me mean memes really about how late the show is. [laughs]

We were left at the major cliffhanger with Shy at the end of the last season. Do you think Midge should have some closure with Shy Balwin? Or revenge?

She clearly is after revenge when we meet her again in season four. Midge watched all of her career ambitions fly away on a plane and I think when we first find her again, she’s maybe not mature enough, or ready to realize the role that she may have played in that departure. We find Midge and Susie, rather I should say, at another rock bottom, but they’re brilliant when they have no choice but to claw their way back up. That’s exactly what they’re going to do.

We’ll see both Midge climb her way up. Susie climb her way up, both together and separately. It’s interesting this season you see everybody, every single character, from Midge, to Susie, to Abe, to Rose, to Joel taking a pick axe to a path and carving it out for themselves anew.

Can you tell us about the locations where you filmed?

Season four is all in New York. We didn’t travel in season four for obvious reasons. I think we were probably about 50, 50. About 50% on the stage in Brooklyn and 50% out on location. We started early enough. We started in January of 2021, that not a lot of productions had gone back. The city was dealing with another surge and so it was pretty quiet and it was really, really special to be venturing out into the city and waking up with the city.

I’ve lived in New York for almost 15 years and it became unrecognizable to a lot of us during COVID. It was such a gift to be able to bring beautiful New York back to life on this show. To be able to time travel before time when New York was like it was in 2020 and 2021 and get to shoot inside some iconic locations and then we shot in Carnegie Hall this year. As a New Yorker, it’s been the most special experience to get to shoot this show at home.

Can you tell us about the creative process of working with Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino?

We’re all endlessly intimidated by how brilliant they are. It’s so easy to feel the stupidest person in the room. We all feel that way in their presence, but I’m so excited for Amy. This has been long overdue for her. She came up a long time ago and was writing brilliant dialogue as far back as the Roseanne show, and Gilmore Girls blew up and– I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that she didn’t have an opportunity to make a show like Maisel, until this show.

It’s been very exciting to be a part of something where she finally has the resources, and the time, and the support to spread her wings as far as she can imagine them. I’ve learned so much as a woman in the business, as a producer from watching Amy work, I’ve learned so much about being a leader.

I’ve learned so much about running a set and being kind, but demanding hard work, but never asking anyone else to work harder than you do. I’m so in awe of everything that she’s built with this show and I can’t wait to keep seeing people discover it so long after it started. Also hopefully so long after we’re long off the air.

Do you think, because the show is actually on the Amazon platform rather than being on a cable? Do you think it gives a better pace to tell the story when networks push the story a little bit?

It’s the question, all the studios and the platforms and the networks are asking themselves right now and seeing in this moment after House of Cards, which I had the privilege of being on a number of years ago, started– They used to call House of Cards a 13-hour movie. It started huge culture. It’s been very cool to watch binge culture evolve from this show that I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat too. Now we’re seeing with shows like Ted Lasso, they’re releasing weekly because people miss that water cooler conversation, they miss being able to catch up after you had a shared experience with watching the show and then waiting for more. It’s a great question. It’s definitely been cool that it has a home somewhere where people can keep finding it.

As I said a minute ago. It was really heartwarming and cool to hear from so many people who discovered the show for the first time during 2020 and 2021, and told us that it made them laugh or made them feel just a little bit better about the storm that everyone was living through. I’m not sure that there necessarily would’ve been the same opportunity to keep discovering something if it had been on a network or on a different platform, perhaps.

With all due respect to all the networks, I just don’t feel that your show would fit on Cable with commercial breaks. It’s actually, as you said yourself, it’s a long film. We just have to keep watching. It’s a feel-good story in a way, in a twisted way.

It has big conversations but in a very beautiful– An entertaining package. It feels like we’re shooting a film, that it doesn’t feel like we’re shooting a television show. It feels like we are shooting back-to-back films. You’re right. I don’t know if it could have lived anywhere else. It’s hard to speculate in hypotheticals, but also that– I don’t know if anyone else would’ve given us the– To get it done.

The fashion in the show is just breathtaking. Are you enjoying such fun outfits?

Donna Zakowska is one of those artists who just keeps raising the bar for herself. She just keeps outdoing herself season after season. Every time I walk into a costume fitting she has pages and pages of inspiration photos everywhere. There are about 100 new pairs of shoes for me to try on. She has sources all over the place for vintage earrings and purses and buttons and all the things she needs to make this character and so many others come to life. This is the first job I’ve ever had where I don’t need an opinion about any of these outfits.
Donna comes in, she puts things on me like a Barbie doll and then I go– Then we walk out and it’s all done. I’ve learned something new about the scene or about the episode from conversation with Donna. It’s been such a symbiotic relationship and I feel so thankful that we still have her four seasons in.

Loved the staircase location scene in Season three.

Anything can be a runway if you really put your mind to it.

You have amazing cast-mates. Can you tell us about them?

Alex Borstein – Alex is way cooler than I will ever be. I have learned so much from her in the last four years. I’ve learned a lot about being thoughtful in ways that I hadn’t considered, both about my work and about my life. Just I hope I’ve learned by watching her be this funny and this brilliant every single day on set. She can turn on a dime, like almost no one I’ve seen. One minute she’s cracking a one-liner and the next minute she’s making me cry. It’s an extraordinary talent. She has so much talent wrapped up in that tiny little body of hers. She’s amazing. She’s an amazing mom. She’s an amazing friend, mentor, and co-worker.
I love her to bits and she’ll never let me hug the daylights out of her. She does not like to be touched. Alex is ready for this six-foot bubble to remain long after COVID.

Oh, really?

Yes. My number one little germaphobe. This cast is just barney are you kidding me?

Tony Shalhoub – He’s a national treasure. He has what’s seemingly boundless energy and he’s so generous with his time and his spirit. He just delights all the time. He’s somebody that you can tell feels so lucky. He gets to be doing this thing that he loves and he brings that energy to set every day. That’s really inspiring and it keeps everyone feeling good and happy to be there even through really long, tough days. Tony laughs at his own jokes more than anyone I have ever met and makes everyone else laugh with him.

Marin Hinkle – Marin is such a consummate Pro. She’s been around for a long time and it shows. She’s one of those people who without even realizing it, she will not have let you ask her any questions about herself and an hour has gone by. She will make you feel like you’re the only person in the entire world. She’s one of those people who knows everything about everyone because she takes the time to get to know people on such an intimate level. She will know our background PA’s, cat’s name and where their parents live. About that one time that they got lost on a boat in Miami. She knows everything about everyone. She gives so much of herself to her work and all of us.

Michael Zegen – I’ve known Michael for a long time. I would say that we were friends, loose acquaintances. Michael will say we didn’t become friends until we started doing this show but we’ve known each other since I was 19 and it’s been a real treat to get to work with someone who I’ve known and admired for such a long time. He’s just the best and another person who just loves coming to work every day. I could go on and on and we’re so lucky.

The cast is absolutely amazing, but again, Amy continued working on the stories for everyone almost as equally. It’s so intertwined with each other. It’s amazing. You don’t see that often.

Amy and Dan love spinning plates. They love seeing how many plates they can spin at once.
[laughs]
But it makes it so that there’s a different way in for everyone. There’s something in the show for everyone, because if you don’t connect Midge or Susie, or even Abe or Rose you might connect to Zelda or Mrs. Moskowitz, or our drunk neighbor down the way. There’s some between here for everyone.

How can we expect for the Season to progress? In the trailer, we saw that Midge wants to pursue being a headliner. Do you think Midge is slowly changing the comedy business where women can headline?

This is a season about rebuilding and being unapologetic about who you are and what you want. Not that we’ve known Midge to be very apologetic about anything in her life. I think she’s got a new fire under her ass and this is a make it or break it moment for them. As per usual, Midge will take a number of steps forward and a number of steps back, progress is rarely ever linear. Certainly not for her, but it’s a season of bold moves and I’m really excited for people to see Midge in this light and in some unconventional places and spaces, than we may have seen her previously.

Have you ever tried stand-up yourself?

The anecdote I’ve always used is that you would not want a TV doctor to perform your surgery. You do not want a TV comedian to do stand-up comedy either.
[laughs]
I’m the beneficiary of amazing writing and an incredible support system onset and an audience that is paid to laugh at my jokes, [laughs] but I would be so traumatized. Amy asked me once when we first started the show, before we shot the pilot, she asked if I would do it. i said, “No.” She asked me if I would do it, if she wrote it. I told her that she did not want me to do that because if I went out there, and I tanked I would never show up for work on the first day, I would never be able to shoot the show.

Season three, season four, come on, you should try it sometime.

I don’t think anybody wants that, at least of all me, I’m going to leave the stand-up to the comedians, but I’m very grateful to be able to play one on TV and to convince some of the population that I have a funny bone.

Can you tell us about Covenant House International?

Absolutely, I sit on the board of Covenant House International. Which is an organization that provides support and services to young people overcoming homelessness in 31 cities across the US, Canada, and Latin America. I’ve been working with them. For the board, I’m a more recent addition to the board but I’ve been working with them for about eight, almost nine years I suppose now.
It’s one of the unexpected and most wonderful and fulfilling side effects of a career that has a public component to it. Which can sometimes be challenging and overwhelming, but I wouldn’t trade it because it gives me the opportunity to shout from the rooftops to a large number of people about an organization that not only I care about, but that does life-changing and life-saving work.
I feel so lucky to have been supported by this cast as well in that endeavor. We participate in something every year called Sleepout Stage, and Screen, which is where the Broadway community and the film and TV community come together and spend a night on the street in solidarity with young people overcoming homelessness, at Covenant House.
It’s a big fundraising event for them, and they do a number of them throughout the year with different communities. Every year since our first year, Team Marvelous, Mrs. Maisel has grown in size. I want to say last year, we had 14 or 15 members of the cast, every one of our dancers, to our day players, to Michaels Egan has been there every single year.
It’s been really special to be able to share this organization that means so much to me, with people who mean so much to me, and to be able to make a huge impact, especially over the last year.

That’s amazing. That’s a great cause.

Thank you. They just went through their 50th anniversary, actually.

Did you enjoy the photoshoot with Mike Ruiz?

Yes, it was really fun. I’m an actor, so always get a bit nervous doing still pictures, but Mike was amazing and I had never been to Q Club, and I have friends who have gone probably far too many nights in a row, so it was nice to finally be inside.

I heard your puppy, your dog before. What dog do you have? If you don’t mind me asking.

Nikki, she’s a sweetheart. She’s a very old lady. She’s 13. She’s a little chromogen. She’s a little grouch but she’s so, so sweet. Then she has a brother. His name is Winston and he’s somewhere around here. A Shiba Inu.
Do you have dogs? Animals?

I have a kitten. He’s actually asleep now. A little Scottish fold.

So sweet.

Yes, he’s asleep. He’s only six months. He will be all over the computer. The interview will not be between you and I, it will be you talking to a kitten. [laughs]

One of my favorite interviews of all time was an interview where I got to play with puppies the whole time we were doing it. [laughs]

Oh, really? That’s amazing. Because Mike Ruiz, he’s a massive Pitbull advocate for Stand up for Pits. He supports a few.

There’s a number, yes. I’ve done some supporting on them as well. There are a lot of them, especially in the city, which is great.

For the last question. If you could give your younger self advice, what it would be?

Invest in Microsoft.
[laughs]

You said you couldn’t do stand-up. That’s it. All you have to do is just walk out and say, “Invest in Microsoft,” and walk out.
[laughs]

That’s the truth.

And Amazon?

Yes, there you go.

You know what? So far, this is the best answer. Full stop. Period. [laughs]

It’s true. No, on a serious note, I would probably just say have fun, especially in this business. We’re not curing cancer. We’re here to provide entertainment, and we can do a lot of good with entertainment. We are here to entertain and it’s supposed to be fun. As someone who is quite a serious child, [laughs] I think sometimes you can get lost in the pressure or how important it feels to you. That I would tell my younger self to have fun.