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By Suzanne

Transcript of Interview with Molly Shannon 5/24/10

Operator: Good day everyone and welcome to the Molly Shannon conference call. Today’s conference is being recorded.

At this time, I’ll turn the conference over to Ms. Maya Brooks. Please go ahead, ma’am.

Maya Brooks: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining the Molly Shannon, Neighbors from Hell conference call. Neighbors from Hell premieres on June 7 at 10:00 pm on CBS.

The conference call is now open for questions. Please press star 1 to ask a question. Thank you.

Operator: And once again, ladies and gentlemen,if you’d like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. And in the interest of time, we’d like to ask everyone limit themselves to one question and then come back into the queue for any follow-up later.

We’ll go first to Lisa Steinberg with Starry Constellation Magazine.

Lisa Steinberg: Hi. It’s such an honor to speak with you.

Molly Shannon: Hi, Lisa. How are you?

Lisa Steinberg: Good. I have to say we love you on Glee and we’re looking forward to seeing you coming back again soon.

Molly Shannon: Thank you. That’s so nice. It’s such a great show to be on. Everyone I know is like, “Can we come to the set with you, please,” like my nieces and my friends they all want - they’re like, “Can we,” they want to come by and visit me and on the set. It’s so funny.

Lisa Steinberg: And I have to say also that Superstar is still such an iconic film. I mean, we still quote it all the time with Supermodel Documentary Hour.

Molly Shannon: That is so great. I love - that makes me - that makes my heart swell with pride.

Lisa Steinberg: Well what's brought you back to TV? You’ve done a lot of film.

Molly Shannon: Yeah, I’ve done a lot. Well, I love TV. I think it’s such a great place for a woman in comedy, you know if you find the right thing. I mean, it’s fun. I’m such a big TV fan. I love watching TV. I love that it’s right in your living room. And I had such a wonderful experience on Saturday Night Live and, you know, so it’s just - I’ve always loved TV. I live movies too, but I like both, you know?

Lisa Steinberg: Well, we’re lucky to have you again.

Molly Shannon: Thank you. That’s so nice.

Operator: And then we’ll take our next question - and just a reminder everyone, star 1 if you do have a question. We’ll take our next question from David Martindale with Hearst Newspapers.

David Martindale: Hi, Molly. Thanks for doing the call.

Molly Shannon: Oh, thanks, David.

David Martindale: Yeah, I watched the screener, the first episode and I enjoyed it.

Molly Shannon: Oh, good.

David Martindale: Yeah. In the opening episode Satan says, and I quote, “Human television only exists in Hell for the purpose of torture, not for entertainment.

Molly Shannon: That’s funny.

David Martindale: ...((inaudible)) mind and that’s an actual fact.” And I wanted to know if you would care to make a rebuttal.

Molly Shannon: No. That’s fine. I'm such a big fan of TV so I certainly do not agree with ((inaudible)). I love television and I happen to be on it. So no, I do not agree with that all. I do not stand by that.

David Martindale: ((inaudible)) dead wrong.

Molly Shannon: Yeah.

David Martindale: What do you think of your cartoon likeness of you? Tina’s a hottie, right?

Molly Shannon: Oh, my God. I know. It was just - before I - well, when I signed up they had already drawn it, so I was like, that's what she looks like. I was like, “Oh, my God.” Yeah, she’s such a little - he said she’s got this like curvy little sexy figure and, you know, it’s so funny. I hope I can do a good job putting my - the body that they’ve created for her, you know?

David Martindale: Yeah. It’s - well you’re off to a good start.

Molly Shannon: Oh, good.

David Martindale: I’ll let other people ask questions and come back. Thank you.

Molly Shannon: Oh, thanks so much. Nice to talk to you.

Operator: And once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you’d like to ask a question, press the star key followed by the digit one on your telephone keypad.

We’ll go back to Lisa Steinberg, Starry Constellation Magazine.

Lisa Steinberg: What do you find particularly challenging about your role?

Molly Shannon: Well, I guess the - it - the hardest part is that I’m used to, you know, live action. I’m a very physical comedian and I’m used to using my body and my face, and so it’s very different just using your voice, you know? It makes you feel like, “Oh, God,” if you have a cold or sinus infection and you feel like, “God, this is it. It’s just you voice.”

So, in that way it’s hard to get used to, but then I also love how free it is because there’s so much that they can - they have so much license to do crazy things. In animation you can have the craziest scenes and draw so many things that would be so much more difficult and more expensive in live action.

So in that way, it’s very vocally freeing. You can do all this crazy stuff that you might not get to do in regular live action, so it’s just - it’s fun. And I like that you can - I can record a whole episode in an hour. It’s just a fun job. I have little kids so the voice over world is great being a mom. It’s a great schedule for a mom.

Lisa Steinberg: It just seems like it’s the anti-Molly Shannon though, because she’s all kick and stretch and...

Molly Shannon: That’s funny. Right, because she’s so different. I know I can’t do that. It’s just all my voice. I want to kick, believe me.

Lisa Steinberg: Great.

Molly Shannon: That’s funny. I want to kick and have fun, but my voice won’t be close enough to the microphone, they’ll be like, “Get back. Get her back. Get her back to the mic.” So...

Lisa Steinberg: Thank you.

Molly Shannon: Okay, thank you.

Operator: And we have a follow-up from David Martindale, Hearst Newspapers.

David Martindale: Yes, we’re...

Molly Shannon: Okay, great.

David Martindale: ...hogging all time with you. Everybody’s had bad neighbors and neighbors from hell.

Molly Shannon: Yes.

David Martindale: Can you tell - maybe you can like, you know, withhold the name of the bad neighbor, but do you have any good bad neighbors from hell stories?

Molly Shannon: We did. We had - when I was growing up, when I was a little girl growing up in Cleveland, Ohio we had these two sisters that we called them witchy pooh. And if ever you kicked a ball on their grass they would go, “Get your kids off my lawn.”

And we were like - so we used to raise hell and, you know, purposely kick our ball up on their lawn and pull out their flowers, and we were very mischievous with them because they were so - they were like nasty witches on our block. So we caused a lot more trouble because they were so difficult, but it was kind of fun. We would - yeah, we’d pretend like we had to run away from them, they were going to cast a spell on us, and we had a - quite a lot of fun with those sisters.

David Martindale: Okay. All right.

Molly Shannon: Yeah.

David Martindale: So it’s possibly in their eyes you were the neighbor from hell.

Molly Shannon: I know, maybe. Exactly. But in our eyes, they were the neighbors from hell.

David Martindale: Exactly. What are some of the perks of doing cartoon voice work? Like, do you get to do your work in pajamas and stuff like that, or...

Molly Shannon: You do. You can - well, I don’t do it in pajamas, but basically what’s so convenient about it is I can wake up, have a nice leisurely morning with my kids, take them to school, then head right over and do the voice over. And then have time to go back and pick them after because it’s such an easy short gig. You can do a whole episode in one hour because there’s so many characters that I could record my whole part in just one hour.

So - or you know, sometimes it takes longer, but for the most part it’s just really easy that way. There’s no hair and makeup, you know, no - so that really cuts the time out. So, it’s just really - I love it. It’s a great job with being a mom.

David Martindale: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.

Molly Shannon: Oh, thanks so much. It’s nice to talk to you.

David Martindale: Okay.

Operator: And we’ll remind everyone, if you do have a question, star 1 on you telephone keypad.

We’ll go next to Matt Rodriguez with Shakefire.com.

Matt Rodriguez: Hi, Molly. I was wondering...

Molly Shannon: Hi.

Matt Rodriguez: ...if - do you ever get into your characters outside the studio, or not? Like do you ever start to act like they were in the show outside?

Molly Shannon: Oh, you mean like the character from Neighbor from Hell?

Matt Rodriguez: Yeah.

Molly Shannon: No. No. No. No. That has not happened yet, but I’ll let you know if it changes. That’s funny.

Matt Rodriguez: All right. And what was the audition process like for you? Like did you immediately catch on to the Tina character or...

Molly Shannon: I did. They offered it to me, and so they just sent me the script and then I think Pam Brady, the writer, wanted to call me. But I thought, “It’s okay. I don’t have to talk to them. Let me just read the script.” And I just really like it. I thought it was really original and funny and I loved the way it read. It was really easy to go through it. It was really clear what it was. So, I just thought it would be so much fun.

So, it was just initially a - just a real good reaction to the writing and the idea.

Matt Rodriguez: All right. Well, thank you very much.

Molly Shannon: Oh, good. Thanks so much.

Operator: And one last opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, star 1 if you’d like to ask a question.

We’ll go back to Lisa Steinberg.

Lisa Steinberg: I’m lucky. Why do you think people want to take their time to tune in and watch Neighbors from Hell?

Molly Shannon: Well, I guess, you know, I just think people love to escape with comedy. It’s fun. I think it’s silly. It’s still about a family even though they are from Hell. And it’s funny writing funny jokes. I just think it’s a good escape for, you know, 30 minutes.

Lisa Steinberg: I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Molly Shannon: Oh, great. Thanks so much, Lisa.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, at this time I’ll turn the conference back to Maya Brooks.

Maya Brooks: Thank you so much for participating in the Molly Shannon, Neighbors from Hell conference call. Just a reminder that Neighbors from Hell premiers June 7 at 10:00 pm on TBS.

A transcript of this call will be available within 24 hours. Please check with your respective TBS publicist, and thank you, Molly, and thank you all participating.

Molly Shannon: Thank you so much.

Operator: And ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude our conference. We appreciate your participation.

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