Maya Rudolph Interview: ‘SNL,’ ‘The Good Place,’ ‘Big Mouth’
Maya Rudolph received fantastic news on the morning of the 2020 Emmy Awards nominations, when she picked up not one, not two, but three bids. Her career total had included three in the past couple of decades, so she doubled that number in the span of a few minutes and became a triple nominee for September’s ceremonies. In our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above), she reveals, “It was extra sweet because it was the day after my birthday. It felt like a little extra goodwill. People are always so nice to you on your birthday, and just when you think it’s going to be over, you wake up the next morning and get three Emmy nominations!”
She has a unique experience in that two of the bids are in the same category of Best Comedy Guest Actress, something that has never happened before for a guest category. One is her third in a row for playing fan favorite Judge Gen on “The Good Place” for NBC. The other is for her recurring appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” the legendary variety series where she first started, for playing Senator (and now Vice-Presidential candidate) Kamala Harris.
It isn’t confirmed yet, but she hopes to play Harris again this fall for the 46th season of “SNL.” She says, “I feel an inherent duty to do anything I can during the election. If that means I’ll be playing the senator again, it’s my honor. It feels at this point, to be perfectly honest, just a civic duty and like I have no choice. The nicest part (about her VP selection) was that it felt so hopeful to get that news again.”
Her other nomination this year at the Creative Arts ceremony is for Best Character Voice-Over Performance for “Big Mouth” as Connie the Hormone Monster on Netflix. She calls creator and star Nick Kroll one of the funniest people she has worked with.
In addition to her Emmy success, Rudolph has won our own Gold Derby TV Award for Best Comedy Guest Actress the past two straight years, also for “The Good Place.” She took home our Best Comedy Guest Actress of the Decade award last fall for the same project. All of these were voted on by thousands of die hard TV fans from around the world and are featured on her IMDB awards page.
