SPIN: You’ve had an unorthodox career path. Below, Everett takes SPIN through the journey that led her to this career renaissance. Her bawdy, musical act has gotten her attention before - opening for Amy Schumer, starring in Sundance darling indie movie Patti Cake$, recording a Comedy Central hour-long special - but with the critically-lauded HBO hit Somebody Somewhere, she’s getting the accolades she has long deserved. Says Everett, “there’s going to be some hiccups along the way, for sure.”Įverett, 49, a longtime New York City cabaret staple, has found herself in the mainstream spotlight for the first time in her career. But she’s trying - doing the best she can. By harnessing her passion - and meeting a like-minded group of outsiders -Sam embarks on a journey of self-discovery. The series follows Kansan Sam (Everett, who was born in Manhattan, Kansas), who returns to her hometown and struggles to fit in while grappling with loss and acceptance. A mantra of many, especially throughout the past two years, but particularly relevant for the cabaret singer/comedian/actress’ HBO comedy Somebody Somewhere. It’s a little rare.” (Everett cracks that she just wanted extra time in her trailer.“We’re all doing the best we can,” says Bridget Everett. “That says so much about Bridget,” Hiller says, “that she would be generous enough to let me and Murray and Mary Catherine and Mike and everybody shine also. In Hiller’s hands, that person is fully fleshed out. “When I read this character, I was like, Oh, the queer person who’s still a member of a faith community, who didn’t leave their hometown - I completely know that person, I’m friends with that person from college, I love that person, I respect that person, and I’ve never seen that person on TV,” he says. Hiller taps into his own upbringing in Texas and jokes that his theology/theater double major has finally come in handy. “I’m usually the person who’s telling the main character, ‘No, you don’t have a reservation,” he says. The series is a stealth musical, with songs sprinkled naturally throughout daily life, as well as at Choir Practice.įor Hiller, the role of Joel is a departure from the unfriendly customer service representatives that he played for years. So as we developed the first season, we kept trying to make it very personal, because it felt like that’s the most organic and best way for me to deliver an honest portrayal.” She also gets to show off her pipes, and they are mighty. “The best luck I have when I perform is when I tell something that’s true to me. “Cabaret is not cool, but you do learn how to tell a story,” she says. ![]() Her cabaret experience came in handy as well. “I just thought, ‘I’ll get in the scene and talk to the other person and hope for the best.’ The thing that was so special about doing this show was that we were all kind of in similar places in our careers, and none of us are big stars, so I just felt like I was talking to friends.” “I honestly didn’t know what I was doing the entire time,” she says. In “Somebody,” as funny as she is, she also mines more tender territory. As Joel invites her into his world, and a little underground performance space known as Choir Practice, he lures her back to herself - with decidedly zero romantic intentions.Įverett, also an executive producer on the series, is perhaps best known to New York fans for her ribald cabaret acts. We find Sam sitting in grief and disconnection, at a miserable job with miserable lighting, when she encounters Joel (Jeff Hiller), a tall drink of wry kindness. ![]() Sam had come back to care for her sick sister Holly, who died six months before the show begins. The comedy-drama’s setting is Manhattan, Kan., Everett’s hometown. That starts with Bridget Everett, a comedian not previously known for her dramatic chops, and creators Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen (“High Maintenance”), who wrote the role of Sam based loosely on Everett. ![]() But in masterful hands - from the creators to the cast - HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere” becomes something entirely different. A woman returns to her provincial hometown and her dysfunctional family and feels like she doesn’t belong, until new love helps her find her voice.
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