Wendi McLendon-Covey Breaks Down Scenes From 'Bridesmaids', 'Reno 911!', 'The Goldbergs' & More | Scene Stealers - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

Wendi McLendon-Covey sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to play "Scene Stealers" and break down moments from her iconic films and tv shows like 'Bridesmaids,' 'The Goldbergs' and more. The 'St. Denis Medical' actress explains why she calls her 'Bridesmaids' character, Rita, a "mashup of different housewives," how she wanted to go about portraying her 'RENO 911!' character, Deputy Clementine, her excitement over joining the Pixar universe in 'Elemental' and more.

Transcript

00:00One thing I will say about all the different characters I've played

00:04is that I don't think I've repeated myself, or at least not very often.

00:10Hey, Hollywood Reporter, I'm Wendy McClendon-Covey,

00:13and today we're going to look back at some of my scenes from TV and movies

00:17and just reminisce a little bit.

00:20Join me, won't you?

00:30This young man was driving drunk, comma,

00:39without knowing how to do it properly.

00:41Okay, let me say that again.

00:43I'm going to tell you something that's pretty controversial.

00:45Some people drive better when they're intoxicated

00:48than they do when they're sober.

00:51Hi, my name's Deputy Johnson.

00:54I'm able to do such a thing.

00:55So that was one of my favorite scenes from Reno 911.

01:00First of all, putting on all of that gear, all of that Clemmy gear,

01:05you're right there in the mindset.

01:08Because you're totally, I was totally uncomfortable all the time

01:11because I wanted her to be snossaging out of her outfit.

01:15Okay, always.

01:16I didn't want anything she wore to ever fit.

01:19Because like some women, like if I can lay down and zip these pants up,

01:24I'm wearing them out of the house.

01:26Okay.

01:27My day-to-day life, when I'm driving, what am I doing?

01:30I'm playing air guitar.

01:32Maybe I'm trying to wipe mustard off my pants.

01:35Or I'm texting somebody, but I'm sure as hell not looking at the road.

01:39I've been doing this since I was 11 years old.

01:41I'm very good at it.

01:42It's like using condoms.

01:44Clemmy knows what she was doing at that age,

01:47and she was up to no good and was very, very advanced.

01:50So she's talking to them like they're equally as advanced

01:53and also had a strange upbringing.

01:55Like when someone was coming to our school to tell us,

01:58don't do drugs or don't do this and that,

02:00by the time they were done, that's all you wanted to do.

02:03They made it sound so fun.

02:05So Clemmy's here to just like,

02:08I assume you're all drunk or high right now.

02:11So let's work within those confines.

02:14You know, Clemmy, she was a special lady.

02:19I really, it was an honor to play her.

02:22I believe we did that in two tapes, all improvised.

02:25It came out pretty effortlessly.

02:29This young man was driving drunk without having practiced

02:34so he would know how to do it right.

02:38I had a girlfriend, a former friend,

02:41tell me to justify her own drunk driving

02:44that she felt that she drove better when she was drunk

02:49because she was paying more attention.

02:52It's like, you are a moron!

02:54But I am going to use that one day.

02:56But anyway, it was, that was a really fun show to do.

03:00I'm glad I got to do that for as long as I did.

03:02And it's never been off the air.

03:04Being such a culty, weird show to begin with,

03:07listen, I was thrilled we got a second season,

03:10let alone the fact that it's, you know,

03:12I think we just had our 20-year anniversary

03:14or something like that.

03:15I appreciate a lady in law enforcement

03:18who still has her nails and a full beat,

03:21you know, fixes her hair every day

03:24because that commands respect, doesn't it?

03:26So now we're watching a scene from Bridesmaids.

03:29So you don't even have sex anymore?

03:31Oh no, I have, I have sex constantly.

03:34The sex is constant.

03:35But he hasn't kissed me in five years.

03:38What are you doing when you're having sex then?

03:40Constant sex.

03:41Hasn't kissed her in five years.

03:44I personally patterned the character of Rita

03:48on just a mashup of different housewives, okay?

03:54Where she's always just dissatisfied.

03:58My character meets Ellie Kemper's character.

04:00It's like, oh, what is up with that optimism?

04:04Like she just wants to poke holes in it.

04:07Like, I want you to be as miserable as I am type of thing.

04:11I can't believe you've never been with anybody else.

04:15Just Kevin.

04:19I'm sorry.

04:20I just, Becca, I just can't help but feel bad for you.

04:24You don't even know what you want.

04:27All improvised.

04:28You know, we all kind of took care of our characters.

04:30But Ellie, in between takes, had some of the funniest information

04:36that I was, I was in stitches.

04:39And believe me, sitting on that plane for days at a time,

04:42it is boring, okay?

04:45But Ellie and I would talk between takes.

04:47And she had all this stuff about,

04:49well, before my husband and I have sex,

04:53we read from the Da Vinci Code.

04:55And then we both take showers.

04:57And then we say prayers.

04:58I mean, it just went on and on and on

05:01about this elaborate purification ritual.

05:05It was so stupid that I still laugh about it

05:10when I think about it now.

05:11I want to say we were on that plane set

05:14for a solid three days.

05:16What happened to Rita?

05:17I feel like one of her kids maybe knocked up a teacher.

05:22Underage, you know?

05:23I feel like Rita is divorced.

05:27In regards to bridesmaids, they always say this to me.

05:32You know, my son broke a blanket in half.

05:36Or, you know, that line or like,

05:38I used to have to take my son's underpants

05:40and beat him against the fence.

05:42Madam, we don't know each other.

05:45Don't tell me this.

05:47When we were shooting it, it just felt like,

05:49hey, this is a fun movie.

05:51Hope it does okay.

05:52And I think one of the things that resonates with audiences

06:00is the fact that it's about friendship.

06:03It showed that women are a little more interesting

06:07comedically than we're portrayed.

06:09Now, why no one has been able to figure this out since,

06:13I don't know.

06:15I don't have the answer to that.

06:16Okay, now we're going to watch a scene from Elemental,

06:20the Oscar-nominated Elemental,

06:22where I play Gail.

06:24She's a wind person.

06:26Bring some wind!

06:28Hi, Gail.

06:29There's a game going on.

06:30This is my life we're talking about,

06:32not just some game.

06:33This is the playoffs.

06:35I dare you.

06:37Cloud puffs.

06:39I got the good fortune to be in a Pixar movie,

06:44which is what we all want to do at some point.

06:47Every actor wants to get into the Pixar universe.

06:49She's got a very blustery, loud personality,

06:52and she screams a lot.

06:53So she goes to sporting events,

06:55and she's just like,

06:57now that is how I am at concerts.

07:00I go to a lot of concerts,

07:02and I scream my head off.

07:04So where she's screaming at the players,

07:07I'm screaming like,

07:09Simon, I love you!

07:11That was very fun for me to play,

07:13because even though she's a big personality,

07:16she does understand what young love looks like.

07:20When I saw Elemental for the first time,

07:22I cried my eyes out.

07:23You know, it was such a sweet movie.

07:26Being part of that universe was incredible to me.

07:30Okay, now we're watching a clip from the Goldbergs,

07:32and I'm looking at my beloved TV daddy, George Siegel.

07:38Waiter, we're ready to order.

07:40Gotcha.

07:41I mean...

07:41This is when we go to Beefsteak Charlie's

07:43and try to order dinner.

07:46I was right.

07:47It's an octopus with a lasso,

07:48but my childhood ends here.

07:50For sure, bring me the biggest steak you've got.

07:53No, Adam, no.

07:54Your tummy can't handle that big boy food.

07:56It'll destroy your insides and tushy.

07:58And tushy.

07:59Working with that cast and crew,

08:00I absolutely consider them family.

08:04We really did become a family,

08:06as well as, like, the 200 crew members

08:09that were with us.

08:10So I still consider those people, like, my whole heart.

08:14It takes my mom 10 minutes to order.

08:16To her, the menu is just a vague suggestion.

08:19I would like the hanger steak, Pittsburgh style,

08:21but instead of Bernays' sauce,

08:23I would like crab cakes.

08:24We also don't swap out sauces for actual food.

08:29She wants a steak with a baked potato,

08:32and instead of butter,

08:34give her crab cakes or a child's hamburger.

08:37What's the problem?

08:39Seems like an even swap.

08:40That was a very fun role to play for 10 years.

08:45Getting to do insane things like that,

08:48playing this character for so long,

08:49it was kind of reinforced,

08:50is that when you want to be funny,

08:52you have to let yourself be the butt of the joke,

08:54and sometimes that hurts your ego,

08:56and sometimes it doesn't feel good in the moment,

08:59but you have to go there,

09:01and you never really will be funny

09:03if you don't embrace the terrible, embarrassing stuff,

09:07because, I mean, I'm sorry,

09:09that's where comedy comes from,

09:10is from embarrassment,

09:12from trying to make something right that went wrong.

09:15So that's something that was really brought home

09:19time and time again.

09:20One of the things about playing Beverly

09:24is that she doesn't take no for an answer

09:27on the show or in her real life, okay?

09:30So that was an interesting thing for me

09:32to play and learn in real life,

09:35because prior to that,

09:37I would always take no for an answer,

09:38like, well, I guess I should just give that up,

09:41and that's no way to be.

09:43No is just a mouth sound.

09:44You don't have to listen to it,

09:46especially when you know the answer should be yes,

09:48and you're right.

09:49She never says die, and neither should any of us.

09:52If there's something you want,

09:54be relentless about it.

09:56So playing Beverly Goldberg for 10 years

09:59was such a gift to me

10:00because I got to relive the 80s again,

10:03but I got to relive them as a mother,

10:06which I am not in real life.

10:08So I got to get that out of my system,

10:11and coming back and doing St. Dennis,

10:14I knew I didn't want to play another mom

10:16to that degree.

10:18I had done it to the best of my ability,

10:20and it was such a blessing.

10:23It was so much fun.

10:24They need to be replaced, not just fixed.

10:27Look, we just don't have the money right now

10:29for a whole new computer system.

10:31But we have money in the budget

10:32for your fancy 3-D mammography machine?

10:35Seems reasonable.

10:36I've been an oncologist for 20 years,

10:38but now that I'm a hospital administrator,

10:40I'm battling different kinds of cancers,

10:43like cynicism, pessimism.

10:45People questioning my judgment

10:47because they think I'm spending money

10:48on things we don't need.

10:50Those attitudes are the real cancers.

10:54My character, Joyce,

10:55she is the hospital administrator.

10:57She's constantly pushing this hospital uphill

11:01in front of her.

11:02She's fighting the good fight,

11:04but she's also got some very stupid feelings about it.

11:09Dear God, dear God,

11:11fighting the unwinnable fight,

11:14that is one thing that really drew me to this

11:17because that's funny

11:19and that's realistic.

11:21St. Dennis Regional Medical!

11:25St. Dennis Regional Medical!

11:28No!

11:29All right, let's get out there

11:33and heal some people!

11:34That was improvised.

11:36The cartwheel was improvised.

11:38Our showrunner came up to me and said,

11:40really be a cheerleader about it.

11:42So to me, I took that very literally.

11:45And I was like,

11:45well, I was a cheerleader,

11:46so I'm going to do that.

11:49That's how you motivate people, right?

11:51Because that's what adults like.

11:52They like cartwheels and pizza parties.

11:55I hope that Joyce has a couple of wins

11:59in our next season

12:00because so far she has won nothing, you know?

12:10One thing I will say

12:12about all the different characters I've played

12:15is that I don't think I've repeated myself,

12:19or at least not very often.

12:21I'm very grateful

12:22for every opportunity I've ever had.

12:24I am fascinated by shows

12:27that have never been off the air, right?

12:29That's something I pride myself on.

12:32Reno's never been off the air.

12:33Goldberg's will never be off the air.

12:35I'm hoping that for St. Dennis.

12:37And the reason that's important to me

12:38is because I'm a comfort viewer.

12:41For instance, adolescence.

12:43Loved it, but really disturbing.

12:45So after that,

12:46I have to have a palate cleanser.

12:47So what do I turn on?

12:48The Golden Girls Cheers Seinfeld.

12:50Something like that.

12:51Something that is tried and true

12:53and entertaining and fabulous

12:56that always feels good to watch.

12:59That's what I want to focus on.

13:01With my manager

13:02and this fabulous executive

13:04named Sophia Lucchese,

13:06we have started a company

13:07called Strong Beach.

13:08I'm really lucky

13:09that I've been part of some projects

13:11that have that re-watchability factor,

13:14but that's what Strong Beach

13:15is going to focus on.

13:16Some of the stuff we produce

13:18will be for me to star in.

13:19Some of it will be selfishly

13:21so we can watch it.

13:23I like to be entertained.

13:24Well, thanks for hanging out

13:32with me today.

13:33I hope you've enjoyed

13:34reminiscing with me

13:36about past projects.

13:38Watch St. Dennis Medical

13:39on NBC or on Peacock

13:42and thanks a lot,

13:43Hollywood Reporter.

13:44It's been fun.

13:45We'll see you next time.

Wendi McLendon-Covey Breaks Down Scenes From 'Bridesmaids', 'Reno 911!', 'The Goldbergs' & More | Scene Stealers

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