EXCLUSIVE: Aubrey Plaza Is One of the Funny People
The rising comedic star talks about this new DVD, Parks and Recreation, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and more.
Around this time last year, I was reading up on Judd Apatow’s new directorial effort, Funny People, since I was going to be visiting the set of the film. Among the huge names in the film was a newcomer named Aubrey Plaza, and, if the newcomers in Apatow’s previous two films were any indication (See: Jonah Hill and Charlene Yi), I figured this young comedienne was surely on a pretty damn good path. Of course, that was before we knew her as the hilariously deadpan April Ludgate on the wonderful NBC comedy Parks and Recreation and the actress also has the highly-anticipated Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World coming up as well. I recently had the chance to speak with Aubrey Plaza for the new Funny People DVD and Blu-ray release on November 24, and here’s what she had to say.
I was wondering how you first heard about Judd’s script and how the whole casting process went about for you? Who was already attached when you first heard about the film?
Aubrey Plaza: Well, I didn’t know much. I didn’t read the script, I didn’t really know anything about it. I knew it was Judd’s movie and that Seth (Rogen) and Adam (Sandler) were going to be in it. That’s kind of all I knew. Allison Jones cast the movie and I had met her, just kind of generally, a couple of months before. She told me then that she was on this movie, but she wasn’t going to tell me what it was until later. I knew something was going on, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I was in New York at that point and she had me put myself on tape. I just did the scenes and improvised with my friends and sent it to L.A., just hoping that they would actually watch it. I heard a couple of months later that Judd did watch it and he really liked it, so I came out to L.A. to have a callback and I read with Seth, in front of Judd. That was terrifying but it went really well. I hadn’t heard anything for a month after that and I knew I did well but I wasn’t really sure what the hold-up was, what they were looking for. I found out that they had really wanted to cast a stand-up comedian. At the time I wasn’t doing stand-up, so I kind of took it upon myself to start doing stand-up and taping myself and sending it to him. So that’s kind of how I got the part. It was a three-step process, I guess, where the final step was, I think, the most important, sending bits of me actually doing jokes and having him actually see me on stage with a mic, in front of an audience, that it was possible that I could pull it off, to be this young, stand-up comedian.
You have an improv background, I believe. What was it like getting into stand-up mode, as opposed to your improv background?
Aubrey Plaza: It was really tough. Improv is so different, it’s such a collaborative thing, you’re working with other people, nothing is planned and it’s kind of this community mentality, whereas stand-up, you’re alone and it was really hard. Having to stand in front of an audience and have it be your job to make them laugh, you can’t really look to anyone but yourself. It’s what you wrote, what you said and how you said it, so it’s kind of terrifying, but I liked it. When it goes well, it’s the best feeling in the world. When it doesn’t go well, it’s the worst feeling, but once you get into the rhythm of it, I think it’s really fun. Also it’s a good exercise for writing, for me, using my brain in that different way.
I know the DVD and the Blu-ray that are coming out are both just packed with extras, with a lot of bonus stand-up material. Is there a lot of these unseen bits from your performances on here then?
Aubrey Plaza: Yeah, definitely. The first time I ever did stand-up was in Queens and it was the first time I had done it and I taped it and sent it to him. After I got the part, a couple of weeks later, he brought me out to L.A. and I immediately started doing shows with the rest of the cast, having never done it before. So I went from zero to performing with Adam Sandler in less than a month. It was really a crazy interaction to stand-up, but they had camera crews follow me to every show and tape every single show that I did. I went up multiple times a week and I did The Laugh Factory, all these open mic’s and they sent camera crews everywhere. There’s a ton of shows on the DVD, a lot of me bombing on stage, which I’m sure will be fun for me to watch (Laughs). So yeah, a lot of failure, but it will give you a good idea of how I got to where I am now.
