Why Paula Pell isn't afraid to take her boobs out — and loves Gloria's 'trampage' on “Girls5eva”
"My boobs are a member of SAG," the actress jokes on EW's "The Awardist" podcast.
Paula Pell will do just about anything for a laugh.
"I was always a ham," Pell admits to Entertainment Weekly's The Awardist podcast. "My dad is the same way. He's hilarious. My mom and dad and my sister are also funny. But if there is an opportunity for just a walkthrough with a prop or a weird hat or — with the original real Wine Country trip that we took of me just walking through topless with a cornucopia from the Airbnb on my head singing, 'I don't know why I'm frightened. I know my way around here...'"
On the Peacock-turned-Netflix comedy Girls5eva, the actress and screenwriter plays the unfiltered Gloria, a dentist who's left her practice behind for a second shot at fame with her former girl group members (played by Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Busy Philipps). And she gets to play into all of her strengths with hilarious abandon, owning all of the shows visual gags (those costumes and hairstyles!), physical comedy (that Property Brothers smackdown!), and wonderfully absurd one-liners ("Just call me Ho Spice...but don't write it down because it looks like hospice").
Netflix
Paula Pell on 'Girls5eva'On the show's third installment, following the series' streamer-hop, Pell got to lean into Gloria's personal life, as she tries to sleep with the entirety of her "178 Types of Women" spreadsheet. Some might call it her "hoe era," but its turns out there's an official — more punny — name for Gloria's journey.
"My wife was kind of behind that whole story line," Pell says of Janine Brito, who's a writer on the series and plays Gloria's ex-wife, Caroline. "She calls it a 'trampage,' that I went on a 'trampage.' And what I love about it is, if it was just Gloria hoeing it out, it wouldn't feel as authentic as it is that she does and immediately falls in love with every single person, which I totally did when I was in my youth; I would go out, have a one-nighter with somebody, and the next day I was writing in my journal, 'I can't wait to stare at their eyelashes for the rest of my life.' I was ready to have them move in."
Emily V. Aragones/Netflix
Paula Pell and Busy Philipps on 'Girls5eva'Pell — who was a writer at Saturday Night Live for nearly 20 years and recently returned for Kristen Wiig's guest-hosting gig — says she's noticed the show's increased viewership since its move to Netflix, mostly by the number of people coming up to her on the street to talk about it. "The other night we were walking in New York and this person just went 'BPE!,' which is the song, 'Big P---- Energy," she says, a huge smile on her face. "I just laughed so hard because it is such a joy to know that it's getting out there and that people are watching it."
That song and so many others on the show — most co-written by Jeff Richmond and series creator Meredith Scardino — add a whole other level of comedic complexity, some inappropriate, some thoughtful, but most just silly and campy. Pell, who was a performer at Disney and Universal Studios theme parks after college, admits she's been known to make up her own tunes in line with the latter.
Netflix
Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sara Bareilles, and Paula Pell on 'Girls5eva'"My co-workers at Girls5eva always say I'm the one that's most likely to burst into song because, give me an opportunity to suddenly be singing a quiet ballad about the toilet or something," she says. "I do love to [try] to make people laugh. It's just always been my joy."
Even if that means baring a little skin. But don't worry, she knows when to keep her bra fastened. "I've always been very aware of reading the mood of the room: Like, is this a room that needs a little bit of jolt of comedy or is this not a time for me to take my boobs out?"
Listen to the full interview with Pell in the Awardist podcast below, where EW TV Critic Kristen Baldwin also discusses her Emmy nomination predictions for Lead Actor and Actress in the Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series categories.
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