Emmy Talk: ‘Life in Pieces’ Star Zoe Lister-Jones on Breaking Modern TV Mom Stereotypes, and Her Many ‘Law & Order’ Appearances
Zoe Lister-Jones and Colin Hanks in ‘Life in Pieces’ (Sonja Flemming/CBS)
As we enter Emmy season — nomination voting runs through June 27 — Yahoo TV will be spotlighting performances, writing, and other contributions that we feel deserve recognition.
We all know about the wonderful special things involved in bringing a new baby into the world, but CBS’s comedy Life in Pieces dared to share some of the not-so-pretty realities of new parenthood, namely the often harsh, graphic realities of childbirth and its aftermath for the new mommy and those — particularly the new daddy — who’ve witnessed it.
Actress, singer, playwright, and screenwriter Zoe Lister-Jones is Life in Pieces’ new mama, Jen, and it is her mommyhood — and childbirth — that established that the series would not be afraid to be bold in its storytelling with a pilot storyline that includes her and husband, Greg (Colin Hanks), dealing with her various bodily functions during and after the time baby Lark enters their lives.
Lister-Jones, also known for her roles on Whitney, New Girl, and many Law & Order franchises — perhaps a record number — talked to Yahoo TV about the joy of playing a “modern, complex mom” on TV, that frozen glove scene that forced her and new co-star Hanks to bond “speedily,” and her most memorable experience on Law & Order (hint: it involves corpse makeup and some flirtatious New Yorkers).
Related: ‘Life in Pieces’: Why You Should Be Watching This Smart Family Sitcom
Yahoo TV: Congratulations, first of all, on the renewal for Season 2.
Zoe Lister-Jones: Yeah, we were so happy. Angelique Cabral, my co-star, came over and we danced to Beyoncé.
Jen was left with a pretty exciting storyline, finding out she’s pregnant with her second child. What do you want to see happen for her in Season 2?
I think there’s going to be a lot to mine there, with the pregnancy and what that all means for a couple that’s already struggling with how overwhelmed they are with new parenthood. I think what was so fun as an actor was to really deal with the nuances of what that means for Jen and Greg. I think our writers are so skilled at really digging into those nuances and finding angles to these stories that are totally universal, but also kind of finding new and specific angles to them that are really fun for us to play.
Greg surprised Jen with big news as well, that he has quit his job to become an entrepreneur with CryTunes, the baby monitor that turns crying baby noises into relaxing music.
Yeah, he’s an inventor now. I don’t know what CBS is doing with CryTunes, but I do think it’s a genius idea for people who are looking to drown out not just crying babies, but really any human that you don’t want to listen to.
I kept thinking it would be a bestseller in New York. You’re from Manhattan, so you certainly understand the desire to drown out the many random noises of the city.
Yes, from the time I was born to the time I was 2 years old, I lived across the street from the Holland Tunnel. So I would hear all the time the police talk into their megaphones and be like, “Pull over, sir, pull over.” So every morning, I’m told, I would tell my mom that there was a man in my room, because it sounded so close. Then she got me a white noise machine, and I’ve slept with one ever since. Now that I live in Los Angeles, I live on a very quiet street, but I still have to sleep with white noise, because I think it’s such a comfort from growing up with all the crazy city noises.
(Monty Brinton/CBS)
What attracted you initially to the show’s concept? As a writer yourself, you probably appreciate that these writers are coming up with four different stories every episode. Did you have any concerns that it would be tough with those shorter segments to really get into your character at first?
Because I’ve been a part of so many ensemble shows in my career, that was never really a concern for me, about the amount of time. I actually was really excited about the structure. Not only because it’s something that we’ve never really seen on network television before, but because… to condense an arc into almost a short film is, I think, way more interesting and fun to play. It’s almost like being in a mini-play, because the way we shoot, we’re almost shooting it as the narrative unfolds, rather than if we were telling an A story and a B story and a C story. On a regular ensemble show, we would shoot one scene on Monday and maybe another scene on Friday. Our way, Colin and I are shooting every scene back-to-back, so we really get to dig in, in a way that on other shows, I’ve never been afforded that opportunity to do.
As a writer, yeah, my hat’s off to our writing staff and to Justin Adler, our creator and showrunner. I mean, I think it’s visionary what he’s done with the show, but I also think the way it’s been executed over the last season has been so impressive, to continue to create four stories every week and have each one really sing, which I really think they do. To write so specifically for all his actors, and I think in each story to target a different audience, which is what’s amazing about this show — that we have people in such different places in their lives. I think that’s what makes it so universally relatable and exciting to watch. It taps into so many different subsets of people.
Jen is one of my favorites, because she’s one of the most fun and genuine characters. She obviously loves her husband and baby, and her in-laws, but she also recognizes and has some pithy comments about some of the more ridiculous situations she finds herself in with them.
Thank you. Yeah, it’s funny, it’s the first mom that I’ve ever really played. Obviously, Jen is a young mom, and I think that does come with a certain amount of ideas of what a mother on TV looks like. I love that Jen doesn’t really look like other mothers on TV. That she can kind of call BS. Even though she’s hopeful, she’s just more cutting and dry, and she’s a career woman, and all of these things which make up a modern, complex, three-dimensional female character — and, still be very invested in her family, and in her marriage.
Jen and Greg’s relationship is fun. Best of all, they actually like each other, which a lot of TV couples seem not to when they rely on being mean to each other for jokes.
I think that’s what the show, in general, does so beautifully. I think it doesn’t hurt that we all really love each other in real life, as people. I think the reality of what it means to love your family, or to love your husband, or to love your child, it comes with a lot of emotions that are not loving. It doesn’t take away from the love, and I think that the way our writers are really able to incorporate all of those emotions and for it to still feel that there is genuine love and affection there is what’s so special about this show — balancing the cutting, sort of cynicism of our modern world with really earnest, heartfelt, genuine emotion, which is a tough line to toe. I think it’s very realistic, and it also makes it so interesting for us as actors, because we get to really play with real emotions and the roller coaster of emotions that come with day-to-day life.
You talked about Jen being this modern character, and a more modern mom than we often see on TV. That started with the pilot, where we see Jen and Greg experience some of the more realistic and graphic aspects of childbirth. What did you think when you read that this would be Jen’s introduction?
I loved it. I love pushing boundaries in our show. I think that’s what art is for. I think, like you said, to see an aspect of giving birth that has not been told in that way, especially on network television, is just so exciting and refreshing and really a testament to what network television has become. I think for women, too, it’s so relatable to see something like that, to not just see the sort of saccharine elements of taking the baby home — although that is so sweet and life-changing, I’m sure. I’m not a mother, but I play one on TV. To see just how raw it gets, I think there’s obviously so much comedy to mine there, and it’s such a nice, refreshing kind of take on a portrayal that I think could have been easily clichéd.
Were you friends with Colin Hanks before you started this show?
I was not, so we had to become intimate very quickly.
Yes, I was going to say, that must have necessitated a pretty speedy bonding session.
Yes, we bonded very speedily. We continue to remain incredibly close friends. There’s no turning back really, once he was on his knees and under my kimono. Yeah, I mean, the challenge of being an actor is that you’re often forced to be really intimate with a total stranger. I had never been intimate in this way. So it was a learning curve, but we had a blast, and Colin is the most respectful and lovely human, so I couldn’t have been in better company.
How did you approach the scene with the post-labor ice glove? Was it more awkward than doing a sex scene?
It actually wasn’t more awkward than a sex scene. You know, I think a sex scene, you really have to become so intimate with a person in a way that blurs the line of reality and performance, because you are enacting something that you can’t really be just, like, checked out of. The physical elements of love scenes force you into a very different space emotionally. With this, because it was so funny and so raunchy, and I was not looking at him and bent over a counter, it actually made it much easier.
What were some of your other favorite moments for Jen, or for Jen and Greg?
I loved [“Hospital Boudoir Time-Out Namaste”], the episode that took place in the hospital for us, when we go to the emergency room. To me, it was just a lovely moment in time, in a way that I thought was also interesting structurally, that we hadn’t really seen on the show before. We kind of jump around a lot in time. This was just one evening in this couple’s life where they get to connect in a way that is unexpected. I just loved that.
I would say my other favorite episode for Jen and Greg was [“Burn Vasectomy Milkshake Pong”], when I go back to work for the first time. Greg tries to start a fight, to calm my anxiety, by telling me I look fat in my dress. That was just the most fun scene to play, and Colin and I generally just have so much fun playing with each other. That dynamic was a blast, and to kind of see how each of us came to a very awkward situation was so much fun.
Because these slices of life are so relatable, do you find that the writers are mining your lives? Are they listening in on conversations between all of you? Do you find anything from your real life popping into the storylines?
Well, not really for me, because I’m not a mother, nor am I a lawyer. So I haven’t really had too much. I think they do a really good job of writing for my voice, more than from my personal life experiences. I think that is such an incredible skill to have as a writer or as a writing staff, to really write specifically for someone’s voice and to their strengths. I’m hugely grateful for that. I know for Colin, in our pilot episode, he told them a story about him and his wife driving home with their first kid, and both crying because they were both like, “I can’t believe this is happening.” They put that into the script. He was like, “Okay, I have to stop telling you guys stories.”
Did you ask them about the frozen glove? Was that a real-life experience for someone?
You know, I didn’t ask. I’ve definitely heard about ice packs, and I’ve heard about how painful [childbirth] can be afterwards. The glove itself, maybe Yahoo TV can take a poll… I don’t know. It’s a hard question to ask people.
I also have to ask you about Law & Order. You have appeared in four of the five Law & Order series, which has to be a record, I’m thinking.
I haven’t done the proper research, but it has to be a record. It’s such a rite of passage as a New York actor to do that. So maybe someone is close, but the thing is that Trial by Jury was so short-lived, it was a very short window for New York actors to get in on. So I might hold a record.
Do you have any standout memories from being in any of those shows?
Oh yeah, it was a time in my life that I called “crying for cash.” Being in Law & Order, that was basically it. It was like, “What tragedy am I playing out this week?” I played the sister of a murder victim. I played the girlfriend of a criminal who is then murdered. I played a murderer, and then I played an orthodox Jew whose husband was a pedophile. It’s what it is, to be on a Law & Order, so it was very dramatic. It was exciting for me, honestly, at that time in my career, just to continue to work. “Whatever you guys got, I’ll do.” Yeah, a lot of crying.
You really ran the whole spectrum of characters, too. Not everybody gets to play that many different types on Law & Order.
It was like my own little one-woman Law & Order show. I got to really wear a lot of hats. It’s fun. I got to play a junkie, and I eventually am found dead, covered in track marks, with my rotting body. We finished [filming that one] at like two in the morning, and I rode my bike to the set, because I lived in the West Village, and we were shooting on the West Side Highway. They were like, “Let’s take your makeup off.” But it was two in the morning on a Friday, and I was like, “You know what, I want to bike home and just see if anyone notices,” because New Yorkers are just so myopic and in their own world. They’re like, “Okay.” So I biked home, everyone was out, it’s a Friday night in the summer. I chained up my bike in full corpse makeup, and these guys on the stoop were like, “Hey, what are you doing?” They were trying to hit on me. I was like, yeah, exactly. Nobody even noticed there was a corpse riding a bicycle.
Dick Wolf has discussed doing a Law & Order revival. You could really solidify that record with an appearance on it, if it happens.
I know! It would be my pleasure.
Life in Pieces is streaming on Amazon Video, iTunes, and CBS All Access.
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