28 February 2019

Laughter: The Best Medicine

. . . at a time when jokes are political and politics is a joke, America’s reigning queen of comedy is telling us it’s still O.K. to laugh.
O Yeah! Here's Molly Ball for the new cover of Time
Julia Louis-Dreyfus "has been portraying funny, self-centered women who are compelling despite often being ill-­behaved. ­Selina [Meyer], her capstone creation, pushes the envelope furthest: the accidental President’s megalomania, and her flamboyant vulgarity, have helped 'Veep' break awards records," writes Molly Ball for the new cover of TIME.
Dreyfus discusses politicians: "They’re just people, that’s all. Which is in one way comforting, and in another quite terrifying, given all the responsibility that they carry."
And Trump: "He’d be funny if he didn’t have the power he has.

He’s sort of a pretend, fake president. He’s a complete moron, start to finish."
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Molly Ball's Interview: 
Julia Louis-Dreyfus Knew She Was Good. She Fought to Make Sure the World Did Too
05:41 am
Here's the Link > Time.com
Ask Julia Louis-Dreyfus how much of her is in Selina Meyer, the politician she plays on HBO’s Veep, and she grins. “Tons!” she says. Really? Selina is profane, narcissistic, needy and disagreeable, as cruel to her own daughter as she is to her beleaguered staff. Louis-Dreyfus, on the other hand—the Emmy-winningest performer in TV history—has always had an “America’s sweetheart” quality. But in the noxious politician, Louis-Dreyfus finds a pressure valve for the anger and frustration many women bottle up in public. “One has to power through it,” she adds. “And frankly, I’ve made a career of playing unlikable people. I don’t cotton to likability.”
. . . Having just finished shooting Veep‘s seventh and final season, which debuts March 31, she’s come here to produce and star in Downhill, a feature film with Will Ferrell. “There are plenty of things in trying to stay alive in show business that are very similar to trying to stay alive politically,” Louis-Dreyfus tells me. “And being a woman, a middle-aged woman, trying to stay relevant and viable–I get it. Not being taken seriously. It’s infuriating.”

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