FX ‘Comedians’ Billy Crystal, Josh Gad Co-Star Stephnie Weir [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]: Former 'MADtv' Lead Talks New Series

Arguably one of the most recognizable faces on FOX's former series MADtv, actress Stephnie Weir now finds herself on the new FX series The Comedians. The show, which premieres on April 9, stars Billy Crystal and Josh Gad – playing heightened versions of themselves – as a pair of famous comics who are forced together by the network to work on The Billy & Josh Show. Weir plays the role of Kristen Laybourne, the producer behind the show within the show.

Weir recently talked with MStars News about the new series, what it was like working with the likes of Billy Crystal, Josh Gad, Ben Wexler (Community / Arrested Development) and Larry Charles, (Seinfeld / Curb Your Enthusiasm / Entourage / Borat) and how working on a show somewhat about show business turned out to be "delightful." 

MStars News: The Comedians premiere on April 9. How are you feeling about it?
Stephnie Weir: I'm very excited about it! It was a ton of fun to shoot, and was such an incredible creative joy. I'm really curious as to how people will accept it.

MS: Is this the first time you had met and worked with Billy Crystal? It had to be rather surreal.
SW: I had never met him before, and yeah, it was very exciting. It felt like the pressure was on. In your career, these great things can sometimes happen and that was right there for me. I just watched and learned from him, and Josh too. I've been a fan of a lot of Josh's work and I really like [his work] in this series.

MS: Everyone seems to mesh very well on the show.
SW: We do! It's interesting because the show is sort of about the behind-the-scenes making of a show, so you had the "real" camp of network executives around and then the "fake" network executives who were playing them. It was very much an art-imitating-life/life-imitating-art type of thing. We didn't know who was real and who wasn't. Going into it, everyone was really nice to each other, just in case. [laughs]

MS: The show pokes a little fun at showbiz. For someone who is in the industry, do you enjoy working on projects that have that aspect? It's really only a world that you know.
SW: I did enjoy that. Sometimes it can seem isolating to the outside audience because it's very inclusive. We're making fun of ourselves and unless you're a big part of that world, some of the time that humor might be lost. But with this show, I really felt they focus on the human relationships. It really felt to me that the "shooting of the show" in the show became a backdrop; it's not totally about that. There are real moments I think people can relate with: running into an old boyfriend, struggling egos, power struggles with people at work, etc.

So, I don't always enjoy [working on projects that poke fun at show business], to answer your question but in this process it was delightful.

MS: I can understand that. The show has little subtleties – like when the execs at FX didn't want to tell Billy Crystal he's not testing well. It's not about slamming showbiz.
SW: I agree! And in that scene, I feel like the viewing audience has this view that Billy Crystal has a free pass to whatever he wants, and I think we all assume that about show business. It's interesting for the viewing audience to see that's not how it always is. Billy is showing himself in that light as endearing and relatable.

MS: You have an improv background. Were you able to bring that to The Comedians?
SW: There is a lot already on the page. But the great thing with Billy, Larry Charles and Ben Wexler – they were like, "Just go with it!" Larry was very big on letting the camera run a very long time. A lot of those moments make their way into the episodes. It was very freeing to know that you can take some liberties, and crash and burn and nobody loses confidence in you. It's a nice marriage of both. It was incredibly freeing and set the tone right away for me.

MS: I wonder if you have to partially speak to FX for that because even despite having Billy Crystal, Josh Gad, Larry Charles, etc. working on the project, I don't know if there would be that much freedom on a network.
SW: That's a very popular sentiment. I never worked with FX before and they really were very hands off in the best way. They were very smart with notes and input. It gives you a lot of confidence when a network has your back.

MS: You've obviously had a great career in comedy, having been one of the most popular names on MadTv. Did working here with these greats teach you anything about comedy?
SW: Nope. Nothing. [laughs] Billy had a very quiet patience when approaching the comedy in this show. You never feel a frenetic energy when you're improvising with him. And that's very natural. I really absorbed that. And Josh is game to go anywhere in a scene; I learned a lot from that. Especially with trust.

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The Comedians premieres this coming April 9 at 10 p.m. on FX. Check out more from Stephnie Weir on Twitter, where you can find her improv duo WeirDass, made up of Weir and husband, Robert Dassie.