THE COMEDIANS: Stephnie Weir Previews Kristen’s Very Bad Day

Things are getting hectic in tonight’s episode of THE COMEDIANS, as the team is faced with writing a new sketch at the last minute…on July 4th.

Naturally, things are a bit tense, and for Kristen (Stephnie Weir) the day goes from bad to worse. (It doesn’t help that Kristen has a very bad history with this particular holiday, too.)

I spoke with Weir about Kristen’s terrible day, what she’d like to see going forward, and more…

Since we last spoke, the show has launched. What has the reaction been like?
Stephnie Weir: The feedback has been good! A lot of it coming from my jaded, very snobby, TV-viewing friends. They’ve really been enjoying it, and that’s the best compliment I could get: they’re like, “Oh my gosh, we’re loving it!” It just continues to get deeper, and so far, some really good feedback.

What can you tease about tonight’s episode of THE COMEDIANS?
SW: She has a bad history with the 4th of July, and ironically, because of the stuff that’s going on on the set of the [show], it tops her very worst 4th of July — which was pretty bad! [Laughs] She’s starting to become a little more worried about the show, and whether they’re going to get across the finish line.

As these new problems keep popping up, has she gotten used to the chaos?
SW: I think she’s always feeling like, “Finally, we’re safe! Everything’s OK.” It’s almost like Charlie Brown with that football. “I made it through this, finally, nothing bad can happen!” And it always does, and she’s always just as surprised when things go wrong.

I do think it continues, and the stakes get higher with each time. As a producer, changing a sketch at the last minute seems easy, but there are so many technical things for her that now just blow her mind. She always has to do the dirty work of finding money to do all these things, and talk with all the business people at FX. [Billy Crystal and Josh Gad’s characters’] relationship is stressed, so that’s stressing her out. She always has a stressful episode, but this one is pretty up there.

How is she juggling Billy and Josh’s conflicting desires? And at this point, does she even like either of them?
SW: [Laughs] I feel maybe she has some male baggage: where you thrive or live on people who have so much hatred toward you and make your life so miserable — there’s something very dysfunctional going on. I think she really does adore and respect them, and believes one day all that adoration is going to come back to her. That’s at least how I’m playing it. To be so abused and continue showing up day in and day out, there has to be some sort of psychology around that.

Absolutely. What can you preview about the rest of the season?
SW: Just like anything that is difficult, is worthwhile, there are moments when you feel like you want to throw in the towel. They have moments of internal questions of, “Is this good? Is what we’re doing actually worthy of the show?” They have those questions. And Kristen, at the end of the day, is questioning it. [The episodes] were really fun to do, and I’m excited for the viewers to see it.

Will we be getting more insight to her in upcoming episodes?
SW: Tonight’s episode is probably the most revealing about what her backstory is. It certainly gives you some insight into what this woman’s headspace is like, living with her. We get to see what she does in a crisis, and where her allegiances are, when it comes to this show. It’s about Billy and Josh. I think we’re all pulling for this show, and that’s what we’re focusing on.

Looking towards the finale, does it end in a way where you know where Kristen would be in season 2? Or is it a big question mark for you, too?
SW: It is a big question, I think for all of us. There are so many different ways to go. As we were filming it, we were pitching out different ideas of where we could see [things going]…some of them were real and some of them were [more far-fetched]. Kristen having a late-in-the-day baby would delight me. Like, she show up pregnant and [the audience] not know whose it was — that was one of the silly pitches.

But there are so many ways the characters could go and so much room for their relationships to grow. But no, nothing set in stone.

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THE COMEDIANS airs Thursdays at 10 PM on FX.

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