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Thursday, May 4, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
‘Veep’ star talks politics
Matt Walsh
discusses political
satire and comedy
By SHIR AVINADAV
Daily Arts Writer
“That came out wrong,” was
uttered not by U.S. Press Secre-
tary Sean Spicer, but by “Veep”’s
Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh)
after a gaffe that earned him one
of Selena Meyer’s (Julia Louis-
Dreyfus, “Seinfeld”) famous
glares. Though the bumbling
former White House Press Sec-
retary is often compared with
Spicer, the series refrains from
commenting directly on its
uncanny parallels to the current
administration. In a conference
call interview with the Daily,
Walsh explained what makes
the comedy so salient, while
discussing his character Mike
McLintock on the show.
The Emmy Award-winning
series, lauded for its hilarious
cast and sharp satirization of
American politics, has become
even more of a topic of conversa-
tion in its sixth season following
the 2016 Presidential Election.
“I think a lot of people are
more engaged now,” said Walsh
of viewers. Rather than taking
a partisan stance, however, the
show aims to influence people’s
perception of politics overall.
“I think that comedy can
be effective in humanizing
what’s sacred, so hopefully it
just reminds people that it’s just
human beings trying to push
ideals through in a very flawed
system,” Walsh stated.
According to Walsh, the
Armando Iannucci (“In the
Loop”) created series, taken
over by David Mandel (“Sein-
feld”) in its fifth season, has
served as a cynical portrait
of American politics from its
inception.
“The show has always lived
and died by its insults,” Walsh
said of the show’s crassness, “I
think that was one of Arman-
do’s first observations (of D.C.)
… and that was one of the things
he wanted to satirize.”
With the profusion of crude
insults being hurled around,
the absence of references to
presidents beyond Reagan and
Selena’s undefined party affili-
ation may escape notice. That’s
what makes the show different
in Walsh’s opinion.
“It operates on this fiction,
which I think gives us a lot more
latitude to comment on the
greater truths about what’s hap-
pening,” Walsh said.
For Walsh, telling the truth
through comedy is one of the
most rewarding parts of being
on the show and of being a com-
edy actor.
“I love the power of mak-
ing people laugh,” he said. “It’s
very rewarding to be on the
stage and write something that
can get this huge response from
people.”
Walsh’s
experience
with
comedy started at an early age,
ultimately leading him to found
the Upright Citizen’s Brigade
alongside comedians like Amy
Poehler (“Parks and Recre-
ation”) and Matt Besser (“The
UCB Show”).
“I think comedy and improv
and sketch are about life experi-
ence,” Walsh said of his improv
experience. “I think ultimately
you have to develop very keen
listening habits.”
He fostered those habits as
a psychology major at North-
ern Illinois University, where
his training would later on
help him “identify patterns
in behavior” that helped him
develop characters like Mike.
“I feel like I’ve had a hand
in creating Mike’s evolution
and creating … the details of his
backstory and the details of his
character flaws,” Walsh said.
Mike’s flaws are especially
visible in his new role as a par-
ent this season.
“I think he feels older, and
he feels more overwhelmed,”
Walsh said. “I think in Mike’s
situation he feels unfulfilled
just being a dad, because he’s
not creatively stimulated.”
This season, Mike is faced
with an unruly child whom he
adopted from China under the
impression that she was three
years younger than she really is,
in addition to the birth of twin
babies, all while dealing with his
recent unemployment. How-
ever, Walsh claimed that yet “of
all the characters, Mike has the
happiest life outside work.”
Walsh related Mike’s arc for
the season: “I think as always,
Mike’s main obstacle is work-
ing for a terrible boss — also,
it’s a tough business (politics) …
for Mike I think it’s always that
struggle between personal hap-
piness and professional happi-
ness, and I think that continues
this season as well.”
As for the show, Walsh
praised the writers for their
imagination and fearlessness as
well.
“What I love about our show
is they’re willing to rip up the
premise,” Walsh said in citing
Selena’s
unexpected
ascen-
sion to the presidency then to
herdevastating loss in the bid
for reelection following a his-
toric Electoral College tie as an
example.
Often, scenes in the script
are revised using improvisation
during rehearsal — a method
Walsh claimed helps identify
what’s not working in the script.
During filming, Walsh said
there are few free takes (after
which the scenes as written
have completed shooting), but
that those opportunities provide
Walsh with the chance to fur-
ther put his improv chops to use.
Additionally, Walsh cred-
its his comedic prowess on the
show to the exchange between
castmates.
“I
think
most
comedy
involves a scene partner, and I
think that’s where great come-
dians show themselves — is
their ability to listen and use
what their partner’s giving
them,” he said.
“Mike McLintock has been
one of my favorite roles, and
it’s such an honor to come back
as an actor and as a returning
character,” Walsh added of his
experience on the show.
Delaney soars
By SAM ROSENBERG
Daily Arts Writer
It’s remarkable how quickly Ama-
zon’s “Catastrophe” became one of
the best new comedies of the 2010s.
Usually, it takes some time for TV
comedies to attain critical success
before they find their footing. But
for some reason, “Catastrophe” —
which first aired in 2015 on British
network Channel 4 — has consis-
tently delivered on each of its 18 half-
hour episodes. Co-creators and stars
Rob Delaney (“Life After Beth”) and
Sharon Horgan (“Divorce”) have
taken a wild premise — an American
man impregnates an Irish woman
in London after a one-night stand
— and fleshed it out with an honest,
unflinching and hysterical look into
marriage and family dynamics. Now
in its third season, “Catastrophe”
unspools the complexity of its protag-
onists and their unconventional rela-
tionship — while remaining hilarious
as ever.
Unlike Season Two’s time leap,
season three of “Catastrophe” begins
right where it left off: The schlubby
Rob (Delaney) asks about a receipt
for a Plan B pill from his wife Sharon
(Horgan), who drunkenly engaged
in a quasi-affair with a stranger the
night before. Though the infidel-
ity storyline only lingers for that first
episode, it leads to an ongoing tension
between the two hapless lovebirds
that plays out as both entertaining
and unnerving.
“We communicate on a wave-
length,” Rob tells his eccentric friend
Chris (Mark Bonnar, “Undercover”)
in the second episode. Even with this
casual aside, the
pain and lack of
communication
between Rob and
Sharon goes much
deeper than Sha-
ron’s
one-night
fluke. As each episode shows, the
couple is still grappling with learning
how to be fully-functioning adults,
parenthood and marriage being
the biggest obstacles to attaining
that ideal. Along with confronting a
thread of issues like house mortgag-
ing, job hunting and family discon-
nect, Rob and Sharon must come
to terms with their own personal
qualms that threaten to destroy their
already dysfunctional marriage.
What makes these characters so
absorbing and different from any
other TV couple is primarily due to
the dynamism of Delaney and Hor-
gan’s on and offscreen partnership.
They write and act out their roles so
well they could easily pass for being
a real-life couple, simply replaying
their everyday experiences for a TV
audience. Delaney infuses both a boy-
ish smugness and gentle vulnerability
in Rob, while Horgan paints Sharon
into a complex, frustrated wife whose
indecision often conflicts with ambi-
tions of her own. Together, they’re
comedy gold with a wicked hint of
gravitas.
Despite a bit of a lull in the middle
of season three — episodes three
and four are not the strongest of the
bunch — almost every moment feels
like an important contribution to
“Catastrophe”’s characters and over-
all narrative.
After being fired for a misunder-
standing involving a sexual harass-
ment complaint, Rob’s desire to find
work is upended by his arrogance and
day drinking. The arrogance aspect
makes for some great comedic mate-
rial, as he zig zags his way through
failed interviews with prospective
employers. But the drinking aspect
lands as much more troubling, and
keeping that bad habit a secret from
Sharon makes for a disheartening
reveal in the season finale.
Meanwhile, Sharon struggles to
make sense of her own self-worth,
whether it’s being an underappreci-
ated elementary school teacher or an
undervalued daughter and sister. But
despite her vulgarity and immaturity,
Sharon gains some closure with her-
self when dealing with her dementia-
riddled dad Des (Gary Lilburn) and
childish brother Fergal (Jonathan
Forbes, “Black Mirror”).
These moments of tenderness and
melancholy, interspersed with Rob
and Sharon’s shenanigans, pull hard
at the heartstrings. It’s difficult to
incorporate drama in a comedy with-
out making it seem trite, but “Catas-
trophe” tramples those expectations
with grace. Season three’s unexpected
cliffhanger is no exception; it’s as jaw-
dropping as it is heart-wrenching.
Despite being more serious than
the first two seasons, the third season
of “Catastrophe” still maintains its
raunchy roots. It welcomes the return
of Ashley Jensen (“Ugly Betty”) and
Eileen Walsh (“Pure Mule”) as Sha-
ron’s kooky friends Fran and Kate,
as well as a brief but amazing guest
appearance from Domhnall Glee-
son (“Brooklyn”) as Rob’s reluctant
recruitment consultant. Continuing
the role of Rob’s mother from previous
seasons, the late Carrie Fisher (“Star
Wars: The Force Awakens”) delivers
one of her greatest final performances,
imbuing a sinister mix of black humor
and pathos in her attempt to curb Rob
from destroying his family with his
alcoholism.
With these layers lifted, “Catastro-
phe” gradually sheds from its risqué
cocoon and blossoms into something
much more substantial and potent.
After all, the core of “Catastrophe”’s
plot is the constant threat of disaster
and how to handle those kinds of situ-
ations. As messy as Rob and Sharon are
on their own, they find a way to come
together even in the darkest of times.
Their evolution from restless strang-
ers to a married couple is a journey
that challenges the two to acknowl-
edge their imperfections instead of
repressing them. But perhaps it’s their
instinctual ability to achieve peace
within themselves and one another
during intense, earth-shattering fights
that makes them, and “Catastrophe,”
great to watch.
TV REVIEW
TV INTERVIEW
Catastrophe
Season 3 Review
Amazon