After supporting roles in “The Office” and “Bridesmaids,” Ellie Kemper has broken out on her own as the title character in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” a relentlessly upbeat young woman rebuilding her life after 15 years in a bunker.
Created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, the antic comedy returns to Netflix for a third season Friday and finds Kimmy enrolling in college and divorcing the Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm), the cult leader who held her captive.
Raised in a family of four kids from St. Louis, Kemper is modest and cheerful — Midwestern to the core. During a recent conversation at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the 37-year-old Emmy nominee talked about her childhood, her years in the showbiz trenches and life in the limelight.
Q: Last season Kimmy went to therapy and reconciled with her mother. What challenges await this season?
A: Kimmy’s a real fixer upper. She really believes that she can change people. Her challenge in life going forward is that there are circumstances that are beyond her control. She wants to escape her past, but it’s always going to be with her and she has to grapple with it. Something like that can’t be buried. Kimmy has this innate optimism and brightness, but she also has this tenacity and strength which enabled her to survive in the bunker. There’s a lot more to her than her sunny exterior.
Q: Even the colors she wears now are different — a little more “autumn.”
A: The first season I was like, this character would stick out like if she went to the cafe. And now she’s almost, I don’t want to say fashionable, but she’s coming of age in her wardrobe choices, which I think reflects her coming of age, because she missed adolescence. She’s maturing.
Q: The show is so funny, but it also has a powerful message that seems to resonate with people.
A: There have been many people who mentioned that it helped them get through some horrible news, a sickness, breakup, death of a family member — really difficult things. It makes me proud of our show. It is this combination of a bright, funny, very sharply written comedy, but the whole premise is so dark and traumatic. At the core is this survival story.
Q: Did you have to take a lousy day job when you moved to New York after graduation?
A: I signed up for improv classes and did these temp day jobs during the day. There would be afternoons where I wasn’t working and I was at home. I remember my roommate and I were both home one afternoon and we were eating grilled cheese sandwiches with Cheetos and carrots. And we looked down and we were like, this is an all-orange meal. It’s the middle of a weekday. We’re 24. What is our life? It just felt so pathetic.
I also typed for a writer for Vanity Fair for a couple of weeks. He would dictate, and I would type. I never saw the article I was writing. It was about Whitney Houston. It was very weird. Now that I’m describing it, it sounds like “Mad Men.” I think the longest job I had was at Crumbs, the cupcake shop.
Q: You’ve written for places like the Onion and McSweeney’s. Is that something you want to return to?
A: I am writing a book of humor essays, and I say that with my tail between my legs because I need to return to writing it. It’s always easier to talk about writing your book than it is to sit down and do it.
Q: You also wrote a piece for the New York Times about bombing on your first visit to “The Tonight Show” and crying in the darkness while musical guest Jakob Dylan performed.
A: Yes. It went so horribly wrong. I was so amped up for it and worried and all these different emotions and I felt like I had embarrassed myself and I didn’t know if (lead guest) Garry Shandling was making fun of me. It was just an awful experience. I don’t know if you’ve heard the song (“Nothing But the Whole Wide World”), but it’s really sad. Being on a live television show can be a nerve-racking experience when you’re the guest. I remember going home and telling everyone “Don’t watch.”
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