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HBO
So what were your first impressions when you first heard about 'Lucky Louie'?
ADLON
I wasn't expecting much at first. You get a script and your first thought is, Can I play this part? Usually my barometer for looking at a character for myself is, if they say in the script that she's pretty or hot or has tits, I tell my agents I'm not gonna bother.
When I got the pilot script, I gave it to my husband. He never reads anything, but I said, Honey, you have to read this. Somebody put a camera in our house. This is insane. I'm never gonna get this, but you gotta read it because it's just funny. Let's just read it to have fun. Then I went in for the audition and they called me in the next day. Louis was like, How is it that I've never met you before?
HBO
You've actually been acting since you were a kid.
ADLON
Since I was nine, actually. In fact, I did a show on this exact stage when I was a teenager — with Red Foxx. We had horses, it was crazy. Drugs...off the hook. [LAUGHS]
HBO
What had you been up to before 'Lucky Louie' came along?
ADLON
I wasn't really actively pursuing on-camera roles for the past seven years because I've been having kids (three) and working in animation (Adlon is the voice of Bobby Hill on the hit series 'King of the Hill.'). This year, I kind of had to get out there because one of my shows was ending.
HBO
Had you seen any of Louis C.K.'s stand-up?
ADLON
No, I didn't know anything about him. My manager had told me to look at his web site, louisck.com, and I thought he was weird-looking at first. But when I looked at the clips, I thought, oh my God this guy is like the male version of me. Which, as we got to know each other more, we both realized was the case.
HBO
What's been the best part about doing this show?
ADLON
The best part is being able to play a character who's really like me — being able to play a mom and drop f-bombs and just have real, raw, uncomfortable situations and hear how the audience responds to it. And it's almost like a relief. One night after a show, there were two guys in dress whites, Navy guys or something. These are not guys who would ever talk to somebody like me. But they were like, 'That was fantastic, you were great and that was really real.' I just think that's a great response.
HBO
Some people think of it as a guy's show. Do you think women can relate to the characters?
ADLON
To me, this is real married life. Couples look like me and Louis. You have a freaky, big, red haired bald guy and a little tiny wife. People aren't all glossy like you usually see on TV and in movies. It just doesn't make sense to me when I see that. So I think that women are relieved to see somebody like me playing a wife and a mom. And it's actually very, very satisfying to talk about really uncomfortable things — to peel it back and say, why isn't she having an orgasm, or why does this mom like to curse?
HBO
How do you see your character, Kim?
ADLON
Well in the first place, she's just a real person, a real, flawed person. She drinks beer. I drink beer in real life. I'm a mom in real life. And, you know, I curse and I get angry and I have a temper sometimes. When I was pregnant, I got into a fight with some guy in the Best Buy parking lot. That's just what it is. Everything's not a big, comfortable, easy situation. There are moms at my kids' schools who are like robots. They get their kids' homework done on time and they're there with all the homemade things at the booster club...I mean, they're not real people and it's not real life. And you just want to look at them and say, is there ever a moment that you lose it?
I hope that we're showing how people can lose sight of their lives and get disappointed and act inappropriately. I'm a mom, but I'm still a woman, and I'm still living a life. And I'm learning as I go. My husband and I, if we do something wrong or we say something wrong, we say to our kids: you know what? I'm just doing this for the first time, and I'm sorry. I think that we put a lot of that in our show. And I think that it's important to show that, because when you see somebody saying I'm sorry to their kid, I don't know how to do this — I think that's just a huge gift.
HBO
Have there been any scenes where you're cringing, Oh God, they're actually doing this on TV?
ADLON
Yes. [CHUCKLES] Many. But I get excited. I mean, there's nothing I don't want to do or examine or look at on this show. I know we're doing all this dangerous, crazy kind of stuff. But people tend to live in a comfortable little world, and I just think in little tiny doses, they're gonna like what we're doing.
HBO
You have to put up with a lot from Louie, and vice versa. What do you think keeps them together?
ADLON
I don't know what keeps most women with their husbands.
HBO
[LAUGHS]
ADLON
I can't really answer that one. I think that when you have children, and you've built a world and a life together, you don't take a decision about coming out of that lightly. That's just not real life. That's what happens everyday in Hollywood: somebody's pregnant, and it's 'I'm done with you. Go and have the baby.'
But I've been in a relationship for 10 years. I have three kids, and I'm kind of in it and under it. So no matter how painful it is or what kinds of fights and horrible awful situations you can get into, you work it out. And then you move on and it's great. It ebbs and flows.
HBO
Do you ever improvise on the show?
ADLON
We improvise a little bit, but it's scripted for the most part. Kelly, who plays my daughter, is unbelievable. If you throw something else at her, she'll just go with it. She's just seven years old and she's like a little genius.
HBO
What's it like working with a child actor on a show like this?
ADLON
I love it. She's at the age right in between my middle and my oldest, so for me, being with her makes me miss my kids. But I just have genuine affection for her and I really admire her. After the first show, she got hurt. But she got back up and joined us for dinner, and I pulled her aside and said, Kelly, I really admire you. It was scary what happened. You got hurt, but you got yourself dressed and you came to dinner and showed everybody that you were OK. That's a really brave, generous thing to do. And she just looked at me with this wise face that she has, and I said, I just I love you Kelly Gould, I adore you. I'm crying and she's looking at me, confused. Then she gave me the biggest hug. But we learn from her everyday — everybody on this set.
HBO
So at seven, she gets the concept the show must go on.
ADLON
Oh absolutely. It's incredible.
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Get Your "One Night Stand" with Louis C.K. DVD. Available at the HBO Store.
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