Kerri Kenney – Reno 911!

By starrymag | May 4, 2020

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been working on?

A) I was in Prague for a few weeks working on “Miracle Workers: Dark Ages” with Steve Buscemi, which was super fun to work with him again. I had worked with him on “Love;” he had directed an episode of that. “Reno 911!” is all encompassing for me because I’m one of the three creators. So, for all the way back to November we started writing. We’ve been working on it pretty much non-stop. Then, after shooting Thomas Lennon, Ben Garant and I also edit. We’ve been Zooming. We were lucky enough to have finished shooting right before this happened and get a little bit of editing in face-to-face before we had to turn it all virtual.

Q) Was the “Reno 911!” return something you had always workshopped or something that Quibi came to you about?

A) We had always wanted to…Tom, Ben and I have worked together for thirty-three years now. So, we are always talking about projects. We love when things come back and we get to do little reunion of things like “Sketchfest” and “Viva Variety” and “The State.” “Reno” is always something we wanted to bring back. I would have to credit Niecy Nash with really lighting a fire. She would check in every few months and ask, “Okay, when are we doing this? Let’s get the band back together!” Ultimately, Doug Herzog (who is one of the executives at Quibi) called us and said, “We have this thing called ‘Quibi’ happening we think you guys would be great for.” Doug Herzog bought “Reno” when he worked at FOX. It didn’t get picked up there after we did the pilot. Then, he moved over to Comedy Central and he bought it there. So, we moved over to Comedy Central with him. He moved over to Quibi and then he bought it a third time. He’s one of the people who bought “The State” when he worked at MTV. So, we’ve worked with Doug for a long, long time. He’s sort of the reason this incarnation happened. The show lends itself to this beautifully. They are short pieces and you don’t really have to know what is going on. It’s not like some deep story that you have to follow and it’s certainly not a narrative show. You can hop around from people getting their private parts getting caught in various crevices, but you don’t have to know what happened earlier.

Q) Where do we pick up with our favorite Reno deputies?

A) It’s like comfort food, I think. Yes, we joked that the season was going to start with a chyron that said, “Five minutes later.” We didn’t end up doing that, but it’s basically what it is. Every character is back. There were characters that had left in the final season. We don’t explain it. It’s there. So, I think it’s going to be nice for people. If you’ve never seen the show, it’s not brain surgery. It’s just fun, you can hop right on board. If you’re a fan of the show, I feel like we don’t miss a beat. So, we’ll see.

Q) Was there a character you do that you were looking forward to bringing back?

A) I always love Jackie. She appeared I think in the very first season. Her title by the end of the show was “Jackie: The Pickle Throwing Hooker.” It started as an index card on the board while we were writing. Then, it was kind of a dare to me. So, she happened. She’s back and it was so fun to step back into those platform leather thigh high boots and goofy ripped stockings. She’s still rolling around in the dirt and spitting at people. That was a blast. And Niecy got to play T.T. again, which is…you know, classic.

Q) Tom got to direct this season. Do you get to direct at all?

A) I didn’t direct this season. Nothing changes that must when one of us is directing because all of the pieces hop around to different episodes. So, the three of us are standing at the monitor the whole time sort of chiming in, but whoever directs the episode steps up and has the final eye on whatever that episode is. But it’s pretty much the same for all episodes.

Q) Is it typically hard to keep a straight face while filming?

A) Absolutely. There is a wild sound of a marching band playing. And we started the day with that. And Niecy hadn’t been in her T.T. costume for ten years. And so she comes out in her T.T. costume and everyone has their few moments of, “Oh my God! There she is! T.T. is back!” The band started playing and we started recording the wild sound. There are about a hundred people standing around and she is in her T.T. costume just dancing around as T.T. while the band is recording. It was one of the greater moments of my life. You probably hear laughs all over the track of that audio. It was incredible to get everybody back together doing their old thing. People really did not miss a beat. I think people are going to be happy.

Q) Who are some guest stars we can expect to see?

A) Big Mike (Toby Huss) is always a favorite. Patton Oswalt is back. We’ve had Patton in a few different characters. He’s a whole new one this time. I think a more current one. We have Jim Rash is back. Jack Plotnick is back. It’s business as usual in Reno. There are some great new faces that I’ll let you discover. Not new faces, but faces you will recognize. Some great guest stars that we haven’t had before.

Q) Will there be getting to see Nick Swardson return as the infamous Terry?

A) I hate to have to say this, but Nick is working on a pilot of his own. But I hate to have to say that for this season Terry will not appear. I’m sorry to have to say that! But there will hopefully be more and he can skate back into our hearts.

Q) What is it about Dangle that makes Wiegel so unaware yet so interested in him?

A) I think it’s the thrill of the chase. Also, I think she doesn’t realize when people are disgusted by her. It’s just a lovely quality. I think she is kind of like a squirrel who likes shiny things and whatever is in front of her that excites her she is going to express it.

Q) Trudy is just…a lovable hot mess. What makes her such a beloved character to you?

A) [laughs] There is something about the innocence of just saying the first thing that comes to your mind. I always love that character at a dinner party or at a family reunion. Someone who has the confidence or the…I don’t think it’s confidence. I think it’s the lack of filter…I feel like this day and age we’re all extremely calculated with how we speak. I think we had to go all the way in the other direction, but I think it got a little out of control. But there is something wonderful about that middle-aged woman talking and thinking outloud at the end of the table. And there is something kind of refreshing about it. Someone once said to me in an interview, “You gotta love Trudy. She means well.” I was like, “I don’t know that she does always mean well.” That’s kind of fun, too. It’s just a stream of consciousness, love her or hate her. But she’s super fun to play.

Q) Is there much room to improv during filming?

A) Every single thing you see on the show is improvised. So, we write index cards in the office that have a premise and then we send out to the cast a script. We call it a “script-ment,” which is a gross word that makes me want to vomit. We send out a script-ment that has who is in it – who we think is in it or if you want to be in it say, “Hey, I want to be in this too” – with a very general premise. I would say about half the time there is the punchline, where we need to get to. And that’s it. Then, we just improvise. We have the world’s greatest editors. We have Christian Hoffman who has been with us since the beginning and is now a producer on the show as well. He takes these little bits of things and helps to maestro them together. We have several editors and an incredible post team. But it’s all improved. It’s all the credit of the other actors and the post team to put it all together.

Q) You are a part of social media. What kind of fan feedback have you received to the idea of “Reno 911!” returning?

A) It’s kind of beyond to me. I knew how excited we were to do this again, but I truly, truly didn’t know how it was going to be received. Honestly, at this point in my career and my life it didn’t really matter that much to me. It’s fun to be liked, to have people be excited. But I was just so excited. We were so excited – the cast was so excited! It kind of felt like I would be just as happy if we were doing it on Santa Monica pier just to get the band back together again. I was thrilled to see that our fans seemed to be embracing it and excited about it. Especially right now, we could all use some comfort comedy. We’ll see! Hopefully people will like it. We feel good about it. We had a blast. When we were editing we were really pleased. You never know, but so far at this point people seem excited and we’re excited to share it.

Q) We’ve loved the teasers for the series. Were you able to get your costumes to do them from home for the Zoom meetings or were they done prior to the pandemic?

A) As you know, we had no idea this lockdown was coming. We finished shooting so all wardrobe went into storage. When we kind of scrambled on the West Coast, it was really March 13^th. It was, “Everybody go home. We don’t know how long this is going to last. Grab your purse or backpack and go home.” We thought we’d be back in a couple of weeks. Nobody had anything with them! So, when we realized we were still home and had to do press somehow for this thing we had been working through Zoom every day. Together with Quibi we came up with this idea to Zoom a morning briefing. Kerry’s clothes aren’t going to work for this and my hair isn’t going to work with this. So, we were able to get out of storage all the costumes, wigs and everything. They were dropped on peoples’ doorsteps so they could put them on in their living rooms in the various levels of undress. It was emergency apocalyptic comedy, but it was fun.

Q) What else do you want to be sure we share with our readers about the return of “Reno 911!”?

A) I would say the greatest strength of this season in partnership with Quibi is that not only does it not lose anything in translation to this short form, but I think it helped it. I was skeptical coming from a different age of comedy – the twenty-two minute comedy. I think these six to eight minute pieces move along quickly. You miss nothing and I think you’re excited to see the next one. I think it actually helped us and I’m just really excited for people to see it. I hope they enjoy it as much as we enjoy making it.