Cheryl Hines
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Cheryl Hines has all the best qualities for a sexy woman, she is beautiful and most importantly, FUNNY! She is best known as Larry David’s wife Cheryl on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Now she is teaming up with another famous funnyman, Robin Williams, in the surprisingly funny RV.

Check out the official site for RV

Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you have to audition for RV?

Cheryl Hines: I did not, I took a meeting.

DRE: So you really don’t have to go through that process anymore at least for comedic roles?

CH: Yeah, I would like to say that. But I guess it depends on the project. Certainly I’ve moved into a different world from driving around in my Tercel with all my headshots in the back going to auditions and sweating because I didn’t have air conditioning in my car. I’ve come from that to just taking meetings with the director, [laughs] which is nice.

DRE: When you’re working with Larry David or Robin Williams, is it like comedic sparring?

CH: I wouldn’t put it that way because when you’re improvising with someone you’re doing it as a team. Although, I’m sure there are plenty of comedians who feel like it’s competition and want to get all the laughs but I’m not that person. I don’t care if I get laughs or not. I just want to be in the scene and do what comes naturally and support whoever I’m with.

DRE: [RV director] Barry [Sonnenfeld] said you warned him you couldn’t sing.

CH: [laughs] Yeah.

DRE: Was there any hesitation about singing badly on film?

CH: How dare you? [laughs] I did not hesitate. I love to sing. One time when I sang karaoke they gave me the tape so I could play it my car later. I listened to it and I was like “Oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that in front of people” [laughs]. I thought, “I will never sing in front of people again, ever.” But then we’re shooting the movie and Barry goes “I’ve got a great idea.” I’m like, “Oh no, it involves me singing?” You can’t really hesitate and nobody expects me to be good, right? If I was supposed to be good, I’d really be in trouble. But if nobody has any expectations, I don’t care.

Barry picked this impossible song, GTO, and it goes so high that I figured I need to start real low. It’s like the Star Spangled Banner because you start it real low because all of a sudden “And the rocket’s red glare.”

DRE: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

CH: Well when the Monros meet the Gornickes and Jeff [Daniels], Kristin [Chenoweth] and their family sing for us, it was so hard for me to keep a straight face [laughs]. Barry wanted us to be deadpan when we were off camera and that was impossible [laughs]. Jeff is going around the room with a harmonica going “toot toot” and I was like, “I can’t do it, I can’t do it.” Once I go, it’s really hard for me to get it back. I’ll just be sitting there and I’ll stop laughing but my shoulders are shaking. I just can’t keep it together so that day was especially fun and sad because I did get yelled at quite a bit.

DRE: Did you ever have a really horrible family vacation?

CH: I think they all have a little horror. We used to go from Florida to North Carolina and rent a cabin by a stream. My parents felt it was our chance to bond with nature so instead of using a refrigerator, they thought it was a great idea to put everything that needed refrigeration in the cold stream. So our job was to build a dam all day in the freezing cold stream. Then in the middle of the night all of our food washed away. Then for the next few days we would go on a hike looking for soda.

Looking back it was really fun. But at the time you’re ten years old and you’re just hoping you find the carton of eggs that floated down the river. It was kind of fun but at the same not very exciting.

DRE: So you didn’t all bond and get closer?

CH: We laughed about it later. Although I did go camping with my Dad once and one night while we were sleeping, I was cold. I was trying to keep the fire going and I burned all of our toilet paper and napkins and paper towels. Nobody was happy when they woke up.

DRE: Barry Sonnenfeld said that you all kept to the script in RV; did you feel like you had to tone it down?

CH: Barry and Robin were really good about it. Robin’s a true, professional actor. He’s really a very focused actor. I thought maybe when he does drama he’s very focused and when he do comedies he’s like “Wow!” But it’s not like that, he so knows what he’s doing. With the first takes we’re strictly by the script and then we would maybe do a take or two where he could do whatever he wanted. It was a pretty good compromise. But we also sat down with Barry before we started shooting and went through the whole script and if we had ideas that we thought would make the scene better we would talk about it. Barry has everything planned out when you shoot. You know what you’re going to shoot and how you’re going to shoot it.

DRE: You have definitely nailed the funny, supporting wife type role. When are you going to do a film or show where somebody’s got to be your funny supportive husband?

CH: I would like that, maybe next [laughs].

DRE: What are your favorite comedians?

CH: I love Carol Burnett and I love Mary Tyler Moore. Those are definitely my big influences.

DRE: Did Campus Ladies get renewed?

CH: Yeah we got picked up and we’re working on our second season. It’s doing great. That’s a show that has this cult following, people keep coming up to me and telling me how funny it is.

DRE: How involved are you with it?

CH: I was there all the time for all the shooting of the pilot and getting the outlines together because it’s improvised like Curb. Then when I started shooting RV of course I was away from it. But whenever I wasn’t doing anything else, I was on the set of Campus Ladies. I directed an episode and we’re working on outlines for the next season.

DRE: Were you nervous when you were first starting it up?

CH: Yeah, we were like “How are we going to get people to watch Oxygen?” But it was a challenge.

DRE: When are you going back into production for Curb?

CH: That’s a good question. I’m still waiting for Larry to decide if he definitely wants to do another season.

DRE: Is there a lot more to do?

CH: I think there’s probably one more season left and then I think he’ll stop.

DRE: Would you like them to have kids?

CH: Oh we’ll never have kids [laughs]. I don’t think anybody wants to see Larry procreate. [laughs] Although in real life Larry’s got cute kids but on the show I don’t think people want to see it.

DRE: Since Curb Your Enthusiasm is mostly improvised, do any of the guest stars ever go blank?

CH: I don’t really think anyone goes blank. Once in a while we’ll be doing a scene and at the end of a few takes we’ll realize that it’s not funny. Then we have to take it in a new direction. A live audience is what makes people get stuck and Curb is not done in front of a live audience. But most people that are cast have had an improv background and they audition.

DRE: You’ve worked with so many comedic people from so many generations like Shelley Berman, Paul Dooley and of course all the modern people. How scary are their dark sides?

CH: I guess it is true that a lot of comedians have had a painful life. I haven’t been around anybody where I sat in a room with them and they went to their dark side and I would think “God, he’s going to kill us both.” I’ve never been afraid of anybody’s dark side. My personal experience with people that I’ve worked with is that it’s not that big of a difference. It might be that they just get quiet as opposed to saying “My life sucks and everybody sucks. I hate the world, if they only knew who I really was.” I know there are people out there like that, but I haven’t really met them.

DRE: That sounds like Larry everyday.

CH: [laughs] Yeah, he’s open about it. You see his dark side, no secrets.

DRE: You’ve been described as the thinking person’s sex symbol. Was that in your career plan?

CH: Yes and it all worked out the way I planned. [laughs] No, I don’t know how that happened. [laughs] It’s so funny because I came to New York to do a morning show and the fans that were dying to see me, at eight o’clock in the morning on a weekday were middle aged guys in suits. They’re like, “Good morning. I’ve been dying to meet you.” I’m the accountant’s poster girl.

DRE: It must be flattering though.

CH: Oh my God it’s so flattering. The people that are fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm and of the other stuff that I do all seem like intelligent funny people. What more could someone ask for?

DRE: As someone who started at The Groundlings, you’re pretty much at the height of where you could go in terms of comedy. What were your expectations?

CH: Without sounding too Southern California philosophical about it all, I do feel like I learned a big lesson. When I started at The Groundlings, I didn’t have anything, literally, not even have a refrigerator. I was broke and I desperately wanted to get in The Groundlings and be a part of the company just so I could perform and do improv there. I read a book called The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. One of the things the book says is to detach yourself from the outcome and just focus on what you’re doing. It was a good lesson for me because then I realized, “ok, I can’t control if I’m going to actually get in the company or not, but I just need to just go to class and learn. I can appreciate the people in my class and really try to soak it in and that’s all I can do.” Once I started taking that attitude, it’s really about the process and living your life for what’s happening now. Then all the other stuff started to come. So you first start out thinking, “Oh my God, all I want to do is be in a movie with Robin Williams.” If that’s your goal, it’s really going to be difficult to get there, just by wishing it. [laughs] So I am amazed that I’m here and I’m basically living a dream. That’s a long winded answer. Now do I feel nutty!

DRE: What’s been your favorite Curb storyline so far?

CH: I like the one where my family was there and Larry ate baby Jesus because it was based on a true story. My family made this manger scene out of cookies and everybody was running around saying “Nobody eat baby Jesus.” I told Larry about that and he went “Oh we have to do that.”

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Cheryl+Hines/