Mary Lynn Rajskub is best known as the hilarious, socially awkward CTU computer genius Chloe OâBrian on the hit Fox show 24. But did you know she also does standup comedy? And that she is in actuality so technically retarded that she canât turn on her own television? Well⌠youâre about to know. When you start reading this interview⌠like, now.
Your last name is pronounced âRice-Cub,â right?
Very good! Iâm impressed already.
Iâm kind of an idiot savant when it comes to unpronounceable last names. In my TV column I proclaimed a scene you did on 24 as the âBest TV Performance of the Year.â
Are you serious? I love that!
Guess which scene.
Was it Edgar and the nerve gas?
NoooooâŚ
Was it the Taser scene?
Nooooo⌠but that was a good one!
Was it when I blew the face off that terrorist?
YES! That was so awesome!
That was a good scene, wasnât it?And fun, too! On the night we were shooting that scene, the regular director had gallstones, so we got a substitute director. But we totally clicked, and were so excited about shooting that terrorist. He did a fantastic job.
You were totally like Patrick Swayze in Red Dawn⌠BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Thatâs been such a dream of mine⌠to be more like Patrick Swayze in Red Dawn.
I think Homeland Security should show that scene in airports to discourage terrorism. So do you think Chloe hates people?
No, she just does her job really well, and doesnât have any patience. She doesnât live in the same world as everybody else. The only thing she really knows is her job. Early on, I thought Chloe was going to be fired for being so bitchyâbut after time, people started to see her as being on Jackâs side, and they accepted her more. Thatâs when the role started becoming more interesting.
So in this coming season, will you be rescuing Jack from the red Chinese (who kidnapped him at the end of last season)?
Absolutely. The red Chinese are TOTAL jerks.
I KNOW. Do you watch a lot of TV?
No, I donât actually⌠I donât know what happened. Wait. Yes, I do. I was watching a lot of Being Bobby Brown, and finally I just said, âI canât watch TV anymore!â
You said, âHell to the NO!â
That and the fact I canât turn on my TVâthat takes all the fun out of it for me. I tried for three minutes to turn my television on, and finally was like, âI donât have time for this! I gotta go!â
You know that admission totally ruinâs Chloeâs character for me, right? How did you get started in standup comedy?
In art school I was doing performance artâand for some reason everyone started laughing at me. So I just started going for the laughs. My style has always been making myself and the audience uncomfortable. Once at a comedy club, I pretended I was too scared to come out onstage, which I thought was hilariousâbut everybody in the audience really thought I was too scared to come out. I was like, âThatâs the jokeâGET IT? Why would I be here if I didnât want to go out onstage?â
I know you donât watch TV, but on Inside the Actors Studio, [host] James Lipton always asks the same questions at the end of his interviews. And since youâll probably be on the show one day, I should ask you those questions, tooâjust so youâll be prepared.
Mmmm⌠okay.
First question: Whatâs your favorite color?
Iâm ashamed to say Iâm going with pink.
Second question: Whatâs your favorite curse word.
FuckâŚ
He wonât think thatâs very original.
Well, Iâm not going to play his dumb little game, then.
Okay! Okay! Last question: When you go to heaven, what is the first thing youâre going to ask for?
Ummm⌠a face massage. Maybe a steak sandwich. With some fries. And then another face massage.
