Louie Anderson says he did not hesitate to say yes when Louis C.K. approached him to play the part of Zach Galifianakis’ character’s mother in FX’s Baskets. Louis C.K. asked him if he’d like to play the role of Christine Baskets and Anderson was immediately on board with the idea. Christine is a sweet, sensitive yet strong woman and in a conference call with the press, Anderson discussed getting into the role and why he embraced Christine.
Baskets airs on FX on Thursday nights at 10pm ET/PT.
Louie Anderson Interview:
Have you ever played a character where you had to dress like a woman before?
Louie Anderson: “I did do a tiny little piece in Dom Irrera’s comedy where I was a maid where I came in and just did like a walk-through as a maid. That’s the only time. Before that nothing that I’m aware of.”
Has dressing and acting like a woman helped you understand what it’s like to be a woman?
Louie Anderson: “Well, one of the things is I had a mom who really was representative of strong women and she was in a difficult situation with an alcoholic husband. She had 11 children and she held down the fort and provided a loving atmosphere in a toxic world that we grew up in. So, I had a great role model there and I have five sisters that I got to see all the goods and bads of growing up a woman, from a girl to becoming a woman and how they were treated. So I think that just by osmosis I really got a lot out of that.
But my mom also was a very funny person so I started imitating her in my act in the ‘80s quite heavily and it’s the way that the cartoon was created. I did me as a little kid and my mom and my dad’s voice and that’s what brought Life with Louie together. I’ve always done it, but this is a different character and so I would say where I got my training and then after becoming Christine each time on the set I stayed in character. I wasn’t Louie Anderson; didn’t let people call me Louie. On the trailer it was written Christine. Zach or I were the first people in makeup so people never saw me otherwise. I left right afterwards. I tried to stay in character and yeah, people treat you different. They treated me oftentimes as a mom when they were asking me questions. Many of them called me Christine. It was really a good experience.
To answer your question more directly, I appreciate the fact but I really am playing a very strong character with a lot of frailties underneath it all but she’s trying to keep up appearance for the people around her and for her family. So, she’s a pretty complicated character but I really tried to play her as a really real person. That’s what I was going for during the whole experience.”
What do you think it is about certain comedies that makes them feel timeless?
Louie Anderson: “I think the thing that keeps comedy timeless is to not fix it on any particular thing that’s going on. Like, if you mention an event – a current event. If you use topical things in a comedy or within a show, then that will date it immediately within a week. And I think what keeps comedy really fresh and forever, you can go back to Lucy, is relationships. The black and white turns to color on TV but the relationships don’t change at all. You know, you have Lucy and Ricky, you have Father Knows Best. You have Leave It to Beaver and All in the Family. The shows that hold up the best are dealing with issues like I don’t want to go to school, I don’t want to work, I don’t want to go on anymore. I think what keeps comedy like that is to not put it in a time warp. To not put it in the ‘70s or the ‘80s. I think Baskets could be timeless and I do think FX does a great job about that. I think what they look for are people who are trying to create something that is timeless but also is so original.”
Do you favor a particular subgenre of comedy?
Louie Anderson: “I like the subtle stuff that is wrapped in a thousand innuendos and a thousand nuances. Like sometimes when I’ve watched the episodes of Baskets, I would notice something later that Jonathan Krisel did. I’d go, ‘Oh my god, I never even saw that the first time I watched it.’ I think layers is how you make that stuff.
I find myself stopping on silly comedies all the time because I still feel Gilligan could get off the island. You know what I mean? Even a silly show like that… I think they all play on the fact that we’re all trapped on an island somewhere and I think what Baskets is is I think it could become remembered as one of the great family comedies even though it might be the weirdest family. But this show is all about families.”
What type of fan reaction have you been receiving?
Louie Anderson: “You know, I quit reading all of the reviews. People keep sending them to me. Don’t kid yourself, I’ve read a lot of them but I just said I’ve got to be careful. My head’s already so giant that I don’t want it to get any bigger. Some of my favorite things that fans have said is, ‘Louie Anderson is the funniest woman on TV.’ Another one is, ‘Would you be my mom?’ It really made me laugh. So, it’s been really good.
I’ve had just an overwhelming fun time with the funny stuff like that because I think people are liking Christine. I think they’re liking good things about her and I think they enjoyed the kind of bad things about Christine. The other day I was at breakfast and I was leaving and a young woman goes, ‘Oh! You’re what’s-her-name…Christine! My boyfriend’s going to be so jealous that I met Christine.’ I just found it to be so sweet and charming. I was at a Super Bowl party and people were asking people next to where I was sitting, ‘Is that that guy woman comic?’ ‘Guy woman comic’ really made me laugh. It’s funny, I’ve had such a positive response and then I just block anyone who says anything mean.”
Is the show mostly scripted or do you have the opportunity to improvise?
Louie Anderson: “There were scripts for everything so that was our guide, and then Jonathan allowed us to [go off script]. I would say to him, ‘Jonathan, can I read this like my mom would say it?’ Or, ‘Can I read this like my sister when she was mad at me would say it?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, you can do anything.’ So we had that kind of freedom. Zach is so great also. He likes to try a million things. In not a complaining way, we did a thousand takes for each thing. We did a lot of takes. Jonathan would laugh if he knew I said a thousand, but we did a lot of takes until he really felt like he had it. He’s a fantastic director to work with.”
What do you think it is about Baskets in particular that resonates with its viewers?
Louie Anderson: “I think everybody wants to do their thing, like Zach’s character Chip does. He wanted to be something. He had an idea of what he wanted to be and he wanted to at least try it or figure he could be good at it. I think comedians in general want to make people laugh to make people feel better. And then I think the thing they like is that everybody has or knows a person like Christine in a family. And I think they know that Christine is trying to hold her somewhat crumbling family together and trying to do the best she can. I think Christine is also trying to put on the best face. She hasn’t had an easy life as you’ll find out throughout the episodes, but I think she’s just trying to hold her family together and I think what people really love about Baskets is the family element.”
You touched on this very briefly but do we get to learn about Christine’s backstory and the romantic relationships she’s had?
Louie Anderson: “I don’t like to give anything away but I will tell you you learn about her heartache and you learn about some of those things that are desires and things that she’d like to do. I’ll just stop there, but you do learn a lot about her and who she is and what she’s made of. Especially this episode you get to meet her mother which is an amazing thing. You get to see where exactly Christine [came from] and who exactly Christine was created from.”
