2018 is a big year for Sarayu Blue. She had a major role as John Cena’s wife in Blockers, and now she’s the star of a new NBC comedy produced by Amy Poehler. In I Feel Bad, Blue plays Emet, a working mom dealing with her family and an office full of video game dudes.
NBC presented I Feel Bad to the Television Critics Association this summer. Blue stayed after the panel to speak with reporters more about her role. You can catch a sneak preview of I Feel Bad tonight at 10pm ET/PT before it takes its regular timeslot Thursdays at 9:30pm ET/PT starting October 4, 2018.
Do you expect this fall to be a big deal for you? You’ve been in a lot, but a comedy on NBC…
Sarayu Blue: “This is huge. It’s pretty big. I’m so excited. It’s like unbelievable. I keep saying it’s a dream come true because it is. This is the kind of role that I feel like I can really sink into and relate to and play with and just get to have a lot of fun.”
Growing up, were there sitcoms you watched and imagined “I’m going to be on one of those one day?”
Sarayu Blue: “I think I hoped, but it didn’t really feel like I saw anything that looked like this. That was certainly the dream. The fact that it came true is unbelievable. This was the goal. I just can’t believe it happened.”
What funny stuff is coming up after the pilot?
Sarayu Blue: “A lot of really great physical comedy, some really fun stuff with Paul [Adelstein] and I managing the balance of being parents and kids and surviving. It’s really about survival I think. You’ll see a lot of survival mode.”
They cast I Feel Bad without any specific ethnicity. Have you been sent specifically ethnic roles before?
Sarayu Blue: “For sure. I think that’s very much, when I first started out, it was very specific. Then it started branching out to things like any ethnicity. But yeah, this is a very new territory, to be able to read for a lead role.”
Did you have your agents say, “Look, she can play a mom. It doesn’t have to be any ethnicity.”
Sarayu Blue: “Yeah, I mean, you can press all you want. Whether the role actually opens up in that direction… Getting the auditions, I think I’ve had reps who have always fought for me and tried, and I’ve gotten to have a career that’s really not super stereotypical. I mean, I have played a lot of roles that were open in a lot of ways. At the end of the day, whether they got me in the rooms or not, it was about people’s minds opening.”
Did you see yourself as a Mary Tyler Moore type growing up?
Sarayu Blue: “Yeah. I’ve always wanted to do, I would see these rom-com type roles and the physical comedy and the quirky disaster girl and I thought, ‘I can do that. That’s what I want.’ But you very rarely see women of color in those kinds of roles. You see it with a show like Insecure and it’s incredible to watch, but that’s actually pretty groundbreaking. For the longest time, we were in the sidekick roles or the doctor roles.”
Why did it take so long?
Sarayu Blue: “If I had known… Before we look at that, I think what’s happening right now is a very specific movement. There’s social media. There’s streaming. There’s more opportunity out there. There’s a lot of people like Ava [Duvernay] and Shonda Rhimes and all these people who are creating the opportunities. But until then, there was a traditional structure that was in place. People didn’t know how to break out of it.”
Is there too much pressure on you now?
Sarayu Blue: “Do you know, I feel really supported. I have an amazing team behind me. I have so many friends and fans who are excited. The people have come out because they’re excited to see this kind of representation and normalization. It’s really moving, so I don’t feel pressure. I feel honored.”
Are you trained or practiced in physical comedy?
Sarayu Blue: “I love physical comedy. I went to ACT, I got my masters there. I’m also a klutz so I think I am practiced.”
Are the scenes in I Feel Bad choreographed and rehearsed?
Sarayu Blue: “Oh, not really, no. They just let us go but it’s fun. Safely, of course.”
Does Emet have two families of kids she’s taking care of?
Sarayu Blue: “Yes. Yes. Yes. That’s a definite yes.”
Did you research the video game world?
Sarayu Blue: “My husband is a big video game guy, so I was brought into that world when I met him, when we started dating. He’s gone to all the comic-cons.”
Are you good at it?
Sarayu Blue: “I’m not great, but I don’t mind not being great. It’s fun just to be bad at things too.”
Well, she’s not a player. She just makes them.
Sarayu Blue: “No, she does the storyboard art. She’s the artist part of it.”
Did you notice the games your husband played had a lot of sexualized women?
Sarayu Blue: “Yeah, I mean, let’s look at Tomb Raider. That’s not healthy. That’s not healthy. It’s nice to see women who are strong and physical and capable. I’m a huge advocate for that.”
And as a mom, she’s a hero.
Sarayu Blue: “Yeah. She’s awesome. I mean, she’s a disaster and a badass and complex.”
Over the years, what have they always sent you in for?
Sarayu Blue: “I’ve done a lot of doctors. There’s also a lot of Indian wife type roles, but that’s about it.”
Did they warn you about this when you went to college?
Sarayu Blue: “No one had to talk to me. I knew. I was stubborn though. I was like, ‘I’m going to get it.’ My parents were nervous and all, but I was adamant. I fought hard.”
