Interview with Megan Mullally

During the eight years that Will & Grace was on television, almost everyone knew bitchy boozehound Karen Walker. Now people are learning about the woman who played her, thanks to The Megan Mullally Show, a daily gabfest that debuted only a few months after Will & Grace ended. We recently spoke to Mullally about her new show, how she feels about actors choosing (or not choosing) to come out, humping Sean Hayes, and Karen: The Musical.

AfterElton.com: What do you bring in terms of originality to your talk show?
Megan Mullally: Well, you know what we’re doing with this show that I really love? We’re trying to level the playing field a little bit. We have celebrity guests on every show, and we have noncelebrity guests. And I don’t really feel any differently about the celebrities than I do the noncelebrities. I like everybody, and I want everybody to be at his or her best. And what I [also] love about the show is the undercurrent of creativity. We have all these creative challenges on our website that people can get involved in and are doing. We have something called “Homegrown Stories” where you can make a little two-minute documentary about your hometown and send it in, and we’ve been showing some of those on the show. And we have a thing called “Self Portrait” where you can send in photographs that you think sort of sum up who you are and what you’re all about. [There’s] a whole section in our website called “Get Creative,” and we’re starting to be able to integrate it into our show a lot more.I think the show has a lot of heart. It’s very genuine and it’s very encouraging. There’s a lot of positive energy, I think.

AE: Just looking back for a minute to Will & Grace, what impact do you think it had on the mainstream culture when you take into account the fact that it featured a main character who was gay?
MM: When we started doing Will & Grace, I don’t think there were very many shows or any shows that had gay lead characters. Now I feel like almost every single show has at least one gay or lesbian lead character … or a major supporting character. That’s a gigantic change.
[Editor's note: The number of GLBT characters on network shows has actually declined since Will & Grace debuted.]

AE: And do you think Will & Grace was responsible for that?
MM: I wouldn’t say it was responsible for it, but I certainly think that it factored in there somewhere. [Laughs.]

AE: The actor who played Doogie Howser, Neil Patrick Harris, recently came out. Currently, he plays a straight character in a sitcom. It was his decision to come out, but it was sort of like he was forced a little bit, too. I don’t know if you read the news story, but as an actor, and especially as a fellow queer actor, what is your reaction to his coming out?
MM: [Long sigh.] Um, that’s a tough one. You know, I didn’t read any of that. I don’t read any celebrity magazines or watch any celebrity shows, so I often don’t know [what’s going on in the entertainment world]. Like, I didn’t know Madonna adopted a baby until three weeks later, which is pretty crazy. I’m pretty out of it in that regard, even though I’m hosting a talk show. … But I think if somebody wants to come out, he or she should. … Now it seems like the culture and the business are a lot more accepting. … With Neil Patrick Harris — I’m only speculating — but his coming-out, I doubt it’s going to have a very negative impact on his career. I don’t think that people will be like, “Oh, we can’t hire him because he’s gay.”

AE: Do you think that if an actor doesn’t want to come out they should be allowed their privacy?
MM: I think you should be able to have privacy about anything in your life if you want to. If you don’t want anybody to know your father was an alcoholic, then don’t tell anybody. If you don’t want anybody to know that secretly at night you watch dirty movies on your pay-per-view, then just don’t tell anybody. I understand why it’s important for people to come out. I do understand that, but I also feel like people are different.

AE: Do you ever worry about famous gay acquaintances or friends being outed?
MM: I don’t really worry about other people ’cause that’s an insult to other people: I think people can take care of themselves. If a friend needs me for something, of course I’m there, but no, I don’t ever think about that. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal anymore. I really don’t. Like I really don’t think that if somebody finds out that an actor is gay that it’d be the end of the world. … I just think we’re past that now. I think that yeah, people in certain parts of the country might have a problem with it for a minute, but I just think we maybe, hopefully, have broken through that barrier.

AE: You told The Advocate in 1999 that you are bisexual.
MM: I actually didn’t say that. I said that I believed that everybody’s innately bisexual. … [Editor's note: The exact quote was: "I consider myself bisexual, and my philosophy is, everyone innately is."] Many of us don’t realize [our bisexuality] to any degree, and some of us realize it to one degree or another, and it’s just a question of where you’re at in your life and your awareness and that kind of thing. It doesn’t have to manifest as a sexual thing. It can just mean that you don’t have to be afraid to hug, or, like, if you’re a straight woman — quote-unquote — and you have a great girlfriend and you want to hold hands with her … or cuddle, good, do it. That’s what everybody should be doing. But I think that in our culture, we’re so paranoid about any little thing — and particularly men are, as you may have noticed. Men are much more aware of expressing any kind of physical affection with members of the same sex. …You know, I said I was open to the idea of [bisexuality]. I was single when I said it and had I turned around the next day and met a woman who I liked and cared about as a person, then I wouldn’t have said, ‘Yeah, but you’re a woman, so forget it.’ I think that’s just silly.