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In September 2019 Rachel Bloom won her first (and only) Emmy for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the musical-comedy TV show she starred in and created. The award was Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, and she shared it with Jack Dolgen and Adam Schlesinger for the song “Antidepressants Are So Not A Big Deal.” At the time, Rachel was touring with a show called, “What Am I Going To Do With My Life Now?” since Crazy Ex-Girlfriend had just ended. Little did we know that Rachel had already penned a musical stand-up show — complete with new songs co-written with Schlesinger — that she planned to debut sometime in 2020 after taking maternity leave. Needless to say, 2020 had different plans for us all. Within days of each other, Rachel ended up giving birth to her daughter and losing Adam Schlesinger to COVID-19. After taking time to parent, grieve her friend and colleague, and reimagine her one-woman show, Rachel is back out on tour with Death, Let Me Do My Show. Ahead of her stop in New York, The Hollywood Reporter ran an interview in which Rachel reflected on the values of silliness and solidarity:
What led you to pivot from the original idea for the show?
I had a whiteboard up in my office with a list of all the bits. This is from when I was pregnant, because the plan was, I give birth, go on maternity leave and then I would put this show up in 2020. And I remember one day playing with [my daughter], very early in my grief for Adam, and just looking at this list of things. And when you list out stand-up bits in songs, it looks particularly silly… And I remember thinking, “All of this is moot. The world is exploding. This is so stupid.” How stupid would this be if I was like I’m gonna keep just working on this special. And then I was like, “Oh, what if that was the show? That I started to do it, and then called out the exact thought I had which was, “Can you do this? Is there a place for silliness once a bad thing has happened?”Do you think that there is a place for silliness?
There always is. When I was going through this, the thing that saved me was silly things, watching funny movies, reading silly books. It helped me. There used to be a whole part in the show about how death hates comedy because comedy makes you forget death is coming. … At the end of the day, this whole thing is absurd. So who are we to say this thing is serious and this thing isn’t serious?Does the process of performing help with the grief?
I find that when I talk about painful things in my life, the more I talk about it, the more it scabs over the wound. And in fact, Ben Folds said this one time about his songs, that when you turn your experiences into art and share it with people, it almost becomes something else. I think it’s very healing.You’re also able to perform this while there’s a WGA and a SAG-AFTRA strike going on. How does that feel?
In a world in which off-Broadway theater is steadier than film and TV, I feel very fortunate. I feel just very lucky to be able to create. I get to have something I’m doing right now that I’m passionate about and I just feel lucky and also constantly scared for the world of television and film because I remain baffled at the AMPTP’s response and slowness. It’s just really baffling.You’ve been a frequent presence on the picket lines. How do you think morale is at this point?
I’m biased because I have a lot of friends who are on the negotiating committee. I have a lot of friends who are strike captains. So, I’m in a group of people who are very, very pro-union. Pro-strike is a weird thing to say because no one wants to strike. No one involved in the WGA or SAG was like, “Woohoo, can’t wait for a strike.” So it’s not pro-strike, but it’s pro- “This is important, what we’re doing.” So from my point of view, morale is, I would say steadfast, and ultimately, the ball, I believe, is in the court of the AMPTP right now. So, you know, all you can do is keep doing what you’ve been doing.
“I find that when I talk about painful things in my life, the more I talk about it, the more it scabs over the wound.” That’s the human experience in a nutshell, right? It has been in my life. There’s also something very transformative about taking your most painful moments and somehow finding space for humor in them. We’ll never know what the first iteration was like, but I’d wager that what Rachel has written now is an even better show. Check out her website to get tickets in New York or for info on where she’ll be next. Completely superficial sidenote: I am living for the vintage horror film vibes of the show’s poster!
As for what Rachel is going to do with her life once this tour is over, the article teased that she and Adam Schlesinger had been working on a musical adaptation of The Nanny. Rachel wouldn’t give an update due to the project being property of a struck company, but please please please let this happen post-strikes. I’d like to hear “Mr. Sheffield!” in B flat please, take it from the top!
I adore Rachel Bloom. I would love to see this show.
I loved Crazy Ex-Girlfriend! Adam Schlesinger’s death was the first “celebrity” death during Covid to really hit me hard. Sometimes Rachel is a little out there for me, but I’ll bet her show is funny!
Honk for creatives making their own work.
I rewatch CEG a lot and I think it is so underrated, honk for Rachel
I went to NYC last weekend (from Atlanta) to see this show and it was fabulous. No notes, thoroughly delightful. Recommend that anyone who enjoyed CEG go see it.
Would love to see a new The Nanny a la Rachel!
I think Rachel Bloom is so insightful, and I’m glad that she gets to continue creating. I am not baffled by the AMPTP’s response to the strikes, though: They’re trying to wait this out or work around it with scabs. They think audiences don’t care enough and will watch anything they put out there anyway. There’s nothing confusing here — it’s just a really sh*tty strategy.
I’m hoping that non-actors and writers realize that these kinds of strikes benefit *all of us*. Collective bargaining can protect all of our rights as laborers. Allowing corporations to ignore, slow-walk, or try to bust unions in any industry makes all workers less safe and secure.
I went to see this show in Boulder CO, drove over an hour for this and let me tell you is worth every mile. I laughed and cried and cried so much. I call this a collective therapy session for the covid trauma experience. Don’t miss it!!
Love her!! Glad to hear she is healing and doing well. I would 100% see a musical version of The Nanny.