Parker Posey’s humorous dialogue in Will & Grace worked on audiences, but not on herself.
Posey made a guest appearance as Dorleen in Will & Grace in a two-episode arc in 2001. The actress opened up about the challenge of acting in a sitcom with no prior experience of doing TV shows.
The actress, who had already made a name for herself in Indie films, noted that acting in a sitcom was “like tap dancing.”
Recalling that she failed to understand what was funny about her dialogues, the Lost in Space star spoke to Friends star Lisa Kudrow in a recent episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors.
“I would say stuff like on Will & Grace and people would laugh, and I’d be like, ‘I don’t get it,'” the Party Girl star admitted.
“What, you mean like, what are they laughing at?” the No Good Deed actress asked Posey, who explained, “I didn’t think it was funny. Yeah, like, ‘What are you laughing at?'”
Kudrow asked, “Was it a joke that they had written?” Because “that happens sometimes.”
Posey explained, saying, “I take it seriously, and then you go, ‘Oh, well, that was kind of funny,’ and then they throw jokes at you as you’re doing it, because everyone else has been doing it for a few years,” she explained.
She continued, “Then you’re called in, and you’re like, ‘Hey, Megan Mullally’… and Sean Hayes, and you’re just watching this whole other vaudeville, you know?”
Parker Posey may have been an indie film star, but her career has seen a recent resurgence through hit TV shows. The actress played June Harris aka Dr. Smith, in Netflix’s Lost in Space, followed by her memorable role as Victoria Ratliff in the third season of The White Lotus.
