I had a special moment with Mary Lynn Rajskub when she was on a Television Critics Association panel for the short-lived comedy “How to Be a Gentleman.” While other cast members were answering questions, Rajskub looked over and saw me and our eyes connected, so she winked and waved at me. She remembers that still.
Earlier this year, “24” returned to the TCA to present “Live Another Day,” the long-awaited new season of “24” in 12 episodes. The producers described Chloe as an Edward Snowden character when we pick up with her four years later.
At the evening party after the panel, I found Rajskub was happy to see me again, and I was surprised to find myself confessing my true feelings during our interview. “24: Live Another Day” begins Monday, May 5 on Fox.
CraveOnline: Are you thrilled that you finally have something to say about “24” since everyone asks you about it every time you do something else?
Mary Lynn Rajskub: You mean that something’s happening? Yeah, it’s exciting. It’s actually becoming real. It kind of hit me all this morning. I mean, that was the first time I saw everybody, right before that panel. Then I was like, “All right, we’re back. We’re back in it.”
When they brought you the idea of Chloe going underground and being a Snowden type character, what did you think?
Exciting and it’s just cool because I feel like it gives her that other level. When we left off, the best I was hoping for was I’ll be director of CTU and then that all kind of got in trouble at the end. To see her have this turn is really cool and kind of twisted, but you can believe it. It’s going to give me something to sink my teeth in.
Is the Snowden parallel really apparent or would you have to know that the producers said that as a reference?
Oh yeah, for sure. I think so. It’s pretty spelled out by episode two. That’s all I’ve read so far. She’s very explicit about it. She works with a guy who’s a similar character.
Will Chloe still get to wear a headset with her job underground?
I don’t know. Probably not. She’s a very different woman and it’s a little bit jarring to me in a good way. She’s broken away from the direction giver. I mean, they’re going to end up together as they always do, but she’s much more resistant and she’s a little bit broken. She’s still pursuing the passion, now the anti-government passion, just as firmly. She needs something to do with her mind but it’s different.
The best Chloe moments are when she snaps at someone who’s not keeping up. Does she still do that?
Not yet. The setup for her is pretty intense where she doesn’t really have it together, but I think we’ll see that come back, I’m guessing, by midseason. She’s a little bit broken at the beginning.
You have a background in comedy, so do you relish the dark dramatic moments for Chloe?
I do. I just read the first two scripts last night and today it was nonstop talking about “24” so it’s just a crash course of “We’re back in.” So I’m glad to have a little bit of time that I can pour over the scripts and wrap my mind around it, because I’ve literally been doing standup comedy on the road up until this was announced. Very different.
I write a column called Best Episode Ever and when I did “24” I picked the season four episode where Chloe goes out into the field and fires the big gun. Was that a good episode for you?
Yeah, that was amazing for me. That was a big turning point and people bring that up to me a lot. I’ve said this a lot before in the past, but just to watch that character build to that point, a character that was, not a throwaway character at the beginning, you know what I mean.
But we wouldn’t have expected her to still be central in season nine.
Never, and that’s what’s been such a cool surprise about it. It gives that extra layer of you’re not expecting it.
Is there any sense of having to relearn the format of keeping real time, or adjusting to the new way they’re doing it?
Yes and no. Really it’s just getting back into it because when I read the scripts, it has the same pace as it did before. It feels like the old “24” felt so I think it’ll be like today. The first day of shooting I’ll probably be freaked out. By the end of the day I’ll just be like, “We’re right back in it.”
What was your standup act about before you came back to production on “24?”
It was about my family. I have bits about that my deepest desire is just to be hot, which is kind of a sarcastic take on hot women who sexy dance for no reason. I talk about having a baby and not liking the baby, my uncommon relationship with my husband. I do hit “24” at the beginning for people who are clamoring for it.
Have you had to do that since you’ve been on the show?
Yeah, I kind of feel it out. I usually can tell if there are huge “24” fans and if I feel the need to go into that, but it’s tricky because there are also other people in the audience who aren’t familiar or don’t care about “24” so I would say it’s usually exactly half and half. Those half people that are into it, you have to acknowledge it because they are just crazy about it.
You joke about being hot, and I wasn’t going to say this in case it made you uncomfortable but now it seems appropriate. You are my number one TV crush.
No way! Oh my God, I’ll just high five you for that, how about that?
I’ll take it. So that’s real.
It’s nice. I’ll accept that.
It reminds me, I loved at the beginning of season five, when we see Chloe begins the day waking up in bed with a guy.
Oh, I know, that was another big moment.
Was it important to show that she could be a woman in a relationship?
That was another big moment for me. I remember that very well. It’s always jarring when I’m away from my computer screen and you get to see little tidbits of that. I was probably more comfortable with the gun than I was in the bed scene.
I understand, the bedroom scene is more revealing.
You get it?
It was supposed to be natural. Are you still hoping that a 24 movie will happens?
Sure, why not? That was talked about today. A lot of the sentiments of the producers were like, “We’re doing this right now. If we get there, we’ll get there.” It’s certainly something that’s not completely dead.
I have a feeling there will be a few more of these mini-seasons before a movie.
I hope so. I can’t imagine, to go through the effort to get this back up and going, that it wouldn’t go a few more. It would sort of surprise me if we didn’t.
The format seems right.
It does, it does. I agree.
